I have perused many guide books on the Alps, but this is the best one for planning a trip. Why? 1.Instead of unintelligible maps and chunks of incomprehensible prose, this guide has clear maps and concise descriptions (plus good pictures) that help you decide which trip is right for you. 2.The author includes a great range of hikes, from day trips to 2-3 days to longer treks. Also summit climbing routes on mountains from easy to moderate difficulty, plus snowshoe hikes for winter. 3. Unlike guide books that are only about getting from point A to B, this one has a lot of really interesting information about the history, flowers, wildlife, architecture, and culture of the alps. It's a complete package for planning a great trip.

An excellent book that will appeal equally to walkers and climbers.The selection is wide and varied and the format is easy to follow.A detailed and thorough first hand knowledge is much in evidence and the writer does a great job in promoting The Alps.One suspects that there will be more books to follow from this author.I am planning to do the Chamonix--Zermatt trek this summer and Hilary`s description makes it all the more enticing.I can`t wait to get there!!

nice price for a book detailing 22 different Alpine treks. Ms. Sharp includes practical "how to" information on each trek, as well as essentials on technical peaks that are accessible along the way. Her knowledge and love of the Alps is obvious from the text, and the photos are a real motivator to get over to Europe and do them all. Printed on high quality paper, this is a useful take-along resource for anyone who wants to include some adventure in a visit to Europe. Highly recommended.

This books shows the historical development of a tiny Buddhist kingdom perched high in the western Himalayas. Tabo, the oldest Buddhsit monestary in India today, was the main religious and cultural centre of the Western Himalayas, and, situated on a vital nexus of the Silk Road, was of critical importance. Part of Deborah Klimburg-Salter's books shows how this monastery survived and prospered, and offers revealing insights to this vital cultural and economic cross-road. A huge wealth of photographs documents the great sculptures, wall paintings, and documents that the monastery is famous for. As an art-historian, the author explains with easy the meanings of the various deities, and what their ornamental details and placement can tell us about the history of the region. For anyone interested in Buddhist Art history or the history of Western Himalayas, this is a great book that should not be missed.

This book journeys with the great adventurers of the days of
the Raj into the upper reaches of the British Empire. Filled
with the history of Kashmir, Afghanistan and Tibet from this period. This book would be well complimented by Steven Tanner's
Afghanistan for the history of that region.

This book presents numerous examples of interactions between Indian music and the West since the 18 th century. The book is organized into chronologically ordered chapters, starting in the late Eighteenth century, proceeding through the Nineteenth century, the early Twentieth century and the late Twentieth century. It includes a discography for the late Twentieth century chapter, as well as an extensive list of sources and bibliography. The book is scholarly in style, and well footnoted. Nevertheless, the text is quite engaging throughout.

The coverage of the material is in some places overly general, going beyond musical topics to such issues as race relations and colonialism. Early in the book, Farrell briefly discusses Edward Said's "Orientalism", and some parts of this book examine Orientalism in music in light of some of Said's ideas. On the other hand, other parts of the book are quite detailed, even discussing individual concerts that took place 100 years ago. This juxtaposition of general comments and details feels at times as if the book was actually written as individual papers, to be published separately, rather than as one long coherent work. In contrast to the broad title, the text focuses mostly on Hindustani classical music, although Carnatic classical music is occasionally mentioned, as well as film music

Farrell's discussions center around the lack of understanding of Hindustani music displayed by British and American audiences and musicians. He describes how British colonialists tried to transcribe Indian music in the Eighteenth century, how British and American audiences couldn't distinguish between fake and authentic Indian music, and how rock musicians tried to play sitar without any understanding of Indian music. He puzzles over why only jazz and rock musicians have experimented with Indian music, and not classical musicians, and why Indian classical music has been interesting to fans of world music, but not Indian pop music. I don't find such issues so mysterious- -after all, classical music is by definition based on a conventional standard, so we wouldn't expect experimentation with Indian music by Western classical musicians. On the other hand, world music fans want to hear something new and different. Indian classical music is certainly different, but Indian pop music, even though it might use some traditional instruments or rhythms, sounds too much like pop music everywhere else to be particularly interesting to outsiders.

I find other facets of the interactions between the West and Indian music to be much more interesting, such as the possible historical links between many classical Western music instruments and classical Indian instruments (the nagaswaram and the oboe, for instance, or the sitar, oud, and guitar). Or the willingness of Indian classical musicians and their audiences to adopt new instruments from the West, such as the violin, saxophone, mandolin, or even Hawaiian steel guitar. Since they are adopting these instruments into their own classical tradition, it seems very different from Western rock musicians experimenting with sitar. From the title of this book, I expected at least some exploration into issues such as these, but Farrell never mentions them.

I bought my first copy of the Insight Guide to Madeira in 1993. More than a tourist guide it actually tipped the scales toward what could be classified as an illustrated guide to the history, culture, and industry of Madeira. The book touches upon the most important fields of Madeira today: the wine, the embroidery, the folklore, the fishing, and is the very publication that spurred me on to visit and then stay on the beautiful Island of Madeira. Yes, the book actually did that. Now, 5 years down the road I look back at what I read in the guide and see what I know today. Madeira has changed so much in that short space of time that I recommend you make sure you get the latest copy.

I was struck continuously with Parker's unchanging selfishness. The entire expedition nearly died just to reach HIS goal. He defies the police to enter forbidden mountain areas, ends up getting the entire expedition lost and his best guide nearly dies as Parker drags him over mountain passes in single-minded pursuit of Parker's goal. Even at the end, he casts aside a woman he loves because he deems their cultures "too different" and, although he thinks she may be able to cope with the differences, he admits it is he who cannot. Nothing seems to reach this guy. He's determined to have life meet his expectations, no matter what cost.

"Himalayan Odyssey" by Dr. Parker Antin is an excellent story about the author's journey across Nepal. Not only does this book detail the man's physical trek through the lesser know regions of Nepal, but also offers insight to the spiritual nature of such an expedition. I think that this book is a must read for anyone who plans on backpacking through remote lands or even just wishes to do so vicariously through Dr. Antin.

Indian Gunners at War is the first book of it's kind. Original and conceptual, the author Major General Jagjit Singh, a renowned General from the Gunners, outlines the role of artillery as a vital instrument of victory in war. In a remarkable portrayal of the power of the gun in past battles, he brings out that it was the army with a stronger artillery which won the day.

The book traces the historical background to the Indo-Pak War of 1971, the military crackdown by Pakistan on its Eastern province, the escape of 10 million Bengali refugees into India and the eventual involvement of India in a third bloody round with Pakistan.

In a style simple and lucid, combined with the professional touch of a front-line soldier, the General describes the battles fought on the Western Front, with an incisive evaluation in the case of major battles. Depicting these in graphic detail, he gives an account of the role played by Indian gunners, the Honour Titles bestowed on artillery units for their outstanding contribution and the courage displayed by individual officers and men in almost every single action.

The book concludes with a few thought provoking views on India's defence preparedness - stressing on self-reliance in military hardware, greater interface between the politician and the military, full activation of the concept of a National Security Council, and the need to appoint the Chief of Defence Staff, while highlighting, in particular, the vital requirement to strengthen the artillery punch of the Indian Army.

A valuable contribution to India's military history and national security.

Given the fascinating topic, I really did want to like this book. Unfortunately, it suffers from several defects. First off, Mr. Allsop's writing is just plain bad: clunky and verbose, full of cliches (and even more full of grammatical errors), and peppered throughout with obscure Sanskrit words that are often not in the (rather brief) glossary at the back of the book. Second, the introductions that precede the interviews themselves are all irritatingly hagiographical. Because of an inability to distance himself from the sadhus and sannyasins he meets (he seems, quite frankly, sadhu-struck), Mr. Allsop is unable to present to the reader a flesh-and-blood person, and he fails to give the reader a tangible sense of how these people live their lives day to day and year to year in their adopted country. Third, the interviews themselves are singularly unilluminating and uninteresting: all twelve had a boilerplate quality to them. To a person, each interviewee (there are exceptions within some interviews here and there of course, but very few) came off as one-dimensional and had very little to say beyond vaporous musings about dharma and sammadhi and such, or a simplistic ragging on the West (a couple interviewees struck me as being mentally disturbed, but who had the good fortune to find a place for themselves in India). I suspect, however, that the interviews read the way they do because of the direction (or lack of it) provided by Mr. Allsop. (I imagine that the interviews would've been infinitely more interesting if, say, V.S. Naipaul were the interviewer.) Finally, the typography of the book is absolutely atrocious (as the previous reviewer also pointed out). The entire book is set in a 13/18 sans serif font. Most books are set in a 10/12 serif font (serifs, for those of you who don't know, are the little lines above and below certain letters). A sans serif font does not have these little lines and thus makes reading difficult; in fact, sans serif is almost exclusively used as a display font (a heading, for example). Furthermore, the tracking of the words (i.e., the spacing between individual letters in a word) is so tight as to make reading physically uncomfortable. As far as I can tell, this hideous font was used simply to bulk up the book (it would've been half the length if printed in a standard font). In conclusion, this book was a vanity project that was rightly turned down by mainstream publishers. Oh, that William Dalrymple could have written this book!

The spiritual seekers of the 60's and 70's by and large travelled to Asia, found gurus, lived in ashrams, and then came home. But Marcus Allsop has tracked down those who decided to renounce their former lives and stay in India. Living as ascetics near ashrams or in the backcountry, these Westerners have been assimilated into Indian culture, yet serve as unique witnesses to the interface between the "spiritual" East and the "material" West. Each individual Marcus meets reveals a depth of character that illuminates the attraction of Indian spiritual practices to the dispossesed and the just plain curious.

The book is an short and an easy read, but with further reflection, the depth of the themes revealed herein can be worthy of a lifetime of study.

This would have been a five-star book if the typeface was more readable. Unfortunately the designer didn't realize that most of us read better with serifs. People with astigmatism: beware.