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Safe Internet Shopping - Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation, or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid
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List Price: $22.95
Our Price: $11.47
Your Save: $ 11.48 ( 50% )
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 915.1046
EAN: 9780767922005
ISBN: 076792200X
Label: Broadway
Manufacturer: Broadway
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2008-07-08
Publisher: Broadway
Release Date: 2008-07-08
Studio: Broadway
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Loved this book.
Comment: This was a fun book and a quick read. I have taught in rural China last year and could relate to a lot of what the author talks about. He brought back wonderful memories of the Chinese people. He also brought back a lot of memories of the poor living conditions for so much of the Chinese population.... and the foreigners who choose to go and work there. This would be a great book to read if you are going to China on your own or to volunteer in a rural area or just like to sit back and enjoy a book adventure. If you are going on a packaged tour of China (I have done a couple of them)this book might be an interesting backdrop to your trip but you won't see most of what the author writes about since China still makes sure that you see the China they want you to see.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lost in Planet China
Comment: Very well done book...even though I like historical fiction, this gave
me a very good outlook on China. Author was very honest about his
observations. After reading this book, I have no desire to visit China.
I bought the book for my wife and these are her comments. I did not
read the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lost indeed
Comment: I loved this book! Our family has traveled to China twice in the past 5 years and this book was right on target with it's observations. China is a very interesting place, so unlike our norm. I agree with the author, things are different, and the people were very warm for the most part. We had our then 3 year old with us and she loved it too. I remember some of the different foods I enjoyed, "ice cream" bars that were flavored red bean (bland, but the most popular) and green pea (I thought it was going to be lime) actually quite good and refreshing - from someone who doesn't care for peas, as well as the best orange flavored bar I had ever had. Anyone who has experienced China loves to share their experiences - almost too much, I think! I remember sitting in a restaurant on our 2nd night in Beijing (on our 1st trip) and listening to a band performing Don McLean's "American Pie" and thinking, I never would have guessed back when this song was popular (7th grade?) that some day I would be sitting in a bar in Beijing China listening to it. Remember China was closed and our "enemy" back then. This was one of those books that I wished had gone on and on. I loved hearing about the different areas that we would never have had time or resources to travel to, as well as giving us ideas for future travel plans. Loved the humor.
Looking forward to the next book!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fun Read
Comment: Funny, engrossing, well balanced. Contrary to a couple other reviews, I did not find his views condescending, just honest.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Loved his earlier work, but this is a bit of a disappointment
Comment: I like Maarten: he's half Czech, I'm half Czech; he's actually lived in Port Vila Vanuatu with his wife, I've actually lived in Port Vila Vanuatu with my wife. In addition, he is much funnier than I am. His books about the South Pacific ("The Sex Lives of Cannibals" [SLC] and "Getting Stoned with Savages" [GSWS]) were hoots, and very accurate from what I can attest to from having spent time in some of the same places (Vanuatu and Fiji).
In "Lost on Planet China" (LPC) Maarten is still funny, but much less so in this book than in his two previous works. I counted five personal "laugh out louds" from LPC, as opposed to the dozens and dozens of "laugh out louds" I experienced from both SLC and GSWS. I found his personal opinions usually reasonable (having spent some time in China, I disagree with some of those other reviewers apparently offended by Maarten's honesty), but some of his jokes began to become repetitious (example: by the time he is blaming George Bush for not getting served meatballs in Xian I actually closed the book for a day - this was approximately tenth time a similar "W" attempt at humor was clumsily inserted). But mostly, the editing of LPC is horrible. He mentions at the end (in his Acknowledgements) that his editor was giving birth during the time she was editing one of his chapters. Actually, it reads as if she was giving birth during the last 1/4 of the book. This end section is disjointed, confusing (example: a reference is made to something that apparently happened earlier during Maarten's trip, but which seems to have been redacted out of an earlier chapter), and frequently just plain boring.
This book is like we've started on a very interesting trip of discovery together with a person you know with a reputation for being funny. Things start well, as time goes on you have some minor issues, but you are still enjoying yourself and learning. Then things begin to get disorganized and you actually start to wonder why you are still going along. It's not just that China is complex (as the author keeps pointing out), it's because the trip itself is beginning to seem pointless. You keep thinking it's got to get better, and despite a few brief respites, it does not get better. Even though the first 250-300 pages are good, the last 100 pages are a chore and leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Or maybe it's the live squids.
One final thought: although I doubt that Maarten had anything to do with the map, it is rather interesting. Taiwan appears to be a province of the PRC - Broadway Books does not apparently consider the ROC as a separate country - yet Tibet appears (judging by the typeface) to be some sort of separate country. Complex indeed.
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Editorial Reviews:
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The bestselling author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals returns with a sharply observed, hilarious account of his adventures in China—a complex, fascinating country with enough dangers and delicacies to keep him, and readers, endlessly entertained.
Maarten Troost has charmed legions of readers with his laugh-out-loud tales of wandering the remote islands of the South Pacific. When the travel bug hit again, he decided to go big-time, taking on the world’s most populous and intriguing nation. In Lost on Planet China, Troost escorts readers on a rollicking journey through the new beating heart of the modern world, from the megalopolises of Beijing and Shanghai to the Gobi Desert and the hinterlands of Tibet.
Lost on Planet China finds Troost dodging deadly drivers in Shanghai; eating Yak in Tibet; deciphering restaurant menus (offering local favorites such as Cattle Penis with Garlic); visiting with Chairman Mao (still dead, very orange); and hiking (with 80,000 other people) up Tai Shan, China’s most revered mountain. But in addition to his trademark gonzo adventures, the book also delivers a telling look at a vast and complex country on the brink of transformation that will soon shape the way we all work, live, and think. As Troost shows, while we may be familiar with Yao Ming or dim sum or the cheap, plastic products that line the shelves of every store, the real China remains a world—indeed, a planet--unto itself.
Maarten Troost brings China to life as you’ve never seen it before, and his insightful, rip-roaringly funny narrative proves that once again he is one of the most entertaining and insightful armchair travel companions around.
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