The purely essential guide to Japan - Dennis Kessler does the fantastic job of illustrating the best way to be a tourist in Japan. Both the writing and the photography is superb, and hard to believe that it's just one man that performed both.

I found it easy to read, with very understandable descriptions, and I was truly impressed by the beauty and quality of the photographs. This book is easily equal to the Rough Guide, if not more concise, being a pocket guide.

This is probably the best guide around for the short-term (less than 2 weeks) traveller to Japan. The photos are excellent and the text is concise, informative and easy to read. It's full of helpful hints and is obviously written by a well-travelled writer who really knows his subject.

Anyone going to Japan would be advised to take this little book. - amazing how much information is at your fingertips!

The world's full of literary journals. Why read this one? If you want to know about the world, it's all on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and CNN, isn't it? What possibly can a literary journal add?

Don't look for the answer in the Table of Contents. Look for it in the Author Bios. To take only a few of the 28 contributors: Razi Abedi is from Pakistan, Vasilis Afxentiou from Greece, Arlene Ang from Manila, Anjana Basu Calcutta, Richard Czujko South Africa, Viktor Car and Miroslav Kirin from Croatia, Raymond Ramcharitar from Trinidad. Several are from India, there's a handful are Yanks, plus assorted hangers-on from places in the world with no fixed address, apparently they just respond to "Occupant."

Some of their characters leave a track, some make a mark, some luxuriate in unearned reward, some crumple under the stubbornness of systems, some sing, some cry. Yet when the last shovel of dirt is spaded or the pyre done to embers, their little bundles of personality have vanished along with their fleeting, private histories, blips on a scale whose magnitude they or we may never know, their meaning incomplete because our comprehension is incomplete. This instant, too, is a short story.

More than mere characters are in these stories. We are, in that part of ourselves which is all humans. First we are a dream, then we are not, then we are again ("Sister Hanh" by Ly Lan), only this time vaporous angels, the angels of the keys, angels in the sense of "Mon ange te précédera"-My angel will precede you-the ignored part of our own relevance going ahead of us into the so-called future (A Feast of Crows" by KC Chase), preceding, going ahead of us, furthering us ahead of our pace ("The Long Journey" by Vasanthi Victor; "Jesus Christ Lord of Hosts Discovers Southern California" by Holly Day), while events of the hour play themselves out as if seemingly important in our monkey-brain salad-bar humanity heads ("Parking Ticket" by Norma Kitson). The carnival barker calls on ("Singing in the Wind" by Keith Smith).

In these stories.

In some tales is the taste of cultures gone rancid ("The Ngong Hills" by Rasik Shah and "London Through the Magic Eye" by Raymond Ramchartiar), scallop-shaped memories in white light ("The Lost Village"-Lang Lo in Vietnam-by Le Van Thao), the wire through which happiness flows ("The Burden of Grace" by Vasilis Afxentiou), the sense of life's undoing preordained ("Curses and Poetry" by Anjana Basu and "Diary of a Street Kid" by Fanuel Jongwe), this or that character blocked by not knowing their true worth ("Dalit Literature" by Rezi Abedi and "Spectacles" by Anjana Basu), others a tarantella of quick cuts as the burning finger of the past reaches their heels ("Snapshots of Elsewhere" by Raymond Ramchartiar). The shape of a woman created out of the galaxies ("A Betting Man" by Vallath Nandakumar). The gelatin temple of turning deeds into a brand name (Winnie Mandela portrayed in David Herman's "The Lady and the Tiger"; "The Transformation of Sleepy Hollow" by Richard Czujko).

Everything is real, their reality, even the phantasmagoric. Like the paintings of California Realist James Doolin, the "realism" in these stories is skewed in a way that what is seems always lunging forward at an angle, anything but static. A good story tells us of time; what it brings us to know within is untouched by time. These accounts are real, yes, close to the surface of here and now, but also deeper for their absence of self-interjection, the contrived just-so light and just-so exoticism of the TV Special. Nothing artificial, nothing fake, nothing held back. What you feel is not the author's work, it is your own feelings responding to the facts they set forth.

About half are fiction-or rather, reality with the clothes of character on-the rest non-fiction. Some are cryptic enough to be short-shorts. Most have a certain fabulistic air about them; all you have to do is change the humans to animals and you have Apulius' Golden Ass or Mr. Toad and friends. The usual baggage of reviewer lingo hovers uneasily near these pages. The stories are lives, not stories; circumstances, not contexts. In the lives on these pages, Levi-Strauss, F.R. Leavis, postmodernism, and semiotics are self-indulgent caricatures. When we know where fear comes from, we transect it. That's when the stairway appears before us.

This "Gowanus" anthology is an outstanding volume of third world writing. Reading many of the essays, short stories, and poetry was more than a joy, because you get the flavor of other places, a sense of the people, and new perspectives about what's happening in "real time" around the world. To be sure, a lot of these writers are unsung, but clearly enormously talented. This volume deserves nationwide exposure, and many of the writers here could make a lot of noise, if they are "discovered." I recommend this one! It's an exciting, turn-the-pages read.

I love this book. The lyrics to each song are written in both the Japanese and English alphabet, so non Japanese speakers can sing along. My son's Japanese grandparents borrowed this book and sang all of it's songs into a tape recorder. The recording is one of my most prized posessions. The illustrations are really sweet, warm watercolors. On the last page is an index explaining the cultural background and significance of each song. This is a great book!

This book was wonderful. It included the Japanese as well as English lyrics. Many children's books neglect to include notation of the music, but this one does not. I had my K - 4 children singing Japanese in no time at all!

I am lucky to have Professor Morrissey for my Photography class in Rhode Island and his book has really touched me and made me look at my photos in a different way. He truly is one of the most sincere people I have met with amazing talent behind the lens.

There are several books with moving and important photographs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This one is a welcome addition as it focuses on the veterans and visitors to the Wall. Mr. Morrissey has obviously spent much time at the Wall and captures the feelings well.

A wonderfully succinct overview of the blue whale and it's habits.

The clear, sweet prose makes delivery of the content easy, and the very fine, soft illustrations demand repeated veiwing. My Preschool and Kindergarten ESL students found it highly engaging.

If there's a better science and read-aloud book around I'd really like to know about it. TEN stars.

Follow this book up with the superb "Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?" by Robert E. Wells. Wells' book uses the whales' size as a starting point for exploring the size of the universe and other very big things (the second step involves putting a hundred blue whales in a really big jar). Read my review of Wells' book if you like.

I'm a whale researcher who has spent much of the last 12 years studying blue whales in the North Pacific. I'm also a mom who loves children's literature. Rarely do I see a book that is so accurate factually while it is captivating and magical! The illustrations are beautiful. I highly recommend it to anyone who has children who are facinated by whales.

I thorooughly enjoyed this book, all the moreso for having had thehonor of meeting the author, Dr. Djelantik. He is the "Man WhoWould Be King" if his family still ruled East Bali. His father,the last king, settled into retirement with the ending of the"Rajah System" and built Water Palaces and Water Gardens forthe pleasure of his people. Now 81, Dr. Djelantik is presiding overthe restoration of his favorite place, Tirta Gangga, one of the mostbeautiful refuges on this planet. In East Bali, traditions are alive.At Tirta Gangga, holy water pours out of the sacred volcano at 10,000liters per minute, and angels come to earth to splash and frolic withthe lucky mortals. Read the book and then visit this wonderful place.If you are fortunate, Dr. Djelantik will be puttering around thegardens, and you can become part of living history! It's anopportunity not to be missed. Great book too!

Do not be fooled by the corny title and the blurb on the back cover. This is no ordinary autobiography. Written simply, in turn moving, amusing, pedestrian, profound, homely, hilarious, it will teach you more about Bali, its society, its customs, its beliefs, its architecture, its arts, painting, dancing, music, literature, than any guide book. Not only Bali. Dutch rule. Culture shock and how to cope with it without really trying. Holland under Nazi Germany. The late president Sukarno's foibles. The failed communist coup. The trials of a medical doctor in truly awful conditions: mosquitoes, guerilla fighters, rats, petty officials... and to how to play with fighting kites and build a fireplace that draws well. It is all told effortlessly, unassumingly, even though the author is indeed a member of the nobility, the second son of the last king of Karangasem, I Gusti Bagus Jelantik, who built the baths at Tirta Gangga. Long before you are finished, you already feel a compelling urge to meet the author. A remarkable autobiography by a remarkable man.

This book is a "book of essays" like Li-Young Lee's "Winged Seed" was a "memoir."

Meaning: these guys are (brilliant) poets. What they write--it seems--no matter the intention--comes out poetry.

This book is like listening to notes carried on the wind. It's so beautiful, so intense yet gentle; it begins with remembrances of Allen Ginsberg and just

travels.

If you like Bei Dao's poetry, you'll love this book.

In this fine-tuned book of intimate essays, China's premier poet--only he's not in China, you see--and descendent of surrealism lets us in on some of the lyrical details of his life & times. The essays range from his friends to his love of gambling, his daughter to what he thinks about cats and dogs, always w/ an impressively lyrical sense of synecdoche: his restraint and ability not to go overboard signal to the gestalt of his--and other poets', dissidents', exiles'--life at the end of the 20th century. Expertly and subtly translated, Huters & Ming let Bei Dao's Chinese breathe in English, granting us w/ a voice that, I'm afraid, not enough people will read.

I have read many books on I Ching but this is the best byfar. It is the only one which made its history as a text clear tome. The so called Zhouyi is the portion set in writing during the Zhou(later Chinese bronze age). Most of what we consider I Ching is actually commentary from the Han, half a milennium later. Rutt restores the early primitive text which was used for such things as deciding the auspicious occasion for (human?) sacrifices. Rutt sees the Zhou Yi as neither moral or spiritual. We can then see how the Confucian tradition made something quite different of the text with the addition of the Ten Wings. Rutt translates the original Zhou text which consists of what are the hexagram statements and line texts in later forms.He also translates the Ten Wings separately, rather than mixed with the Zhou text as Wilhelm and later Chinese editions do. Rutt's book is the best on the actual, as opposed to mythical text of the Changes. Yet he includes its history in the west and a section entitled, the Fascination of Zhouyi. If you have a serious interest in I Ching, you MUST read this book. It does not supercede the classic Wilhelm/Baynes translation but does far better in letting us see it also as an ancient Chinese text.

There is everything here about the history of the I Ching. Richard Rutt has used among others the studies by Kunst on the oldest meaning of the book (that was lost to the later Confucian commentators of the Ten Wings) to attempt a translation that comes as close as possible to the original meaning. . This brings Bronze Age China back to life, a civilization that even performed human sacrifices. A must for all serious I Ching lovers.

This is really the definitive book for novice birdwatchers in India, and remains very useful even as you grow more experienced. Its small size makes it much more portable and thus useful for field trips. The illustrations in the new edition are simply lovely and improve tremendously over those in the earlier editions. A must buy.

Beautiful hand drawn illustrations, detailed characteristics, habitat, calls and everything else you need to know to identify a bird. A real work of art.

If you're a bargain hunter, Born to Shop Hong Kong is a must! Almost every one of Suzy's recommendations are stellar. She makes it easy for you to find those one of a kind treasures to bring home-at discount prices. The book groups stores in geographical areas and provides easy to follow maps so you save time. For those who get tired of shopping, she offers unique sightseeing tips such as the Opera singers at Temple market. The restaurants she recommends are frequently entertaining in themselves, such as the one with a doctor who prescribes a meal based on your health. She's a friendly, funny writer with honest reviews of merchants. Her advice on avoiding tourist traps will save you time and money. I was in Hong Kong alone but felt like I had a friend along in Suzy's book. Suzy takes you places the average tourist would never experience. My sister, a flight attendant who just moved from Hong Kong and a co-worker who leads trips to the area had not been to many spots I visited-thanks to Suzy. "Born to Shop" has specific transportation advice on reaching your destination, includes conversion charts and it's a perfect purse size with a stain resistant plastic cover! She thought of everything. I'm going to France next and you can be sure I will buy Born to Shop Paris.

This book was my bible for 10 days in H.K. Not only were all the shopping recommendations right on, the hotels, especially The Conrad, and resturants were all excellent recommendations. Now what Suzy needs to do is write a book for the rest of China!