David on Formosa

The Taipei International Book Exhibition (台北國際書展) is now on at the Taipei World Trade Centre. It opened for the trade yesterday and to the public today. The exhibition features a huge range of books from Taiwanese and international publishers.

Framing the Bride: Globalizing Beauty and Romance in Taiwan’s Bridal Industry by Bonnie Adrian is a fascinating anthropological study of Taiwan’s wedding photo industry. It also takes a broader look at the rites associated with marriage in contemporary Taiwan and the roles of women in society. The author first became interested in the bridal photos [...]

Democracy’s Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan is a new book by Richard Madsen. Madsen was formerly ordained in the Maryknoll Order which brought him to Taiwan in the late 1960s. He later left the order for an academic career. He is currently Professor of Sociology at the University of California. Democracy’s Dharma [...]

After visiting the Taipei Book Fair on Thursday (14 February) I returned on Saturday to attend Tony and Maureen Wheeler's presentation "Once While Travelling." Tony talked about his experiences travelling and building up the Lonely Planet business with his wife Maureen. All this is discussed in his book Once While Travelling which has now been [...]

The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) is now on at the Taipei World Trade Centre. The theme of last year's exhibition was Russia and this year it is Australia. The exhibition is a major event for Asian publishers and there is a huge range of books on display.  I was keen to see Tony Wheeler [...]

When I first came to Taiwan back in 1999 I had a copy of the fourth edition of Lonely Planet Taiwan. I have since bought the fifth and sixth editions. The seventh edition of Lonely Planet Taiwan was published in November 2007 and I recently got a copy.  The seventh edition was written by Robert [...]