Twelve Thai tomes

Twelve Thai tomes

A selection of locally printed literary classics

• Published: 28/12/2009 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: Outlook

Don't be scared by their thickness. Here, I would like to invite you on an extraordinary, marvellous ride - reading a 500-plus-page book by yourself or, as good as the first prospect, giving one away as the New Year's presents to your beloved. Then you will have a whole lot of things to share or debate with one another for weeks and months to come.

More seriously, the presence of these lengthy tomes is, to me at least, a healthy indicator of Thailand's reading culture. That we still have a fair number of mature readers who can savour books of substantial size and content. And the publishers who are willing to invest in this often risky venture. Not to sound snobbish, the selection of twelve titles below is a mere fraction of the existing stock in the country. What I try to do here is provide a variety of samplers - four non-fictions, two biographies, two travel books and four novels from different publishing houses that I myself have had the fortune to bite into and upon reaching the last page, discover an indescribably nostalgic pleasure as if when having to leave a dear old friend.

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1. Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Jared Diamond
Translated by Orawan Koohacharoen Nawayuth
Oh My God Publishing, 796 pp, 480 baht

- The best of the bunch that I have read - so far. Pulitzer Prize writer Jared Diamond explores the collapses of ancient civilisations - from Mayan, to Viking, Norse and Easter Island - and traces the common cause back to environmental degradation and other human actions.

This would have been a great companion for participants at

the much-hyped Copenhagen Summit or any vigorous climate change debate on this planet. With loads of information, Diamond engages his readers with witty, provocative prose, so you won't be put to sleep munching through the hundreds of pages here.

Another unique plus is the out-of-the-norm courage and generosity of the Thai publisher: besides the unusually low price of the print copy, readers can simply download the digital version of Collapse at http://www.ohmygodbook.com, without cost. Perhaps we should all be chiming "Oh My God!" in unison out of gratitude.

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2. The Power of Myth

Joseph Campbell
Translated by Baranee Boonsong
Amarin Printing and Publishing, 505 pp, 450 baht

- The book's rather dull cover is deceptive, for this interview with Joseph Campbell by journalist Bill Moyer will take you on a rare and memorable exploration through myths from past to present and how they reflect the inner, transcendental psyche of individuals in relation to others. Campbell seems the right man for the job as a well-respected professor in mythology whose works inspired George Lucas' Star Wars saga, which is in turn another modern myth of sorts.

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3. A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson
Translated by Tomorn Sukpreecha and Wilawal Ruedeesant
Wongklom Publishing, 605 pp, 360 baht

- This is high science made digestible for the general public. From the beginning of the universe to the discovery of atomic particles and the origins of life, the book transforms complex scientific ideas into lively investigations, including pictures of real scientists who breathe, love and hate like the rest of us. The Thai translation has already gone through several reprints. After all, the original English version has won praise and awards on both sides of the Atlantic as the best communication science book of the year.

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4. The Quantum and the Lotus - A Journey to the Frontier where Science and Buddhism Meet

Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan
Translated by Kulsiri Charoensupakul and Buncha Thanaboonsombat
Suan Ngern Me Ma Publishing, 512 pp, 420 baht

- A much-awaited book on science meets spirituality, and probably the first ever of the genre to get published in Thailand. The dialogue between French physicist-turned-monk Matthieu Ricard and Vietnam-born scientist Trinh Xuan Thuan covers a wide range of fundamental scientific issues - from the origin of the universe, the particle phenomena, the matter of time and the chaos theory to the emergence idea, artificial intelligence and even the paradigm of how to realise both beauty and truth. Neither the science nor the dharma is boring through the vivid minds of the two learned men.

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5. Personal History

Katharine Graham
Translated by Ayuree Cheewarunotai
NanmeeBooks, 1,104 pp, 595 baht

- The thickest book in this collection, but one that is as engaging and awe-inspiring as the others. Legend of US newspapers Katherine Graham penned this memoir at the prime age of 79, when she felt she could reveal the ins and outs of the media's lurid world with no need or effort to save anyone's face. From being a housewife who lived a rather privileged, cloistered life, Graham found herself pushed into the limelight as she had to steer the Washington Post - bought by her father and run by her husband - through a succession of storms, including the Watergate scandal that toppled president Richard Nixon.

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6. Kang Lang Postcard (Behind the Postcards)

By Lanserithai (136)
Amarin Printing and Publishing, 737 pp, 170 baht

- This book is quintessentially an antidote to the tourism industry. It is a quirky, sensitive, honest, satiric, and eye-opening memoir of a perceptive and adventurous Thai woman who adopts the pen name of "Larnserithai (136)" and what she has experienced as a backpacker in Europe and the subcontinent. The second part is a no-holds-barred commentary on the devastating impact of tourism on the once-pristine life in the South of Thailand. A must-read, especially in the age when tourists are worshipped widely as god, or in the government's campaign as "nationally important persons".

Back copies are available at an unbelievably cheap price at a charming, rather whimsical Kathmandu art gallery. Visithttp://www.kathmandu-bkk.com.

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7. Dern Soo Isarabhap (Walk to Freedom)

By Pramual Pengchan
Sukkhaphab Jai Publishing, 504 pp, 300 baht

- A simple but refreshing book. A middle-aged university lecturer decides to take early retirement and starts a 66-day solo walkathon from Chiang Mai to his birthplace on Koh Samui. The only catch is that he has vowed not to take any money or credit cards with him, beg for money or visit any friends he knows. How the man manages to survive the ordeal is a story of compassion, self-discovery, and transformation for both the writer and readers alike.

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8. Lao Wai Mua Wai Sonthaya (Telling It in the Twilight Years), an autobiography of Buddhadasa Bhikku

A series of interviews by Phra Pracha Prasanthammo and edited by Orasri Ngarmwittayaphong
Komol Keemthong Foundation, 584 pp, 550 baht

- One of the best autobiographies in Thailand, this portrait of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, founder of Suan Mokkh forest monastery in Surat Thani, provides a rare insight into the remarkable man who started a historic reformist movement in Thai Buddhism. We learn how his apparent austerity belies his compassionate heart, and how he has devoted his entire life to raising pertinent questions about the threats of materialism and consumerism as well as to bringing about understanding that transcends theological differences.

The hardback edition comes with black and white photographs of the reformist monk in his childhood, the early days at Suan Mokkh, as well as a selection of Buddhadasa's handwritings. Just to look at the old, wooden kuti without any furniture where Buddhadasa used to reside decades ago is a humbling, touching experience.

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9. The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha

Miguel de Cervantes
Translated by Sawangwan Traicharoenwiwat
Butterfly Publishing, 600 pp, 696 baht (hardback) and 599 baht (paperback)

- Meticulous care and resources were poured into the Thai translation of this Spanish literary classic, making the tome probably the most elegant book ever produced in the Kingdom. Although the (mis)adventures of an ageing man obsessed with legends of heroic knights have been widely circulated, often in abridged forms, delving into the real thing could be a personal encounter with literary marvels no one else could ever do in another's place.

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10. The Pilgrim Kamanita

Original German edition by Karl Adolf Gjellerup. 
Here, translated into English by John E. Logie and into Thai by Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa
Song Siam Publishing, 479 pp, 500 baht

- The Thai translation of this German literary work has been so widely praised for its memorable and beautiful prose it seems to have outlived the original German and English versions. And you can prove this true for yourself by perusing the bilingual hardback edition. Danes Nobel Prize laureate Gjellerup weaves Buddhism and ancient Hindu philosophy into a tragic romance of a handsome Indian merchant in search for love and Buddha.

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11. The Glass Bead Game

Hermann Hesse
Translated by Sodsai
Praew Publishing, 727 pp, 450 baht

- This last work and masterpiece of Hermann Hesse was written as Germany was about to start World War II. It tells the story of musically gifted Joseph Knecht who rises to become Magister Ludi, master of the elitist glass bead game, and how he eventually steps down from his ivory tower to become an ordinary teacher of a young boy. Lesser known than Siddhartha or Steppenwolf, The Glass Bead Game is clearly a work of maturity that keeps unfolding its subtle, latent meanings to new generations of readers.

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12. Sophie's World

Jostein Gaarder
Translated by Saipin Subuddhamongkol
Kobfai Publishing, 552 pp, 300 baht

- Who are we? Where does the world come from? These perplexing questions form the basis of this semi-philosophical book disguised as a teen novel. Through conversations between 14-year-old Sophie Amundsen and a mysterious man named Alberto Knox, we are introduced to the long history of Western philosophy and in the process, learn perhaps more about ourselves and the meaning of life.

Writer: Cholnapa ANUKUL
Editor: Vasana Chinvarakorn