Friday 22 January 2016

#RPBP Read why you too can #Travel In Asia with Fred's Diary Reader Reviews #ASMSG

Reader reviews can tell you a lot about a book. 

If you see nine 4 or 5 star ratings and a single 1 star rating, what does that say to you? Does it say the book is not worth reading because 1 person out of ten didn't like it? No, I think it means the opposite! 9 out of 10 people must have really enjoyed it! Do you see the difference here, are you an optimist or a pessimist?


Well, I'm an optimist. Most of the time anyway, but especially when it comes to book reviews.


Let's take a look at Fred's Diary 1981.




Fascinating time capsule from the 80’s


NEWLY RELEASED SECOND EDITION 

Synopsis


Have you ever wanted to read someone else’s diary? 

Would you like to experience travelling in Asia without leaving home? 

Then this book is for you. Fred’s Diary 1981 is a fascinating insight into a young man’s travels around Asia in the early 1980’s. This is a unique opportunity to delve into Fred's daily diary, which details the 158 days he spent travelling around Asia. Follow Fred throughout his extensive travels to Hong Kong, Thailand, India and Nepal. 

Appreciate the many friendships formed along the way with fellow-travellers. 

Relive the highs and lows that he experienced during this fascinating journey. 

Recognise the huge differences in technology, particularly communications. 

Become immersed in the different cultures, peoples and surroundings of Asia in the early 1980's. 

Understand more about the drug culture of the 1980's, especially in Thailand and Nepal. 

Learn from Fred's youthful mistakes, especially if your dream of travelling to Asia becomes a reality. 


Dunbar Square, Kathmandu
One of the many places to Travel In Asia with Fred's Diary


Can you decide whether or not you want to read this memoir about Robert Fear and his Travels through Asia just by reading the synopsis of the book?  


Maybe you can, maybe you can't. 


However, there are these things called book reviews and this book has them!




 Now, these are from genuine readers. People who have purchased or been given this book, read the book and decided to let the author and other potential readers know what they thought!


I'm going to use the reviews from Amazon to hash out the general consensus on Fred's Diary 1981 and his Travels in Asia.
I'm going to start out by listing the ratios:
5 Star reviews=14
4 Star reviews=7
3 Star reviews=1
1 Star reviews=1
Total reviews listed= 23


I'm sure you can do the math yourself, but let me break this down for you.
Out of the 23 people that left a review for "Fred's Diary 1981", 21 of them really enjoyed the book. 


The two left over reviews are considered "critical reviews". Which after reading them, I've decided that they aren't what I would consider a "critical review".
I don't normally do this, but as an author and a reviewer, I feel this is an important issue. 


*************************************************
Take a look at this information from USNW Austrailia!
https://student.unsw.edu.au/writing-critical-review

Purpose of a critical review

What is meant by critical?

What is meant by evaluation or judgement?

What is meant by analysis?

Writing a Critical Review

The advice in this brochure is a general guide only. We strongly recommend that you also follow your assignment instructions and seek clarification from your lecturer/tutor if needed.The critical review is a writing task that asks you to summarise and evaluate a text. The critical review can be of a book, a chapter, or a journal article. Writing the critical review usually requires you to read the selected text in detail and to also read other related texts so that you can present a fair and reasonable evaluation of the selected text. At university, to be critical does not mean to criticise in a negative manner. Rather it requires you to question the information and opinions in a text and present your evaluation or judgement of the text. To do this well, you should attempt to understand the topic from different perspectives (i.e. read related texts) and in relation to the theories, approaches and frameworks in your course.Here you decide the strengths and weaknesses of a text. This is usually based on specific criteria. Evaluating requires an understanding of not just the content of the text, but also an understanding of a text’s purpose, the intended audience and why it is structured the way it is.Analysing requires separating the content and concepts of a text into their main components and then understanding how these interrelate, connect and possibly influence each other.


Now take a look at this link which tells you the 
structure of a critical review.


https://student.unsw.edu.au/structure-critical-review

From what I can gather out of these two links, combined with my "personal opinion", I would have to say the reviews listed as "critical" are not "critical".


But I will let you be the judge of that!

I'm going to post a few of the newest
 reviews here, but you can go check them all out for yourself and decide what you think.
***
"Here is a book of diary entries written by a young backpacker touring Asia. I love books like this but was really showing my age when I was surprised by the use of recreational drugs. The kid got caught with a small amount of drugs and is shocked when he got caught up in that country's penal system. This isn't a review of a kid who needs a big reality check so I will not focus on that. All in all, the book kept my interest.
I was able to read this book and leave my review in exchange for this interesting book."
~Posted  January 12, 2016 by Marianne S. Bonatakis
***
"An interesting look back at the tail end of the hippy trail of the 1980s, when Fred abandons his job with a bank and goes off backpacking round Asia from Hong Kong through Thailand to India and Nepal.
Recording his daily life meticulously, Fred's diary gives the reader an intimate account of his journey, which is about self-discovery as much as discovery of the countries he visits. The reader shares his meals (as a lover of Asian cuisine my mouth watered more than once), his lodgings, his fellow travellers and his casual use of dope, which lands him in jail.
What I most appreciated in this book is his openness and honesty in revealing his inner thoughts and feelings about himself, about his hopes for the future, and his angst regarding his complicated relationship with his on/off girlfriend who joins him towards the end of his journey.
An entertaining read." 
~Posted on January 8, 2016  ***
This book will make you feel like you are actually traveling with Mr. Fear. It's such a great, true diary experience that will give you the bug to travel yourself. I loved reading this book because it takes you out of your everyday life into places you might not normally get to go. His easy to read passages are the perfect education if you are planning on taking a backpacking trip yourself overseas. Some of his mistakes are hilarious, while others are truly scary. SPOILER ALERT: Foreign jails! I highly recommend this exciting book for anybody with serious wanderlust.
on January 8, 2016 by Amazon Customer
***


Please go to amazon and check out the reviews for yourself, all of them. Consider what i wrote here and decide for yourself if you might enjoy Traveling Through Asia with Fred's Diary 1981. 


Read The Reviews online


To celebrate the coming new year, the price of Fred's Diary 1981: Travels in Asia has been dropped to £1.99 / $2.99 (was £2.99 / $3.99). Get your copy while this offer lasts:
getBook.at/FredsDiary1981


You can find out more about author Robert Fear on Rukia Publishing's 
Meet the Author page:
www.rukiapublishing.com/meet-the-author-robert-fear

Picture
Jean Gill from 'We Love Memoirs' Facebook group
"We have SNOW here in Provence so it seems like the right sort of day to do some 'cocooning' as they call it here, and visit Asia via Fred's Diary, which I won in a WLM interview giveaway. Thank you 
Robert Fear
!"

We have your chance to win an autographed copy of Robert Fears Fred's Diary 1981!
Join The FB Event and enter for your chance to win!
Join FB Event Here!
Thanks for reading! 





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