From the category archives:

Book reviews: Travel

Korea Chic: a cosy, western, “How to Spend it” view of Korea

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by Philip Gowman on 9 December, 2009

in Book reviews: Travel

Raymond Bartlett and Brandon Lee: Korea Chic
Editions Didier Millet Pty Ltd, 2009

When Korea is seeking to increase its visibility as a tourist destination, any guidebook must be welcome. This recently published book, however, is not a guidebook. In fact, it is not quite sure what it is. It has the feeling of one of those [...]

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Jennifer Barclay: Meeting Mr Kim

29 July 2008 Book reviews: Travel
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Summersdale Publishers, 2008

Jennifer Barclay went to Seoul with her musician boyfriend eight years ago with no fixed agenda other than a desire to get away from her job. Fortunately, while in Korea she took advantage of her free time to explore parts of the country which are not necessarily on the tourist route.
This is not [...]

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Tom Coyner and Song-Hyon Jang: Mastering Business in Korea

5 July 2007 Book reviews: Business & economy
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(Seoul Selection, 2007)

With a title like “Mastering Business in Korea” the current book might well turn off the casual reader. But as well as having, as its title suggests, a business angle, it can also be used as a more general cultural guide. And because this is a practical book written by people who have [...]

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Charlie Crane: Welcome to Pyongyang

5 May 2007 Book reviews: DPRK
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Chris Boot, 2007

The new photo book on Pyongyang can be appreciated on a number of levels. Firstly, there’s the literal level: it’s a collection of well-taken photos, with captions provided by the North Korean Tourist Board.
But like it or not, whenever you see anything in which the North Koreans have had a hand, you do [...]

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Guy Delisle: Pyongyang – A Journey in North Korea

17 November 2006 Book reviews: DPRK
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(Jonathan Cape, 2006)

An account of a three-month work stint in Pyongyang at around the start of the Bush presidency, this book is neither particularly topical (it’s taken some time to be translated from the original French) nor well-titled. But it sure is original. We’ve read travel accounts of North Korea before; we’ve heard about the [...]

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Clive Leatherdale: To Dream of Pigs

17 April 2006 Book reviews: Travel

(Desert Island, 1994)

Valuable for its brief excursion into North Korea, but the author only managed to escape from his minders for a few pages. Well worth searching out.

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Simon Winchester: Korea – a walk through the land of miracles

17 April 2006 Book reviews: Travel

(Penguin 2004)
Originally published in 1988, but with a new preface for the 2004 revised edition. Uses the 1668 description of Korea by Hendrick Hamel as a framework. An extremely well-written book.

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