Must Read Books about Thailand

(for those who plan to work or live in rural Thailand)

• Phra Farang, An English Monk in Thailand; Phra Peter Pannapadipo, Post Publishing, Bangkok, 2000 (available through www.amazon.com)
• Touch the Dragon, A Thai Journal, Karen Connelly, Turnstone Press ,Winnipeg, 2001 (U.S. edition to be published December 2001 under the titel “Dream of a Thousand Lives”, available through www.amazon.com)

Other Cool Books about Thailand

• Banana Tree Horse, More Poems; B. Kasemsri, Bangkok, 1995 (Thai & English)
• The Best of Thai Dishes; Sisamon Kongpan, Sangdad Publishing, Bangkok (Thai & English)
• Cultures of the World: Thailand;Jim Goodman, Times Books International, Singapore, 1991
• Good Morning, Buddha; Phra Peter Pannapadipo, Post Publishing, Bangkok, 2000
• The Judgement: Korbit....?? (sorry, it’s packed right now, weird topic but excellent insight into village life)
• Life in a Lisu Village; John R. Davis, Footlose Books, England
• Thai Folktales; M.L. Manich Jumsai, Chalermit, Bangkok, 2000
• Thailand, Eyewitnes Travel Guides, DK Publishing, Inc. London, 1999
• Understanding Thai Buddhism; M.L Manich Jumsai, Chalermit, Bangkok, 2000

Our favorite English language newspaper is The Nation, published in Bangkok, also on the web at: www.nationmultimedia.com.

The best language book in our opinion is “Thai, the Rough Guide” and a pricey but outstanding interactive course on CD is ‘Thai Interactive Learning System” by Courage Software, e-mail info@venturetech.com or www.venturetech.com . Peace Corps placement told us not to bother with trying to learn Thai because their total immersion system was outstanding. Nevertheless, we found it extremely helpful to have learned some Thai ahead of time. Thai is a very difficult language and the CD gave as a great headstart. 

P.S. we don’t have time right now to add comments to each title. We are in the process of settling in Fort Collins. Maybe later .... Anyway, my favorites are Touch the Dragon and Phra Farang. Norbert