2 comments about The Rough Guide to Kenya 8 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. Last April, together with my son I went on a 10 days' self-drive safari in a small Maruti jeep from Nairobi to South Nyanza in Western Kenya, exploring Kenya's western highlands, the Lake Victoria coast and islands, and also the Ruma National park, bringing the Rough Guide to Kenya 8 with us. We found the book very helpful. The guidebook probably has the best coverage of this area. The safari was great!



2. I recently spent two months in Kenya, and I read a lot of guide books both before I left the U.S. and once I was in Africa. This was definitely the most useful and informative....it was far superior to Lonely Planet in both coverage and accuracy. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is going to be spending a substantial amount of time in Kenya.

No comments about Frommer's Morocco (Frommer's Complete).

2 comments about Tunisia (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. This is the best travel guide I've ever found. Full of full color photographs and information that is relevant and sectioned in a logical manner. Well worth the money.



2. I find the guide useful in my recent travel to Tunisia but many places need updating, particularly the "where to stay" and "where to eat" sections the comments in which I find run-of-the-mill and, in some cases, outdated, e.g. one hotel was closed down more than a year ago despite its mentioning in the guide. I find these two sections disappointing.

1 comments about Culture Shock! Morocco: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (Culture Shock! Guides).

1. This book provides a detailed description of modern Moroccan culture for those from Western backgrounds trying to make sense of Moroccan values, behavior, and daily life. The content is explained well and easy to read, although the type face is rather small.

No comments about Zambia, 4th (Bradt Travel Guide Zambia).

5 comments about Men of Salt: Crossing the Sahara on the Caravan of White Gold.

1. This proved to be a very good read- a great insight into the culture of the Saharan people. It was wonderful reading about how the author was able to bond with the azalai, and amazing reading about the tremendous effort and feats it takes to survive there.



2. This is quite a fun read that exposed me to a world that I never knew about. It's well written and just the right length. It made me think quite a bit about camels, salt, the desert, and how you wipe your bottom with sand while out on a caravan.



3. I read "Men of Salt" just a few weeks after returning from Timbuktu. And I thought I had it rough! It's just a brilliant narrative, written in such vivid detail that you really feel that you're there in the heat and dust of the Sahara. Now I'm reading one of the other books that Michael Benanev referenced ("Forbidden Sands" by Richard Trench, another, earlier account of crossing with a salt caravan). I highly recommend "Men of Salt" to real and armchair adventurers everywhere!



4. I thouroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author writes well and is engaging in his description of the Sahara and the people he encounters. He also writes to educate the reader about the history of the salt trade and gives a thoughtful analysis of his feelings about his journey. This is a wonderful story about the kind of travel experience few of us will ever have. It also inspired me to explore the history of the countries involved in the salt trade and to research the natural history of the Sahara.



5. This review is less about the book than about my reaction to the book. If you want a conventional review, please read one of the long, 5-star alternatives.
   
   I liked this book, most of the time. Benanav has what it takes (the youthful illusion of immortality?) to undertake adventures most of us would love to try, if only we had the guts, wherewithall, health, and time. He has the ability to describe his adventures in an engaging, entertaining fashion. When he writes about WHAT happened he is excellent. Unfortunately, when he feels compelled to write about why it happened, what he felt at the time, or the geopolitical meaning of it all - well, read fast. Benanav will develop into a fine writer of travel adventures if he doesn't get himself killed, and if he learns not to preach. He should spend some time reading books by Rory Stewart.

5 comments about The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa.

1. I am always interested in good real life adventures. This story is about Neil's perspective on his adventure through a remote part of Africa that most westerns would never have the courage to try. I am personally a person that has traveled most places of the world, including Africa, but exposing myself to the elements the way Neil and his other five cycling buddies did is something I wouldn't dream of doing..... or at least until I had read this book... which makes me now believe I have been missing an entire part of my traveling adventure.
   
   Pick this book up! You will enjoy it! I enjoy Neil's honesty about his traveling companions and the people he interacts with during the trip. A great story about a great adventure.



2. I decided to revisit this book after reading "Travelling Music." Even if you are not a Rush fan this book has many layers; from the writer being one of a five person group, where the squeaky wheel is also the least competent, to the daily adventures of cycling through Africa and dealing with its inhabitants and (sometimes)hostile enviroment. Peart attempts a level of objectivity, trying to win the reader over with views he considers clear, but is he guilty of sharing the same level of nearsightedness as those he criticizes (only he's on the other end of the scale)? I really enjoyed reading this book since it covers more than, "next stop, so-n-so, average 'rice with junk in it.'" Peart lets you borrow his senses and mindset for a voluntary cyclist bootcamp. Is it the beat or the time between the beats that matter? You really need both for things to work.



3. Breathtaking. Artful. Thoughtful. Funny. Sad. Shocking.
   
   Neil's craft with theme and prose is as precise and thrilling as his drumming. I enjoyed The Masked Rider more than all of this other books, and I enjoyed them a lot. Neil muses how masks in Africa, and in all societies and people (himself included) reveal as much as they conceal.
   
   As usual, his insights into his own character and those of his companions are humorous and without self-indulgent narcissism. The ending is cathartic, and his concluding thoughts after the trip aren't what one would expect. Written before the crippling losses of his wife and daughter, I relished the innocence of the `old Neil', with his boundless hope and shaking-his-fist-at-the-sky verve. You will remember a sweet little girl that changes a bad day he had with two words, and the way he greets his wife when the journey is over.
   
   Ashea, Neil, Ashea.



4. Recently I picked up all four books by Neil Peart on Amazon.com and plan on reviewing them in the near future. This is the first one.
   
   I spoke with a co-worker who is from West Africa and he concurred with Mr. Peart's portrayal of the harsh living conditions there. The friend tells me, "That is why I am here" [United States].
   
   Peart's book has an excellent quality that I don't see in memoirs today. I love the way he captured his fellow riders' habits, spirit and most importantly, their irritations. In a world that is consumed with finding common ground, often our differences are overlooked. This talented writer illustrates this difficult topic of how we all wear masks and how easily they can fall off in a group dynamic under stress.
   
   As stated above, it gives the reader a clear understanding of life in West Africa. Reading this will take you through villages of the region and you will be captured right in the moment. Whether it is a tribal leader or drunken soldiers, the author takes you on his journey and you will be joining this bicycling tour. Me? I don't plan on going anytime soon - but I love to read about other areas of the world and the subject.
   
   There are other gems in the book - the conversations between the cyclists, loosing passports, having a gun pointed at the author, among others. But, you have to read it yourself to enjoy them.
   
   Lastly, I was impressed with Peart's humbleness. At times, I thought he would dive into his drumming prespective when he encountered African musicians and drums, but rather he simply chooses to report the facts. I appreciated that.
   
   I thought it was a great first effort and I highly recommend the book to fellow travelers, lovers of bicycling, and of course, Rush fans.



5. "The Masked Rider" by Neil Peart is the author's first book, published in 1996. The book describes his month-long bicycle tour in Cameroon. Peart describes in detail the challenging riding conditions and "rustic" accommodations, in addition to his relationship with his travel companuions and talks about the people he encounters. The book was an interesting, easy read. It is however the first time that I read a travel memoir that doesn't make me want to take the journey. It was difficult and uncomfortable and at times just nasty.
   
   Although this is his first book, it's the third one of the four that he's written that I have read. Having already read his second book "Ghost Rider" - where he describes his cross-US motorcycle trip after his wife and 19 year-old daughter had died unexpectedly within a year of each other (accident and cancer respectively) - this was somewhat bittersweet. In this book he tells of how he can't wait for the end of the journey when he meets his wife in Paris to enjoy a vacation with her. At another point as he tells of the poverty he encountered and how the some of the children were underfed and sick, he says that he can't imagine the pain a parent must feel upon losing a child - little could he have known he would know that pain all too well the following year whne he would lose his daughter.
   
   It's also interesting to compare traveling conditions in that part of the world prior to 9/11. He complains about the inconveniences they had to endure at security checkpoints and when flying - it's nothing comapred to what goes on now.
   
   I'd recommend it to Neil Peart fans and to people who enjoy travel memoirs.

3 comments about Tunisia (Country Guide).

1. It's light and compact and has some useful maps. We used the hotel suggestions but in most cases the ratings were off, if it says 3 stars assume 1.5-2 stars. Take ear plugs. Almost all of the hotels were in noisy areas. Many of the suggested eating places were also off the mark. Extensive menus would be met with three or four options available. The guides to sights and towns to visit were very good. We used the walking tours and maps to navigate through the country quite comfortably. Assume you'll be ripped off by every taxi driver and you'll be ok. It's still very inexpensive to travel in Tunisia. And this book is very handy to have along for the ride.



2. All in all, I was very happy with this guide. It was the right size (not too thick, not too sparse), was very informative, and had great maps. I even liked the recommended routes (since Tunisia is small, it's very possible to "do" the whole country in a month), if one can "do" a country at all without living there.
   
   Two recommendations I had for them. The first is that I did miss the recommended itineraries if you have 4 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, etc. It would have helped.
   
   The second and more important issue I had was with the authors. Yes, they had a token female author but she reviewed the more women-friendly places such as Sidi Bou Said. The amount of harassment we received wasn't surprising, as I didn't solely rely on Lonely Planet and read up on those issues; but it really wore us down over the three weeks (I was traveling with a female friend and we are both attractive women in our 20s and 30s.)
   
   My friend and I found ourselves in hysterics when the male author
   recommended that we sit down with men in a cafe and talk to them about their lives. Yeah right!! I come from Turkey, so I am in no way ignorant about Muslim tradition (although North African culture is obviously different than Turkish), but nearly every single man we talked to hit on us.
   
   That's ok, that's life. But I was infuriated to read that covering our heads would invite ridicule, because finally, in our last week, I started covering my head in Jerba and I felt an IMMEDIATELY positive difference. Yes, if I had been a tall blonde perhaps the reception wouldn't have been the same, but is Lonely Planet only geared towards men and tall blonde women? What about Mediterranean types like myself who can easily pass as native Tunisians? I wish I had known beforehand and would have covered up the whole time (by the way, we dressed EXTREMELY modestly and after seeing how some tourist women acted in Tunisia, we are definitely sympathetic to the stereotypes the men have there towards women like us).
   
   Tunisia is a great place to visit and I still have to admit that this is a good guide but ladies, read up on your own. Or should I write my own guide for women? :)



3. Not too many detailed travel books for travellers to Tunisia - a hidden gem in North Africa. Have not been there in decades, but am planning a trip with three other girlfriends next year and I was so happy that Lonely Planet had a new 'Bible' on Tunisia. They have done their usual super job with it's Tunisia 2007 Edition. We want to avoid travelling there with a group tour and with LP one can plan their trip completely -- know where your small hotel will be located within the cities or with a view; and, as always, complete coverage of historical sites & the really great beaches. I also love the layout of LP -- it's so easy to read & find information! Most of the other travel books are much heavier and the reading layout is annoying!

No comments about South Africa Travel Map (Globetrotter Travel Map).

5 comments about The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire.

1. The Heartless Stone: A Journey through the world of diamonds, deceit and desire
   -- By Tom Zoellner
   
   
   
   I've been discovering, or rediscovering, some of the best non-fiction around this year. By any standard, Tom Zoellner's "The Heartless Stone" is one of the best. A good writer, and Zoellner is one, can take a single topic....salt (` Salt: A World History" by Kurlansky or the spice trade ("Spice: The History of a Temptation" by Jack Turner) and weave a vivid, entertaining story around it.
   
   Zoellner takes us to the impoverished nation (if one can call a collection of ragged children and corrupt officials a "nation") of The Central African Republic and travels to the diamond mines, watching his back for highwaymen and paying off corrupt officials as he goes .These are the "blood diamonds", extracted from the backs of slave labor and used to finance coups d'etats and revolutions. He takes us north to the Arctic Circle, where the discovery of diamond-bearing "Kimberlite" (the soil produced by volcanic eruptions) has fostered a huge investment by multi-national corporations to extract diamonds from the permafrost. His writing is intelligent and graceful...and at times philosophical.
   He extracts nuggets of knowledge from those involved in the diamond trade, just as they extract diamonds from the earth. No substance known to man is more concentrated than the diamond. It is portable, easily concealed and sold on the black market. The Diamond's only value is what humans ascribe to it. It is a "Tabula Rasa" on which dreams are etched.
   
   "A Diamond is a philosopher's stone of the existential variety," he writes.
   For it is like the world itself, spoken into existence only through whatever meaning we choose to assign to it."
   
   Zollner's quest for meaning begins when he buys a diamond for a girlfriend with whom he later breaks up. It is that quest that takes him to the far ends of the earth. He's probably better off with the new-found meaning, than with the girl.



2. The possible history of Mr Zoellner's engagement ring is harrowing and the light he shines on the diamond industry is harsh and glaring. This book makes you want to throw away any diamonds you own and never, ever buy another.



3. This is a very cool story but I find myself a bit distracted (especially from page 1) with some of the punctuation and spelling errors. I'm really surprised it went to print in this condition? Still, a very cool story. 4-stars because of the printing issues.



4. This book takes you through the entire life-cycle of a Diamond. We start from the geology and how they are created in the mantle of the earth and then pushed to the surface. Then we go to how they are extracted in the Diamond fields of Africa. A grim tale of the brutal military rule in the Central African Republic is also very interesting. Also later in the book we get an interesting chapter about the diamond fields of Canada. The Extreme conditions of both are astonishing. From there we go on a Journey to India to understand how diamonds are polished from rough stones into Gems. We also get a peek inside the De Beers Cartel showroom where many cut gems are purchased by the hundreds to thousands to jewelers.
   
   This book does a great job of explaining why there is such an inflated artificial markup on diamonds. At the same time you almost feel as if you are getting the back story to a Bond Movie, and are just waiting for a villain to show up. The economics explained in this book are very thought provoking.
   
   If you enjoyed the movie "Blood Diamond" this is an excellent follow up.
   
   I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and learned a lot along the way.



5. Here's a few questions you might ask your jeweler before buying a diamond ring. What's the diamond's history? Where was it mined? Was it swallowed and stolen by a mine worker? Was it taked from the bowels of a murdered mine worker? Did it finance a war? Was it grown in a machine? Was it cut by children in India? How many diamonds does De Beers hold in inventory to keep prices high?
   
   A fascinating, well written expose of the diamond industry.