Foreign-market Books

I'm in Iraq on deployment. This little book is great! Easy to carry around. It gives me pertinent phrases in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA); even though the Iraqi dialect varies.

I find it interesting that the glowing reviews on the back cover of the book are all in reference to the "Simple Etiquette in Arabia" portion (37 pages), and not to the language component (69 pages). Indeed, a traveler who relies on the stylized Roman script to facilitate reasonable pronunciation will be taking a chance.

As an experiment, I enlisted the help of three colleagues to read the Arabic as presented in this book (with native Arabic speakers in the room). One produced fairly good pronunciation, the second was recognizable, and the third gave up because he was incomprehensible.

The book is attractive, pleasantly thin, and enjoyable to look at. And the "etiquette" section is good. But to be truly valuable as a language tool, it should come with recorded material. If you plan to use it, try to find an Arabic speaker to help you with pronunciation -- before you try it on the street.

Globalisation is not a new thing, as Kobrak reminds us in this authoritative and readable monograph. In the 19th and 20th centuries, as the US rose to prominence, it often required external capital to develop a virgin continent. Deutsche Bank was one of the financiers, that provided this capital.

The narrative describes long ago travails. Of investments that did well and others that went totally bankrupt. In the midst of much of this was Deutsche Bank, who typically provided loans for infrastructure. Notably the railroads that would span the United States. One railroad, Northern Pacific, gets an entire chapter, delineating how it fell on hard times.

The 20th century also brought with it 2 world wars. In which the bank was on the other side for both. But now, at least during peacetime, capital often flowed from the US to Europe. Being versatile, the bank found much business here, facilitating this flow.

Granted, in places, the book makes for dry reading. But fans of history and economics should still like the story.

this book is very good for begginers who want to learn russian on their own, without a teacher or instructor, the price is reasonable, i would suggest it for any one who is interested in the russian language

This is a good book if you dream of going to Provence or if you've been and you're looking for something to remind you of the trip. However, if you're looking for a guide book that'll actually get you through Provence, this one lacks the depth you'll need... you'd be better off getting one of the bigger Let's Go or Fodor's guides.

Thank you for the book.
I only wished I knew it would be shipped from France! Not knowing that I began to worry when I realized it took so long to get to me, supposedly from within US.

It was a gift for someone special, but it all worked out, eventually.

Cristian

Hi, I am working at ILISA Spanish Language Institute in San Jose, Costa Rica and I just want to say that this book helps our students a lot by giving them helpful inside information and thus by getting to know all the ins and outs about this fantastic country. Thanks!

I picked this up for 50c at the local shops. I was quite surprised, as this is one of the best books I've ever read concerning Ollie North.

It is more than just about his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. It is more of biography of this truly amazing man and his dedication to his country and beliefs.

If you can find this book anywhere, I would strongly recommend you get it, even if you are unfamiliar with whom Ollie North is.

This Larousse Dictionnaire des Synonymes is very practical and convenient
as a complementary tool to the Nouveau Petit Robert. I've enjoyed using it
as an addition to the main language dictionaries.
Helene Cardona, author of The Astonished Universe

This makes planning fun as the style is great and gets you excited about visiting the places included. With the frommer's 3-day guide for the more tradtional stuff (parks, museums,...etc) it's got everything you need. I should note that it has a bit of a foodie/hipster/quirky vibe to it, so if that doesn't appeal to you, you might want to look elsewhere. Here are my only issues. An included map would have been helpful (there is one oneline you can use but unless you have an iPhone that you want to use in Canada at out-of-country data rates, that's not much help), in the same vein, it would have been helpful for the reviews to be grouped by area.

Conclusion: this book led to some of the best experiences we had in Montreal. Get it.

Acabo de leer El Cliente (en versión castellana) de Grisham y me queda bien la impresión que deja la novela. Como todo el mundo, ya había visto la película con Susan Sarandon y Tommy Lee Jones (los puristas se quejaron porque los actores no eran fieles a las personas en el libro), pero las diferencias no me molestan - no son importantes. ¡Cuidado! ha sido traducido por un español (Tremps), entonces hay "camareros", se "cogen" taxis y todo lo demás - si no os molesta, ¡comprad esta versión castellana!