A Photographic Guide to Birds of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos

#256
Title: A Photographic Guide to Birds of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
Authors: Peter Davidson
Publisher: New Holland Publishers
Year: 2009
144 pages

Not as good as A Photographic Guide to Birds of Thailand, this volume is all right for very superficial viewing but not for anyone who will ruminate over not locating a bird in its pages. This guide suffers from a number of authorial or editorial decisions, including sometimes omitting descriptions of key field markings, presenting photographs of subspecies that are less common than other birds one is more likely to encounter (e.g., the entry for the Brown Shrike), and neglecting to include birds such as the Hoopoe that are regionally common and quite striking while devoting space to what appears to be a painting of the Great Hornbill, "now scarce across most of the region" (p. 23). Use only when you don't have room for a larger guide.

A Photographic Guide to Birds of Thailand

#255
Title: A Photographic Guide to Birds of Thailand
Authors: Michael Webster & Chew Yen Fook
Publisher: Asia Books
Year: 1997
144 pages

For a pocket guide, this does a reasonably good job. The photographs are clear and the color register is pretty good. Page corner icons indicate the birds' group. The descriptions emphasize the birds' habits and physical characteristics. It's no substitute for a larger and more technical volume, but is serviceable for the casual viewer out on a walk.

I bought this on Khao San Road in Bangkok when I was in Thailand in February because there were large numbers of Asian Openbilled Storks (Anastomus oscitans) and Chinese Pond-herons (Ardeola bacchus) in the areas near my hotel, plus a number of other birds with which I was unfamiliar. It was 425 baht (about $12) from Asia Books; New Holland Publishers has it for a little over $8 from Amazon.uk.

Brother One Cell: An American Coming of Age in South Korea's Prisons

#253
Title: Brother One Cell: An American Coming of Age in South Korea's Prisons
Author: Cullen Thomas
Publisher: Viking
Year: 2007
Country: South Korea
347 pages

Audiobook: here

Narratives of foreign incarceration stints typically combine complaints about the institutions inadequacy and sadism, sometimes coupled with self-reflection. Brother One Cell has both, with a believable progression from naivete to indignation to receptivity. Compared to Fellows's prison experience, Thomas's was fairly benign, though still awful in many ways. Though it moved slowly at times, it sustained my interest and I found Thomas's depiction of his own development convincing. Thomas's language is sometimes poetic and sometimes strained. I would have liked more about description of his decision to smuggle drugs into South Korea, and more explanation of the title (it commands only a few sentences). Thomas refers to Kang Chol Hwan's Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag, a North Korean prison narrative taking place on the other side of the not-too-distant border, and they would be interesting to read in tandem.

Listening to the audiobook version confirmed my extreme dislike for voice characterizations in non-fiction. Many of the accents attempted by the reader sounded similar, and those that didn't sounded like caricatures.

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

#252
Title: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers
Author: Xiaolu Guo
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 2008
361 pages

Both funny and poignant, this novel uses a word and definition to open each chapter of the narrator's diary or notebook. A student from China in England, she writes in English, which improves over time, as does her ability to express more complex and nuanced ideas and emotions. At times it's hilarious and the observations pithy; at others it is a tale of protracted yearning. A very enjoyable novel, perhaps especially so for English as a Foreign Language teachers.

A Different Kind of Boy: A Father's Memoir about Raising a Gifted Child with Autism

#251
Title: A Different Kind of Boy: A Father's Memoir about Raising a Gifted Child with Autism
Author: Daniel Mont
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Year: 2002
249 pages

In some ways as much a father's autobiography as a memoir of his son, this is a smart and well-written account of both a boy and a family affected by autism. I've read a lot of personal stories about autism spectrum disorders (both by the parents and by the children with autism) and Mont does a wonderful job of capturing the complexity of the situation and his own emotions. It helps that he as skillful writer as well as an involved father.

More Than White Cloth? Women's Rights in Cambodia

#250
Title: More Than White Cloth? Women's Rights in Cambodia
Author: Nakagawa Kasumi
Publisher: Cambodian Defenders Project
Year: 2006
106 pages

This useful monograph reviews women's rights (or functional lack thereof) in Cambodia. It is a very useful source of examples of the discrepancy between good policies and intentions versus deeply ingrained cultural beliefs and gulfs too wide to be crossed by policy alone.

Walking away from the Killing Fields: How a Hopeless Boy Became a University Professor in Japan

#249
Title: Walking away from the Killing Fields: How a Hopeless Boy Became a University Professor in Japan
Author: Nophea Sasaki
Publisher: Author
Year: 2008
197 pages

Perhaps more accurately, this is "the basic steps of becoming a professor." A self-published book with a short, tacked-on outline of the author's childhood in the Khmer Rouge period. It may be useful for people who don't know anything how to become a professor, but it does not add particularly to the literature on experiences under the Khmer Rouge.