Kakaku：
Tuttle Publishing
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Pharses) 『This is a wonderful book to help learn the language but it goes hand in hand with the flash kit. This book provide lots of useful phrases which help to learn the Indonesian language. I recommend to buy this book if you order the flash kit.』
(a neat, quick-start book) 『I used this book as a follow-up to Pimsleur's and was impressed with its quick-start format. I'm a language buff, so have used a lot of methods and products covering many languages over the years. This is a handy way to quickly pick up useful vocabulary.』
(Useless!) 『Why take this book, with it's limited information, poorly organized information and small vocabulary? I bought both this and Lonely Planet's Indonesian guide; I found that the LP guide was more comprehensive, perfectly organized, and terrific. This language guide enables you to just memorize phrases, and the usefullness of those phrases is sickening. In the dictionary, in the appendix, it lists words such as 'intent','sponge' and 'alliegance', but not 'stop', 'bathroom tissue' or 'hungry'. If you are already a good Indonesian speaker, this book might have the slightest bit of relevance, but other than that, it was a collasal waste of money, and a hassel.』
(words well chosen) 『I also have the "Instant Thai", and I must say the words are really well chosen in the Indonesian book. I was in Bali, and had this around when talking to some Balinese, and these words were always handy. Not only that, I had a few dictionaries, and you would be surprised how many times you would find the word in its dictionary, all while being a very small sample.』
(Great little book) 『Excellent book. Super small and convenient to fit in a pants pocket or small pouch (I carried mine around in a small camera bag). Perfect amount of vocab for<=2 month trip. Starts you off with the most important words. Example sentences under each word are useful and make use of other words in the book, strengthening your knowledge.
One person on here complained about not being able to flip directly to vocab as needed. This is largely true. I would recommend afixing a few post-it labels to the sections for dates, times, money etc. Also it's not a dictionary (though there is a small one way dictionary in back). If you want a straight up pocket dictionary to nail words as they are needed, LP makes a good one with a lot of words. But if you learn the words in here and try to use them when speaking with locals, you'll pick up a very solid base which you can elaborate on.
One other note: past the first 15 or 20 words, the relative importance of the words compared to one another declines. So if you start learning words that don't seem useful for your circumstances, just skip them and move on to some words later in the book...』 『Do you want to learn simple Indonesian quickly? Are you visiting Indonesia and need a handy and accurate guide for easy communication? If so, this is the phrase book for you.Instant Indonesianallows you to quickly and easily meet people, go shopping, travel, ask for directions, order food and drinks, and much more!Instant Indonesianis part of an exciting new series of phrase books that provides readers with a basic level of language teaching and the necessary skills to form their own sentences according to specific circumstances, perfect for business travelers and tourists.』
Kakaku：
Sourcebooks, Inc.
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Packed with wedding secrets well worth knowing about) 『1,000 Best Secrets for Your Perfect Wedding is packed with secrets well worth knowing about. Author Sharon Naylor's clear and concise wedding tips, ideas and hints are geared to help you make a spectacular wedding day.
Both "1,000 Best Secrets for Your Perfect Wedding" and "1,000 Best Wedding Bargains are books (four and a half by eight inches), thickly filled with imaginative planning and just good to know info.』 『Originality is key these days. Couples are throwing old rules to the wind and personalizing their weddings to make them more sentimental, more beautiful and more representative of what they want.
This book captures the latest and best ideas, including:€ Grand gestures, like fireworks, after the vows € Charitable giving with wedding favors € New menu options € Ethnic and religious rituals € Special entertainment features, beyond just the DJ or band € The new trends in décor, from lighting to using water features on tabletops €The new style of wedding-day wardrobe personalization
Broken down by the segments of the wedding day, plus the wedding weekend, this book will provide all the best ideas that couples would have to pay star-budget wedding coordinators to come up with and execute.
The concepts take into account a wide range of price levels, and special sidebars offer budgetary hints. The couple will have in their hands a priceless collection of wedding tips to use, so they can design the unique wedding they've always dreamed of.』
Full of fun and fascinating questions and answers, this handy, compact volume is perfect for inquisitive readers eight and up. With its fresh, appealing design and lively, informative text, the book tackles seven core subjects; Stars and Planets, Planet Earth, Dinosaurs, Ancient Civilizations, Knights and Castles, Inventions, and Transportation. All topics are fully indexed, and each chapter provides relevant, up-to-date, and age-appropriate Web site addresses to aid children with further online investigations. The fun and easy way to test anybody's knowledge!
『This fun, informative book is loaded with facts about volcanoes, rivers, deserts, rain forests, mountains, oceans, and the weather--it even takes young readers right inside our planet. Every page is crammed with fascinating facts that are accompanied by full-color illustrations.』
Kakaku：
Brooklands Books
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Entertaining and Intersting Source) 『This little book is pretty neat. It's packed with articles from "back in the day" when the GS1000 and it's derivatives were new. There's an article about engine mods, as well as Dunstall parts and some other interesting stuff. Fun to read what the press thought of these great bikes back when they were new.』 『
Models covered are: Yoshimura, Dunstall, CS, XT, GS1000, HC, E, S, L, GT, E7. Articles include information on road, comparison and track tests, new model introductions, performance data, etc.
Kakaku：
Palgrave Macmillan
Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks IPhone 3G used's review (excellent survey history of the dark ages: academic, accessible, dense) 『This is one of the best survey histories that I have ever read: while comprehensive, it neither gets bogged down in obscure scholarly debates nor over-simplifies controversies on sources or interpretation for lay readers. I was utterly absorbed in it for weeks - every page made me want to learn more in more specialized sources. A demanding read, its level is advanced undergraduate or early graduate school.
The book starts with the sudden deterioration of the West Roman Empire, with a detailed portrayal of the culture, the military challenges faced, and an extended analysis of the collapse. This takes up the first 100 pages and is necessary for an understanding of the new order (or disorder) that is covered in the next 300+ pages. In seeking causes of the implosion, the author examines the thesis that it was Christianity, population decline, or circumstances and bad decisions; it is a wonderfully nuanced discussion.
The last 3/4 of the book covers both the rise of new states or kingdoms as well as the rise of Christianity and its institutions, which differed in many ways from the Roman ones that carried on through the cultural influence of surviving aristocrats. This is so dense with ideas and information that I cannot do justice to it here. Essentially, new kingdoms arose that borrowed from Roman models of government, culminating in the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne. However, with the exception of Byzantium, these arrangements were temporary hereditary monarchies, rarely intact for longer than 100 years due to incessant wars with eachother or with outside forces (Arabs, Slavs, Vikings, all of which is covered). The greatest change was the development of a Christian ideology as a way to transmit culture and ultimately political reach.
There are faults with the book. First, there is only one map, which is a serious problem given the complexity of evolving regions with names that were long superceded - would you know, for example, what part of Germany was "saxon"? Second, there are no illustrations, which would have enhanced the reading experience. Third, there is no wrapup analysis at the end - it just ends abruptly, with a descriptions of the Ottonians' demise. You get no view of what follows, what it might have meant, and what was accomplished. Finally, social questions, economics, and technology are not covered.
Recommended for all serious students of history. It is a wonderful read and beautifully written.』
(Eureka) 『This is an excellent introduction for the person who is seriously interested in understanding the full scope of the early middle ages. Is provides a broad understanding of the many and varied elments of late antiquity. I strongly recommend it.』
(ok but not great) 『Roger Collins' book covers a great scope of history both in time and geography. Overall he does admirable job. He manages to bring in a multitude of facts and figures and covers a huge number of historical characters. Still- I found the book less than great. First, and this is the publisher's fault, it desparately needs maps. Where is Norvicum or Pannonia? Where even is Leon in Spain? Second, the beginning of each chapter consists of a discussion of texts and how the material is lacking or not to be believed. His discussion of text gets laughable at times. More important, Mr. Collins misses so much. He misses much social context and rarely delves into the economics or trade. I would point in specific to non-Visigothic Spain which is amazingly complex and interesting. He glances over the spread of Islam and its reasons and other important features in the history of this period. He gives little detail about the Caliphate in Cordoba and other issues around it and other cities, north and south. In short, he often over simplifies and often makes a statement like something changed but never quite shows how and why. Still, this is a good book, but I would not recommend it as a first read on the period.』
(Strong narrative) 『A good narrative history of the transition from late antiquity to the medieval. I enjoyed the intelligent scepticism about the available written sources and the way Collins analysed historical actors in terms of the problems actually facing them (rather than some teleological notion of how they "should" have acted or be seen to have acted). Found the lack of consideration of the underlying structures of (changing) societies a bit frustrating, though I realise there are major evidence difficulties. Still, there seemed to be an underlying story just out of reach.
Collins sees the central drama of the period, the "Fall" of the Western Roman Empire, as mainly consisting in the disappearance of the first the Western Roman Army and then the capping Imperial authority as the result of various choices made by said authority under mounting military pressure with most of the underlying structures remaining. There is much to be said for this characterisation. However, the evidence of a long-term demographic and economic decline extending from about 300AD to about 750AD suggests that these processes were themselves the results of deeper underlying causes (which they may, of course, have then aggravated). Similarly, Collins seems alittle over-impressed by the survival of the Eastern Roman Empire (p.98). Yes, that state did survive for another 1000 years, but it also lost half its own territory in the period 650-710AD.
Which is not to say it is other than a useful and informative book. The political and military struggles of the period are laid out in a clear narrative, particularly the rise and decline of the Carolingian empire, and there is plenty of information to assist in building a better sense of the period.』
(Mary, Mary, quite contrary...) 『In writing an overall account of history such as this, what matters is the capacity for synthesis and re-interpretation, and Roger Collins certainly has both. But he also has the faults of his virtues. He manages to cover all important features of the enormous period under observation; he is familiar with modern scholarship; he is an excellent writer; and he is constantly questioning his material and searching for new interpretation. On a number of issues, his views are not only interesting but revelatory; take for instance his account of the barbarity and self-serving mendacity of Charles Martel, or of the real role of Aetius in the end of the Western Empire. However, his constant questioning of the issues can take the form of being contrary for its own sake; and some of his preconceptions are unacceptable. In particular, he pushes the issue of Roman influence on the conquering Germanic war bands so far that, in effect, any notion of Teutonic cultural autonomy vanishes into a phantom, and we are left wondering why, if everything of importance from monarchy to law-codes had been borrowed by the Teutons from the Romans, the political structures of the Dark and Middle Ages are so different from the Roman one - not only in scale, but in kind. This is a fine and thoughtful account of a large area of our history, but I would not take it without taking in some contrary views as a balance.』 『
This book offers a fascinating account of Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire through to the end of the tenth century. In its wide-ranging coverage of the period, it takes into account social, economic and political changes as well as the important cultural changes, including the rise of Islam and the recreation of a western empire under the Cardingians.
大満足！北国のホタテ・いくら・ボタンエビがぎっしり！
