No comments about The Yoruba-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Language, etc. With an Appendix Containing a Comparison ... of the Tshi, Gã, Ewe, and Yoruba Languages.

No comments about Lesotho.

1 comments about Journey To The Top Of Africa.

1. Hooray for Patrick! What a wonderful, funny, and touching book; I feel as if I know Patrick now. A neat way to share an achievement that I fear I will never make. I hope, Patrick, you are writing more books about the wild experiences you continue to have!

2 comments about Francis Frith in Egypt and Palestine: A Victorian Photographer Abroad.

1. The text reads like a dry, doctoral dissertation that makes me thankful I didn't become a college professor. Passages like the following are prevalent throughout the book : "Moving from science to theology to philosophy and the intellectual history of the period, we can see how his photographic productions were explicitly motivated by the categorical imperative of religious faith." After translating this into "His images were based largely on his strong religious beliefs," you can, after some difficulty, get through the extremely burdensome text. The text also goes on multipe tangents trying to explain Victorian England, and the milieu that Frith lived in, but I found it overly burdensome and digressing.I found myself constantly trying to skip ahead of lengthy passages about Darwin's The Origin of Species and other digressing digressions.

   The best aspect of the book is the images themselves. They are superbly produced with about as much detail from Frith's gigantic glass plates as I could expect a book to have. Frith was a rich man by the time he took his trips to the Middle East, and, whatever his motivations were, these images are historically important as well as having that Middle Eastern mystery I find fascinating. I wished that Nickel would have placed BOTH pairs of Frith's stereo slides into the book, rather than just one side and I also wish he had more images.




2. Though nicely illustrated, this is no mere picture book. Its real strength lies in its well written text and critical apparatus. Nickel's scholarship is impressive: the book combines a sophisticated approach to writing biography (Frith's) with just enough historical detail and Victorian cultural context to bring the ideas to life. Best suited to audiences operating above a fifth-grade reading level.

1 comments about Morocco Handbook: With Mauritania (Footprint Handbooks Series).

1. Anne & Keith McLachlan have covered just every possible track and hamlet with the wide open eyes of the first world tourist. If there is a bus or lorry going from one remote place to another, they mention it, plus the condition of the track, the lodging, the food and what have you. They not only give thourough info on history, geology, politics and social structure, but also on how to handle harassing 'guides'and others. This book is in my opinion the best so far. I've been in Morocco twice now and this book beats the guide by The Lonely Planet, The Rough Guide and the French: Maroc, edition Gallimard. However, if you prefer beautiful photo's, this book is not the one. In that case the French guide beats them all.

2 comments about Lonely Planet Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia (Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit).

1. Swaney's guide to Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia is the best on the bookstore shelf. The level of detail is superb, from major cities to rural villages. She should consider herself more a regional geographer, as her detail concerning things like history, climate, people, and place are akin to that of one! All this and she manages to fit in the best deals on lodging, food, and travel sites, not to mention important info concerning safety and hazards associated with travel. I used this book extensively during my travels throughout last year, when I lived in Windhoek. Indeed, you can find no better than this- and the information is as good or better than what the locals give! I once had the opportunity to meet her at a hostel in Windhoek, when I was doing some academic research there, and never had the chance to tell her how much I praise this guide!



2. Worst place I ever went to was Heaven Lodge in Chimanimana. Abysmal experience - how on earth can you recoment it. fantastically impressed with the bushwalking company. Give them a plug, they deserve it. Chimanimani Bushwalking Co. The only reason to go there

No comments about Lonely Planet Zimbabwe.

1 comments about Berlitz Egypt (Berlitz Pocket Guides).

1. This book made visiting Egypt sound like it was as easy as visiting Paris. Calling the locals a little aggressive but it was all in good fun is very far off. Don't even think about rening a car or using the subway system (as this book describes). I was really looking for a book that would tell me what it was really like and offer useful tips on how to navigate through this foreign culture. This book did not provide any useful travel information.

3 comments about Maverick in Madagascar (Lonely Planet Journeys).

1. What Holiday: `The simple and uncluttered style of Mark Eveleigh's second book belies the adventure and achievement of his trek across the badlands of Madagascar. The book is written in a tremendously well-observed, yet understated way - a welcome antithesis to the bragging and sensationalist hyperbole of much travel-writing. Maverick in Madagascar manages to be both adventurous and meticulous. Engaging yet educational. In a world where travel writers are incessantly conspiring to plan spontaneous adventures and discover unspoilt places, Mark manages to achieve both in an effortless, modest and low-impact way that will serve as an example to his contemporaries whilst uniquely entertaining and inspiring his readers.'

   Global Adventure: `Maverick in Madagascar' is a fascinating mix of adventure, history and humour that makes for excellent reading.'

   Observer: Forget tranquil tales of discontented urbanites setting up home in Provence or Tuscany, Mark Eveleigh's latest offering is travel writing at its grittiest. Certainly not for the nervous traveller, Eveleigh's book explores this strange land of superstition and folklore. Not only tremendously absorbing, but packed with fascinating facts about this unexplored country - over three-quarters of its wildlife is unique to the island - Maverick in Madagascar is a very exciting read.'




2. What Holiday: `The simple and uncluttered style of Mark Eveleigh's second book belies the adventure and achievement of his trek across the badlands of Madagascar. The book is written in a tremendously well-observed, yet understated way - a welcome antithesis to the bragging and sensationalist hyperbole of much travel-writing. Maverick in Madagascar manages to be both adventurous and meticulous. Engaging yet educational. In a world where travel writers are incessantly conspiring to plan spontaneous adventures and discover unspoilt places, Mark manages to achieve both in an effortless, modest and low-impact way that will serve as an example to his contemporaries whilst uniquely entertaining and inspiring his readers.'

   Global Adventure: `Maverick in Madagascar' is a fascinating mix of adventure, history and humour that makes for excellent reading.'

   Observer: Forget tranquil tales of discontented urbanites setting up home in Provence or Tuscany, Mark Eveleigh's latest offering is travel writing at its grittiest. Certainly not for the nervous traveller, Eveleigh's book explores this strange land of superstition and folklore. Not only tremendously absorbing, but packed with fascinating facts about this unexplored country - over three-quarters of its wildlife is unique to the island - Maverick in Madagascar is a very exciting read.'




3. To say that the author was the only European to travel the North-West coast of Madagascar in the last century is a complete marketing fib. I know of two Frenchman who rode the length and breadth of Madagascar, including the so-called "zone rouge" on horseback in 1995. I personally bought gems in the region in 1997. This book deserves its obsucurity in the dust bin of overblown travel writing. A lone white man facing the dangers of unexplored Madagascar... please, spare us.

No comments about The Albert N'yanza; Great Basin of the Nile, and Explorations of the Nile Sources: Volume 1.