Many times it's difficult to include minute details while retaining the ability to quickly find information. This guidebook, like many other Lonely Planet books, manages to make researching a trip very easy. Included are such details as available hotels and restaurant in each city. You can also find great itinerary planners if you have no clue about where to start. With the suggested itineraries and the details about each city it's easy to plan an enjoyable trip - for backpackers and regular tourists alike.

Many times it's difficult to include minute details while retaining the ability to quickly find information. This guidebook, like many other Lonely Planet books, manages to make researching a trip very easy. Included are such details as available hotels and restaurant in each city. You can also find great itinerary planners if you have no clue about where to start. With the suggested itineraries and the details about each city it's easy to plan an enjoyable trip - for backpackers and regular tourists alike.

A refreshing treatment of alternative economic organization. In a casual and conversational manner the author saves us the sugar coated reviews of the all-but magical Kerala development story and dives right into the reality of an industrial cooperative in an Indian state that is breaking all of the capitalist rules and still winning the game! A must read for anyone interested in the struggle to transform exploitation into cooperation and voluntary participation. This book is a breath of fresh air in the sometimes stale realm of economic literature. Includes detailed analysis of organizational structure of Kerala Dinesh Beedi.

Dieterich Buxtehude (d. 1707) was an organist and composer in Lubeck. Claimed as a major cultural figure by both Danes and Germans, Buxtehude was hailed as one the three great "B"s of the German Baroque. Buxtehude wrote both organ music and vocal music that served as models for J. S. Bach, who made a pilgrimage to Lubeck to hear Buxtehude. But Buxtehude's music is exciting and important in its own right.

Professor Snyder has written a book that makes Buxtehude and his music come alive. Her writing reflects thorough scholarship, but is also always clear, direct, and engaging.

This is one of the best composer biographies that I've ever read. It will appeal to any music reader with an interest in Baroque music, and should be on the bookshelf (well it is actually on my desk since I use it often) of any organist or student of Baroque music.

I was initially attracted to this book because I had read other books by the author and enjoyed them. This seemed a considerable departure from his usual preoccupations. The clarity of style and simplicity of language which were characteristics of his other books remain, but to that is added a familiarity with the history of modern India, a knowledge of the Syrian Christian community of Kerala and the ability to marshall a story from a number of diverse sources - among family letters, personal reminiscences and items in newspapers. Although his grandfather is the subject of his story, the author retains an objectivity and proportion that is commendable. I would agree with following sentiment expressed in the Foreword to the book. "The author has made the story of George Joseph living and lively as though he is the new incarnation of the man. He has brought George Joseph to life. I add the book, exquisitely word-crafted, is a seamless product, the reading of which is like taking a ride in a beautiful vehicle with the subject on board. Further, there is a manifest literary fusion, whichis to say that while the subject is what the book is about he is also in the book, as though the book wrote itself."

Do the names Cavaille-Coll, Cahman, Compenius, Marcussen, and Arp Schnitger sound familiar? If not, this book, most likely, is not for you. If you do recognize them, and are appreciative of their work, you will really enjoy The Organ as a Mirror Of Its Time, which is a collection of articles skillfully edited and arranged by Kerala J. Snyder. These prominent and historic European pipe organ builders, along with some of their more famous instruments, comprise the theme around which the contributors collectively construct an intriguing historical, cultural, political, and artistic context. The scope of the book spans four centuries, and concentrates on six specific representative instruments in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. While the composite of all the articles achieves the intended overview, each article has a life of its own and can be enjoyed outside the surrounding framework of the book.

After reading this book, you will have an insatiable desire to hear the instruments that you have just learned so much about. Fortunately, the book comes with a CD, which has performances on each of the six subject organs. One piece by Bengt Hambraeus, called Riflessioni (played on the Marcussen in Oscar's Church, Stockholm, Sweden) will blow you away.

Obviously, this book is for real devotees of classical European pipe organs and their milieu. If you fit in that category, I highly recommend this book to you. However, you will find that a couple of the articles were written BY academics FOR academics (bless them....they can't help it), but the effect is softened by their being intermingled with articles written for the rest of the human race. The only other disappointment involves the last of the six instruments, the North German organ in Orgryte New Church, Goteborg, which was built with the combined efforts of several university research and development teams, scientists in the fields of Metallurgy, Fluid Dynamics, and Applied Acoustics, and all of it coordinated by an international team of organ designers, builders, and voicing specialists. The instrument was conceived as a composite of several Arp Schnitger organs in Hamburg, Zwolle, Lubeck, and Alkmaar. It was completed and subsequently inaugurated in August of 2000. From the picture of it on page 343, it looks magnificent. After such a build-up, you really want to hear what it sounds like, which you can do by listening to the last cut on the CD. However, due to the selection of a particularly dreary piece (a Chorale by Weckmann), and the organist's uninspired choice of registration, the organ unwittingly comes across sounding like what it really is.....an organ built by a committee.

The book tries to show that a "demographic singularity" exists in Kerala and tries to analyze how it happened. It looks into old Kerala's matriliny, distance pollution (caste interaction), etc. The crumbling of these social structures and practises is then shown to have fed the rooting of the communist ideology which in turn created a people who began to accept confrontation against authority not just as a means to emancipation but almost as a way of life (the author keeps re-iterating the fact that Keralites are known to be trouble-makers outside Kerala too).

All in all, I liked the way it was written and I think its a must for anyone who tries to understand the undercurrents at work in Kerala. It might even explain the Keralite physche.

veliath

What a delightful little cookbook! First, she gives a great background of Kerala and of her own family. My fiancee is also a Keralite and this book has allowed me to make him many dishes that he hasn't had since he was last home. The pictures are bright, colorful, and visually enticing. The instructions are well thought out and the ingredient listings are logically ordered. In particular, I like how she groups spices under the heading "ground masala" and then in the instructions simply states "add ground masala". It makes it easy to know when to throw it in the mix because I put the ground masala together before I start cooking. This way, I don't have to sort through a list of spices that need to be thrown in quickly.

My particular favorite recipes are the piralen, meen molee, and the vadala. Actually, the piralen is now a weekly staple for us because it is so quick and simple to make. Since my prior cooking experiences had been primarily Pakistani and North Indian dishes of a heavier nature, I was amazed at how light and refreshing South Indian cuisine can be. I have just purchased Curried Favors and I can't wait to dig into it!

I will be using this book for years to come and look forward to cooking these Keralite delights for my own future children.

Now, I am just waiting for Maya's North Indian cuisine cookbook (hint, hint :-)

I was quite skeptical about ordering this book as, I thought delicious Asian-Indian dishes would be impossible to create in America! I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the book for the first time! The ingredients list is "translated" into things we find in our "American" supermarkets everyday!! The author provides several substitutions of the more specialty items too and...if you want to be as authentic as possible, at the end of the book, there is even a list of places to purchase the ingredients!! The cooking directions are idiot proof! Very explicit and, most importantly...the food turns out terrific!! Even my 8 and 4 year old loved it!!! That evening, not only did we get to sample a "curry" but also, several "dahl" recipes and...the kids got to learn all about the wonderful Asian-Indian culture! Finally, the pictures of India's culture delighted us all. The colors, the places and the people all transported us through an exciting adventure to another land!!

Having spent many vacations in Kerala visiting family and friends, I found Maya Kaimal's recipes to be informative and authentic. I wish there were more enticing pictures of the food, as in Kaimal's first book. But overall, the descriptions, pictures, and recipes give a clear understanding of Kerala cuisine and its diverse culture. I tried a number of recipes such as lamb korma and various vindaloos, and all were delicious. This is an excellent book for those who want to cook like their Keralite mothers and grandmothers(like myself) as well as for those interested in learning about flavorful and diverse South Indian foods. Kaimal succeeded again! I would recommend her first book as well. Get them for yourself or as gifts!

Books on the art of Mohiniyattam are hard to find. I am most impressed by the structure of the book. The reader will find more generalities than specifics about the dance form. If you are looking for a book that gives you information on the dance history of Mohiniyattam, then this is very appropriate. However, if you are looking for a guide to help you understand the technique of Mohiniyattam, then you will be disappointed.

In "Kerala," Franke and Chasin make a strong case for the use of locally driven efforts as a means to meet a people's needs. While not glossing over the tradeoffs in such a model--such as high unemployment--the Kerala model represents a case where provincial socialist and communist parties have been able to succeed in drastically improving people's welfare. Although short on specific details of the model, Franke and Chasin's book does serve as an excellent primer into the hype surrounding Kerala, India.

The importance of the study lies in the meticulous documentation of the pattern of demand and supply of coir and coir products.

The main issue discussed in this literature is whether employment opportunities in India has kept pace with industrial development. For this purpose, the oldest and the most traditional cottage industry of kerala, the coir industry, has been focussed upon. The book also examines how technological changes has had an adverse impact on employment patterns. With its original data and fresh theoretical perspective, this volume will interest economists, policy-makers, and those concerned with labor and employment policies. The authors are definintely to be commended for offering a useful micro analysis of the coir industry in Kerala, a study which is ably supported by an extensive use of informative statistical data and a genuine concern for the material conditions of coir workers.