I spent three weeks in China, aided immensely by my friend spending six months in Tianjin University, without her Mandarin the tour would have been so much more difficult. However the Lonely Planet guidebook gives a wealth of detail, if there is one thing i would like to improve it is the number and range of maps. We stayed in a number of places taken from the Lonely Planet. I long to visit China again, and will definitely take this guide.

Excellent bit of fun, nicely written in a mock-serious way without gong over the top. I have given several copies to parents!

This book introduced me to the principles behind Zen, without the mystique and superstition of Buddhism. Charlotte is completely matter-of-fact and understandable, a lovely Californian who approaches Zen from a Western position.

Anyone interested in religion should read the two books, "Nothing Special" and "Living Zen"

This book introduced me to the principles behind Zen, without the mystique and superstition of Buddhism. Charlotte is completely matter-of-fact and understandable, a lovely Californian who approaches Zen from a Western position.

Anyone interested in religion should read the two books, "Nothing Special" and "Living Zen"

I love the carefully built up atmosphere and characterisation, thought-provoking and worth watching more than once. One of my favorites.

This is a real enlightenment, helping to understand many issues of modern life like door-handles, coffee flasks, soap dispensers - all kinds of "clever" designs which can frustrate the user and make us feel stupid. This should be compulsory reading before anyone is allowed to design anything.

This book is not for the fainthearted, I would recommend wider reading in Zen before approaching Benoit, especially Charlotte "Joko" Beck, but this book is seriously worthwhile once you are prepared to put in the effort of reading and understanding.

I took this traveling in Poland and Slovakia, and it did a good job. I love to have one compact phrasebook which covers a wide area. I did find a Pocket Polish dictionary very useful in learning more about the language, but that is beyond the intent of the phrasebook which helps you get started. I will buy more like this.

AlthoughI have not used this phrasebook in anger, I have learned a lot about the variations in the Middle East - far from uniform!

I own other Lonely Planet wide area phrasebooks, and have found them excellent value.

This breath tester is neat, easy to carry around and use as required. The one thing I would improve is to display the full range in 0.1 steps, as it is there are two models for different countries, and the UK limit is proposed to change. I shouldn't need to have two different testers!