We saw the movie "Inn of the Sixth Happiness" and had to know more about this amazing woman. Our search lead us to this book. I read it out loud to my 12 year old daughter as my husband did the driving back from our Christmas vacation in Illinois. We read it straight through as we drove straight through! It was even more exciting than the movie! We, too, are on the lookout for anything more we can find to read about Gladys Aylward -- a true role model for our kids!!!

My boys and I (ages 10 & 6) just finished reading this wonderful book. We home school and read many books together. Honestly, my guys did not want to read about a woman missionary. However, by the middle of the book, they would ask me to read another chapter. It was inspiring and exciting. Her life was full of life and danger. It was incredible for my boys to realize this was a real story, not fiction. I highly recommend it as a book to read as a family. We loved it.

I've literally just tucked my children into bed, having read the last three chapters of this amazing story--we couldn't stop! My 7 year-old son was intrigued from start to finish, and my 4 year-old daughter, asked "Could we read it again, PLEASE? " I'm now on the look-out for any other books about Gladys Aylward. What a shame that I grew up not knowing anything about this Godly, brave woman. What a story! We've been reading a chapter each day aloud, and have enjoyed every single word. I highly recommend it!

This is a nice introduction to chinese new year. I will use it as a informational guide and have my Chinese-Vietnamese students look it over to facilitate a discussion about their new year. Thanks.

This is a simply written and beautifully illustrated book about the Chinese New Year. Through delicate line drawings and jewel like colors the author/illustrator captures the essence of Chinese mythical creatures, flora, fauna, heavenly creatures and mortals. We learn about Chinese zodiac symbols, gods, how Chinese people prepare for the New Year, why they eat special kinds of foods on New Year's Day, the symbolism of specific flowers as gifts, and the meanings of Chinese characters hung on doorways. Demi is the talented author and illustrator of many children's books with Chinese themes. This book is definitely one of my favorites.

Need an excuse to explore ethnic and religious holidays and practices? This is your vehicle. The interesting and exciting practices surrounding Chinese New Year can so easily be compared in writing, drama and story-telling of many other cultures. You cannot go wrong with this book.

A well researched and well written guide. Readers like pictures and this book has lots of bright and colorful pictures with descriptions and information. The book gives insight into Mr. Laughlin and his pottery. I recommend this book to all collectors of Homer Laughlin.

This is a must have for Homer Laughlin collectors. Get a feel for the life,times and area that produced the largest American manufacturer of dinnerware. This book is packed with information that you just can't digest in one setting. I'm constantly referring to it and learning something new everytime.

This book is indispensable for indentifying the older pieces of Homer Laughlin. While not a price guide per se it does give the reader an idea of the value of older pottery shapes.

This is an excellent practical explanation of the I Ching, making it easy to use. I have a few I Ching books, but this is by far the easiest to understand and use for daily divination. Even the book construction makes it an awesome tool - the page edges are rough, making it easy to flip through and the back page diagram of upper/lower trigrams makes finding the right trigram number simple.

OK, maybe I'm slightly biased (co-author Amy __is__ my mom and I __did__ write the foreward) but I still think this is one of the best new books on the I-Ching in twenty years. The fact is, most books on the I-Ching are arcane and difficult to understand and make this wonderful tool for decision-making almost impossible to use. Amy and Rod's book makes it easy for regular (i.e. non-academic) people to use the I-Ching in their daily life. What more could you want?

If you're an academic student of the I-Ching, then you'll want to review this book for general ideas about a different, more "utilitarian" approach than Wilhelm and others. However, if you're a person who just wants to find an interesting entry into a thousand-year-old divination tool, then you'll LOVE this book.

And please, let me know if you disagree.

Charlie

I just bought this book today (3/3/99) and I think it's an amazing ride through the world of I-ching beliefs! What's even more astounding, is a complete moron would easily understand the ideas expressed in this book!

I live in Shanghai, and usually write guidebooks, not read them. When I do, it's usually to wince at all the things the writers who came here for a mere month or so of research got wrong. Even those without glaring errors tend to be off by angle, such as raving about the rather dull Yu Gardens and failing to notice the incredible living history museum, Shanghai's Old City (aka Chinatown), that it is situated in. They only offer the stupidly obvious destinations, like the Bund, Huaihai Lu, and Nanjing Lu, to the neglect of fascinating, cultural history spots like Sichuan Lu and the Jewish Ghetto.

I was handed the compact guide as a reference for a project I was working on, and it pleasantly surprised me. Amazingly, I found nothing to criticize, nothing to wince at. I was impressed to discover in it city trivia that even I consider obscure, like the history of the Broadway Mansions as the old Foreign Correspondents Club.

But nicest of all is its refusal to patronize. Many guidebooks take the attitude, "You're a stupid Western tourist,doesn't speak any Chinese, so here's what to do!" So, if you pick them up having read anything - anything! - about Shanghai previously, you're likely to feel put off. The Compact Guide refreshingly presents the facts without too much condescending background but also without playing insider baseball. It's very accessible.

Only two quibbles: the maps are confusing, have a number of typos, don't have characters along with the pinyin, and are so small, listing so few streets, to be useless unless you already know where you are/where you're going (and then, why do you need a map?). Also, Shanghai changes so quickly that, being written three years ago, it is rather woefully out of date. Use its listings with caution.

I bought this book and also Fodor's Pocket Shanghai. This book has better print/paper quality. Has more maps. For each attraction, there is a color photo so that you can decide if you would like to go there. The photo also helps to identify the attraction if you do decide to go there.
The Fodor's book has no photos, looks [inexpensive], but is actually [$] more.

I was plesantly surprised by this compact book. I didn't know that it was associated with the Discovery Channel. The book has outstanding print/paper quality. It has plenty of maps and lots of pictures. This helps me to find the place. I can also decide, from the pictures, if I would be interested in visiting such an attraction.
The best surprise is that this book is actually listed [$$$] less than the Fodor's compact book.

I've done martial arts for a few years now (Hapkido, Shaolin Kung Fu), and I can honestly say that this book is worth every penny. It's packed full from beginning to end with training techniques and applications -- everything from warming up and stretching every joint to stance training and putting power and better root into all of your moves. While the applications are pretty much all Sanshou (which is a little like long fist, and a lot like kickboxing), they're still very practical applications to learn. The more advanced qigung training techniques are enough to keep one striving for many years to come, and the appendices have a wealth of general information about weapons, forms, styles, and training. All in all, a wonderful book for the price.

After reading through this book I was completely impressed on how much there was to learn. The authors take two approaches, the external and internal. It goes over methods for training Iron Palm, and others, but to do the internal training outlined here the reader needs the book titled "Qigong Empowerment" by the same authors. There is so much to learn, get it and start practicing as soon as possible.

A must have book, invaluable to anyone who needs a tool for learning the basic of wushu.

Ms Mercati gives the reader a good overview of this style of massage. One problem many books on Eastern medicine concepts is that the scientific paradigm of qi, yin-yang, etc is difficult to grasp for someone who has been educated on Western scientific principles. This book starts with an introduction to the Eastern principles in a more understandable, concise fashion. This makes it good for a massage therapist who wants to expand his repertoire. At times, the anatomical descriptions are inaccurate eg: referring to the malleolus as an "ankle bone"; however, the informal style of the book keeps it interesting and readable, as well as informative.

I am a massage therapist and found this book to be very helpful as reference for the non-western portion of the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. It had lots of information on meridians and the five element theory. It was also written quite clear and was quite easy to clear. I also used the followng which is also on amazon:
The Ultimate Study Guide for the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork: Key Review Questions and Answers by Patrick Leonardi (Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3).
The last 3 books were right on target with the type of informatioin ask on this national test. All 4 books are must buys.

I loved the different techniques in this book. It teaches the the law of the five elements and it presents detailed diagrams of the meridian channels.

Ray offers an accessible introduction to the origins, cosmos and cultural context of Tibetan Buddhism. Easier to follow than other intros (like Thurman's Essential Tibetan Buddhism), but doesn't ignore important details. Especially good delineation of the four principal schools. If Ray included a discussion of the important role of the indigenous Bon religion in shaping modern Tibetan Buddhism, I missed it. Focused more directly on the knowledge component of wisdom than on experience. Still Ray's explanations burned through the fog of my confusion

"By reconnecting with the wisdom, sanity and warmth that . . . characterize our most basic nature," Tibetan Buddhism offers us a way to address the suffering and alienation in our lives, Reginald Ray writes (p. 449). Professor Ray teaches Buddhism at both Naropa University and the University of Colorado in Boulder. Focusing on Tibetan Buddhism, his 495-page book is among the best introductions to Buddhist history, teachings, and meditation practice that I have ever read. Ray's goal is to demonstrate that Tibetan Buddhism offers us a "living truth" powerful enough to lead "us ever more deeply into the unknown territory of what our life is" (p. 1). "Beneath the surface of our modern speed, ambition, and self-importance," he writes, Tibetan Buddhism provides "an ancient path" and a "way back" to a more meaningful experience of human life than the scientific and materialistic one evolving today (pp. 2; 57).

Ray approaches his often esoteric subject matter in terms readily accessible to those of us without his scholarly background in Tibetan Buddhism. His book unfolds in four parts. Part One, "The Sacred Environment" (pp. 15-63), presents the traditional Tibetan view of "the sacred cosmos, with its living elements, forces, and beings and the critical role of ritual as a means for communicating with the unseen world" (pp. 3, 450). In Part Two, "Tibet's Story" (pp. 65-225), Ray travels to "wild and remote places" (p. 173) to describe the Buddhist history of Tibet beginning in India, and examines practitioners including Naropa (pp. 154-159), Marpa (pp. 159-164) and Milarepa (pp. 165-172), whose struggles enabled the lineage of Buddhist dharma to be transmitted from generation to generation (p. 450). In Part Three, "Core Teachings" (pp. 227-360), he describes the sophisticated teachings, practices, and results of the Buddhist path in nontechnical terms, frequently using personal anecdotes to illuminate his points. Part Four, "Buddhist Philosophy" (pp. 361-449) discusses Tibetan Buddhist perspectives of "the three turnings of the wheel of dharma" (pp. 450-51).

For anyone interested in Tibetan Buddhism, its history, culture, teachings or practices, or for anyone curious about how simply "sitting down to explore one's own mind" (p. 450)is relevant to our modern world "with its unprecedented levels of technology, information, and materialism" (p. 449), this book should not be missed.

G. Merritt

This engrossing book promises to be of enduring value to those with an interest in Tibetan Buddhism, or the history and culture of Tibet itself. Ray is a student of Chogyam Trunpa Rinpoche and an accomplished teacher in his own right, benefitting students at Naropa University and Rocky Mountain Shambhala Center, both in Colorado. His decades of experience and thoughfulness shine through in this text, reportedly the first of two volumes providing historical and cultural context to the practice of Tibetan Buddhism.

"Indestructible Truth" does not attempt to address every aspect of Buddhism as it has developed in various countries. Rather, it examines how Tibetans have traditionally viewed the teachings and the cosmos from within their own cultural framework. Ray skillfully blends objective data, personal experience, and teachings from accomplished masters to relay this perspective.

The book provides portraits of each of the four principal schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the great masters and teachers that founded each. The reader is left with a strong preliminary understanding of the differences between the lineages, which can sometimes seem overly subtle to the beginner. A recurring theme is the varying emphases placed on meditation versus study among the four schools. Ray cogently describes how the four lineages approach the Dharma differently, without diluting the power and importance of any. His careful attention to the Nyingma and Kagyu schools, typically downplayed in many introductions, is alone a valuable addition to the literature. In addition, he provides a short but insightful introduction into the Rime tradition that highlighted the value and usefulness of all the lineages.

Another section describes the principal views of the Buddhist paths of Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, both in theory and practice. This is a useful outline of the practices and study points Buddhism makes available to interested students and practitioners. It shows how each is interrelated and yet can also stand alone, depending on the needs and inclinations of the practitioner.

One small caution. Ray's identification with the Kagyu tradition (one I admittedly share) is subtle, but noticeable in his selection of quotations from teachers to describe various Buddhist views. I personally found the approach interesting and the descriptions cogent, and certainly the teachers are themselves above reproach. Students of, for example, the Gelug view of emptiness, however, may prefer an explanation delivered from an adherent. On the other hand, this approach does provide a strong foundation for describing each of the three Turnings of the Wheel of the Dharma with continuity in the teachers' voices. The discussion of the "shentong," or empty-of-other view of buddhanature is as good an introduction as is possible for so profound a topic, and again, an unusual find in an introductory text.

I eagerly await the companion volume, "Secret of the Vajra World," which is to focus on the esoteric views and practices of Tantric Buddhism, due later this year.

Jonathan Dimbleby's The Last Governor is a tour de force that gives the reader an insider's perspective into the tenure of Hong Kong's last colonial leader, Chris Patten. Dimbleby treats the reader to a narrative account of the trials and tribulations that Patten faced as he attempted to enact democratic reforms in Great Britain's last colonial jewel. Although one would undoubtedly expect the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to be vociferously opposed to any belated attempt by the British colonial authorities to bequeath a semblance of democracy on Hong Kong, Dimbleby makes the case that Patten's biggest enemies often came from within his own government. Dimbleby's revelations that selected British cabinet and Foreign Office officials shamelessly sought to downgrade the importance of Hong Kong and sacrifice Patten's proposed reforms on the alter of commercial relations with the PRC, resulted in Dimbleby being investigated by the Foreign Office for possible receipt of secret intelligence materials. Dimbleby was cleared of these allegations, but the vast array of insider information that Dimbleby amassed for this book strengthens the strident arguments that Dimbleby advances. Only a handful of participants in The Last Governor emerge with their reputations unscathed. Hong Kong's local and international business elite is portrayed as willing supplicants in the PRC's efforts to scale back personal and political liberties after Hong Kong's reversion to PRC sovereignty, a position easily enforced by PRC threats to their commercial interests. Martin Lee and Emily Lau, two of Hong Kong's leading democracy advocates, are portrayed as actually weakening Patten's push for democratic reforms through their uncompromising approach. The various representatives of the PRC are painted as unbending ideologues with little appreciation of Hong Kong's way of life. Dimbleby is most critical of the British officials, past and present, who acted to either inadvertently or deliberately sabotage Patten's governorship. Most prominent on this list is Sir Percy Cradock, Great Britain's lead negotiator in the 1984 Joint Declaration and former Ambassador to the PRC. Cradock comes off as a modern-day Neville Chamberlain, willing to cut a bad deal with an unsavory power for the sake of diplomatic expediency. Cradock compounded this error by working both privately and publically to weaken Patten's political position and policies. Dimbleby also argues that the Cradock mentality had infected the entire Foreign Office and selected members of John Major's cabinet, who worked to undercut Patten and sell-out Hong Kong in favor of better commercial relations with the PRC. The greatest strength of The Last Governor is also its greatest weakness. While such open access to Patten gives this book the necessary dramatic propulsion, it also strikes the reader as serving as Patten's mouthpiece. While Dimbleby does downgrade Patten for underestimating the challenges he was to face as Governor, Dimbleby's portrayal of Patten as the lonely David fighting against the multi-headed Goliath seems to diminish the numerous allies Patten needed to help him accomplish the limited reforms he was able to enact. Dimbleby could have also delved deeper into the political rationale behind the PRC's bargaining position and policies regarding Hong Kong. The Last Governor is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in Hong Kong, Chinese, or British affairs and to readers interested in how bureaucratic politics affects international diplomacy. Dimbleby's prose is brisk and should easily captivate and entrance the reader. Keep in mind that this is not an academic tome, so Dimbleby's point of view is repeatedly expressed without reservation or apology.

I loved this book. I thought it was a great narrative on Chris Patten and his governorship and the hardships he endured. The book spares almost no detail, but I would have liked to see more of the Democrat's point of view. This book is absolutely necessary for people who wish to know in-depth about his governorship.

After reading the online review of Theroux's Kowloon Tong (a fictional account of the 1997 Handover of Hong Kong), I am surprised to find that only one customer have contributed a review to Dimbleby's marvelous work on the historical events. Dimbleby provided an excellent and comprehensive account of the political events that led to the signing of the 1984 Sino-British agreement, the arrival of Chris Patten, the introduction of legislative reform, and the eventual derailment of the democratic movement by the Communist Chinese Government. Dimbleby also tell the stories of several Hong Kong citizens and their views of the Handover. Being a native of Hong Kong who have spent my last 12 years in the States, Dimbleby's book brought me up-to-date on the big political stride taken by and the obstacles awaiting the people of Hong Kong.

If you want to understand the world of today you have to work at understanding how it got to be the way it is. This is one of those books that is critical to doing that, I don't say that lightly. This book is what is known as a primary source. It is the record of one, actually several, of the crucial political battles of the last century, told by some of the leading participants in their own words. It is not a history written decades later by someone to explain what went wrong, but a record of a battle as it progressed.

Reading this book you get a better understanding of the following: How it was that the domestic and foreign policy of the new Soviet Union began to deteriorate from a revolutionary one to one that put the narrow needs of day to day diplomacy and deal making first. How the Chinese Communist Party was formed and how it developed. What type of revolution was it's leadership trying to make? Why were the U.S., England, Japan and France so hostile to it? How and why did the Stalinists and Maoists gain leadership and themselves come into being? And much else.

This book is made up of an impressive number of documants, speeches and reports principally by Trotsky, one of the central leaders of the Russian revolution who would not sell out and died fighting Stalin and the destruction of the revolution. The introduction adds much to the book in bringing things up to date. I think this book is useful for historians, anyone wanting to know more about China and the revolution there, and any revolutionaries of today who want to learn from one of the best. It can be particularly useful to political minded workers and young people from Asia

What impresses me about this book is Trotsky's impassioned duty and determination to build a world revolution of the oppressed and to clear the way for the working people of China from the waste, confusion, and defeats that Stalinism of the Stalin and Mao varieties have imposed on them.

Thirty years ago many people would have thought reading a book about the liberation of a country from semicolonialism would no longer be necessary as we enter the 21st Century. However, it seems that lead by the USA, the imperialist powers of Western Europe and Japan are in a growing drive to deepen their control over countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Sadly, the lessons in this book drawn from the struggle of peasants and workers in China in the first 40 years of this century, are becoming more and more applicable around the world.

The Chinese Revolution was one of the great developments of the 20th century, and the challenges and lessons it provides remain of great importance today. Imperialism and imperialist war, colonialism, revolutionary Marxism vs. Stalinism and Maoism, concepts of armed struggle, mass struggle, of constructing a revolutionary party, the character of a workers and peasants government, of a workers-peasant alliance-- all were tested in the turbulent, living experience of social crisis, repression, war and massive worker and peasant uprisings.

This lengthy collection brings together the writings of Leon Trotsky on China from 1925 to his death in 1940. Trotsky was, along with V. I. Lenin, a central leader of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the early years of the Communist International. After the death of Lenin in 1924, Trotsky led the fight against the degeneration of that revolution and the rise of a conservative, privileged bureaucracy headed by Josef Stalin. Revolutionary policies in China at the time were at the heart of the differences between revolutionaries and Stalinists. Trotsky gives detailed and extensive analysis very useful today, both for the issues covered and as an example of how to use the Marxist method to orient revolutionary fighters in the living world.

The collection includes a substantial introduction by long-time Chinese revolutionary Peng Shu-tse, covering the history of China during these years, which I found useful for putting Trotsky's writings in context.

Also recommended: The Chinese Communist Party in Power, by Peng Shu-tse; The History of the Russian Revolution, by Leon Trotsky; and Capitalism's World Disorder, by Jack Barnes.