WanderLearn Forum with Francis Tapon

Hi Francis,

I am from Slovakia, living now in Prague, Czech Republic. I think that your book is revolutionary, would love to read it.
I can not remember myself of any book of this kind being written about the whole eastern european countries in one till now, is fresh and with current information, based on your own experience, what can be better. Hope thanks to your european roots, your view might be as objective as possible and the book will be readable for Europians as well.

Very similar book was written about Slovakia only, by a Slovak journalist, living most of his life in Czech Republic, writing in czech, correspondent of Cesky Rozhlas /Czech Radio/, at the moment living in Slovakia, his name is Lubomir Smatana. The name of the book 'Janosici s tezkou hlavou' is hard to translate. Maybe, while your stay in Slovakia, you have heard the name Janosik, a slovakian national hero, altough he was a bandit in around 17th century, it is said he was a good one, taking from the reaches giving to the poor ones, something like Robin Hood Janosici is plural from Janosik. So the exact translation will be 'Janosici with heavy head' .
The book is bestseller in Czech Republic and in Slovakia, it is really great written and is capturing present Slovakia, the national characteristic exactly, describing interesting places. Unfortunately there is no english translation yet.

I expect your book to be as good as this one about Slovakia.
I would like to ask if your book will be to buy either in Czech Republic or Slovakia?
Will your book be possibly translated in one of those languages?

I have as well a remark to the "The Hidden Europe" publication date and the 20th anniversary of the fall of Yugoslavia. I do not think you are right here with the date.
As far as I know, the 20th anniversary of the fall of Yugoslavia was already the last year on 25th June 2011. On 25. June 1991, Croatia and Slovenia announced their independence. For Slovenia waited welfare, for Croatia war.

Thank you for your reply, wish you many safe steps on your journeys.

Best Regards,

Eva

Dear Eva,

Thank you for the kind email. I'll answer your questions:

1. I believe my book is objective because I am half-French, half-Chilean, but born in America. So I have 3 perspectives that help me analyze Eastern European culture objectively. Still, I don't expect you (or anyone) to agree with all my conclusions. Sometimes I can controversial. I encourage you to read it.

2. The best way to buy the book in Eastern Europe is either to buy it on my website or Amazon's UK store. If you buy on my website, it's best to convince several of your friends to buy the book too, because the shipping cost gets cheaper when you get more than one book.

3. So far the book is not going to be translated, but I would like to speak with publishers who are interested in translating it. So if you know someone in the publishing industry, please let me know. I have talked with one Czech publisher, but I am not sure if they will translate it.

4. Yes, June 25, 1991 is one date we could use to signal the breakup of Yugoslavia, but the country did not officially end until 28 April 1992, when the Serb-dominated Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) was formed out of the former Socialist Republics of Serbia and Montenegro.

I look forward to your comments about the book!

Keep in touch!