1. ISBN13: 9780061804090
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Review :

How rapidly-changing China is changing the world from an American's Perspective

1st I have to say I am a huge fan of Peter Hessler, I have all of his three books and I have read the 1st two for a number of times, especially the 1st one River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.).

I had pre-ordered this new book well before it was released, the long wait was excruciating but well worth it. Unlike the 1st book "river town", which is more about a young American who was new to China and trying to adapt himself by gradually learning its culture and language. This new book is more focused on how fast-changing China is changing its own people and at the same time having an huge impact on the rest of the world. I won't spend too much time talking about what the book is about, you gotta read it by yourself.

Shortly after the book was released, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a seminar where Peter Hessler had a Q&A session with a professor at UCI. After the talk, I waited in line and got my new book signed by him. I was thrilled.

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Country Driving

I am enjoying the book. If you have lived in China, you will have a better understanding of the book.

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Thoroughly enjoyable! Wonderfully informative! Hessler does it again!

How lucky we are to learn about China in a book so well written. Peter Hessler, an American who lived in China and speaks Chinese, gives lots of facts from his personal experience and his interviews with various Chinese people, all in a most enjoyable way. I can't wait for his next book.

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A road trip through the racing heart of China

The first section of New Yorker writer Hessler's engrossing three-part portrait of China's headlong rush to the future is peppered with questions from the Chinese driving test:

"223. If you come to a road that has been flooded, you should
a) accelerate so the motor doesn't flood.
b) stop, examine the water to make sure it's shallow, and drive across slowly.
c) Find a pedestrian and make him cross ahead of you."

Hessler came to China in 1996 with the Peace Corp and stayed for 10 years. He got his license in 2001, as roads and drivers were proliferating, and planned a cross-country trip. Development was intense in coastal regions but the north and west were still remote, many roads unlabeled.

"352. If another motorist stops you to ask directions, you should
a) not tell him.
b) reply patiently and accurately.
c) tell him the wrong way."

He decided to follow the Great Wall, which is actually a series of fortifications built of various materials in various states of ruin. It was harvest time and the farmers laid their produce on the edges of the road for sorting and drying and threw grain into the middle for threshing.

"Initially I found it hard to drive over food. On the first day of my journey, I screeched to a halt before every pile, rolling down the window. `Is it OK for me to go through?' The farmers shouted back impatiently `Go, go, go!' And so I went - millet, sorghum, and wheat cracking beneath me. By the second day I no longer asked; by the third day I learned to accelerate at the sight of grain."

He meets amateur historians and government tree planters, picks up hitchhiking young people coming from factory towns to visit family, and camps in the desert to avoid officialdom (Hessler's favorite Chinese motto is "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission.")

His prose meanders organically, exploring the China of the past and the present, from the Ming dynasty and the route of Genghis Khan to the roller-coaster excitement of road-testing the newest Chinese car.

He also proves his credentials here as a fearless adventurer. Few things can be more dangerous than driving in China, where driving lessons are laugh-out-loud bizarre, seat belts and turn signals are superfluous and traffic fatalities are twice as high as in the US, with one fifth the number of vehicles.

In Book II Hessler homes in on the traditional village, renting a house in mountainous, rural Sancha about two hours drive from Beijing (maps orient the reader at the start of each section - would there were pictures too!). There is only one child in the village (the young have migrated to the cities) and Hessler becomes friendly with Wei Jia's parents, Wei Ziqi and Cao Chunmei.

Handicapped by his lack of education (typical in the country), Wei Ziqi tried factory work, but returned to his village to farm. Smart and ambitious, he had tried and failed at leech farming and was now turning to tourism, which was following the better roads and increased prosperity.

Hessler limns the family's fortunes as Wei Ziqi builds a restaurant, and takes up the two essentials for doing business - smoking and drinking. As the friendship grows Hessler drives Wei Jia to boarding school kindergarten and witnesses Cao Chunmei's growing unhappiness and isolation. China remains a man's world and there's no place where that's more evident than the countryside.

Through his connection to the family, Hessler explores village gossip and politics, and takes part in the walnut harvest. In a harrowing section (which was a New Yorker article) Hessler encounters the Chinese medical system first-hand when Wei Jia becomes suddenly ill and it's Hessler, with his car and U.S. connections, who tracks down treatment.

Hessler's American sensibilities often illuminate the cultural contrasts. When the Weis grow rich enough to have a TV and Wei Jia comes home from school, the formerly tough and wiry boy grows soft in front of the TV eating junk food all day. Hessler frets about this, but to Cao Chunmei there's no point in having a TV if you don't watch it and few pleasures greater than watching a child eat.

The final section explores the burgeoning factory towns popping up along new expressways, each with a specialization - buttons, playing cards, umbrellas. "Datang produces one-third of the socks on earth."

Hessler chooses Lishui for his focus, a town that is about to have an expressway exit, and already has an Economic Development Zone. He gets in on the ground floor, approaching a city-dressed man outside a half-built factory and follows the fortunes of the place from factory design, which takes an hour and a half, to production (bra-strap loops), rocky times, success and reorganization.

Again, individuals provide the narrative impetus. The owners let Hessler hang around for good times and bad. Job interviews are a rough and tumble affair. The best incentives are lots of overtime and no vacations, since there's really nothing else to do.

Hessler finds another fascinating group to follow when, on the basis of outsize personality and persistence, a teenager gets jobs for her whole resourceful family, who also run a side business providing goods to workers.

There's tension in the beginning when the expensive machinery doesn't work, tension when the orders don't come in like they should, tension when their most crucial worker wants to visit his pregnant wife (code, maybe, for abandoning the sinking factory).

Contrasts and contradictions abound. The group dynamic is so strong one complaint can spark a sea of grumbling, but self-help books urge workers to lie and think solely of themselves. A precious baby's 50th-day celebration takes place in a cigarette-smoke filled restaurant amid spatters of hot oil.

Hessler engages the reader with his own affection and fascination for an ancient culture in overdrive. Endlessly curious, fluent in the language, willing to go anywhere, and talk to anyone, his graceful prose carries us along, into the mountains, the dusty deserts, the mud-walled village huts and concrete factories, but most of all into the lives of the people he meets.

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Incredibly informative book

For anyone interested in China and the changes that are occurring there, this book is incredible. Written by a young (thirty-five-ish) American, who has lived in China as a journalist for about 14 years as I count it, the insights are fascinating. You get to see the changes through the eyes of an American, yet one who is fluent in Chinese, which is a tremendous advantage, and who has a droll sense of humor as well.

It's three stories: First his exploration of the wild west of China, following the Great Wall, second his life in his country home in a little village north of Beijing, and his relationship with a family in the village, and his description of the changes which occurred during five or six years, with development, and thirdly, his following another large town in the south as the highway arrived, development zones sprang up, etc. It's tremendously interesting. He talks with people everywhere. In the development zone for instance, he talks with the entrepreneurs setting up a factory, with the employees, with members of a little traveling show which comes to entertain them, etc etc. You get to actually meet everyone.

As I'm writing this, all the reviewer ratings are five star. It's not often you'll see a book with all five star ratings. This one deserves it.

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1. ISBN13: 9780060855024
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Review :

A glimpse of Chinese daily life.

This was an easy read and provided some interesting insights into Chinese daily life and culture. Peter Hessler describes his experiences teaching English at a Chinese college and traveling in China in an engaging and thoughtful manner.

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A Poignant Account

A well-written memoir, an eye-opener to those who had never been to China and an appetizing read for me who had first-hand experience of what it's like to live and work there. This, I could read and reread every few years, satiating my desire for Zhong Guo's landscape, culture and food. Peter Hessler is a wonderful writer who can easily transport the reader to China's River Town.

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Outstanding Diary regarding Communist China

The author just tells it like it is. His honest description on how the common folk live in this Town that had seen virtually no one from outside China for centuries is informative and interesting. There are attributes about the Chinese that you will like and there are attributes that you will not like, but his account is always on target. You will feel like you know these people for all their strengths and faults.

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Fascinating read

Great book. The author documents his two years spent in China as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in a rural, remote teachers' college. The story offers an intriguing peak into the life of a young man living such a fascinating adventure--learning the language, learning to fit in to a culture so dramatically different from his own, and interacting with numerous local people. At the same time, the story is a fascinating review of Chinese history of the 20th century and how this history has impacted on the people, culture, economy, and future of the area. The various student characters are unforgettable in their personalities and how they grow and change under the influence of one from so foreign and different a culture. Many anecdotes that are laugh out loud funny. Many moments which are heartfelt and sad. I would highly recommend this book for those who enjoy travel, other cultures, teaching, literature, and history.

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This book really puts you there! An outstanding read.

This book is a delightful (and well written) travelogue by a Peace Corps volunteer who describes his two year experience living in Fuling, China. By the end, you are treated to a vivid picture of what his experiences were like; the challenges that a foreigner in China has with the language, with the culture, and with the politics. The author also does an excellent job of placing you in the setting, whether it's in the environment of the school in which he teaches, in the noisy city of Fuling itself (full of people and personalities), or in the surrounding countryside into which he ventures. The best thing about this book is that you really get a feel for what the author went through and you feel as if his eyes are your eyes, the journey he takes is your journey, the acquaintences he makes along the way are yours as well. You can't help but learn something from this book. I highly recommend this one.

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1. ISBN13: 9780060826598
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

A century ago, outsiders saw China as a place where nothing ever changes. Today the country has become one of the most dynamic regions on earth. In Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler explores the human side of China's transformation, viewing modern-day China and its growing links to the Western world through the lives of a handful of ordinary people. In a narrative that gracefully moves between the ancient and the present, the East and the West, Hessler captures the soul of a country that is undergoing a momentous change before our eyes.

Customer Review :

Past and Present Intertwine

I loved how this book combined real stories, peeking in and out over time, including the author's own; scholarly digging into the past, both recent and distant; detective work and the resulting revelations; and a wry, underlying sense of humor. My favorite parts were experiences with two of his former students, one as an observer in a young man's classroom of eighth graders studying English and the other as he toured a wildlife area and tried to convince another former student, a female, to feed the last duck to the crocodiles. I won't tell you who won.

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Great perspective on the current lifestyles in China

Hessler has used his Chinese language skills and local friendships to talk with a cross section of common people of China. That's a perspective that most of us who want to visit China and understand the lifestyle of the people who live there cannot achieve. His writing style is very entertaining and readable. He skillfully weaves the vast history of the regions into current events with minimal judgement. I found the book to be a very valuable introduction to Chinese culture.

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Glimpse today's China in an immensely readable format.

I have traveled to China over a dozen times in the past few years, all as a tourist and friend of some Chinese. I have trouble expressing to those unfamiliar with modern life in China what the country is all about and how times have changed since the Red Guard and Cultural Revolution. The happiness, earnestness and capitalism pervasive in China are concepts foreign to most Americans' ears as a result of TV and newspaper commentators continuing to rant about "Red China" and "Communist-controlled China."

There are no modern analysts of China given airtime to balance the perceptions about China. We hear the Chinese steal our jobs by keeping the country's currency artificially low, they execute political prisoners, and they control the minds and thoughts of their people through press and internet censorship.

This is as if China is some all powerful force to destroy American industry while the people are child-like puppets believing everything their government tells them day in and day out. These rants give no credit to the Chinese people for having intelligent and discerning minds.

Of everything I have read on China as it exists today, Peter Hessler best points out the truths and contradictions, the energy and the frustrations. If you cannot go to China and spend time with the people throughout the country, Hessler's journeys take you there and lets you listen to the people. If you are over 50 like I, the future of China is a turn of history interesting to study and observe. For those under 50 years old, understanding the Chinese will be an essential element of being focused on the future.

I know of no better communication to bring the modern Chinese people to life for Americans 8,000 miles away. From the farm-field peasants living in what we regard as poverty to the Shanghai business and political communities riddled with corruption, Hessler's stories show that China is much more similar to American society than we ever could have imagined a decade or two ago.

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Insights to China -

Peter Hessler originally came to China as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1996, and taught English. Since then he has remained, serving as a free-lance correspondent and writing three books, of which "Oracle Bones" is one. During this time Peter learned to speak and read Chinese, married a Chinese woman, and experienced life visiting and befriending locals. Much of the book is taken up with descriptions of 'oracle bones' (turtle undersides, oxen shoulder blades) dating from about 2,000 B.C. and largely found near Anyang. They were heated to high temperatures - the resulting crack patterns supposedly foretold the outcome of important ventures. The Chinese also wrote short scripts on the bones with a bronze pin. Why Hessler devoted so much of the book to this topic is a mystery to me.

Hessler's narrative begins just after the May, 1999 accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing there Chinese. Intense protests rose across China, lasting about two weeks, and at least surreptitiously encouraged by the government. When not writing about oracle bones, Hessler is usually writing about the lives of a number of his former English students. In the process it becomes clear that fraud is extensive in China - animal food, education, job salaries, fake goods and documents, etc. Similarly, we also are reminded of America's distasteful crime and violence, using guns.

Hessler took a trip to Dandong, on China's border with North Korea to get a sense of what North Korea was like. From across the river it was clear that there were no lights in North Korea at night, armed soldiers patrolled the river's edge, and the areas factories seemed abandoned.

'Special Economic Zones' (SEZ) were established by Deng because China's leaders didn't want to test radical change (eg. selling state-owned enterprises, giving tax breaks) in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where mistakes would be politically disastrous. Deng saw attracting Hong Kong and Taiwan investment into these zones as also being a way to bring them closer to the mainland; Chinese opponents saw the SEZ as a means to exploit Chinese labor.

Intellectuals had been purged and re-educated during Mao's time because they were seen as having a tendency to follow Capitalism. The Chinese suicide rate for women is about 5X the world average, with a large proportion coming from rural areas and having some education. Hessler muses that perhaps the glimpse of a better life depressed them -

The education curriculum in China is standardized and regulated, with standard exams at the end of middle and high school. Teachers try to get test questions in advance, and teach to the test.

Closing, Tessler notes that people in the U.S. and China are both nationalistic.

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Great Glimpse into China

This book was recommended to me before I studied abroad in China from the US. Although a little dull at points, it provides a great way to get a first look into the Chinese culture and mindset from an American perspective. It also provides an interesting and enlightening viewpoint of China's history intertwined with the author's own unique story.

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1. ISBN13: 9781741791570
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Nobody knows Thailand like Lonely Planet. Our 13th edition will have you soaking up the sun on the island paradises of the south, trekking among the hill tribes and riding elephants in Chiang Mai, discovering the ancient temples of Sukhothai and snapping up bargains or being pampered in a spa in Bangkok.

Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.

In This Guide:

Detailed advice on everything from food & drink to transport & health
Special 'Thailand & You' chapter with tips on culture and etiquette
Extensive Deep South coverage eases your travels in the conflicted region

Customer Review :

Type is ridiculously small - DO NOT BUY

This book appears to contain the compendium of knowledge regarding Thailand. Too bad the font is so small that even my teenage daughter says it hurts her eyes. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK unless you want to use a magnifying glass to read it. Very disappointed.

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LP provide the best guide to exploring a country

Lonely Planet guides consistently provide accurate information. It is great especially for people who budget travel, travel light (backpack) and want some adventure.

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Surprisingly mediocre

I really expected more from this book. It had basic info about lodging and food, but really quite basic and obvious stuff. I was frustrated many times looking for places to eat. The section on Koh Samui was almost totally useless. There was nothing here to make it worth the price.

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Just short...

When I travel, I swear by Lonely Planet, so I'm used to a certain standard of content and clarity. Although I only used about a quarter of this book's total content on my last journey, there were certain instances where more information would have been certainly preferred; and had me and my partner not been as savvy as we were, whole days could've been compromised. However this guide was still extremely helpful, overall.

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The Travel Bible, a bit dated

Known as "The Book", this is the standard for any travel guide to Thailand. I'm glad they are coming out with a new edition, though. On my recent trip, more than half of the restaurants we tried to find in Chiang Mai had either moved across town or shut down since The Book was last published. If you are in the market, pre-order the new edition instead, which will hopefully sport updated information.

By the way, I highly recommend the Chiang Dao Nest - bungalows set in the beautiful forests and mountains north of Chiang Mai, and amazing food despite the remote location.

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1. ISBN13: 9781741791518
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Review :

Difficult to navigate on Kindle; maps useless

I was pretty excited to get this on my kindle and finally leave behind the days of bulky travel guides, but this was a waste. The chapters are long and difficult to navigate (you have to page through all of each state to get to the city or area you're interested in) and the maps are unreadable-- only one corner of each map is on each page, and the guides and keys on another page, so they're 100% useless. Get the guide in paper, or just look on the LP website for each part you need, but don't bother getting this on Kindle.

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Going on leave there in a few weeks

I have been doing alot of information collecting for my trip to India, and this book has been on the money with all other information that I have collected. Also I know a few others that have been and they all say this is the book to use while in India. I will update comments once I am back!

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INFINITESMAL TYPEFACE ( HEFTY BOOK )

Found the book nearly impossible to read due to the tiny, tiny font which is employed. I wear 2.25 reading glasses. NEVER HAVE I HAD SUCH DIFFICULTY READING A BOOK BEFORE.

THE BOOK IS PONDEROUSLY HEAVY AND CUMBERSOME. Not "fit" for backpacking.

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Worth it.

Unless you know exactly where you want to go already which is highly unlikely, it might be worth having this book for the maps.

Pay absolutely no attention to the guesthouse prices etc.

Of course as soon as a guesthouse gets a good rating in the LP they put their prices up, this is the same everywhere in the world. In India however, they will actually create three more guesthouses with the same name and you will never know the difference until you walk past the real one. I miss India :p



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Happy with a Lonely Planet once again.

For the past 14 years we've been using the Lonely Planet as our primary guide for every country in the world. Our collection of Lonely Planets for countries we've traveled occupy a whole bookshelf. Although we haven't gone yet and so haven't actually put it into "on the ground" use yet, from the planning aspect, The Lonely Planet India appears as thorough and reliable as the others. As we say: "We don't leave home without it".


It was an easy transaction. And the book arrived quickly and was in good condition.

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