Borneo Books Online Shop » South East Asia

Smaller Moths of South East Asia; A Field Guide to the

System — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:00:00 +0000

This is the first general work devoted to the Microlepidoptera, one of the biologically richest areas on earth. More than 6500 Microlepidoptera species are known, twice the number known from western Europe.

Used as an identification manual, this book should enable the readers to identify a small moth from South east Asia to family, often to genus, and to species perhaps better than 20% of the time. Introductory sections define the Microlepidoptera and deal with structure, biology and methods for collection and study. ……….

25 Tropical Houses in Singapore & Malaysia

BBooks — Tue, 30 Oct 2001 16:00:00 +0000

Positioned as a global city at the hub of South East Asia, Singapore now has a thoroughly modern sensibility mediated by an inherited culture and sense of place. This new global consciousness is reflected in its architecture, which demonstrates a seamless marriage of vernacular and modernist forms. Singapore’s houses create pleasure from the tropical climate….they work with the landscape and the climate to generate architectural pleasure. A new wave of highly distinctive architecture has seen Singapore recognized, for the first time, as one of the world’s most dynamic architectural centres. Malaysian architecture retains a greater interest in vernacular forms, but the nation’s strong economic growth has seen a comparable will to radically re-cast the urban landscape, in order to accommodate the ‘brave new world of an affluent technocratic society. The most interesting new houses in Malaysia reflect a balance between traditional values and an optimistic global outlook. The 25 best houses and condominiums by a dynamic new generation of architects are displayed in this book. Architects featured include SCIDA, WOHA, Bedmar & Shi, CSYA, Kevin Low, K2LD, Seksan, WOW Architects and John Heah. Each house is lavishly illustrated with all new photography by Patrick Bingham-Hall, and the book is introduced by a broad-ranging and insightful essay by Paul McGillick.

A to Z of South East Asian Orchids Species

System — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 00:00:00 +0000

This 176 page book was produced by the Orchid Society of South east Asia (OSSEA) to coincide with the 17th World Orchid Conference 2002, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was written as a simple, convenient, inexpensive guide, for people who know little about S.E. Asian orchid species, but want to find out more. No book of this size would ever be a complete guide to the orchid species of the region. There are probably more than ten thousand different orchid species in S.E. Asia; this book illustrates and gives information on 401 species in 94 genera. However, the selection inclides something for everybody; inside this volume you will find many of the more common species, many of the showier species, and a fair number of extremely rare (or little known) species. Where this book excels is in the treatment given to each species. There is a high quality photographic portrait of a single flower, in some cases supplemented by a photo of the inflorescence. There is a map showing the distribution of the species. There are easy to read pictograms that show what the plant looks like and how it should be cultivated. With one glance the reader can discover the plant’s growth habit, the monthly rainfall in the area where the species occurs, the flowering period, the temperature and amount of sunshine preferred by the species, and the growing media.

Birds of South-East Asia; A field guide to the

System — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 00:00:00 +0000

A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia was first published in 2000 and instantly became the definitive ornithological guide to the region. Since then, due to discoveries, vagrants and new understandings in taxonomy, the region’s bird list has increased by 76 species. This fully updated new edition covers all of the new additions and has revised artwork and text for many of the species included in the original work. 120 full-colour plates by a range of expert artists covering every major plumage variation. All 1,327 species covered in unprecedented detail. Accurate and up-to-date text covers the identification, voice, habitat and behaviour, range and status and breeding of all the species and distinctive suspecies of the region. A complete field and reference guide to Myanmar (Burma), Thailand. Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Also covers a wide range of species found in the Indian Subcontinent, China, Taiwan, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo and the Philippines. “This guide is a magnificent achievement, regionally without peer, and clearly the essential guide for future visitors to the region”

Butterflies of Borneo & South East Asia; A Field Guide to the

System — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Butterflies of Borneo & SE Asia by Kazuhisa Otsuka. 2001. 220pp. Field guide to the 200 most frequently seen butterfly species in Borneo. Top quality colour pictures of living specimens going about their daily lives, plus text. English & Japanese editions Butterflies of Borneo & SE Asia by Kazuhisa Otsuka. 2001. 220pp. Field guide to the 200 most frequently seen butterfly species in Borneo. Top quality colour pictures of living specimens going about their daily lives, plus text. English & Japanese editions. Butterflies of Borneo & SE Asia by Kazuhisa Otsuka. 2001. 220pp, hardback, 135 x 210mm (5.5 x 8.5″). 650 colour photos including one from life on each page with a two smaller photos of a set specimen (upperwing & underwing or male & female if different). Checklist of all Borneo species. One third of each page is text. No index. Good for beginners, but less useful for field work because the species are not presented in taxonomic order, but by habitat – and a lot of species don’t stick to one habitat but are only listed once.

Ceramic Traditions of South-East Asia (reprint)

System — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 00:00:00 +0000

The artistic tradition of East Asia, in its richness of expression, technique, and style is the subject of this series, which aims to bring to the reader who wants to learn more than the journal article or encyclopaedia entry can provide, a clear and comprehensuve presentation of the region’s cultural diversity. Each volume, generously illustrated in colour and back and white, is devoted to one of the arts or crafts of East Asia & is written by an authority who is able to appeal to a wide audience. The achievements of the potters of South-east Asia were rarely acknowledged by the early writers of the history of the region. This was partly a result of the emphasis that was placed on the monumentel arts, notably architecture & sculpture, which drew their models from Indian art. The technical excellence of imported Chinese ceramics was also seen to overshadow the achievements of the local traditions. As the archaeology of the region is undertaken, however, so the distinctive stylistic and technical character of South East Asian ceramics becomes clearer, enabling us to define more precisely both their indigenous character and the nature of their relationship to traditions outside the region. This book provides an introduction to the glazed ceramic traditions of South East Asia. The ceramic wares of Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam are discussed, including the evolution of forms and glazes and related kiln technology. The relationship of ceramic forms to indigenous metal vessels and architectural sculpture is also examined. Archaeological work in Thailand and the investigation of kiln sites in Burma and Vietnam have enabled the author to incorporate much new material in this study, highlighting the important archaeological work currenty being done in South-east Asia, and providing the reader with a new perspective on the region’s ceramic traditions. John Guy, Assistant Keeper in the Indian Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum, is the auther of Oriental Trade Ceramics in South East Asia, Ninth to Sixteenth Centuries (OUP, 1986), & Series Editor of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Indian Art Series.

Colugo: The Flying Lemur of South East Asia

System — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Colugos are mammals in the order Dermoptera. There are two species: Malayan Colugo (Cynocephalus variegatus) and Philippine Colugo (C. volans). They inhabit the dense tropical rainforests of South-east Asia from coastal woodlands along the beaches to montane forests in the hills. The Colugo is about the size of a domestic cat, it feeds mainly on leaves. It can glide from tree to tree, covering up to 13 6 metres in a single glide. It carries its baby on its belly inside the flying membrane, almost like a marsupial. The Colugo cannot be kept in captivity. There is only one way to see it: You must go into the rainforest and find it. Now here is a book about this fascinating, but elusive and secretive animal. Written by a zoologist from the National University of Singapore, Norman Lim, and edited by veteran bird book author, Morten Strange, this book reveals for the first time everything we know about the Colugo.

Crimson Sun over Borneo

System — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Japanese forces were advancing across South-east Asia and the Pacific in 1942, crushing all that stood in their way. Against this onslaught, British and American government officials were compelled to escape into the jungle to reach the safety of neutral territory. Some succeeded, others failed. This is the story of one such group of men and women who thought they had reached safety, only to find themselves confronted with the brutality of a Japanese platoon. There is inevitably conflict among them, physical as well as mental, for the jungle has a strange effect on man. Their attempts to escape the invaders by making their way down river to Dutch Borneo and then, their luck holding, to Australia provoke dissension at a time they can ill-afford disunity. Besides these emotions are others: love and terror, lust and enmity which become even more consuming when they mistakenly believe themselves to have reached safety, through a splinter group escapes and is, in part, preserved. Hickling’s penetration of the Japanese officer’s mind is a sympathetic but merciless feat of imagination. There is a religious preoccupation throughout the novel; all the characters, good or bad, are seeking someting in which to belive. Codes of behaviour are stripped down. Friend or foe, his characters have that clarity of vision which comes to a man who knows he is to be hanged at breakfast time.

Cultural Sites of Malaysia, Singapore & Indonesia

System — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 00:00:00 +0000

South-east Asia has a considerable number of ancient cultural sites which are visited and appreciated by an increasing number of overseas travellers. This book covers the main archaeological and architectural sites found in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Each is described and its salient features noted and placed in the general context of the country and the region. Plates and original figures, including axonometric drawings produced specially for the book, enhance the reader’s appreciation of the extremely rich and varied cultural past of these sites. As has been shown in the authors’ previous volume, Cultural Sites of Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia, it is essentially the religious structures which have survived and which are given prominence. Jacques Dumarcay was, until his retirement, an architect with the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient specializing in the monuments of South-East Asia. Michael Smithies recently retired from the United Nations after an academic career spent in South-East Asia.

Economic Change in South East Asia, 1830-1980

System — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 00:00:00 +0000

This book provides an introduction to the economic history of South-east Asia from the early nineteenth century to the contemporary period. It examines, for example, the strong commitment of agriculturists across the region to cultivation for export markets from the middle decades of the nineteenth century, and the impact of agricultural specialization on their material welfare; the economic role of the immigrant Chinese as traders, moneylenders, revenue farmers, bankers, and industrialists; the impact of the interwar depression on the economies of South-east Asia; the implications of the Green Revolution in rice for rural inequalities; and the causes and nature of South-east Asia’s modern industrialization. On each topic, it attempts to draw the reader into the specialist literature, to emphasize divergent views, and where appropriate, to admit ignorance. Above all, it seeks to kindle curiosity and enthusiasm, to encourage the reader to explore further. The author is Reader in the Economic History of South-east Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.