1. ISBN13: 9780756636517
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Drawing on the same standards of accuracy as the acclaimed DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, The DK Top 10 Guides use exciting colorful photography and excellent cartography to provide a reliable and useful pocket-sized travel. Dozens of Top 10 lists provide vital information on each destination, as well as insider tips, from avoiding the crowds to finding out the freebies, The DK Top 10 Guides take the work out of planning any trip.

Customer Review :

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1. ISBN13: 9780756639532
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Eastern Europe continues to grow in popularity for western travelers. Places like the Czech Republic and its capitol city, Prague, have long been desirable destinations. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania each boast their own picturesque capitols (Tallin, Riga and Vilnius) that are brimming with old-world architecture, magnificently preserved cathedrals, quaint shops and cafés. Each of the three countries are part of the European Union which has made traveling to them easier than ever before.

Customer Review :

Travel Book Review - Estonia

The book arrived on time and in good condition. It is a typical Eyewitness book - with good text, good organiztion, and beautiful photographs.

Rating :

EYEWITNESS FINALLY DOES THE BALTIC !

The master of guide books finally did one of my favourite regions ... Estonia & the Baltic !! I've been hoping for several years and jumped on this first edition as soon as it came out. Despite the fact that I go to Estonia at least once a year for a break from the faster paced part of Europe I live in; I have discovered many new bits of info in this book that compliment the knowledge I have accumulated over the years. Knowing the area quite well, both Winter & Summer, I can vouch for the accuracy of the tourist information throughout the country. In fact, the special regional coverage of the Lake Peipsi, Käsmu Boulder Peninsula, Lahemaa National Park, Saaremaa Island are well done to cover all the options for a first time visitor. Tallinn has been very well presented with photos of some of the less noted, but very charming architetural details you'll find through out the city as you stroll the medieval streets. As always Eyewitness has it all ... the maps, info and details down to a T. It's as user friendly and welcoming as the Estonians themselves ! I only wish I had had this guide when I first started going to Estonia as it would have made the preparatives so much easier !!! Next stop is Latvia and you can guess who is going to be prepping & accompanying me on that trip !!

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1. ISBN13: 9780841601055
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

BERLITZ EARWORMS MBT® RAPID RUSSIAN VOL. 1

Effortless, enjoyable, fast and effective language learning through music


The term earworms or catchy tunes refers to those songs which you hear a few times and then just can t get out of your head. Berlitz Earworms mbt® Rapid Languages puts the words and phrases you need not just on the tip of your tongue, it transports them deeply into your long-term memory, ready for instant recall.


Simply listen to the music CD filled with rhythmic repetitions a few times and listeners will subconsciously acquire a collection of verbs, nouns and connecting words, all the while picking up the correct accent. This is your survival kit of immediately useful words and phrases for your visit abroad. Listen a few times to be able to ask for a table in a restaurant, order food and drink, take a taxi, rent a car, buy tickets, deal with money, numbers, times and days, ask for directions, deal with typical problems, hold a simple conversation and more.


Volume 1 deals with the essentials for your visit abroad. It covers typical situations, polite phrases, finding your way, numbers, how to deal with problems, and so on.


What Makes It So Effective?

*Effortless, enjoyable and effective

*Essential phrases for your trip abroad

*Words anchored deeply into your memory by gentle repetition to music

*Stimulating and self-motivation through real rapid progress

*Developed by language teaching experts

*Target language spoken by native speakers

*Pronunciation acquired automatically

*Listen and learn, anytime anywhere

*Phrase book included

*Content can be uploaded to iPod® or other MP3 players for use on the go

Customer Review :

If I'd heard a sample of the music

...I'd NEVER had made the purchase!! I began learning Russian as a child using songs. So, I was very excited to find this product. But, the music (euro pop) is horrible and is a distraction. I had to force myself to listen through to the end.

Rating :

The most fun I've had with a language CD

First, to be realistic, it's a one-hour audio CD geared towards teaching some basic words and phrases. This program definitely wont take the place of actual language lessons, especially with a language such as Russian in which grammar is particularly important and tricky.

That said, I own several different Russian "listen while you drive" type programs, and this is the only one I have ever wanted to listen to over and over again. The background music is mellow and easy to get into. Also I really enjoy the somewhat flirty interaction between the two speakers! I've been taking private Russian lessons for a few months now, and listening to the Earworms CD is really helping to further solidify the language in my mind. I also think that a BIG part of learning a language (or anything, really) is to have fun with it, and the Earworms program is definitely FUN.

If you're going to buy a language CD, I highly recommend this one!

Rating :

Helpful for beginning vocabulary

Helpful for developing a little beginning vocabulary, but you'll be as lost as ever on grammar. Recommend if you are just starting your study of the Russian language. The music does seem to help you remember and there is a rudimentary guide so you can read along.

Rating :

good conversational russian

this cd wasnt quite what i was expecting. but i love it! im picking up an english accent AND russian!!

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excellent!

I never been good with learning languages. I hate the memorizing part of learning a language. This product is such a pleasant surprise in that it takes away all the pain. All you do is listen to the music and it sticks in your brain. I've listend to the product on my way to work for a couple of days and I already know much of the Russian phrases that are taught in the product. The only limitation is that you don't know how the words are spelled, so sometimes its difficult to tell exactly how the word is spoken. To advance in the language, ultimately, you will have to buy a real book to learn the grammer, etc. But its an excellent way to start. I can't wait for Volume 2 to come out.

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1. ISBN13: 9780756624361
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
4. Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Editorial Review :

EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDES are organised district by district, with a systematic, thematic approach. Significant sights in each area, and star features in each major sight, as well as shopping, accommodation and dining information, are shown alongside colour 3-D maps, town maps, thematic maps, cutaways and floorplans.

Customer Review :

Great book series

I have purchased couple books from DK eyewitness, like: Prague, New york and Egypt. I couldn't live out Saint Petersburg this amazing city. great book with wonderful pictures

Rating :

Eyewitness Travel St. Petersburg 2007 edition

The book helped me a lot on my visit to St. Petersburg as I don't know Russian. The maps have the street names in English and Cyrillic Also the street index. There is also a metro map with stations written in both languages. The metro map and phrase book at the end - should be written in bigger letters. The book is very colorful and helps you to identify the sights and find your way.
I didn't read all the history section which seems very detailed but for a traveler - there should be a summery page of the important events and people who had an impact on St. Petersburg's history and Architecture.
Information that I found lacking or should be improved (Only from my experience in the city and I didn't see or visit all the sites)
1.Yosupuv Palace - no information about the beautiful interior and collections (p. 120) A gallery or hall guide should be added.
2. There are three guided walks ( P. 133-139) but a very important one "Dostoevsky walk" ("Crime and Punishment") around the area of Sennaya Ploshchad is missing . there is a small map on p.115 with "sights at glance" without the buldings were Dostoevsky lived. There is a mention of him on page 123 with limited information.
A map, the walk and more information linking the area to the relevant books (" Crime & Punishment"," The Gambler" etc.) must be added.
3. Traskoe Selo or Pushkin (P.152-155) - no mention of the impressive Holocaust "Formula of Grief " also not on the map on page 155.



Rating :

From Russia with love

We were planning to take a Russian River Cruise and wanted to have an advanced insite into what we were going to see.
This book as well as the Moscow book gave us knowledge to understand what we were going to see as well as giving us a method to review what we had seen and enjoy it further. We have found over the years that the Eyewitness books are the best books out there for us.

Rating :

Eyewitness Travel Guides Does It Again

Eyewitness Travel Guides once again lives up to its motto: "The guides that show you what others only tell you." While other guides are long on talk about St. Petersburg, this guide adds hundreds of photos, detailed illustrations, diagrams, maps, and time-lines to bring the city and its surrounding areas to life. Paging through it is like vacationing in St. Petersburg without the cost of going there. Fortunately, the book also includes what you need to know and how to manage when you are there.

Rating :

Good Travel Info

Great book. Glossy Paper and small enuf to carry along. Recommend DK books

Rating :

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1. ISBN13: 9780679747802
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
4. Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Editorial Review :

By "the conjuror extraordinary of modern portage" (John le Carre)--a personal, brilliantly detailed exploration of the almost unfathomably complex Soviet empire. "When a writer of Mr. Kapuscinski's genius writes of the snows and the steppes of Siberia, of the doomed Aral Sea and Kiev . . . no pictures are necessary."--The Wall Street Journal. First time in paperback.

Customer Review :

Voices hidden in the belly of the beast

The Soviet Empire remains a mystery but in this book, the Polish journalist and writer, Kapuscinski, attempts to get under the facade and reveal the inner terror, absurdity, incompetence, poverty, and cruelty of a political and economic system never meant to direct an empire. Often Kapuscinski put himself in very real danger to gather the stories that make up this book. A travel book like no other travel book.

What a total disaster was the Soviet Empire in terms of murder of its own citizens and the destruction of creative human consciousness through fear, paranoia, imprisonment, and such incompetence it makes you cry. The destruction of the Ukrainian people by Stalin is tragic and senseless and millions of people were starved to death and forced into cannibalism

Unregulated free markets and wild-west capitalism has its downfalls and traps but communism as practiced by the Soviet Union is a terror that capitalism will never reach. There are multiple examples given of central planning which resulted in tragic endings for people and the environment.

The most penetrating insight of the book, a point that is made repeatedly, is that the Soviet Union was a republic of slave states, of non-Russian ethnic minorities, who longed to be free of the giant monster state. Democracy does not mean sending representatives to Moscow to these oppressed people, it means breaking away and freedom from the Russian dominance and exploitation and heavy handed oppression of mind, body, spirit.

The book jumps around a bit, but this is because it reflects Kapuscinski's multiple interactions and trips within the Soviet Union over a long period of time. Kapuscinski is a keen observer with highly discriminating ears in regard to picking just the story or detail that conveys many years of oppression and slavery and fear of imprisonment. For the Soviet Union was in many ways one big prison.

In addition to the careful story collecting of ordinary poor people, the book also includes keen political analysis on the downfall of the Soviet Union as a power structure. There is one chapter on the destruction of the Aral Sea that is worth the price of the whole book. It is tragic and yet has all the total absurdity of the writings of Kafka or Orwell.

I found it hard to stop reading the book even though it is twice as long as Kapuscinski's class "The Emperor" book on Ethiopia. This book is highly recommended.


Rating :

Essential reading

Blessed with seemingly watermellon-sized balls and a talent for observing the detail , Mr . Kapuscinski lived an exciting and courageous life , travelling to the most unassuming corners of the earth as regimes were falling apart and the world was changing . Whether in Angola as it was struggling for independence or El Salvador when at was with Honduras , he was always up for the challenge to go there , explore the situation , to witness the horror and talk about it . The 1995 study of his on the disintegrasion of the Soviet Union is easily one of the best books written about the topic and along with " The Shah Of Shahs " , maybe his best work ever . Kapuscinski was a talented storyteller with a sharp tongue and a vivid writting style and what's most admirable for me is the ever-present humanity in his political analysis . This book is just mesmerizing and his body of work simply stellar .

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So much information!

Reading Ryszard Kapuscinski is like sitting at the knee of a master storyteller! The tales he tells are amazing, horrific, informative, fabulous--all the things a great storyteller weaves into a tale. The only thing is that Kapuscinski does not make up his stories. He boarded (he is deceased) trains and planes for far-flung places--all in the name of news gathering. However, what Kapuscinski delivers then is not just news, but his dry-eyed observations of humans in all their glory, all their disgusting or disquieting ways, their cruelties, their passions, even their incredible, often feeble attempts just to survive, and amazingly, in this context, their jubilations, their small victories, and their powerful will to live. Kapusciski is a master all right: of human nature, of writing, of that rare ability to inform, entertain, and evaluate. He is a newsman extraordinaire.

In "Imperium" Kapuscinski turns that extraordinary talent to---call it what you will---the U.S.S.R.---the Soviet Union---Russia and her satellites. He visits, in many cases, multiple times, every country that made/makes up the U.S.S.R. (He divides his book into three parts, each denoting his travels and findings. They are "First Encounters 1939-1967," detailing his own experiences as a Pole with Soviet power and rules. Then Part 2 concerns his observations from his extensive travels across the USSR from 1989-1991. Part 3 (1992-1993)is comprised of his astute commentaries, fascinating reading!) Back to the USSR: I was simply amazed at the extent of differences of each country, of the almost phenomenal ability of the Soviet ruling elite to hold such a disparate world together. But at what unconscionable cost?

That's the horror of the story--the horror of mass exterminations that went far, far beyond whatever goals Hitler and his Nazis conceived and carried out. Six millions? A mere pittance in comparison! Kapuscinski's figures in support of the vulgar, despicable number of deaths carried out by Stalin and later Soviet powers are more than shocking! Here's just one figure concerning one circumstance out of dozens: "Stalin starved to death around ten million people" (285). His chapter about the Great Famine will make you absolutely weep that such a distorted and vile creature as Stalin was allowed to live. The reader truly learns the meaning of the words "totalitarian" and "tyrant."

But there's also a creative passion. After the dissolution of the Soviet Empire, Kapuscinski tells the reader about a wondrous story in the making. In Belarussia, there are the ruins of a church, felled by German artillery fire during WWII, where someone discovered bits of colored fresco. Prof. Grekov made it his life's work--and his students--to put that shattered fresco back together. Imagine! (Is this tear from Mary at the loss of her son or from the Mary who discovered the resurrection? Is this bit of fire from the burning bush or the fire of hell?) And it is Grekov's imagination that Kapuscinski celebrates. This long quote will show that imagination, that spirit and tenacity of the people, and, most of all, Kapuscinski's magnificent ability to weave facts and observation into gossamer, but gossamer with tensile strength:

"And thus observing how from thousands of particles, bits, and crumbs, from dust, molecules, and pebbles, the professor and his students have been for years piecing together portraits of saints, sinners, and legends, I feel as though I were a witness, in this cold and dusty underground, to the birth of the sky and of the earth, of all the colors and shapes, angels and kings, light and darkness, good and evil" (302).

So it is with the reader in discovering Kapuscinski's own talents. My personal pick of his most profound talent is that of observation of human nature, which then provides the reader with astute commentary. His explanation of the Russian mafias is illuminating. When Russian mafia figures began showing up in news and then films, I was perplexed. Mafias in Russia? How was this possible in a world of the KGB and totalitarian government? The answer? Bezprizorny! Homeless children! Beginning with the deaths caused by World War I, then October 1917, then civil war and mass starvation resulting from weather and by tyrant--a new class of social strata was born, or hatched, or exploded like Athena from Zeus's head: A new class--the bezprizorny by the thousands. Their goals: find food, find shelter. With no adults to guide them (if there were adults, living conditions still would not be conducive to developing healthy children either physically or emotionally) these pitiful children lived however they could, becoming more and more dangerous as their numbers doubled, tripled.

Eventually, they formed their own mafias and lived by mafia rules: stealing and squaring accounts. Today's Russian mafias are the grandchildren of this class. Each successive event in Russia--the second world war, postwar purges, accelerating corruption of government, disintegration of the USSR---all contributed to the huge numbers of homeless children who produced children and grandchildren, who make up today's powerful and horrifyingly violent mafias. In fact, there are three distinct mafias: the Russian Mafia (from Russia proper--a whole other story in his book), the Caucasian Mafia (all other ex-Soviet countries), and the Asiatic Mafia (those from Islam regions, a huge population in the former USSR).

I could tell story after story from Kapuscinski's book-- (For example, the story of Turkmenistan, the country of the desert, a place of riches and freedom, but not by America's standard of riches and freedom! This story alone--its explanation of the power of the desert--is worth the price of the book) --so packed it is with horror and passion, but each time I relate a story, I know it is taken out of context. Kapuscinski's account is causally and historically driven. There is an order, a precise arrangement in relating the stories about the USSR and its dissolved union. The only real way to learn this information, this series of inspired scrutinies of days past and days future is to read the book. Whatever I write will never do this book justice. You will also discover that one reading is not enough to absorb the expanse of space and time that that fills Kapuscinski's book.

"Imperium" is not a book to miss, if you want to learn what the USSR really was. You must order it today! Two other books by this writer that I also highly recommend are "The Other" and "Travels with Herodotus."

Thanks to GB who introduced me to Kapuscinski, currently my favorite writer.

Note: I see in previewing what I wrote before I hit the publish button that I was totally correct. I did not do this book justice. It is so much more-much, much more-- than the few words I wrote.

Rating :

A look at the inside USSR from a Pole

Ryszard Kapuscinski is a keen observer with an eye for the things that really characterize a nation. As a Pole, he is no great friend of Russia, and occasionally overstates his case, but his observations ring true. If you want a good view of the past, and a sense of how it is a prologue to the future of the nations of the former USSR, he is essential reading.

Its a shame he has passed away, we could use more of his writing.

Rating :

Kapuscinski - Gulliver

A great depiction of the far away corners of the imperium before, during and after the collapse. An incredible collage of Kapuscinski's own experiences combined with history. You can learn a lot about political geography too. Excellent!

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