Australian Catholic priest Paul Collins begins his examination of the Australian Catholic church by recounting two incidents where bishops were dismissive of him, the first because Collins 'obviously hated the Catholic church', the other because Collins was motivated by his 'own inner struggle and insecurity'. This is typical of how the Catholic hierarchy generally deals with its critics: if the critics are within the Church then they are obviously not true Catholics or simply have some personal agenda; if the critics are not Catholics, then they 'just don't, and can never really, understand'.

How different is the approach presented by the then Polish archbishop Karol Wojtyla in his 'The Acting Person', where he argues that opposition is one of the characteristics of authentic human community. Those who disagree with official ideas and policies are not necessarily enemies of the community, but may be motivated by a deep devotion to the common good. This sort of opposition is vital to the community's growth and well-being.

Such thinking from the man who is now, as John Paul II, the head of the international Catholic community would come as a surprise to many. In Collins, however, we find just such a person, very critical of the Australian Catholic community, not out of malice or mischief (though benignly mischievous he frequently is), but clearly because of a deep devotion to his church and with a passionate belief in its potential for making a substantial contribution to the nation.

In his previous book, 'Mixed Blessings' (Penguin, 1986), Collins examined the modern global Catholic church and was rude enough to conclude that 'this small, backwater Church still has a long way to go to stay abreast of the Church Catholic'. He has now set his sights squarely on the Australian scene, gaining a more detailed and nuanced vision. He believes 'that the Catholic tradition has within it enormous resources and an adaptive ability to address the issues being raised by fair-minded people in contemporary A! ustralia.' He deplores the fact that there is little engagement between the Catholic church and Australian society, seeing this as a massive failure of leadership, principally by the bishops. Collins presents his examination of the Australian Catholic church within the framework of the biblical concept of 'kairos' - that now is a time for decision. The chief options he sees before the Church are to retreat into a reassuring Catholic subculture or to take a leadership role in society by reclaiming the spiritual and ethical traditions of Catholicism, especially by applying its principles of social justice.

The ground covered by the book is wide and, on the whole, fallow: where development of a distinctively Australian theology has gone wrong; that belief in the transcendent remains high in Australia, but church attendance is dropping, especially by women; why empowerment of the laity strikes at the self-identity of most priests; how the refusal of the Vatican to ordain women and married men is leading to heresy; that the Catholic school system needs to establish its own agenda and direction independent of government policies (but not unaccountable for funds provided); why Catholic spokesmen (aren't they always) have a poor media record; how large numbers of adults are today choosing to become Catholics, often with no previous church background; why Sunday Mass is generally 'dull, lifeless and boring'.

The two major items on the agenda that Collins proposes for the Church are Aborigines and the environment. In fact he presents little about 'what should be done', only presenting a case for the issues' importance. He reminds us that Aboriginal religious beliefs are diverse and private, requiring sensitivity and respect, and are fundamentally at odds with the simplistic and romantic appropriation that is becoming increasing prevalent in the work of some white religious writers. Drawing on radical authors such as Thomas Berry and Charles Birch, Collins builds a case for the centrality of the environmental cr! isis to Catholic ethics and action, and demonstrates the problem posed by overpopulation. Yet he uncharacteristically avoids raising the relationship between this and official Catholic teaching on contraception.

Collins has produced a very readable and lively book, with a surprising amount of humor, but one based on a wealth of reading and other research. Although sources are footnoted throughout, the book would be improved by the inclusion of a bibliography and a more detailed index.

'No Set Agenda' will dismay reactionaries in the Church, while giving a fresh shot of enthusiasm to those of us struggling for change in the Catholic church. It will serve an excellent purpose if it reaches a non-Catholic readership (with over 25% of Australians being Catholics, the Church's beliefs and practices should be of wide concern), providing them with a rare window into a Catholicism concerned and passionate about much more than the anti-abortion issue, state funding of church schools, and what goes on in bedrooms.

"Papal Power" was my first ever understanding of the papacy, and remains a very good reference point. Though the book is subjective in wasy that under the present attitude of the papacy were disastrous for the author, it offers an excellent assessment of the way in which the Catholic Church has evolved.

Unlike many books on the history of the papacy, "Papal Power" has a very good focus on the history of the church, though one can suspect bias. There is a clear account of the way in which the papacy developed elaborate theories of papal power but without the communications to enforce them.

Most significantly, there is a very clear account of the way in which the pope became infallible through such authors as de Maistre's "Du Pape" and the neo-ultramontane movement. This neo-ultramontane movement argued that everything the pope says in infallible - in contrast to the definition at Vatican I which restricted infallibility quite severely, though the Wojtyla papacy has breached these boundaries since Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. The neo-ultramontanes, the best known of which were William Ward and Henry Manning, were well prepared and even influenced Pius IX, who this book suggests may have illegitimately fathered a son.

The book looks, if in a rather biased manner, at the effects this extreme concentration of papal power has had on the Catholic Church. It states that much of what the Vatican is concerned with today is nothing more than preserving its power, and follows on this very logically. If "Papal Power" has one serious flaw, it is in arguing that reforms of the papacy have a chance of occurring in the future. In reality, the third millennium of Catholicism will be characterised by a movement from a large church to a much smaller church comprised of members steadfastly loyal to the doctrines presented by Joseph Ratzinger and John Paul II. Open dissent will be even more severely censored than under the Wojtyla papacy and the ideas - interesting reading though they were/are - of progressive reformers will be the preserve of archives of secular universities.

Nonetheless, this cannot dimiss the fact that "Papal Power" is a very impressive study of the way the papacy has evolved into the absolute monarchy of today.

I enjoyed this book as it reveals the stories behind the stars. It is suprisingly inspirational. This wonderful book prompted me to read Barbara Barrie's equally wonderful book, Second Act about her bout with colon cancer. Both Books givew great insight into life. Fame, beauty and Stardom matters not. One does not feel alone after reading these two wonderful books. One never knows what waits.

Bradley Collins first suggested in his book on Leonardo da Vinci that psychoanalysis had great untapped potential in its application to the art history and the analysis of individual artworks. In his second book, Van Gogh and Gauguin, Electric Arguments and Utopian Dreams, Collins certainly makes good on his promise. Virtually every sentence in this book is a bullet. Exceptionally readable and zestful, Bradley Collins never fails to move the reader along merrily during this delightful tour de force. The section on Van Gogh leads off and with a wealth of primary material, letters, early sketches, notes and even recollections by contemporaries and other artists, Collins nails his powerful points with clarity and conviction. Van Gogh's conflicts are clearly linked to earlier infantile repressed syndromes which are then in turn brought into connection with his artworks. Collins is never dogmatic. He gives the reader freedom to doubt and hold back. The Gauguin section has less of an overwhelming primary material avalanche because we lack the enormous correspondence. Collins disarmingly admits this problem and comfortably proceeds within the limitations of the evidence. At all times, Collins wide ranging erudition in art history shines. His polished prose never has the feel of jargon yet he sent me to the dictionary a number of times and he will stretch the reader frequently. The choice of illustrations is superb and extremely helpful in supporting not only Collins' closely reasoned Freudian position but in enveloping the reader in this wonderful aesthetic journey. Collins use of footnotes is judicious and illuminating. One example: In one footnote Collins notes that at the time of Van Gogh's ear mutilation there was a concurrent rage among Japanese prostitutes for amputation and gift of a fingertip to keep the wandering hearts of a wavering client, and since Van Gogh like many of the avant garde artists of his day was a fanatic admirer of Japanese culture it is quite possible that he knew of this bizarre masochist practice when he cut his ear. Collins has mastered the art of putting more in his footnotes than many of his contemporary authors manage to put in their entire books.
This is a must read for anyone interested in art history, psychoanalysis or general cultural debate. One can only hope that Collins will continue to write on the topic of psychoanalysis and art history, which although it is not an especially popular topic, it is a field in which Bradley Collins may now be justly considered perhaps America's leading specialist. In my opinion, there were signs of genius on every page of Van Gogh and Gauguin, Electric Arguments and Utopian Dreams. Bravo to Collins. A book of such quality is only encountered perhaps once a decade. It is a real gem.

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In the 19th century, there were no english phrase books for the Portuguese market, and the authors sought to fill that gap with this book, now reprinted in full. Ah, what a futile, heartfelt exercise this book turned out to be, for they had no English-Portuguese/Portuguese-English dictionaries to work with, only English-French and French-Portuguese as a substitute, and knew no English themselves and had no English speaking editors. The required gyrations led to hilarious results.

Page after page of mangled sentences and hilarious absurdities follow the original Portuguese:

"Where correspond the bells?"
"She have always anything which is it bad."
"These are the dishes whose you must be and to abstain."

The authors also provided us with vocabulary for common terms (examples in the bed room are "the bed battom" and "the feet's bed") as well as typical dialogs you might have (for instance, when buying furniture, "Pardon me, it comes workman's hands.")

A little of this goes a long way, though; it's not for extended reading, but it's quite suitable for abbreviated sessions (and is better than Dave Barry for the bathroom because it's shorter and continuity doesn't matter a whit) or passing around at a party.

But it's a wonderful monument to misguided effort, and we enjoy it a lot. I've never seen anyone look at it without laughing.

My nephew (who as a hobby learned Esperanto) once pieces read of this book to our family. It was hilarious, and as you might have noticed, as the style my write of to be changed goodly.

In other words, from then on, we have delighted in making terrible nonexistent translations of nonsense for each other, and this book and its influence has made our lives that much more fun. When I heard it was once again available, I felt I had to let people know how enjoyable it is.

If the you to tootle melodious for is, then must needs of this book an buy! :-)

This was the 1st book I've read by Collins. Very good book for avid readers. If you don't like books, you won't like this book. I felt like I was along with him on his journey for a home in Hay-on-Wye. I especially enjoyed his "side journeys" into different topics. In a way, after reading this book, I felt like I had read about 50 books. Fun book - I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes books, period.

Paul Collins has written a book that is part memoir, part travelogue, and two parts documentary. "Sixpence House", (Lost In A Town Of Books)", ostensibly is a book about one writer's decision to relocate his family from Victorian San Francisco to a Welsh town of 1500 persons. Hay-on-Wye is the town and it easily could be the setting for a novel in any of the last five centuries. This piece of Wales has everything from the requisite castle with a self-proclaimed king, to over 40 sellers of antiquarian books.

What the author and his wife did not expect from this picturesque community was the possibility that when buying a house they would have to face arcane events such as gazumping and gazunding, and as buyers having no representation while sellers have no obligation to share the defects of their home. (How to say caveat emptor in Welsh?) A 500-year-old house is likely to have some faults as they imagine and find to their dismay. Even when in the 16th century apartment they are faced with rooms that are painfully small, where natural light is simply an idea, and events like a shower with water pressure are no more than a memory left some 3000 miles away.

In the midst of myriad daily adjustments the couple is attempting to raise their young child and the author is gallantly trying to finish his first book. Paul Collins gives readers a new view on the effort required to get published as well as the tasks of finding a title that is hopefully unfamiliar to readers, combating editors who wish to amend his writing, and even a paper shortage caused by the printing of 800 pages 5 million times. The latter represents the first edition of JK Rowlings's fourth book in the United States.

The village and the idea of making a new home amongst the residents gradually, yet steadily, changes from the romanticized idea many of us would create in our own minds, to encompass many of the same grinding realities creating a new home would present anywhere. One of the books charms is the historical arcanum that the author includes rather effortlessly during the tale. A walk past a cemetery invokes a short history of the watch, the early shapes associated with death that they took, and the rather prescient shapes of watch that Mary Queen Of Scot wore during her abbreviated life. The author also tells the story of an unusual explorer of London's sewers, and the time he took while underneath the royal household to break in to song, and the odd circumstance this may have presented to those living in the royal household.

Mr. Collins has written a book that is well worth your time, and likely to be several degrees different from many of the books you have read.

After reading "Sixpence House"by Paul Collins,I have made plans to visit Hay-on-Wye.I want to see Booth's Castle and maybe have a ham sandwich with him in his kitchen at the Castle.I want to see the water in the basement of Sixpence House and the "Beverly Hills"area of Hay.I want to go to Pemberton's Book shop and meet Diana and know that she is ok after her mandatory visit to Cardiff.I want to spend much time in Booth's Bookstore and look for a copy of "Hunting Indians in a Taxicab" and a copy of "I was Hitler's Maid".After reading "Sixpence House"by Paul Collins,you will want to do these things also.

"The Big Book of Losers" is the ninth in the Big Book series from Paradox Press. This volume tells you about historically bad luck, from General Custer to the Edsel to Milli Vanilli. Reading this book, you can't lose! Just be glad you're not them!

I went to my local comics shop and saw the owner reading The Big Book of Losers. I asked to look at it, and I then know I must have it. The book is full of entertaining stories of people and bad ideas that were failures. It's quite entertaining reading the stories of people like the Dalton Gang, and Milli Vanilli, who deserve to be called losers. Unfortunately, some the people written about did not have the loser essence, but merely had some bad luck, or were held back by people who were more powerful and who were evil. These ones were not so funny. Overall, though, it is a good book, and worth reading

A fantastic book! I bought this for one of my sons for Christmas, along with several other more print-oriented books. I'm not a diehard fan of books in comic format, but as I reviewed this upon arrival I was delighted to discover the depth of information provided. The wide variety of characters, the great expanse of historical periods covered and the different "genres" of loser subjects proved much more entertaining than I expected when I bought this book. Consider this one of the classier bathroom readers for the entire family!

What a book..."The Book of life." Why it's a modern cartoon book of paleontology. Though its wonderful life-like illustrations and tree-of-life charts are delivered as scientific facts, they are simply graphic theories that illustrators doll up into hypothetical reality. If you like science and fiction, here is a book for you. The realistic pictures belie the text, which says: "We do not even know how to conceptualize, much less to draw the worldview that would place Homo sapiens into proper relationship with the history of life."

Its authors caveat is that "science can only operate as a work in progress without perfect knowledge, and we much therefore leave a great deal out from ignorance --- especially in a historical field like paleontology, where we must work with the strictly limited evidence of a very imperfect fossil record." It's that fossil record, that the book presumes is accurate in its layer-by-layer record through time, that requires scrutiny. The oldest fossils are found in the bottom layers and the youngest in the top layers of rock, but little or no evidence is presented to provide skeptical readers information they can decipher for themselves as to the accuracy of fossil dating by rock layers. Are we to believe, without exception, that the fossil record is progressive from bottom to top? What about fossilized trees that protrude through millions of years of time? They are conveniently omitted. Michael Benton of England's Bristol University, one of the book's contributors, says "All the periods in the geological time scale receive their names in recognition of obvious changes in the fossil record." Yet, to the contrary, Benton adds, "the history of Earth's crust has been far too violent to preserve much more than a random sample."

Its general editor, Stephen Jay Gould, is magnanimous in his promotion of a single theory of man's origins, from monkeys he and most other fossil hunters say.

There may be missing pieces to the paleontological puzzle, but the bone diggers cliam they have finally filled in the evolutional blanks and can conclusively attest to the idea that life evolved from simpler single-celled organisms into modern man. The book's most ardent opponents are taken head on by Gould: "The lack of fossil intermediates had often been cited by creationists as a supposedly prime example for their contention that intermediate forms not only haven't been found in the fossil record but can even be conceived." But Gould holds a trump card. He says: "a lovely series of intermediary steps have now been found in rocks.... in Pakistan. This elegant series, giving lie to the creationist claims, includes the almost perfectly intermediate Ambulocetus (literally, the walking whale), a form with substantial rear legs to complement the front legs already known from many fossil whales, and clearly well adapted both for swimming and for adequate, if limited, movement on land." Oddly, the book never shows a drawing of Ambulocetus, but does have an illustration of a skeleton of a 400-million year old fish with a small underside fin bone the authors claim "must have evolved" into legs in four-legged animals. Man's imagination is not found wanting here. Out of millions of fossils collected and stored in museums, is Ambulocetus the main piece of evidence for evolutionary theory?

Richard Benton says that Charles Darwin had hoped the fossil record would eventually confirm his theory of evolution, but "this has not happened," says Benton. Darwin hoped newly-discovered fossils would connect the dots into a clear evolutionary pattern. The book attempts to do that with its fictional drawings of apes evolving into pre-humans (hominids) and then modern man. Yet the book is not without contradictions. It says: "It remains uncertain whether chimpanzees are more closely related to modern humans or to the gorilla."

The horse is shown as evolving from a small, four-toed to a large one-toed animal over millions of years. There are different varieties of horses, yet there is no evidence that a horse ever evolved from another lower form of animal, nor that horses evolved into any other form of animal.

Another evolutionary puzzle that goes unexplained in the book is the pollination of flowers. How did bees and flowers arrive simultaneously in nature? What directed the appearance of one separate kingdom of life (insects) with that of another?

The book describes 6 1/2-foot millipedes and dragonflies with the wing span of a seagull, but gives no explanation for them. Life was unusual in the past and not all forms fit evolutionary patterns. Consider the popular supposition that life evolved from the sea onto land. That would make more advanced forms of intelligence land bearing. But the aquatic dolphins defy that model, since they are among the smartest mammals.

The book maintains an "out of Africa" scenario for the geographical origins of man, but recent fossil finds in Australia challenge that theory and even the book's authors admit that "a single new skull in an unexpected time or place could still rewrite the primate story." Consider Java man (Homo erectus), once considered the "missing link" and dated at 1.8 million years old. Modern dating methods now estimate Java man to be no more than 50,000 years of age, a fact that was omitted from this text.

Creativity, invention and language are brought out as unique human characteristics. Yet the true uniqueness of man is not emphasized. Humans biologically stand apart from animals in so many ways. Humans can be tickled whereas animals cannot. Humans shed emotional tears, animals do not. The book does not dare venture beyond structure and function, beyond cells and DNA, to ask the question posed by philosophers --- does man have a soul? The Bible speaks of a soul 533 times, this "book of life," not once.

Gould's temple is science. He calls the scientific method "that infallible guide to empirical truth." Science works by elimination. It can only work from experiment to experiment, eliminating what is not true. It can say what is probable, it can never say what is true. Gould appears to begrudge the shackles of science by stepping outside its boundaries in overstating what it can accomplish. Whereas creationists await the day they will stand in judgment before God, for the evolutionists Gould says "Someday, perhaps, we shall me our ancestors face to face." Imagine, standing there looking at a man-like monkey skeleton.

One cannot fault the flaws in this book. After all, it was written by highly evolved apes.

You would have expected more time and detail to the ermergence of the nervous system and the Cambrian Explosion. A more up-to-date section on human evolution (no mention of Ardipithecus Ramidus) but on the whole the book is a good synthesis of the state of the knowledge in this field.

This singular book gives a very nice popular overview of the state-of-the-art in paleontology, chronologically covering everything from the Archean to the evolution of man. It is a beautifully illustrated and well-written book, although the text is perhaps sometimes a bit too technical and dense for the paleontological novice.
And please don't buy some creationists' claims that this is science fiction. The contents of this book is based on material from thousands of scientific articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as "Nature" and "Science", representing the fruits of the hard labour of paleontologists from all over the world. And the fossil record, even if it is convincing in itself, is far from the only support for evolution. Independent evidence for evolution can also be found in biogeography, development, molecular analyses (gene DNA, junk DNA, mtDNA etc), anatomical analyses, and even field observations of new species evolving. This large amount of evidence is why evolution is considered an established and undisputable fact. Of course, if one rather than facts wants comic book fantasies such as humans coexisting with dinosaurs and evil scientists conspiring to hide the truth, then one should look for creationist books instead. Or comic books.

I don't know who Nancy A. Collins is, but this was an interesting book. The FF were never my favorite (let's all sit around and complain about ourselves), but this book at least makes them likable, unlike most of the comics I read of them when I was a kid. Honestly, this book focuses more on Namor than the FF, maybe that's why I like it more. Everybody pretty knows what there is to know about the FF, and this book does nothing to bulid on that. Namor, on the other hand, is fleshed out more than I have ever seen (although, I only had 2 of his solo comics, and both were boring). This book really focuses on Namor and Atlantis's pasts, presents, and futures. The Atlantean palace coup is actually quite entertaining. This book was more ambitious than it needed to be as it feels rushed and not fleshed out enough (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic's address to the U.N. comes to mind), but the book is exciting enough to allow you to overlook that. For Namor fans (or anyone wanting more information on this, suprisingly, deep character) should definately pick this book up. FF fans might be dissapointed as the FF's and Doom's involvment are paper-thin at best. I've heard that their other 2 books are even better though, but I have yet to read them.
If you're keeping track, here are my Top 5 Marvel novels so far:
1. Hulk: What Savage Beast; Peter David
2. Fantastic Four: To Free Atlantis; Nancy A. Collins
3. Ultimate Spider-Man; Stan Lee, editor
4. Spider-Man: Carnage in New York; David Micheline & Dean Wesley Smith
5. due to the extreme suckage of the other 3 books, none of them deserve to grace the top 5 with these other four, and to even mention them in the same breath as the Hulk and FF books is an extreme act of blasphemy and you should kick yourself in the shin for even thinking that!

This was a good book to start the Fantastic Four in the novel series.Nancy Collins did her research with all the characters in this book as Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben join forces with Prince Namor to save Atlantis from Dr. Doom. The charcters act like themselves and they all play important roles in the development of the story. It;s a tribute to the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby FF stories.

I have to hand it to Nancy Collins, this book really took me back
to my old comic book days. All I can say is please please write more of them. I know this book is hard to find, fact is i got it at a yard sale. but if you can get a hold of one you wont be sorry.

I was in India earlier this year and as it was my first trip out of my own country I made the mistake of presuming that the Lonely Planet guide would be the best as it is the best known. After struggling with it for a few weeks, I pretty much stopped using it. My criticisms of it would include - poor maps and outdated information on things such as banks and costs. These are not things that particulaly bothered me after I had worked out that The Lonely Planet wasn't actually a bible, but just a tool for travel. I think the Lonely Planets biggist problem is that everyone has a copy and is out there doing exactly the same thing as everyone else. In parts of India such as Calcutta, Darjeeling and Sikkim, this wasn't such an issue because there were'nt so many tourists. The hotels I stayed at were generally how they were described in "The Book" , the prices were right and the people unaffected and friendly. Sometimes I was the only westerner staying in a hotel. But the places that were unaffected were few and far between. Most places I would go the Indians were all obsessed with the power the Lonely Planet had over travellers. For example, In Agra, there has been a sceme going where a resturant will purposely poison a tourist and then get a cut from the hospital from the unfortunate victims travel insurance. This is good advice and I must admit that I didn't risk eating at any other place other than that recommended, but the Indians had taken full advantage of this and all the resturants were incredibly expensive as a result. While this is not a direct fault of Lonely Planets I would definately suggest getting a lesser known guide, such as The Rough Guide, so that you don't spend your whole trip surrounded by Lonely Planet readers.

This edition of "Lonely Planet India" is better than the previous one, which was very very good itself. Despite the immensity of India and the numberless topics and regions that therefore have to be covered, the authors have done an excellent job indeed. Some weaknesses are inevitable, and this is perhaps why this is not one of LP's masterpieces, but it is indeed inevitable for travel guidebooks to be the better, the smaller the region they cover - this is why this book should perhaps be complemented with the individual LP guides to different Indian regions. But in itself, this book does cover most of what a visitor will need or want to know. And in a place that is chaotic and tough for foreigners like India, this may indeed be an essential tool for the less experienced travellers. The coverage of places to stay and eat is absolutely excellent, not just for the major cities but also for minor towns and sites (the authors would indeed seem to have been on every single square foot of land in India !). The section on permits and other legal matters is of immense value to anyone, and well up-to-date. And of course, the sections and special chapters on history, culture, religion, are extremely well written, great for the traveller and the armchair reader alike. Even though the best discoveries are those a traveller will make herself / himself, this guidebook is surely a great tool and help in anyone's discovery of this wonderful land. All in all, a masterpiece despite its limitations. A weakness is of course that things being as they are in India, information is subject to change, and some may have become out-of-date by the time this book was printed. But this is of course inevitable, and it simply means that - as in any country - a traveller should not rely on only a guidebook, but make a considerable effort to grasp as much as possible of current circumstances on her / his own.

This is the second time to visit India.Both time I took the same Lonely Planet. Always I choose hotel from it and felt not bad. In some small city, hight rank hotel means good servie and the price was not so high as you image it. First all the price listed in the book is as same as in the hotel, so try to cut off nearly 30% off is the very important thing to do during the trip.
Also I visited Jaisalmer on May, but if you following the book you will never go there in such cray summer. In fact, the summer was high enough, but still interesting. No more tourist means you can enjoy alone, and only myself in the hotel you can get nearly 50% discountdown for low season. If you read you can find a lot of things from the book, but on the trip everything is changed, you never image the book can guide you everything. Try to ask person around you, and get the most reasonable price.
I will plan to go to india again, by the guide of Lonely Planet, but I think I need a new version.