Although this book is compact it is too heavy to carry if one is on a walking tour. I can read a newspaper without glasses, but with glasses I had trouble with the type. It is not in an orderly format nor is there is a good section on hotels.

I have had great experiences with the DK Guides. I use it extensively in my trip planning and this is the guide I take on the trip.

This guide provides execllent information about local sites throughout Beligium. It gives very clear guidance concerning what you can find and access information. It also helps you to locate the sites with indexed maps and diagrams.

I have found that this and the other DK Guides are bit weak in providing guidance about what to see. That is, it offers little qualitative information--everything sounds equally wonderful. And we all know this is not necessarily the case.

So I always find another guide that has more opinions and recomended tours to determine what to see. I espiecially look for guided the provide suggested walking tours. This has worked out well for the most part. I use other guides to plan the trip and the DK Guide in the country.

It has very usable maps although sometimes too limited in scope and you may require a local map to get around beyond the central city. Also, because the book is a bit heavy and too large to fit in a jacket pocket after the first day or so I leave it in the hotel and rely on the local map when walking about.

The one topic I find most reliable is DK's restaurant recommendations. The two places I tried in Brussels were fantastic and offered everything that the guide described. I have had equal success with DK's restaurant recommendations in other cities/countries.

I think this is an indispensible travel guide as long as you know what you are using it for--planning or background info, etc.

Very good book for the ones who want to get to know in details this wonderful country which has been active part of the contemporany history of our world.

It gives you information from the wolrdly famous French wineyards to tips about travelling in to the Romanish sites spread over around the country.

Its write style is very accesible to everyone who wants to start travel books reading and deep explore the frontiers around the globe.

In some ways, the less said the better. Too many words will take away the magic. Breaking the book down, analyzing it, looking at separate components will only take away the overall magical feeling. This is an amazing story, but also, beautiful prose. The descriptions are sublime and the pure sweet joy of reading the words is magical. One wouldn't expect that in an adventure book about a white missionary marrying a Zulu Chief, where we expect most of the value to be in the amazing events that are relayed. So, what a surprise to get an exciting, true story also exquisitely told. And with a feminist focus. Who could ask for more in one book?

I originally bought this book to see what it had to say about grammar, and also I was going to start teaching Hebrew with it; for I am fluent in both modern and Biblical Hebrew. I found this book offered nothing special, at best. It teaches the most common things first and the others in descending order later. This is extremely confusing, and a beginner could certainly not learn well this way. One of the most common formations, that which was taught first, is one of the most eccentric things about Biblical Hebrew (the waw (vav) consecutive). This method makes no sense whatsoever. It takes you and dunks you into the language and the only way you can surface for air is by closing this book and finding another.

This book also uses a combination of old and outdated terms for grammatical formations and terms that the authors coined themselves or are found only rarely! You wouldn't be able to understand any reference grammar after attempting to learn with this book because of the terminology. Also, the modern Hebrew pronunciations are given for the letters and vowels and not the pronunciation given by most books, the one that was used by the Masoretes (Scholars who added the vowel-points and accents to the text). One is therefore left without a solid grounding in Masoretic phonology. The only thing that the authors can be commended on is the glossary of terms relating to the book and the Bible, but why by the book just for the glossary?

Here is what I liked about this book: (1) It is aimed at people who like inductive learning, which specifically means this: It doesn't teach all the exceptions to the rules and stuff at first, nor does it overwhelm you with huge complete charts of grammar rules. Instead it teaches the rules and patterns that are most commonly found in the Biblical texts first (which are incomplete but easy), then it gradually expands to fill in the gaps. (2) It has a great vocabulary list in the back that lists the Hebrew words in order according to how frequently they appear in the Old Testament. Great! (3) Each lesson, on average, focuses on only one or two new concepts, and applies it to a Scripture, so that after each lesson you will be able to translate that much more Scripture.

Here are several things to be careful about, though: (1) You should be comfortable with the Hebrew alphabet before even starting the lessons, or else you might be frustrated and feel like your progress is slow. (2) It teaches inductively and gradually, exposing rules little by little. If you are dependent on seeing all pertinent rules about a given aspect of a language at once, then it might be confusing. (3) The content may seem dry and technical if you can't concentrate without being entertained. Any excitement you experience will be from personal discoveries through the lesson, and not from induced humor from the authors themselves.

Most importantly: Know the Hebrew alphabet first! I hated this book before I knew it, but once I got past that, I started over and saw the genius of its presentation. :) I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because it's not for everyone.

This book has been an excellent resource for learning Biblical Hebrew in my experience. One commentator said you need to learn the alefbet first. Well, of course you do, and it is in the front of the book. The book instructs from the most common grammar and vocabulary to the less common. There are times when you feel like a question has been raised by the lesson and you wonder if it will be answered. But I have found that it has been later on, when it needs to be. And if you are willing to reference through the book, looking at points in later chapters or study the glossary, you'll find the answers sooner than you really need to know them. Important information is charted and can be referenced ANYTIME for rote memorization. Rare is the person who will find a good Hebrew book easy. That's because Hebrew is not for the timid, though it's far from the hardest language to read. Some may find this book difficult to learn from, but the problem is not the book. The problem is the lack of seriousness of the student to learn Hebrew correctly. Any person who thinks they can just memorize words and know a language doesn't understand language. This book is excellent for the serious learner. It is laid out well. AFter the first lesson, you will have learned 4% of the Hebrew Bible!, with only learning 3 words and one particle. Verb conjugations in Hebrew can be very discouraging; but they can be in any language since they are the hardest part of any language to learn. If one is willing to slow down on the verb sections and truly study the patterns, they will get it. If anyone doesn't want to learn verb conjugations, don't try to learn any language. The book handles the verb issue excellently---the second best I've seen. Develop a work ethic, be patient and determined, and you'll learn it.

Ironically, the "Introducing" books always seem to be least useful for those who really need an introduction. Introducing Postfeminism (an awkward term if ever there was one) is no exception - it's overly stylish and short on transitions, organized paragraphs, and clear explanations of specific figures and ideas. If you already have a solid grounding in these matters, the book may be a handy pocket reference - however, as an actual introduction it's a mess. The ideas jump off the page in the worst kind of buzzworded style, and we're scarcely five words into essentialism when structuralism barges into the picture. Even a reader eager to learn (me) finds hirself skimming.

Hey Addison Godel, are you in any way related to Kurt Godel ?
Just wondering. "Introducing Postfeminism" is a good book except the part on psyhcology i didnt really think it was too introductory. But nevertheless a great read and introduction to a complex subject.

For my next trick, I'd like to pull an hypothetical rabbit from a proverbial hat... what's that you say? sounds exactly like the goals of Postmodern Feminism? You are 100% correct, sir/madam-- just check out this book as the proof!

I was over at the lovely downtown home of a couple of friends and, toward the end of the evening, was handed this cute little dark blue book with a very becoming pink Madonna-inspried getup hanging on an equally pink rod gracing the cover.

The book is "Introducing Postfeminism" by Sophia Phoca and Rebecca Wright. As postmodern feminism (here-termed 'postfeminism', since philosophers prefer their big words small) has always been of supreme interest to yours truly, I immediately opened the volume and began to glean therefrom the attendant humor I had thoroughly expected.

Interlaced with poppy cartoons of the 'great thinkers' of postfeminism, engaging the world in a variety of oddball venues, are pages of terrific summation of the movement, its implications for society, and its parallels in psychology and philosophy.

If you're unfamiliar with this Zeitgeist-creating movement, this is THE book to begin with-- everything's there: from Freud to Saussure to Irigaray to Paglia to Foucault to Haraway.

Oh, sure, they all seem harmless enough, but read this through and you will appreciate just how sweeping the cultural notion of "celebrating differences, not equality" has become. It's equally amazing to see exactly what counts as "evidence" for feminists-- just about anything observable or not. Check out pages 110-111, where the hymen is described as existing "both within and outside the body"; "it can be metaphorically broken or remain intact."

Postfeminists, like psychoanalysts, have an odd tendency to generalize biological gestalt to social universals: a Lacanian celebration of implicit social roles coded within the genitals. Indeed, much of postfeminism has been about "deconstructing" (a very specific term, really) these roles and reconstructing them into something new and, presumably, more socially viable.

Haraway, for example, suggests that females should relate to the CYBORG being: "Cyborg replication does not rely on organic sexual reproduction or the organic nuclear family. The cyborg is both animal and machine; both fiction and social reality. The cyborg breaks down the traditional humanist barriers: human versus animal, human versus machine and physical versus non-physical. The cyborg is the 'illegitimate child of patriarchy, colonialism and capitalism'."

Mhm... but before you run off to start installing brain-chips and artificial limbs (portrayed nicely in the book at p. 142), you might consider that since women alone can be "virtual reality", they alone are entitled to the special status as cyborg-- watch out boyfriend, eh?

Paglia suggests that Madonna is the 'ideal' postmodern woman who is both fully feminine and sexual but totally in-control...

Oh yes, and did you know that cinema is inherently masculine because it is voyeuristic?

Madcap psychobabble, or important social trend? Decide for yourself folks but enjoy the ride in this VERY appealing, very well written, and highly entertaining book!