DEPARTMENT Page 6
NAVIGATE TO:
COFFEEHOUSE CULTURE PUBLICATIONS
AMAZON RECOMMENDATIONS:
Fiction | Issue One Recommendations
Next Page | Previous Page
DEPARTMENTS:
CLOTHING | SMOKING | MULTIMEDIA | HOUSEHOLD
Non-fiction -- page 1
No
n-fiction
Larger view
Like all of the Time Out Guides (and, indeed, the magazine that spawned them), the Time Out
Guide to Amsterdam is a fantastically researched, incredibly comprehensive, amazingly
informative guide to where to stay, where to go, what to do and much else. Although it might
not be the guide from which to select your hotel (unless you have a lot of money), its listings
of museums, tourist 'sights,' restaurants, bars, coffeeshops, markets and specialist shops are
excellent and very comprehensive. Containing a good and very readable history of the city and a
detailed description of each area of Amsterdam, this is a book every visitor to the city should own.
Although there are bound to be similarities among city guides, this one and the one above could
not really be much more dissimilar. Although many of the same places get mentioned in both
books, the 'Time Out Guide' is clearly a slicker publication aimed at a more monied class of visitor.
But this is called the 'Rough Guide' and it is. If it is hostel accommodation you are seeking, then
the 'Rough Guide' is the book for you. Like the 'Time Out' book, there is tons to read if you want
to -- a good history and another area by area walk-through plus some informative material on
living in Amsterdam. Highly recommended.
 Larger view |
Larger view
This slim volume is the guide that has been adopted by the coffeeshops and it is, therefore,
available all over Amsterdam. The reason, of course, is that it is the only guide specifically
aimed at smokers. There are many coffeeshop maps around, both for free and at a small cost,
but they tell you nothing about the shops featured and are, therefore, only really useful if you
know where you are going already or don't much care. This good to read guide is just what
most smoking visitors to Amsterdam need -- a collection of personal recommendations cover-
ing coffeeshops, seed shops and other places of interest to the discerning doper. Although the
museums and stuff do get a mention, the author assumes that the visitor will have other
priorities. Nicely and amusingly written, selective but very informative, this is probably the most
up-to-date of all the guides. Again, highly recommended.
From trails of confusion to the Trail of Tears. Dee Brown's definitive history of the American
Indian is a gruelling, heart-rending and extremely poignant tale of genocide and racial cleans-
ing. A beautifully written book, it tells the whole tragic story leaving nothing out. And what a
tale of deceit on one hand and dignity and naivety on the other, it is. All the stars of the Indian
world are featured from Geronimo to Sitting Bull and every tale has a sting in it. Containing a
tremendous amount of Indian lore, traditions and myths, it is by far the most readable book
on the American Indian I have come across. Although it is wonderfully informative and skillfully
written, it is such a harrowingly sad narrative that reading it can be a somewhat damp experi-
ence. There are some very poignant tales within its pages -- of the Trail of Tears and of the
Ghost Dancers -- that make this book come alive with desperation and tragedy. Despite the sad
nature of its subject, this is a book that everyone should read (and weep.)
 Larger view |
Yoga by Ernest Wood was the very first book I read about meditation and Indian spirituality. It
changed my life. As I tried to repair the holes burned in my psyche by too much acid, trying
to come to some kind of understanding of where I had been and what I seen, this book gave me
rhyme and reason to put around the visions of inifinity. I had seen the echoing halls of the mind
stretching away into an incomprehensible distance. Ernest Wood's informative, matter of fact
approach to his subject brought the 'religion of the mind' into a perspective to which I could
not only relate but really understand. That book, however, is out of print and this one is
recommended as a substitute. I have not read it but from the readers' reviews on the Amazon
sites, it seems to be not dissimilar.
And this was probably the second book. The reliance on 'self', on one's own mind and spirit,
that is the core of Buddhism had a strong appeal in the post-hippy era when so many of us
had visions of our own mental power. The discipline irked a little, though. In 1967, when I
bought the copy of this book which I still own, the world was still in the process of waking up
from the 2000 year sleep it had been in. The spiritual awakening produced by all the acid
flying around was starting to happen, questions were being asked and answers demanded
and the bridge between the east and the west was starting to receive some heavy traffic.
The assimilation of eastern culture by the west was still in its early stages and finding books
that were really knowledgeable about eastern religions but accessible was not that easy. In
fact, Christmas Humphreys was about all there was. This is a good, easy to read but not too
superficial guide to all the main schools of Buddhism.
 Larger view |
GO TO: Next Page | Previous Page | Fiction | Issue One Recommendations
DEPARTMENTS:
CLOTHING | SMOKING | MULTIMEDIA | HOUSEHOLD
Main Home Page | E-Zine Home Page
Copyright © 1999/2000/2001 The Enlightenment Company
Created by Cheapo Cheapo Productions