I was waiting for the 5th edtion of Dawn Rooney's book which I had read was due out in Oct. Now it seems it will not be out until Jan 06. We are heading for a return trip to Siem Reap in Feb and had hoped to get some good reading in prior to that. I guess I will just get the 4th edition. But, does anyone have any other suggestions for current guide books? I know I will be able to pick up some things in SR and no doubt will but this is really for my pre departure reading.

Thanks in advance

J

Michael Freeman has a good book, I don't recommend it as a guidebook as it's big and unwieldly to carry, but it's great background reading.

I just checked on Amazon - it's called Ancient Angkor.

Thanks Kathie
J

We used the Freeman book "Ancient Angkor" as well -- very, very useful (you can guide yourself around each temple with the detailed descriptions). It also covers the less-visited temples (which we would highly recommend). For historical background, we also found "Angkor: Heart of an Asian Empire" by Bruno Dagens to be useful. Have a great trip!

In case anyone is interested, Amazon.com is taking Pre-orders for Dawn Rooney's 5th edition for about $18 + shipping. I just ordered a copy and it says it should ship later this month.

Every time I go on the Amazon site, it says that the 5th edition will ship in February 2008 - what gives???

Hmmm, I hope it doesn't take that long!! Where are you located? Maybe that makes a difference?

LA Fadeaway, I'm from the good ol' USA and I suggest you contact Amazon and confirm your delivery time - if you find out that you really will get it in December, I will be quite surprised.

There is a website -

http://www.theangkorguide.com/text.htm

which I used before we went to Cambodia. Its about the monuments - actually a 1944 publication - "A guide to the Angkor Monuments" by Maurice Glaize.

Obviously there is more up to date information and more monuments uncovered now but its still a very good overview with lots of details - runs to about 50 odd pages. Definitely worth the look.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere (probably here!) that Dawn Rooney's book is widely available in Siem Reap, and quite a bit cheaper than here.

Karen, Dawn Rooney's book is available in Siem Reap, very cheaply. The books available there are copies, often not very good quality, and of course, as they are illegal copies, Dawn gets no royalities.