No comments about Globetrotter Visitor's Guide Taman Negara (Globetrotter Visitor's Guides).

No comments about Kathryn's Crossing - A Journey to a Bridge in Africa.

No comments about The Great Tanganyika Diamond Hunt.

No comments about Livingston and the explorations of Central Africa (The world's great explorers and explorations. [6]).

1 comments about Kenya (Footprint - Travel Guides).

1. Lizzie Williams' slim guide to Kenya seems to shortchange her own ambition. If The Rough Guide 8e requires over twice as many pages, and smaller print as well, to do this country justice, Williams' reasonably broad coverage cannot avoid severe truncation. And speaking of justice, how may Footprint Handbooks condone pricing its 352-page Kenya on par with its 656-page Peru? The inevitable reduction in detail should not be construed as relegating this 1st Footprint edition to also-ran status among its competitors, as it features interesting and valuable insights in many of its reviews. Brevity notwithstanding, this is not the least comprehensive among guides currently available. The seven-category sytem employed as a price guide to accommodations, however, fails miserably with a majority rising into the L (luxury) class. A case in point is Williams' notation that the five Governor's Camps in Maasai Mara range from $165 to $500 per person per night, yet all receive her L designation (over $150). Simpler and far preferable would be inclusion of price with each accommodation. Williams is rather careless in mentioning species associated with parks and reserves. There are not "a number of Roan antelope" in Shimba Hills National Park (not a "Reserve"), as an attempted introduction was not successful. While definitely in need of improvement, Footprint's 1st edition has commendable features and merits the effort.

5 comments about Across the Footsteps of Africa: The Experiences of an Ecuadorian Doctor in Malawi and Mozambique.

1. I am a student at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, where Dr. Puertas is a teacher, and I was lucky enough to be able to read his book's first edition, in Spanish. It is a great book, both for people in the Medical Profesion, as for everyone else. It has very touching stories of survival in Africa, as well as interesting adventures, and a very useful description of a Doctor's work in areas of such poverty and suffering. It is for sure a must read for anyone interested in Public Health, or who wants to read something real, yet different.



2. This book's first edition in spanish showed me the crude reality of the african health system. This delightful narrative experience of Dr. Puertas' incredible adventure in Africa is very well written. It's contents may prove useful to anybody in the medicine, public health, and medical anthropology fields, especially if related to third world countries.

   great book

   JLBE




3. An Eloquent Book by a Doctor in the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize Winning Organization, Les Medicines Sans Frontieres

   Across the Footsteps of Africa by Dr. Benjamin Puertas-Donoso

   Les Medicines Sans Frontieres have won the prestigious and much deserved Nobel Peace Prize for 1999. I would like to congratulate them and praise their dedicated doctors. I was especially touched by this eloquent and beautiful memoir of an Ecuadorian doctor who worked with the American Refugee Committee in Malawi and with Les Medicines Sans Frontieres in Mozambique near the end of their long, brutal civil war in 1993 and 1994.

   Dr. Puertas is a gifted writer. The refugee camps where Dr. Puerts worked were not pretty places. But Dr. Puertas took the inconveniences, risks and deprevations of the work in stride. His warm personality bursting with optimism, energy and humility, not only charmed his refugees and coworkers, but captivates his readers as well. However, of course, his success in taking on the gargantuan task of saving lives in wretched conditions was not due to charm alone. In fact he has a genius for organization and administration.

   Dr. Puertas does not focus the book on his own accomplishments or dwell on the dirt on the floor in the hospitals. His book is very intelligent and shares with the reader a little of the history of the countries he worked in, their governments and politics and he gives the reader a respectful and balanced idea of what the people, the food and the native cultures are really like. He was very impressed with the good natured people and their incredible strength to endure each day. He traveled quite a bit in the region, met a lot of interesting people, and is a good travel guide for the reader sitting comfortably in his armchair.

   Years ago I too lived and worked in Africa. I served as a Peace Corps teacher in Ethiopia. I was teaching English to children who were starving, with many unnamable and unreatable diseases and living without adequate shelter. I can vouch that every word in Dr. Puertas' book resonated true to my experiences in Africa. Africans take their hard life pretty much in stride, but it is indeed very hard. It is organizations like Medicines Sans Frontieres that bring the doctors with skills and abilities to make things happen to improve their lives. Dr. Puertas is to be commended for giving his time and gifts to humanitarian efforts and also for writing such an inspiring and exceptional account of it. It is Dr. Puertas' great gift as a writer to make this story, necessarily suffused with so much human pain and suffering, a great triumph to the human spirit and a romantic adventure. Dr. Puertas is so likeable, his narrative creates suspense because the reader really cares about what happens to him. This book would make a great movie!




4. Dr. Donoso has written a wonderful account of his medical experiences in refuge camps in Malawi. His writing style is engaging for both the medical professional and the layman. He has enough detail (and footnotes if you really want them) so that you can look critically at his efforts. In addition, at times, his writing is fluid and even poetic. I gave the book only 4 stars because at times the translation was a little rough. I'll bet that this book is really beautiful in the original version. Anyway, if you are interested in the details of delivery of healthcare under trying circumstances, get this book and read it.



5. Dr. Donoso has written a wonderful account of his medical experiences in refuge camps in Malawi. His writing style is engaging for both the medical professional and the layman. He has enough detail (and footnotes if you really want them) so that you can look critically at his efforts. In addition, at times, his writing is fluid and even poetic. I gave the book only 4 stars because at times the translation was a little rough. I'll bet that this book is really beautiful in the original version. Anyway, if you are interested in the details of delivery of healthcare under trying circumstances, get this book and read it.

2 comments about Living in Tuscany (Living In . . .).

1. I found this book very dark and unimpressive. The pictures tended to be grainy and dark, some even out of focus. Having just returned from Tuscany I know the country abounds with spectacular photographic opportunities - unfortunately that is not represented in this book.



2. This is not just a book of Tuscan countryside photographs. This is an all around useful tool to help the reader learn about various regions of Tuscany and what they are known for. While there may be other books with more stunning photographs that does not invalidate that these photos too reflect the region. The book is helpful for a new traveller to the region and provides a small list of resources at the end of the book. I actually think it is better than some other books on Tuscany that I have seen. Overall I would describe this book as helpful but perhaps a seasoned traveller to the area would want a more in depth and detailed work. Still I give it 3 stars.

1 comments about Blue Guide Tunisia (Blue Guides).

1. As is typical of "Blue Guide" travel publications, this is a very thorough book with good coverage of what to see, and a fair amount of in-depth background on the significance of what you are seeing. I bought it for that background, despite the ten-year old publication date. I think it is worthwhile for anyone contemplating a trip to Tunisia, but be aware that there are some things in the book which simply aren't accurate anymore. So supplement it with at least one other guide published in the last year or so. A trip to Tunisia is such a large expense that scrimping on travel guides that can enhance your visit for 1% or less of the cost of your trip is a penny-wise and pound-foolish approach!

No comments about Hugh Clapperton into the Interior of Africa: Records of the Second Expedition, 1825-1827 (Sources for African History).

No comments about 60 Years in East Africa: Life of a Settler 1926 to 1986.