Travel Books

Free Thailand Travel Guides!

Well, almost. To celebrate their 5th birthday, the mighty Travelfish Asian backpackers site is doing a "buy one, get one free" offer on all of their excellent downloadable travel guides. (more...)

Some Interesting Travel Books I’ve Found Recently

There's no shortage of interesting travel books out there - discovering they exist is the hardest part. Here's some of my favourites from this year so far. (more...)

Lost On Planet China - J. Maarten Troost

The author of The Sex Lives Of Cannibals and Getting Stoned With Savages turns his attention to China in his forthcoming book (more...)

Book Review: Mad About The Mekong - John Keay

The Mekong River defines much of South East Asia, but it was only explored by Westerners for the first time in 1866. John Keay's Mad About The Mekong charts the exploration that paved the way to South East Asia's colonisation. (more...)

From The Land Of Green Ghosts: Pascal Khoo Thwe

Pascal Khoo Thwe's autobiography is a classic "truth is stranger than fiction" tale, describing how a dirt poor Burmese mountain boy improbably fell in love with the writings of James Joyce and eventually found himself studying at Cambridge University in England (more...)

A Short History Of Asia - Colin Mason

Asia is home to half the world's population and is already shaping up to be the crucible of change in the 21st century. Colin Mason's book A Short History Of Asia offers a concise overview of how Asia became what it is today (more...)

In Search Of JG Ballard’s Shanghai

JG Ballard is the author of Empire Of The Sun, a quasi-autobiographical novel about growing up in 1930s Shanghai and then living in an internment camp after the Japanese invaded during World War II. Rick McGrath discovered that Ballard's childhood home still exists amongst the never-ending reconstruction of Shanghai and recently travelled halfway around the world to see it for himself (more...)

Aung San Suu Kyi: Le Jasmine Ou La Lune

With current events in Myanmar moving towards a major confrontation between the military junta and the people, Thierry Falise's French language biography of Aung San Suu Kyi is an important reminder of her role in the country's hope for democracy to be restored (more...)

Book Review: Tony Wheeler’s Bad Lands: A Tourist On The Axis Of Evil

Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler goes travelling through Iran, Iraq, North Korea and numerous other places of dubious morality to see if they really are irredeemably evil. It's a fast paced and fascinating take on these otherwise forbidden countries (more...)

Aung San Suu Kyi: Perfect Hostage

As Myanmar's military junta sentences Aung San Suu Kyi to another year of house arrest, the publication of her biography is an apt reminder of both her personal and political struggle (more...)