Hard astern, skipper!

Gavin Menzies casts off on another Chinese voyage of historical fancy. Next up: How Zheng He captured the Loch Ness monster

How the Buddha survives
Amid glorious illustrations, moving evidence of the sutras' continuing relevance

By the gas pump's red glare
A timely and fascinating survey of global oil's role in lubricating economies, politics and war

A fitting tribute to the crafts of Indonesia
In Indonesia, a country made up of 17,000 islands, a population of 230 million and a number of ethnic tribes, craftsmen will never be a dying breed, despite the advent of modern technology.

A Mix of Insight and Bromides
ean Wilentz has produced a massive tome of American political history called The Age of Reagan (HarperCollins, New York, 2008, 458pp) which covers the years from 1974 to 2008.

The man 'Time' magazine named Person of the Century is a topic as big as the universe

Richard Russo, the sage of upstate New York, explains six decades in a life that never graduated from high school

Teenagers in or out of love should make a date with this issue. It offers updates on all the entertainment news, both local and global.

On civil society
Focusing on "the experience of the Small Scale Farmers' Assembly of Isan (SSFAI)", this volume appears to be a print version of a PhD thesis.
A tribute to the tusker
As India's pachyderm population declines, there's a nostalgic yearning for the long-lost mystique of this noble vehicle
Plugging that brain drain
The Wisdom Paradox By Elkhonon Goldberg Published by Pocket Books, 2007 Available at Asian Books, Bt450
Meet Keller the lizard killer
More Living Thai Ways Part III By Michael Keller Published by Bangkok Books, 2006 Available at Asia Books, Bt225

Chronicles of a rich heritage
Joop Ave shares his passion for Indonesian handicrafts in his new coffee-table book
Symbolism Decoded
A new book by a former National Museum volunteers unlocks the secrets behind the motifs of Chinese art
A City of Contrasts
An art historian takes a long, hard look at the Venice of the East in a new cultural guide
'Dead' writer talking
Author Peter James, whose tales of a fictional British police detective sell in the millions, is quite at ease with reallife cops and criminals too

Richard A Engelhardt
Background: Unesco regional adviser for culture in Asia and the Pacific and coauthor of the recently published “Asia Conserved”.
John Whitehead
Background: director of the British Council in Thailand