Book Review: M. Nadarajah: Living Pathways May 26, 2014 – Posted in: Reviews

BOOK REVIEW M. Nadarajah: Living Pathways: Meditations on Sustainable Cultures and Cosmologies in Asia. Penang: Areca Books, 2013, xxi+153pp., ISBN978-967-5719-09-7 The first thing that struck me about this book, when it came to me for a review, is its visual appeal. It is layered with photographs and graphics which have, not so obvious, resonance with the themes and textual content of the book. It is pleasure to leaf through a book which has an excellent…

“A new thing said in a new way”: Some comments on M. Nadarajah’s Living Pathways by Gaston Roberge – Posted in: Reviews

A new thing said in a new way Living Pathways, by Dr. Nadarajah Comments by Gaston Roberge, 12 April 2014 Living Pathways, the new (2013) book of our friend Dr. Nat, is new in at least four important ways: 1. The way it was created patiently involving hundreds of people. 2. The way it appears with images on nearly as many pages as the text. 3. The fact that images constitute a heart moving text…

Reviews for Tulila: Muzik Bujukan Mandailing April 30, 2014 – Posted in: Reviews

Tulila: Muzik Bujukan Mandailing. Edi Nasution. Penang, Malaysia: Areca Books, 2007. xx + 180 pp., photographs, maps, figures, musical ex., bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-983-42834-4-5, RM35.00. Tulila: Muzik Bujukan Mandailing (Tulila: Mandailing seduction music) is Edi Nasution’s Indonesian-language study of markusip, a disappearing, late-night, rural courtship tradition among West Sumatra’s Mandailing. In markusip, a love-struck pemuda (young man) braves nocturnal risks of the jungle to sneak up to a young woman’s dormitory (bagas podoman), where he leans his shoulder against its…

A Magnificently Rich Tome on Early Penang March 28, 2014 – Posted in: Reviews

Review by Ooi Kee Beng of Penang – The Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830, Volume One: Ships, Men and Mansions There are several questions about the history of Penang that have bothered me for quite a while, satisfactory responses to which cannot be found in any Malaysian schoolbook. This is not strange, given how the significance of Penang has been played down since independence for nationalistic reasons; and how national history has successively been caricatured to…

Reviews for M. Nadarajah’s ‘Living Pathways’ February 12, 2014 – Posted in: Reviews

“There is no better time for this book.” After reading Living Pathways, my first response was “This book should be placed in the hands of every head of state around the world.” Clearly, deeply and beautifully, M. Nadarajah brings us face-to-face with of the most pressing global issue of our time: the urgent need to take responsibility for the precious resource belonging to all of us, our Mother Earth. I love how Nat takes us…

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A History of Phuket: “An Absolute Must Read” March 29, 2013 – Posted in: Reviews

Review by Alasdair Forbes First, a declaration of interest: I edited an early version of Colin Mackay’s A History of Phuket and the Surrounding Region. I thought then that it was an excellent piece of work. The final product is just plain superb. Mackay spent five or six years researching the book, unearthing memoirs, official documents, love letters and even an epic poem, in Thai, English, Dutch, Russian, German, Portuguese, French, Danish, Malay and more languages.…

“A Historical Book on Phuket” – Posted in: Reviews

COLIN Mackay’s A History of Phuket and the Surrounding Region (White Lotus, Bangkok, 2012, 418pp) is a magnificent achievement: a towering work of erudition leavened with sly humor and fascinating side-bars. While destined to be the standard reference text for the island’s history, the book is so vividly written that it deserves to be a raging best-seller. Mackay covers the early waves of migration down the Malay peninsula – Negrito, Malay, Mon, Burmese, Thai – until the dawn of empires: Funan spreading from Vietnam, Srivjaya from Sumatra and Chola from the Tamil Coromandel…

“Some Thoughts on the Dulang Washer” March 14, 2013 – Posted in: Reviews

Review by Susan Abraham What a superb book The Dulang Washer, that featured the gruelling industry of Malaya’s ancient tin-mining era, turned out to be. Here then lies an expansive work of essential historical fiction, thoughtfully and painstakingly composed by Irish writer, Paul Callan in his promising debut career as a novelist. The Dulang Washer – meaning an old-term description of a washerwoman who pans for tin sediments at the water’s edge – is published…

“Between Lives”: A Book Review March 5, 2013 – Posted in: Reviews

Review by Karishma Attari Between Lives begins with an intriguing prospect. A young Malaysian girl working at the Social Reconstruction Department is selected, perhaps for people skills, but probably for her knowledge of Tamil, to handle the eviction of an old woman who refuses to surrender valuable forestland for the construction of a theme park. Sumitra is eager to participate in “the wind of change that is at last unsettling old habits of thought and behaviour.”…

“The Planter’s Bungalow” Review March 3, 2013 – Posted in: Reviews

Review by Simon Hutchinson On first seeing this handsomely produced, lavishly illustrated book one would take it for one of those ‘coffee-table’ volumes displayed for visitors to admire and perhaps glance through rather than actually read. The title may suggest an almost eccentric specialization (Book about bungalows?! Who on earth would want to read it?’) but open this book at any page and you will be drawn into a fascinating journey through once familiar times…