Subjects:  1. Asia - Southwest    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Sri Lanka    6. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. 1880-1969    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Description and travel    7. General    8. Great Britain    9. Political scientists    10. Sri Lanka    11. Woolf, Leonard,    12. Biography & Autobiography / General    13. Biography: general    14. Woolf, Leonard    15. c 1900 - c 1914   

Reviews (1)

Features the best hotels of the region
Students of architecture, hotel and commercial building design, and travel will all find much to attract in Cool Hotels: India, Maldives, Sri Lanka: it features the best hotels of the region, from rustic to big city, and discusses craftsmanship, artistic d�cor, and landscaping qualities which make each hotel exceptional. The meat of Cool Hotels lies in its full-page color photos of both interior and exteriors of featured hotels.
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Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Asia - India    3. HotelsInnsetc.    4. Interior Design - General    5. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Asia    6. Travel - Foreign    7. Interior design    8. Public buildings: civic, commercial, industrial, etc   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Travel    3. Travel - General    4. Travel / General   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. General    3. Sri Lanka    4. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (1)

if you love the beach this is the book for you...
This travel book was a bit disappointing, I bought this book because it was the most recently published book on travel in Sri Lanka.It is a great book if you plan to only go to the beach and Colombo.It has very little information on the interior of the country.For a more well rounded book I would get the lonely planet guide instead. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - Southwest    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Sri Lanka    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Asia / Southwest   

Subjects:  1. Asia - Southeast    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Sri Lanka    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Asia / Southeast   

Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. Foreign Language Study    4. Indic & South Asian Languages - General    5. Language    6. Polyglot Phrasebooks    7. Language self-study & phrasebooks    8. Sinhalese    9. Sri Lanka    10. Tamil    11. Travel & holiday guides   

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. Description and travel    2. Sri Lanka   

Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Asia - India    3. Asia - Southwest    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel Guides   

Subjects:  1. Guidebooks    2. Railroads    3. Sri Lanka   

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

Reviews (4)

Has presented a biased view on Sri lanka
As a another Sri lankan, i too must say that McGowan has no proper understanding of Sri Lanka & its culture.although he does a good job researching & presenting sri lankan history accurately.Some aspects he has written on are laugheable and truely reflects the authors ignorance.he has presented a biased view of the sinhalese community & buddhism and labeled negative streotypes on the community.most sinhalese people are not racists.The book is biased and lacking in any sort of understanding of the sri lankan culture.

Well researched, but lacks substance
As a Sri Lankan I found William McGowans book excellent in its historical evaluation of the situation that was in the country in the late 80's, but lacks substance of its analysis of theSri Lankan psyche. McGowan jumps into coclusions just by the color or the attire of a person. How could he distinguish wheather a person is high or low cast just by observing. In modern Sri Lanka, as a democracy and as a developing nation it would be very hard to pin point at a person and decide on the caste just by looking at him or her. In modern Sri Lanka caste is a dead factor and Mc Gowan seems to be harping on it.
Lacks insight and maturity
This is a book written by an American for a western audience. The writer admits that he cannot quite make sense of what was happening nor can he break through the cultural barriers to understand Sri Lanka. But despite not having anything insightful to say, he decides to write a book. This book is his catharsis and it is drapped in good form by well turned phrases. But because the writer could not overcome his own prejudices, no real light is shed on one of the most horrible events of the twentieth century.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1978-    2. Contemporary Politics - Asia    3. Description and travel    4. Ethnic relations    5. General    6. India    7. Politics - Current Events    8. Politics and government    9. Politics/International Relations    10. Sri Lanka   

Reviews (1)

Sri Lanka Travel Guides/Maps
Very nice map, but not hard to say as there are so few maps of Sri Lanka that are worth looking at.The only complaint that I have is that International Travel Maps only show a blow-up of Colombo, whereas Nelles Maps of Sri Lanka have blow-ups of Colombo, Kandy, Anuradhapura, and Galle, but no Negombo blow-up.I purchased a Globetrotter Travel Pack w/map (pretty good map/package deal) in Negombo a couple years ago, that was a good deal, it's a smaller travel guide compared to Lonely Planet, Rough Guide to Sri Lanka, Footprint Sri Lanka, Insight Guide Sri Lanka, & Culture Shock Sri Lanka of which I have one of each but basically handier when in the trenches of Sri Lanka.If you prefer blow-ups of major population areas go for the Nelles Map, if you don't need blow-ups then get the International Travel Maps version. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Maps    2. Maps & Road Atlases    3. Travel    4. Sri Lanka    5. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Reviews (3)

A must-buy for anyone moving to SL
Unfortunately I read this book after living in the country for 20 months. I found all of the information contained in the book well written, accurate and very useful. My only regret was that I did not read this before coming here as it would have made the 'culture shock' more understandable.

Very Informative and Helpful!
The writer for Culture Shock! Sri Lanka appeared to be very familiar with the country. I am married to a Sinhalese and before we traveled to the country for my first visit, I shared selections from the book with myhusband. He was pleasantly surprised that the information was fairlyaccurate. I referred to the book often during my travels and found it veryhelpful and right on point.

Better than most
This guide is better than most. Lots of useful information about cultural differences. It does not contain much tourist information though so it is best used together with a more detailed guide. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - Southeast    2. Reference - General    3. Special Interest - Business Travel    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign   

Reviews (1)

Rough Guide To Sri Lanka
On a par with Insight Guide to Sri Lanka, Footprint Sri Lanka, and Lonely Planet Sri Lanka, the only complaint I have with this publication is that they tend to use very, very few color pictures or topographical maps of the beautiful sights and areas of Sri Lanka, still a very good travel guide. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Special Interest - Adventure    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Sri Lanka    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Asia / Southeast   

Reviews (1)

Best guide available
I have read just about every guide book on Sri Lanka and this is by far my favourite. The author actually lives in Sri Lanka and therefore writes from years of experience as opposed to other authors who get their info from research trips. Although the guide is geared towards rail travel, it alsocontains useful material on Sri Lanka travel in general. ... Read more

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

Reviews (1)

A Philanthropist re-visits the ghosts of his father
Christopher Ondaatje is almost a billionaire and a well known philanthropist.This wonderful book combines a travelogue and autobiography including a commentary on his brother's work "Running in the family" by Michael Ondaatje. Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th Century Description And Travel    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Business    4. Description and travel    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. Leopard    7. Ondaatje, Christopher    8. Punanai    9. Punanai (Sri Lanka)    10. Sri Lanka    11. Travel    12. Biography: general    13. India    14. Journeys    15. Travel writing