The author's analysis is not enough

As a book of political science, this book is certainly interesting. But, As an analysis of The Politics of Hong Kong, some aspects are overlooked.

This is a very interesting book about Hong Kong's democratic development. Those who are interested in Hong Kong should read it!

The book though lavish in its pictures,,,,is a study in bad taste.

Have you ever been curious about how Really Rich people live? This is your chance to take a peek at private, luxurious homes belonging to some of the wealthiest people in Hong Kong. Clear, detailed photography, and insightful text annotate an exclusive tour of remarkable decor and priceless artifacts and personalized treasures. If you were hoping that this book would substitute for actually visiting these places, you'll find that after reading the book, you'll now want to travel even more...

One can learn a lot about a person by how he or she lives. I always learn more about people by spending 15 minutes in their houses than by spending countless hours talking to them. Why? Because what each of us chooses to live with reveals a lot about what is important to us.

Hence, my year long fascination with this beautiful book! If you are only expecting to see interiors filled with nothing but chinese art and furniture, what a suprise you will get!! It is a felicitious blend of both eastern and western artistic traditons. The residences range from a luxurious junk owned by a Persian marble dealer, to an art-deco-style house owned by a former model and her husband. Though I never saw a picture of the owners, I developed a clearer, more vivid idea of who they are in my head. I learned about Kai-Yin Lo, and her fabulous collection of Ming Dynasty furniture, and David Tang's love of gardens, and classical piano. I also promised myself that someday I would go to Hong Kong and see this beautiful city.

Sophie Benge has done a great job with the text and Fritz Von Der Schulenburg's photographs are beautiful. After seeing this book, you may just find yourself at the airport, bag and passport in hand ready to go!

This is really 3 1/2 stars. The subject was engrossing, the story of the rivalry between the heroic Frenchman and the brilliant but cheating Japanese researchers interesting, the history of the plague informative. BUT it was very condensed; the chapters were quite short and needed fleshing out.

I did like the organization - alternating between a breakout of the plague in modern India and the one that struck turn of the century Hong Kong. Particularly disturbing were the tales of modern plague and the rather easy conditions needed to engender such a horror.

The author did not spend enough time with the main story. He concentrated on colonial conditions, the prejudice of the imperialists, the still-existing problem of health in the 3rd world. But the heart of the story was the rivalry between the two researchers and the plague itself. This could have been a brilliant book - instead it was only above average. Pictures and a bibliography are included.

PLAGUE starts out slow but gathers steam in the last hundred pages. This progression may have been inevitable. True stories of killer diseases have emerged as a genre in recent years since the publishing of Richard Preston's THE HOT ZONE, and the plague in particular is probably the most written-about disease in human history. So Marriott needed to try something new or be hopelessly derivative. The problem with this book is that Marriott perhaps attempts tries in too many ways before the story steadies itself and becomes compelling.

The basic set up of the book is, HOT ZONE-like, an icky outline of what the disease can do, then the story of the scientific exploration of the disease. (Even more than THE HOT ZONE, PLAGUE's tale of scientific rivalry in the race to understand the disease reminded me of Gina Kolata's FLU). This story, the rivalry between French doctor Alexander Yersin and his Japanese competitor, Kitasato Shibasaburo, is essentially what the book is about.

But before the Yersin-Kitasato race becomes interesting, Marriott inserts several side stories, some of which distract from the momentum of the main story. Most distracting is an ongoing story about a 1994 plague outbreak in India. That's only the lengthiest of several stories of "future" plague outbreaks. I think the point is that even though the bacteria that causes plague was identified a hundred years ago, even though the disease is now treatable, even though its method of transmission is now understood, it is still a problem for human societies. But the point could have been made better in a more linear story. As it is, the side stories seem to be inserted in slow moments of the main story. Perhaps Marriott felt that the main story did not provide enough material for a full, suspenseful book.

Nevertheless, the suspense level of PLAGUE picks up and the Yersin-Kitasato story reaches a finite end. Not so the larger story of the plague, as indicated by the somewhat open-ended Indian outbreak story, which mutates into a more personal story about a family affected by the social impact of what turns out to be a small outbreak. Unfortunately, this is how the book ends. I think I understand why, but it just doesn't work.

Ask most educated people about the plague and the response you will get probably revolves around the "Black Death" of the Middle Ages that wiped out a good portion of the population of Europe. Most books about the plague tend to focus on this period. But Marriott's book reminds us that the plague is not gone, still popping up its ugly head from time to time.

In a world chilled by thoughts of bio-terrorism and SARS, most people tend to avoid books like this but I find them interesting. Humans will always be susceptible to disease but we will always fight back. In this book, Marriott tells the parallel stories of an outbreak of plague in southeast Asia in 1894 where two scientists--Alexandre Yersin and Shibasaburo Kitasato--tried to determine the process of this disease and an outbreak of plague in India in 1994 where he shows how panic still dominates our reactions to epidemics in our modern world. Along the way, he reminds Americans that plague also has its claws in the United States though our medical system tends to keep things at bay.

Ultimately, Marriott gives us a good look into the foundations of modern medicine and how diseases came to be combated despite the combat, both intellectual and physical, between doctors of different nations and sensibilities. He also reminds us in a rather subtle way of how primitive our response to deadly sickness remains despite our drugs and treatments--something that we need to be reminded of in a world where we could be called to respond to an epidemic on many fronts. His prose may not be as gripping as some writers in this field (Richard Preston comes to mind) but he gets the job done in a very readable way.

this book is useful to the elementary level cos the book has not much 'new' things to the students and/or practitioners. For those who have studied finance would find this book too simple. for those who are interested in hk property market, I would suggest another book, "real estate in hk" ...complied by Mr. Thomas N T Poon., published by PACE

Property Development in H

I was looking for a comprehensive book about Western colonization of asia. This book is not comprehensive. It is a witty collection of coincidental facts with no structure. If one was an expert in asian history, then I suspect that one would find this book interesting. However, if you are not an expert, then you will find youself feeling like you are standing on the periphery of a group of close friends as they tell each other inside jokes and you have no idea what they are talking about.

John Keay seems to love Asia. In this book he deals with the factors that brought the end of European's empires (and Non-European empires) in Asia. He talks about Nationalism, Communism, the Great Depression and World War Two. Cut into three parts or 'books' each chapter focuses on another empire or region of Asia. The Dutch, the English, the French, the Americans and even touches on the Japanese and their invasions. Background is given and how the different nations dealt with their 'subjects' and their goals. Full of history, a must for anybody interested in Asia's history or on how colonialism seems to work. Some overlap because he has to run up and down time when moving from one part of Asia to another, but comes with a simple map and full of humor.

Aimed at the vacationer or business traveller, the strength of this guide is its guided walks/day trip itineraries...and in for a place whose coastline and skyline is forever changing, not to mention its complete change of sovreignty, the more up to date your guidebook the better!

I found the guide to be quite good and conveniently compact. My one criticism is that information for a given area is in several different places in the book. For example, there is a section on Wan Chai as a tour, another for Wan Chai at night, another section under excursions, and then Wan Chai restaurants are listed in a fourth section, altho some are included in the previous sections. This made for a lot of page flipping back and forth. This should all be consolidated into one section on Wan Chai. I thought the info was very good, just a lot of page flipping ("Now, where did I see that?")

I bought this map expecting a street map for the whole of Hong Kong, as I will be moving there in the near future. The map only shows streets & tourist attractions for Kowloon, Central, Wan Chai & Causeway Bay. It doesnt cover the west, east or south side of Hong Kong Island at all, so is of very little use to me.

The roads, shopping malls & tourist attractions are clearly laid out, and the map is laminated so would be durable (although you can't write on it). It also contains a walking tour and a list of emergency phone numbers. So, a good map for the tourist areas, but not a comprehensive map of Hong Kong.

This is a nice map (actually set of maps of tourist areas and overview), but is is essentially the same as the maps that come inside the Lonely Planet Hong Kong condensed guidebook (inside the front and back covers). As I always had with me the condensed guidebook while in HK, the maps were superfluous.

i did not care for this book at all. info was limited. i bought it because of the recent release date and i was traveling to hong kong and macau.

would have been much better off with a lonely planet book. book was of little use to me.

Accomodating Asia will accomodate your basic guidebook needs very nicely. Punctuated with commentary by recent travelers, the book covers all the basics, and then some. As a frequent traveler to Hong Kong myself, I found the authors have captured and shared the charm and vitality of this most exciting place. Whether you are discovering the delights of Hong Kong and Macau for the first time, or you're a returning visitor, you'll find Accomodating Asia to be just the ticket to maximize your fun and minimize your fuss. It makes me long for a lemon squash on the terrace of the Peak Cafe with the bustling Victoria Harbor and the blue South China Sea spread out before me!

I found myself yearning to return to Hong Kong after reading "Accommodating Asia... Hong Kong/Macau." The authors not only know the region well, but love the people and their unique culture. "Accommodating Asia" captures the energy and the excitement of Hong Kong through descriptions, illustrations, and personal recommendations. Easy-to-use, well-organized information abounds about attractions and lodgings, including prices, maps, and directions. If you are planning to visit this region and don't know what night market and MTR are, get this guide. If you have been on an escorted tour or have been only to the business district and want to explore Hong Kong for yourself, you'll rely heavily on this guide for the excellent list of attractions [many are free!], and the detailed subway and bus directions. On my next trip to Hong Kong,I'll be taking my copy of "Accommodating Asia."

This book seemed as if it took no talent to write and it was worthless to read. The only thing good about this book was the cover. Of course, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.

It was like cheech and chong visiting the north west. I waited moths for my library to order this book for me and it ended up being some chicano-beatnik sounding crap. Nobody in Chelan talks like they did. I just give the "Writter Man" credit for picking such a nice area for the story to take place in.

Lion wrote a debut novel set in the magical Northwest with all the necessary elements of mainstream fiction, and more. Ladies will love the romance, men will enjoy the action. The cast of Chelan reminded me of the TV show Northern Exposure. The plot, about a Hong Kong corporation relocating its assets to America, is really not so fictional at all. Lion reminds me a little of Tom Robbins. And Lion wrote this book in a federal prison? Bravo! This author will be one to watch as his style matures. Can't wait to read his next work, a memoir of his rise and fall in the marijuana trade, five years with a policemen's daughter as a fugitive, capture on Unsolved Mysteries, and his evolution into the promising writer who penned Chelan. Tired of those heavily marketed mainstream novels? Give this one a try.

First of all, I strongly encourage anyone to read an excerpt of this book before purchasing it. Sack (for better or worse) is one of the pioneers of "literary journalism", which means his writing style is more akin to storytelling, with recreated conversations and whatnot, than many people will be used to. This is especially disconcerting because he explains his methodology in assembling this biography of Chinese gang lord Johnny Kon at the end of the book, instead of the beginning. If this doesn't put you off, it's still hard to ignore some of his other stylistic flaws. Foremost of these is an excess of detail-throughout the book the reader is kept up to date on every dish consumed during gang meetings, the cost, style, and provenance of every item of footwear Johnny Kon is wearing, and the precise decor of every hotel lobby and room he passes through. These details, marginally interesting the first or second appearance, rapidly grow annoying and intrusive, ballooning what might have been a 250 page book to it's final 400 pages. Another stylistic flaw is the lack of dates throughout. Once the early part of Johnny's life is past, and the Vietnam War is over, it's very hard to get a sense of what time frame is under discussion.

The life and times of Johnny Kon is certainly an interesting tale, and not one many people could have even attempted, much less completed. From a life of poverty in Maoist China, Kon escaped to Shanghai and then Hong Kong, building a semi-legitimate fur empire. Much of his fur fortune was linked to the huge US Army presence in Southeast Asia during the 1960s, and the sections which detail his interactions with the US Army are very compelling. However, in this period also lies Kon's alleged motive for becoming the leading importer of heroin to the US. I say alleged because the basis for the book is Sack's relationship with Kon and interviews with him conducted in jail, and so it's hard not to view Kon's "motive" as an after-the-fact self-justification. In any event, whether one believes it or not, the event that pushed Kon into drug dealing was the death of two of his children in the chaos of the Khmer Rouge coup in Cambodia. He lays the ultimate blame for this at the feet of the US and its meddling in other countries and spread of indiscriminate death and destruction. The book posits the dubious notion that heroin was "popularized" by all the US soldiers who became addicted during their tour of duty, and thus created the demand for Kon's operations ten years later.

So, Kon builds himself a gang comprised of a tough circle of ex-Red Guard soldiers and embarks on an effective smuggling operation that massive quantities of heroin into the US in the '80s. While the logistics of his operation make for interesting reader, the dynamics of the gang do not. There are so many members of his gang, it gets hard to keep them, their nicknames, and their allegiances straight (here, a diagram or simple list at the beginning of the book would have been a useful editorial addiction). Similarly, the Byzantine feuds of the various gangs and how they all relate to each other gets a bit tedious and hard to follow. Ultimately, Kon's downfall was predictably the result of some rather amazing bungling, silly escalations of petty rivalries over "respect" between gang members, and that ultimate foe of the gangster-betrayal.

One of the more disturbing aspects of the book are the descriptions of how the US government strong-armed a number of countries into extraditing members of Kon's family who had nothing to do with his heroin operations. They were used as leverage against Kon, forcing him to plead guilty-and while there's no denying he was a very bad drug lord, those kinds of tactics are bad precedent setters. Ultimately, the book is moderately interesting, but far too long. It suffers greatly from its more or less detached recounting of Kon's life story-especially odious are Kon's attempts to be a good Bhuddist amidst it all. The same kind of hypocrisy that infested the Irish-Catholic gangs and Italian mafia. Ultimately, unless one is really really interested in the heroin trade, or in Chinese gangs, I'd probably advise skipping this overladen book.

June 10, 2002

For good or ill, the author of 'The Dragonhead', John
Sack, is the book's real 'star'. He spends an inordinate
number of words wowing or attempting to wow his readers.
His style is a marriage of Tom Wolfe's observational
acuity and novelist James Ellroy's cynical descriptive
overkill.

As may be expected, Sack's writing occasionally gets
away from him, particularly during his frequent head-
hopping. Once inside the brains of a subject, Sack
doesn't illustrate so much as wallow. I'd guess he's
fairly on the money, but this impression may stem from
the fact that the book's main character, Johnny Kon,
has a noggin that's been turned around more times than
the wind-up propeller on a child's toy airplane ("Crank
'em up and watch 'em go!").

I'm not a hundred percent on the reportage here, but
I'm more than impressed enough to believe that if not
everything in "The Dragonhead' is true, it could easily
well be. Still, it's an imperfect and not particularly
well-detailed book, and Sack and occasionally tiring
writer.

This book is about the life of a Chinese gangster leader Johnny Kon and his associates. John Jack spent 12 years talking with Kon and his criminals before he wrote this book. The operation of Johnny Kon's drug business is located in Hong Kong, my hometown. I like this book because it depicts the real life of a gangster leader and shows how he gets away from the authorities and how he runs his "business." The book unfolds like an action movie. For instance, in one scene Kon is attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin around his waist at the airport. When he is about to be body-searched, he drops his expensive Minolta. The camera smashes on the ground, distracting all the security guards. They apologized as Kon walks away with the drugs. It is pure drama. I enjoy this book, however, I hope that readers who read this book do not have an impression that Hong Kong is highest crime cities in the world.