Great pocket book for use as a starting point. Armed with this 200 page book you can usually get your meaning across to most Egyptians... they may want to 'correct' your pronounciation, but they understood what you said. The format is simple: English word followed by Egyptian pronunciation spelled out in Roman letters. Very simple once you get the hang of the few new sounds in Arabic. I lost my copy when I got back to the states and it was the first thing I looked to replace when I returned to Cairo this year.

Collis is also a great story-teller, taking the reader into a mysterious oriental court, with its intrigues and conspiracies: a scheming chief minister, a decadent young ruler and a strong-willed woman, desperately trying to hold a desintegrating country together.

Although originally written in 1937, the book of Pwa Saw can now also be read as an analogy of Aung San Suy Kyi's current-day battle with the ruling junta: two amazing women struggling through a crucial period in their country's history.

this was a fascinating story of a woman artist in a time when women were supposed to be the model not the artist. it's a great book and I'm very disappointed that it's out of print.