The author has produced a slew of photo studies with incisive text on the life and times of the U.S. soldier, and his Spanish and Mexican californio predecessors also. His specialty is in gathering together contemporary source material for the illustrations. This method has the great virtue of showing what was what and when. But if no photos are available, then something may be omitted. All of these books are vertical studies covering a period of years. Though sometimes the illustrations serve to identify individual items of equipment, these works are not intended for that purpose. They are not catalogs intended for materiel collectors. They are of such a length and of such a level of detail that they will serve the purposes of the general reader with a curiousity about what grandaddy did in WW II or great great great grandaddy in the Civil War and what he looked like and how he lived. This is not to say that the specialist such as myself cannot find useful nuggets herein. I can. I use these for general surveys of periods I do not study in detail, such as the Civil War, and the War With Mexico, etc. And to look up the odd facts. I have yet to be disappointed with any of them.

Everyone who wants to know more about the Philippino and their customs should read this book. It contains a very good information how you should tread the people.

I'm not an anthropologist or Bisayan, so I cannot comment with any authority on the author's treatment of these topics. I am an amateur student of the Bisaya language and Filipino culture, and I very much appreciated the author's effort to understand his subjects and their culture through revelations embedded in their language. Literally every page has examples of the language and the insight it help to provide in understanding/clarifying the people and how they viewed their lives. The book raised an obvious question - "how can a people be understood and described without making their language central?"

The biggest and most beautiful hotel in Legaspi City, Albay which is Mayon International Hotel is not included in your 7th edition. Your data about this city is very much outdated. Lots of hotels written in the book have shut down. Do another research.

This book helped me a lot when I was visiting the Philippines, but there were a lot of ommissions, such as residence visas, work permits, etc. in case someone decides to stay longer... A good way to get around in Manila soon will be the LRT, it's nearing completion with a route following EDSA all the way to Quezon City! Shipping and airplane schedules change so often, putting schedules in the book is only more confusing than anything but it helps to give a good idea. WG&A, Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific etc. all have web sites, and I think these might be more helpful. Internet access is very common in the Philippines these days, but be careful! I logged on in an internet 'cafe' in SM Megamall, Mandaluyong and it took a lot longer to get on than I thought posible! Then the computer misread the data and posted everything in my account erased! the trick is to find good, reliable ISPs and post their info in the book, this might also be helpful.

We spent two weeks in the Philippines, and although it is a short time, your guide book helped us not to waste a minute. As we were using it we realised we could rely completely on it; all your suggestions became a success. Even in the remotest areas your book has accuracy in all the details. And this is something we would like to thank you for: reading this guidebook the taveler has the opportunity to choose according to his tastes since you offer us a wide range of possibilities to fit in any style of travel. We were so amazed at the quality of your book that we gave it to a very kind Philipinne driver that took us thorougout Luzon for four days. We thought it would be a very useful tool for his job. Thank you.

The stories in this collection have little to do with plot, character development, and astute narration. Point of view is skewed in the narratives. There are no real endings. Ginseng and Other Tales from Manila is obviously Ms Villanueva's first attempt at publishing her bland writings to the world. Let us hope her type of inspiration does not provide the intelligent reading public with a second volume of novice prose.

Marianne Villanueva's "Ginseng and other Tales From Manila" is one of the finest books I've read in the past few years. She seamlessly weaves together the social, political, emotional and supernatural elements of Filipino life. She is a fine stylist, but her gifts go far beyond the quality of her prose; her understanding of the human heart, her eye and ear for the telling detail, the balance she maintains between poignancy and detachment -- all these make for an original, disturbing, fascinating book. I've since lent the book to friends; many read it from cover to cover in one sitting, and the stories -- and characters -- have lingered with us long after we closed the book. Highly recommended.

Marianne Villanueva's book, Ginseng and Other Tales from Manila, is a fine collection of stories. She is a remarkable story teller. I am appalled that an anonymous reader should bash this book publicly and not have the guts to print his or her name. I highly recommend this book to all. Cecilia Brainard

This is another in a long line of dispise MacArthur books.
Here are a few of its misconceptions:
1. Mac Arthur was a great hero of World War I - virtually the only general officer who actually led his his troops into action on the Western front. His personal courage was unquestionable, and should not have been called into question during the battle for the Philippines.
2. At that time (1941/42)he was the Commanding General of the allied forces in the Philippines, just as Eisenhower was in Europe in 1944/45. How much time did Ike spend on the beaches of Normandy in June of 1944 or in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge? Yet MacArthur was called "Dugout Doug" for not managing the defense of the Philippines from a fox hole on Bataan. This has always been utter nonsense!
3. In December 1941 MacArthur was as bereft of intelligence information from the War Department as were his counterparts in Hawaii.
4. His defensive operations were dictated by "War Plan Orange," - originally developed by the War Department during the 1920's and still in effect in 1941/42 - which required a retreat into the Bataan Peninsula until the Philippine defense forces could be relieved by reinforcements from the U.S., following a victory over the Japanese Navy in the mid Pacific. Pearl Harbor forclosed such a naval victory for six months and thereby doomed the defense of the Philippines.
5. In spite of their mutual dislike President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur out of the Philippines to command allied forces in Australia. He, at least, recognized MacArthur's inestimable value as a military commander.
6. Against all odds the Philippines held out for six months, until May 6, 1942 - the day of the Battle of the Coral Sea, and one month before the great American naval victory at Midway, which was the turning point of the war in the Pacific. The British surrendered Singapore in February 1942, within two months of the Japanese invasion of Malaya.
7. Ultimately the criticisms of MacArthur come down, as usual, to the claim that he was "arrogant." Well, so what? Was not Alexander the Great arrogant? Was not Julius Caesar arrogant? How about Napoleon? Wellington? Field Marshall Montgomery? George S. Patton? Even Washington was accused by his enemies of being aloof and arrogant. Only U.S. Grant is remembered as a humble soldier. There is no particular military virtue in humility. Douglas Mac Arthur was one of the four or five truly great strategic geniuses in American military history. He desreved his pride. What's more, his self confidence was, without doubt, an essential element in his military genius. It's time to stop criticising him for being who he was.

I found this work on McArthur the best objective opinion of this military "icon" written to date. It was appropriate and necessary for such a work to be written by an academic historian who was not an American in order to obtain an objective view of such a controversial man in American history. I would like to see the author write a similar analysis of McArthur's generalship in the Korean conflict. I think the author could have gained a more complete understand of the reduction of the Air Corps forces if he had reviewed the fine article by Richard Slater found in the November 1987 issue of Airpower Magazine.

This book makes an excellent contribution to a chapter of history that has been overlooked. Connaughton shows that the seeds of a possible US-Japan confrontation in the Philippines were sown decades earlier. Could it have been anticipated? MacArthur's career has many examples of his military brilliance and personal bravery which are at odds with his dismal performance in the Philippines between December 1941 and April 1942. MacArthur had five years to prepare for the defense of the Philippines and his strategic plan called for Japan to land troops at Lingayen, exactly where they did. Yet lack of co-ordination among his senior military commanders and the US Navy, together with sudden changes to long developed defense plans allowed the Japanese to land virtually unopposed, making defeat inevitable.

It is intriguing to speculate how a successful defense, which should have been possible given the fact that the Japanese landed exactly where MacArthur expected them to, might have changed the course of World War II.

MacArthur is fortunate that widespread US setbacks early in the war neccesitated a national hero and allowed him the opportunity to restore his reputation. Even today there are many people who cannot accept the idea that MacArthur made any mistakes, as other reviews of this book make clear. Perhaps another writer will one day tell us why MacArthur was so convinced that the Chinese would not attack across the Yalu during the Korean war. This mistake resulted in a massive setback for the UN forces and added years to that war.

Having read "The Beach" some time ago I was elated to see that Garland had written another novel. I went into "Tesseract" expecting it to be similar to "The Beach". It isn't. At all. It's dry, sparse & moody. If you liked "The Beach" and are wanting another read like it, then know beforehand that "Tesseract" ain't it. Saying that, I must set forth this: "Tesseract" is a good novel. Sort of a "Pulp Fiction" or "Short Cuts" in novel form. It's interesting how Garland sets up stories for different sets of characters & then has them finally interact in a showdown at the end. "Tesseract" is entertaining, very well-written and altogether a satisfying read. I enjoyed it. Just not as much as "The Beach". And that's the problem when a reader comes to a novel with a mindset or an idea of what to expect. If you pick up the book not expecting it to be "The Beach" all over again, I think you'll like it.

I wasn't sure what to expect after reading Alex Garland's incredible debut, The Beach. I was hoping for similar excitement and fast-paced adventure. Well, I definitely got that in spades! The Tesseract is so much more realistic and dramatic, and I was feverishly turning pages to find out how this tesseract would unravel.

Told in four parts, The Tesseract begins with Sean, a sailor on the shipping waters of Manila, waiting in a seedy, run-down motel for the gangster, Don Pepe, and his motley crew. Then the story switches gears entirely and begins the tale of Rosa, a woman who remembers her first love, Lito, through flashbacks. This part of the story is told gently and almost romantically. The next story follows two Filipino street kids, Vincente and Totoy, as they wander the streets of Manila in search of hand-outs and a little excitement. Finally, the fourth part, a gritty and fantastic conclusion, has all three stories violently entwined.

I'm positive this novel was no easy feat to write; however, Alex Garland has done it flawlessly. The stories within this novel are powerful and dramatic, some violent, one wistful and romantic, and all are stunning and solid. A perfect novel to pick apart and invoke energetic discussions. Some things might go over novice readers' heads (when one of the characters, Alfredo, waxes philosophic), but for the most part it is easily understood. A highly recommended novel about how your destiny can be shaped by strangers, and how forces beyond your control can come crashing into your life in a moment's notice. Brilliant.

Let me first say, that if you are picking up this book in the hopes of another story like "The Beach" you will need to re-adjust your view of Alex Garland before jumping in. The Beach was one of my favorite books of the last few years, but with The Tesseract, Garland has surpassed my expectations. His new novel is a thrilling read and an experiment in plot construction. His gritty style is out in full force as usual, this time on the streets of Manilla. Fans won't be disappointed, as Garland weaves another complex tale set in a foreign tropical surrounding that, once again, allows you to lose yourself in another world. If you have read The Beach, you already know that it is an incredible book. Once you read The Tesseract you will see that Garland is an incredible writer as well.

This book is bad for beginner and practically useless for a master. There is no comprehensive description of training complexes, footwork drills and other important details, which were completely omitted. It gives just an overview of the system in general, so the reader can have some vague feeling of what Giron escrima is.

I really liked this book. I know it was not as deep in technique and theory as many would have liked, but for the price it is a great introduction. I would like to see a more in-depth version, akin to Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do the text book, or something as nice as either of the new Gracie Books. I am still waiting for the Filipino book that gives real grasp to the newbie, but still has a lot for the experienced player. In short I am looking for some thing with the thought and grace of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Theory and PRactice, or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Self-Defense, or maybe a book as comprehensive in its coverage as is Simco's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: The Master Text.
Never the less it is still good to see old Giron, moving around and swinging a stick.
Nice job.

I`ve bougth this book in order to support my own escrima training. As a rookie in escrima, it gives you the basic understandings in the escrima-fighting art of Grand Master Leo Giron. I think it`s not written with the intention to replace training under a qualified teacher. In my view it supports your training as a beginner in the art. What's more, it gives you a good overview including the origins. Escrima has to be practised to be learned.

Moon guides are in general well researched, balanced, informative and truly valuable travel companions. Northern California, for example is quite excellent.

This "new" edition of the Philippines Handbook, published in late 1999, is, however, a sharp contrast to Moon's normal standards.

Sloppily edited and badly out of date its errors are too numerous to mention, the accomodation sections being especially unreliable. I checked out accomodation comments for several cities which I personally know well including Manila and Cebu and the data in this book are either very out of date, very incomplete, or just plain wrong. Information on shopping in both Manila and Cebu is similarly outdated or just plain absent.

No travel guide, unfortunately, takes this interesting, challenging and rapidly developing country seriously. The "new" (1977) Lonely Planet guide is little better than the Moon guide

In summary, if you have an older edition of either guide, use it. These "new" editions are a sham.

Unlike the great South Pacific handbooks by Moon this book lacks detail. It mentions areas you can go to, but not how to to get there or where to stay. It has general information but is not worth it. Would rather like to depend on Lonely Planet, am going to check out Jens Peters book as well. I'll pass on this guide.

This was our guide to our last trip to the Philippines, and was priceless. Was enjoyed just as much by our relatives there. Would never have enjoyed the 'Hobbit House' so much if it hadn't been mentioned. This is a must have guide for anyone travelling there.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a Teach Yourself Tagalog book was finally offered to the public. Upon opening the book, however, it was clear that the book would not do its job. The authors, for one thing, neglected to write stress marking on the Tagalog words so whoever uses this book and tries to pronounce will end up sounding like a blundering idiot. They had a lot of Tagalog literature at their disposal to help them with their explanations that it appears they didn't use. Whoever buys this book will have to ask a native to write the stress marking on each word so they can really learn to speak the Tagalog language. What a shame they published it in its current state!

This book has a story which starts from their arrival at the airport. You will see dialogs of conversation. I am a local who is very familiar with Tagalog. I bought this for my European wife who wishes to learn. One thing we found is that the translations is around 98% correct. But the format is enough for one to learn the language. The approach is practical. We don't have the accompanying tape and I didn't know it had one as an option. So I would do the talking for my wife to get the proper pronunciation. I don't know how foreigners would read this book but I assume they are likely to get the wrong pronunciation without help. The phrases have no indication how you would pronouce them but I think it might be a distraction.

I found that the best way for a foreigner to learn is to be exposed to it by speaking it and being spoken to in Tagalog, or listening to an actual conversation. If this isn't available to you, then this book is close enough. I assume the tape would be a bonus if you can get it.

You can also join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tagalog-e/ Here you can learn with others how to speak it or write it.

At last! A Tagalog course I can use! And tapes to go with it!

The Tagalog language has been long-neglected by publishers of language materials. This fine course helps make up for the deficiency. The lessons are very well-designed, the explanations of a grammar very different from our own are not difficult to follow, and there is a lot of interesting material about Filipino culture. Also, the tape I purchased with the book is excellent and an invaluable help in picking up the pronunciation.

Much has been made of the lack of accent marking in the text. I for one don't see why accents are not marked in the vocabulary lists for each lesson- that is the usual practice in texts on other languages with unpredictable accentuation- Russian, for instance- so that if the reader forgets the stress in the main body of the text, she can always refer back to the vocabulary. The book does have all entries in the back marked with accents, however it is a nuisance to have to consult the glossary to learn the stress of each new word, if you don't have the tape right at hand. That's a minor fault, however.

And I'm so happy to have a usable Tagalog course at last that I don't even mind.