Reviews (2)

Good Introduction with photos, illustrations and facts
I was searching for a good book on India, with a historical bent, as a gift for a friend here in the US. This book provides a very good introduction with pictures, illustrations and relevant facts. The book provides a general outline of history and more importantly also introduces the reader to the general mindset & prevailing conditions ("cultural atlas") in India. It also provides some basic information on the states and neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan & Burma. Excellent reference book!
As an Indian, I'm wary when "outsiders" put together a book on my country, but this book is exceptional.It gives facts and general descriptions of anything and everything when one thinks of India.Lots ofpictures makes it an easy read.Worth every penny.This is the bookteachers in America should use when trying to give an overview on INDIA. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - India & South Asia    2. Atlases    3. Civilization    4. Culture    5. India    6. Maps    7. Reference    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. Asian / Middle Eastern history    11. Bhutan    12. Cultural studies    13. Nepal    14. Pakistan    15. Reference works    16. Social history   

Reviews (1)

Thin gruel for tourists
"Lonely Planet's" guide to Bangladesh is pretty thin --less than 200 pages -- for a country with a population of 150 million.Well, there's a reason for that.Bangladesh is hardly a tourist paradise.
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Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Asia - Southeast    3. HotelsInnsetc.    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Bangladesh    7. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (3)

Disappointed As Well
I have to concur with the first reviewer, this book was a big disappointment.I was looking for a resource that would allow me to identify mammals in the field.This book does not do that.If you have even the most rudimentary knowledge of animals (e.g. you can identify an elephant) then you can probably get by without this book.
Quite Disappointed
I found this book to be overall pretty disappointing.First off, the illustrations are horrible.They look like children's cartoon drawings.Why don't the editors of mammal-books hire the same artists who do bird guides?The latter are generally really good. Good field guide - bad entertainment
This book covers the land mammals of the Indian Subregion or in other words it cover: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. However, it also does exclude the smaller and often inconspicious mammals like baths, schrews, and most rodents. A number of small but often conspicious mammals are included. For instance both squirrels and pikas are included. In total it depicts and describes 106 species in deatail. It starts in the typical manner with an introduction to the region, mammals, and mammal observing. This section is highly usefull to the unexperienced reader, but will probably seem quite borring to most, as it is short and only mentiones the most bassal things. The next fourty pages is devoted to the mammal species themselves. This means that there is 2-3 species per page. About each species the book descibes identification, habitat, range (no range maps!), behavior, diet, breeding, status, and similar species. The text is not for pleasure reading, but it is highly usefull in the field. A thing to remember - not mentioned in the book - is that the status refers to subregion only, not the intire world. An example is the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) which is described as endangered. The next pages are assigned to 12 colour plates with drawings of the mammals. The drawings are not especialy beautiful, but all the important details usefull in identification are remembered. The next 12 plates are devoted to animal tracks. The last third of the book describes 23 national parks/reserves in the region including the famous Chitwan NP and Sunderbars NP. These pages are the highlight of the book. In this part there is a map of each park and a quite thorrow descibtion of acces, accomodation facilities, season to go there, larger mammals of the area etc. Sadly similar chapters in other books have been shown to go quickly out of date. At the end of the book there is a chapter called "futher reading" which obviously seems equal to bibliograpy. Read more

Subjects:  1. Guidebooks    2. Identification    3. Mammals    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. South Asia    7. Wildlife    8. Wildlife viewing sites    9. Wildlife watching    10. Bangladesh    11. Bhutan    12. Biological Sciences    13. Birds and Natural History    14. India    15. Nature / Mammals    16. Nepal    17. Pakistan    18. Sri Lanka    19. Wild animals    20. Zoos & wildlife parks   

Editorial Review

Eric Newby has never been bedeviled by practicality. Hence this1,200-mile journey down the Ganges River, which the author undertook in1963 in the company of his wife and an ever-changing crew of Indianretainers. What moved him to take the trip? Partly it was the memory ofhis military service in India more than two decades before. And as heconfesses, Newby has a lifelong and perhaps congenital love of rivers:"I like exploring them. I like the way in which they grow deeper andwider and dirtier but always, however dirty they become, managing toretain some of the beauty with which they were born." Few rivers growquite as dirty as the Ganges, which also goes by such nicknames asRead more

Reviews (5)

Humorous But Not Enlightening
I read this book after I'd spent a month in India and I found it LOL funny.There's no great insights here, no V.S. Naipual style reflection or analysis, it's just a tale of two Colonial-era Brits determined to travel the 1,200 mile length of the Ganges by boat in 1963/64.But if you're a westerner who's ever spent an extended period of time trying to get around inside of northern India, I suspect you'll find this book as amusing as I did.So in that sense it captures some of spirit of the place, though perhaps it's only amusing if you've experienced first-hand the chaos that is India.It's probably not a good choice if you're looking for a traveler's introduction to "modern" India.

hilarious, but typical writing through a colonial prism
During the 1950s and 1960s there were several travel books written on India, whose tone were in general (many cases rightfully so) caustic. While Naipauls 'Area of Darkness' had the pain and disgust of seeing his country of origin in shambles, and Joseph Campbells 'Brahman and Baksheesh' had the disappointment of his lack of success in seeing theory in practice , one wonders about motives of Eric Newby in writing this book. Imagine the irony of a former member of a plundering army coming back, enjoying the hospitality of the same region, lamenting about how bad everything is. Throughout the book, he almost has nothing good to say about the culture, religion, beliefs or the traditions that make Ganges sacred to a billion people . The only people he warms up to are those of his own religion, and other natives who praise the Raj (perhaps he misses the Indian sense of hospitality to visitors , to make them feel at home, even if they dont actually mean it).
Not his best work
I am a long-time fan of Eric Newby since stumbling upon his 1956 book, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. I actually fell off the couch laughing. In addition to the adventures of the trip, Newby offers an inside look at Afghani geography, history and culture in a very readable form.Gently Down the Ganges, by comparison, I found monotonous and dreary, almost whiny. I strongly recommend Newby for his self-deprecating, dry "British Traveler" wit but cannot recommend Gently Down the Ganges as the best of Newby. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Description    3. Description and travel    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Ganges River (India and Bangladesh)    6. Journeys    7. Newby, Eric    8. Travel    9. Travel - Foreign    10. India    11. Travel writing   

Subjects:  1. Asia - Southwest    2. Inspirational - General    3. Religion    4. Travel - Foreign    5. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY   

Reviews (1)

A Photgraphic Misguide.
Years of birds and birdwatching has proved that for the purpose of reference books or field guides, good illustrations win hands down over photographs. A photograph of a bird is O.K. till it stays in a personal collection or, at most, in a exhibition where wannabe birdwatchers can drool over it. For a serious birdwatcher in a field, a photograph is useless.And it's not that there is a lack of illustrators. They virtually abound : Carl D' Silva, John H. Dick, Martin Woodcock, Irani, just to name a few.Read more

Subjects:  1. Birds & Birdwatching - General    2. Photography    3. Pictorials    4. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    5. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Asia    6. Travel   

Subjects:  1. Bangladesh    2. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Reviews (1)

Well worth the money!
Katy Gardner has done a wonderful job in packaging her research as a secular anthropologist into a format that is both entertaining to read and intensely informative.While living with a Muslim family in Bangladesh she gained valuable insights that should be read by any outsider who is serious about understanding Bangladeshi village culture. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Essays & Travelogues    3. Fairy Tales, Folklore & Mythology    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - General    6. Literature: Classics    7. Women   

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Maps    3. Travel - Foreign    4. India    5. Indian sub-continent    6. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Editorial Review

India is enormous. At 1,237,062 square miles, it's more than five times the size of France. Yet how many maps does the average guide to India provide, and with what amount of detail? With nearly 100 pages of accurate maps, the Lonely Planet atlas for India and Bangladesh is a slim but liberating addition to your travel gear. It contains travel information in five languages and a comprehensive index; the atlas is an invaluable travel aid, unlocking India from Srinagar to Nagercoil and Jamnagar to Dibrugarh. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Passport, Wallet and Atlas
If you know where you want to go then I would agree with the above reviewer- a guidebook will tell you about nearby sites and how to get there and for that you can get by without an atlas. But for those who want to explore a particular region- how else are you going to plot an itinerary? This atlas is fully indexed by place, and also by beaches, capes & headlands, caves, forts, islands, mountians & passes, rivers, lakes, & bays, ruins and temples. And no matter how good a guidebook- only an atlas like this will assure you that you haven't missed anything of interest whereever you happen to be.
Indispensable!
While working on an on-going university research project I have spent five years driving the back roads of India. This book has saved my sanity as well as my tires and axles. It is by far and away the most helpful roadatlas available.

Never used it....
The maps are better than what most Indians have ever seen in their lives,which is exactly why travellers don't need it.If you are taking publictransport around the country, you get plenty of information about how to gowhere from LP India or from information at train stations, bus stations andother travellers.It simply isn't worth the excess weight (in a rucksack). If on the other hand you are cycling or have your own motorized vehicle,this would be irreplacable (so be careful who you show it to). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Atlases - General    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign   

Reviews (1)

A memorable tribute to a timeless and sacred river
The Ganges is the fascinating and informative personal story of one man's pilgrimage along the famous and revered river Ganges, ranging from it's sources in the Himalaya mountains to its ultimate destination in the Bay of Bengal. 123 impressive, unforgettable color photographs enhance a deeply engaging text by contemporary photographer Raghubir Singh. Both image and commentary blend to document Singh's undeniable eye for detail, and fill the 192-pages this remarkable travelogue and memorable tribute to a timeless and sacred river. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Ganges River (India and Bangla    3. Ganges River (India and Bangladesh)    4. Ganges River Valley (India and    5. Ganges River Valley (India and Bangladesh)    6. Human ecology    7. Individual Photographer    8. Photo Essays    9. Photoessays & Documentaries    10. Photography    11. Religious life and customs    12. Subjects & Themes - Travel - General    13. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Asia    14. India    15. Photographic reportage    16. Places & peoples: general interest   

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Asia - India & South Asia    3. Ganges River Region (India and Bangladesh)    4. History    5. History: World    6. India - History    7. Pictorial works    8. Rivers    9. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Asia    10. Travel - Foreign    11. History / General    12. India    13. Places & peoples: general interest   

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    2. Children: Grades 1-2    3. Description and travel    4. Ganges River (India and Bangla    5. Ganges River (India and Bangladesh)    6. Ganges River Valley (India and    7. Ganges River Valley (India and Bangladesh)    8. Juvenile Fiction    9. Juvenile literature    10. People & Places - Asia    11. People & Places - General    12. Preschool Picture Story Books    13. Religious - Other    14. ASIA    15. English literature: fiction texts    16. Fiction    17. Human geography    18. Juvenile Fiction / People & Places / General    19. Picture books    20. Religious education / world faiths   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (2)

Too self involved
I found the main observations in this book fairly interestering.But overall I found his attitude to the locals fairly arrongant unless they happened to help his journey.If you read the book them you will otice a few pieces of information don't check out e.g. the first cane bridge that he walks on and falls through he describes the pieces of wood being 30 cm apart, however in the picture in the book you can clearly see in the photos taken by himself that the only space close to that is the hole he fell done the rest were closer to 10 cm.To be honest this book has stirred an interest in this genre but I will be looking for books by a open minded writer, unlike Mark Shand.

'one man and his dog'
I found 'River Dog' to be a touching moving and at times quite funny travelouge. It could be easily argued that the main focus of the book is not shand himself but rather his adorable companion, bhaiti , the hunting dog. This loveable mutt, which amazingly turns out to be an ancient pedigree breed is initially rescued from the back streets of india and is then launched on an amazing journey with shand both hiking and sailing down the mighty brahmaputra river. The dog repays shand by literally saving him from a horned viper. shand then has an extensive opium fuelled conversation with bhaiti which the author notes, quite rightly, as being....really weird!Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Essays & Travelogues    3. General    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Bangladesh    7. INDIA_DESCRIPTION AND TRAVEL    8. India    9. Tibet    10. Travel / Asia / India    11. Travel writing   

Reviews (2)

Some parts were good
The first half of this book reads as if the author spent most of his time hunkered down in a guest house in the more affluent part of Dhaka, reporting stories he read in the local English language press and what he ate for dinner.Later on, the book becomes more interesting as the reader experiences the author's growing realization that all in Bangladesh is not as it may seem to a visiting expatriate.The best parts are those describing the author's experiences travelling around Bangladesh giving courses for journalism students.The title seems overly incendiary given that the author, having spent only some months in Bangladesh, would not seem to be in a position to make such a dramatic prediction about political events there.

A political memoir of significance
As a political memoir, Bangladesh 2000: on the Brink of Civil War is a good read. This is a part of the world that Americans have only limited access to. While it is common knowledge that Bangladesh is prone to naturaldisasters, the political situation in the country is less well known. Theauthor, Paul Ryder Ryan, an experienced journalist, makes a good case forhis conclusion that the poverty-stricken country is on the brink of civilwar. Just the arrest of more than 50,000 "outlaws and terrorists"in the cause of law and order is a mindboggling fact. The number of diversepolitical forces in the country all pulling in opposite directions is alsoaptly demonstrated by Mr. Ryan, as is the increasingly volatile situationin general in South Asia, which includes India and Palistan their disputedterritory of Kashmir. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - Southeast Asia    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Economic Conditions    4. Government - Comparative    5. Political    6. Political Science    7. Politics/International Relations    8. Sociology - General    9. Asia    10. Culture    11. History    12. Politics    13. Travel   

Reviews (4)

Don�t leave home without it
This is an essential guide for travel in Bangladesh.Like all the books in the Lonely Planet travel series, it begins with Facts about the Country, Facts for the Visitor, Getting There and Away, and Getting Around.Next comes a detailed description of Dhaka and the surrounding district, and then separate chapters for each of the major political and geographical divisions in Bangladesh. Nice work!
This is the best lonelyplanet guide book I've ever had.Normally, I find them OK but irritating.Miraculously, this one is different. Excellent Guide
I found this guide to be very informative and helpful. The maps are a very good basis for getting a sense of where various sections of the cities are located. Some guidebooks are sorely outdated but this book is still quitecurrent. Many of the places mentioned are still in existence. We plan totake several of the recommended trips from this guidebook as well ascycling trips. Since moving to Dhaka I have used this book continually fora reference book. I would highly recommend reading this book before comingto visit Bangladesh! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Asia - India    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Bangladesh    6. Travel & holiday guides   

Features

• Large Print

Reviews (1)

Beautiful history through childs eyes...
I loved this book. Its written from the memories of the authors childhoods. Moving with their parents, aunt and younger sibling they tell of the experince of growing up in India during the 1910`s. It is written as a novel, but with a childlike understanding. In the preface the authors explain its written from their memories as children and therefore their understanding and interputation is as it was from young eyes and minds, but i think this makes it more interesting to read, since children can be very perceptive, but also lacking in knowledge.There is love and hate, life and death. Cultural diffrences and tradition. The area they lived in is now another country. The two sisters tell an interesting story that you may not hear often for the time it was written about.
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Subjects:  1. Bangladesh    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. General    4. Large type books    5. Social life and customs    6. Travel - General   

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Children's All Ages - Travel - Foreign    3. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    4. Children: Grades 2-3    5. Children: Grades 4-6    6. Ganges River (India and Bangla    7. Ganges River (India and Bangladesh)    8. Juvenile Geography    9. Juvenile Nonfiction    10. Juvenile literature    11. People & Places - Asia    12. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences - Water (Oceans, Lakes, Et    13. Science & Nature - Earth Sciences - Water (Oceans, Lakes, Etc.)   

Subjects:  1. Bangladesh    2. Description and travel    3. Missionaries   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Bangladesh    3. Earth Sciences - General    4. Emigration & Immigration    5. Emigration And Immigration    6. Return migration    7. Rural Anthropology    8. Rural conditions    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Sociology    12. Anthropology    13. Anthropology | Social & Cultural    14. Immigration & emigration    15. Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural