5 comments about Sydney (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. this got a lot of good reviews and I was a bit disappointed. The format is easy to read, and there IS a lot of good information in the book. This book isn't going to help you find good cheap restaurants. Most of the restaurants and bars listed are expensive. This book is far better than the Rough Guides or Lonely Planet for sure BUT I'll be ordering Frommers to take with me when I go to Australia...



2. I must say I am pretty impressed by this travel guide to Sydney. And I can doubly assure you of that it is excellent because I live here in Sydney! The reason I got this book was because in my experience the best travel guides are generally the ones from DK and this one didn't dissappoint. A travel guide like this is great for people who come to Sydney and stay with me. I can lend them this book to get around town during the weekdays while I am at work - but that said, even I find it useful.
   
   I do a fair bit of travelling around internationallly and tend to take Sydney for granted. Reading through this book there are great little accounts of it's history as well as interesting suggestions for good restaurants and bars. When you've lived in a place for a long time you tend to frequent the same favorite spots over and over so it's nice getting tips for 'best restaurants and bars' that differ from those from other sources. One of the best things here are the walks at the back. I know most of the areas on them modestly well but I must say they are brilliantly planned. Also, as always, the maps of every suburb listed here are excellent for the novice to navigate around this city.
   
   As for shortcomings, these are few and far between but even then it seems you can't please everyone. You can easily list things that could have been covered in better detail - but then again most people who visit here just won't have enough time to cover them all. Chinatown for one gets covered rather superficially. Also there is excessive coverage of St Mary's Cathedral - you can find plenty of far older and architechturally grander churches in any town in Europe. Churches of this size are rare here in Australia so for Australians it is considered worthy of mention but otherwise don't even bother going there. Ditto for the Art Gallery of New South Wales - compared to Boston, New York or any major European city it is laughable, except of course for the wonderful Aboriginal section there. As for the rest of it, I find it an embarrassment that the authors insist on dwelling on it.
   
   Lastly, as for budget restaurants, there are plenty of them listed in this book. There is a book here in Sydney called 'Cheap Eats' if you really wanted a book that listed the best budget restaurants in town. Also if you really think about it, an exceptionally expensive top notch restaurant here is regarded as costing around $70-100 Australian per person, which is around $50-75 US dollars. By European and especially by UK standards - this is pretty damned cheap. Reviews I have read of the finest Sydney restaurants in the international press have all been glowing as well. The ones listed here are pretty good picks although the Sydney Morning Herald guide provides a more up to date view of Sydney cuisine. It's all also a matter of taste and opinion too.
   
   So if you are thinking of visiting this beautiful city buy this book with confidence. Even I learned more than a thing or two from it.



3. I just got back from 10 days in Sydney, and I took this book and also the Rough Guide to Sydney. This book is vastly superior to the other.
   
   The book has a lot of good information, and I really like the format. Every page is color, and full of illustrations and excellent maps. Call me a child of the media age, but it's so much easier to flip through this book, compared to reading through long blocks of text.
   
   The maps are really worth emphasizing. I used the maps to follow various walking trails through different parts of the city, and they were excellent in terms of mentioning things to look out for.
   
   The only disappointment I had was that this book hardly covered North Sydney, which is where I was staying. Now, granted, there aren't really too many tourist activities in North Sydney, but it is an interesting area, and the entire north side of the harbor is worth exploring, in my opinion. The restaurants are great, the neighborhoods are beautiful. Also, there are really some incredible views of the opera house from the north shore.
   
   Best of all, this book fits (snugly) in a back pocket. I highly recommend this book.



4. Just spent a week in Sydney and found the book helpful in terms of the downtown area and Sydney proper. But I really wished it had more in the Outskirts section. There isn't a ton to see in Sydney proper but lots to see on the outer edges, an hour away, etc. Perhaps they need a New South Wales guidebook since the Australia guidebook tries to put too much into it. Anyway - if you're going to spend your whole trip right in downtown, this book works fine. If you get a little antsy for a little more color, keep looking. (And, btw, I usually LOVE Eyewitness travel guides. I have at least 10 others.)



5. This travel guide is one of the best, detailed books on Sydney. I have many Eyewitness Guides for other locations around the world. The detailed maps in the back of the book are very useful when in an unfamiliar place.

3 comments about Americans' Survival Guide to Australia and Australian-American Dictionary.

1. A Review of Americans' Survival Guide to Australia and Australian-American Dictionary (Paperback)
   by Rusty Geller (Author)
   
   
   Having been brought up in both the US and Australia, I bought this book out of curiosity for how one side saw the other and was surprised by it's breadth. Not only is it packed with the kind of information those who are visiting or emigrating from America (US/Canada) really need to know, Geller also weaves stories of his own experiences throughout which added reality and kept me reading.
   
   Often guide books are presented too technically, but not so with this one. The style is easy and understandable all the way through. I have not read a book like this from cover to cover before, but this one taught me things I didn't know about Australia. There is also an extensive contents and index that pin point's particular issues quickly.
   
   The first part of the book takes you on a journey that unveils the intricacies of all the issues you are likely to need to know about to successfully deal with a trip or move to Australia. The information is well sorted into issues and gives you the surrounding knowledge required to tackle each. For example: How do you get a car into Australia? Or use American electrical equipment? Order a beer, or migrate with your pet? Geller goes through processes like; language differences, entering the country, buying real estate and the education system, pulling the relevant information together and pointing out common pitfalls and misunderstandings you run up against when moving to a country that has so many sociological similarities. He also identifies the perplexing differences and links them comfortably back to the American vernacular. More than anything this guide gives you a gentle insight into the ways of Australia and Australians, so you are can feel out the culture and get on better, faster.
   
   The second part is a very serviceable dictionary of Australian terms and phrases or `your cheat sheet', as Geller put it. The coverage of colloquial `Aussie lingo' is useful for any intending resident, business traveller or tourist and is an amusing read too. Have a "squiz" for yourself.
   
   Whether you are going to spend time in Australia, or you are just thinking about it, the `Americans' Survival Guide to Australia' is worth having on your shelf and a good read to boot.
   
   Reviewer Jack Seddon
   20th October, 2007



2. Having travelled back & forth between the U.S. and Australia for 30 years, I thought I knew my way around Down Under pretty well. However, once we decided to move over permanently, I soon realized I might as well have come from another planet!! If only we had a survival guide like this to combat the daily head scratching and keep our sense of humor alive!
   
   If you are making the trip for the first time, planning to stay awhile or just curious about the cultural differences, this little book will open your eyes to the subtle variances that are discovered only by interesting experiences. Highly recommended for keeping you safely to the left, in harmony with the Aussie attitude of 'no worries' and out of socially embarrasing moments when you might say the 'wrong' thing! Enjoy the book and the country!!



3. This book is packed with valuable and interesting information. The Australian-American dictionary is also valuable and humorous. I ran many of the terms by a few Australian friends, and they confirmed they use the terms all the time (terms that most Americans would NOT understand). All in all, this is a terrific book and well worth the price for anyone that's traveling to or moving to Australia.

5 comments about AA Road Atlas: New Zealand (AA Road Atlases).

1. This is the equivalent of the Rand McNally Road Atlas for New Zealand. I highly recommend it if you are planning a road trip through New Zealand. It helped tremendously with our trip planning. It also includes a table of distances between major cities and towns and estimated drive times.



2. This is an excellent detailed resource for travel in New Zealand.



3. If you're planning on renting a car in another country to do some sightseeing, I highly recommend this series of Road Atlas. I have several of them from different countries and all of them are extremely helpful when you want to make your own route for a driving excursion. It is large scale, with excellent detail on roads and routes. A must have for driving in other countries.



4. The AA Zealand map/guide is an excellent source for all your driving & touring needs in New Zealand. Highly recommended.



5. If you are planning on doing any driving in New Zealand this is the atlas for you. It is rather large but it makes it easy to follow the roads. I have a friend that lives there; she begged me to leave it for her.

No comments about Tahiti & French Polynesia Guide: Open Road Publishing's Best-Selling Guide to Tahiti! (Open Road Travel Guides Tahiti and French Polynesia Guide).

5 comments about Moon Tahiti (Moon Handbooks).

1. David Stanley's books are always a worthwhile read, and his latest edition of "Tahiti" is no exception. Differing from his earlier "Tahiti: Including the Cook Islands", this book narrows it's focus purely on the islands of French Polynesia - stepping through island group by island group (and within each group, island by island) David does his usual great job of laying out where to go, where to stay, what to see and what and where to eat. I especially like the suggested itineraries that appear near the front of the book, pointing out some of the "can't miss" highlights of a trip to the region. There are also a great collection of maps and (or course) some beautiful photos of the incredible scenery the region is so famous for (these ARE after all, the epitome of the perfect tropical island).
   
   So, I say - buy this book and weep that you are not there yet - but do it with a smile, for the knowledge within is all you need to know to plan the vacation of a lifetime.



2. www.SouthSeasPhotography.com
   uses all of David Stanley's South Pacific Moon guides.
   The Tahiti book is exceptional in every way. Easy to carry, read and understand. Moon's books have traveled with us on every Polynesian adventure from surfing to reef explorations as well as land based excursions. Perfect book for the escapist in all of us.
   
   Karl Meinhardt
   South Seas Photography ( Hawaii )



3. How can I describe how good this guidebook is? Well, I would assert, in the extreme, that it would be better to read this book without visiting Tahiti than to visit Tahiti without reading this book.
   
   This book will double, triple, quadruple...the accomplishments and satisfaction of a trip to Tahiti.
   
   Everything about the islands in French Polynesia is here, all the essential info, enabling a visitor to be knowledgeable, suave, and inefficient, rather than ignorant, bumbling, and frustrated.
   
   I mean everything. Maps, a glossary, conversion tables, statistics, history, culture, arts, lodging and dining (of course, and in great detail for each establishment), transportation, sports, entertainment, flora and fauna, healthcare...all wonderfully indexed.
   
   You must, I mean you MUST, take this perfect guidebook with you to French Polynesia.
   
   And you MUST use it to prepare for your trip. It would take you thousands of hours in front of your online computer to attempt to recreate even a small segment of author David Stanley's research, available for a very modest sum in this book.
   
   The only plan better than taking this book to Tahiti, I suppose, would be to take David Stanley, himself.



4. Excellent guidebook. It covers everything from how to get there, accomodations and dining, maps, money exchange, and suggestions of things to see and do, to the history of the area, which will make what one sees more meaningful.



5. Been using this guidebook and LP's for making reservations for my island-hopping September 2008 trip, and find the listed accommodation prices in the moon edition to be woefully out of date, even accounting for the change in exchange rates. How can the LP Tahiti book, which was released in 2006, have more up-to-date information? Incredible!
   
   Given this, I found it puzzling that so many previous people have rated this book so highly. When you look at their review histories, many are for books by this author. Hmmm.

5 comments about One for the Road: Revised Edition.

1. In this book we see Pulitzer Winning writer Tony Horwitz hit the open road hitchiking around Australia. On his journey he gets enough rides from strangers to "fill a Rehab Clinic " 3 times over. Tony is introduced to an Outbackworld where distance are measured in beers consumed., i.e. a short trip is known as a "six pack of beer" whereas a long journey is refered to as 24 cans of beer!!!. The author describes how hitchiking can be a very jarring way to travel as you are stranded alone for hours trying to get a ride and in the next breath you are trying to reassure the driver who picked you up that you are not a Serial Killer.Luckily the author remains lucid and coherant throughout the book otherwise it would have all just been a blured memory of visting one pub (Hotel) after another!!It is a testament to the author' writing ability that he can make a simple ride through the Australian Outback so entertaining and a joy to read. Strewth, this guy was chockers full of beer on his way to the Black Stump but he only did his lolly once and didn't skite to anybody about how much beer he could drink even though he was surrounded by Piss Artists!!! If you didn't understand that last sentence I suggest you buy this book and all will be revealed. Well done Tony!!!



2. As another American who lived in Australia for many years, let me assure any prospective buyer of this book that the author really gets the place.
   
   He started out like many, seduced by life in megalopolitan Sydney, thinking that the superficial similarites between two essentially suburban cultures mean that there's little for an American to learn from his adopted home.
   
   Life on the road teaches him otherwise.
   
   There's a certain melancholy to life in Australia, which Horwitz comes to understand over his journey; the physical journey across a forbidding continent contrasts with his internal journey as a moden young man, a lapsed rebel, a faithful husband and a sentimentally observant Jew (Is this trip his own wandering in the desert, perhaps?)
   
   I was moved by the story of Horwitz's passage across the northwest of Western Australia (beginnning on page 136). It's here that he surrenders his obsession with getting to the next town, and begins to understand the weft and weave of his surroundings.
   
   The story of finding a Jewish family in Broome with whom to celebrate Passover--an Akubra sunhat acting as a makeshift yarmulke--warmed my heart, simply because I know that any true Australian would be equally welcoming to a displaced stranger.
   
   And the story of Anzac Day the following morning...well, I've never heard anyone capture the curious mixture of joy and pain that marks the Australian Memorial Day as succinctly as Tony did. An ostesnsible victory witout glory--what kind of a nation does this make? He summed it up in three paragraphs or so.
   
   Buy it, even if you never intend to visit Australia. It will help you understand the mind of an eventual Pulitzer Prize winner, and the experiences that opened his mind.
   
   Oh, by the way, Tony, I'm serious about the offer of a beer.



3. This is Tony Horwitz's intial entry his into travel series preceding "Confederates in the Attic" and "Blue Lattitudes". As a Yank living in Sydney Australia, he leaves his newspaper to journey 7,000 miles, in the mid 1980s, across the outback and western Australian coastline with his thumb and a ruckasack. Horowitz has a gift for being descriptive of not only the landscape but also the people, capturing not only their lifestyle but even their dialogue. That includes both intersting and amusing descriptions or talk. Crossing barren country dependent on a wide variety of transportation in various forms of condition, particular the Australian Ute panel truck, as well as riding with friendly aborigines who in one instance use him to buy beer where it is illegal to sell to the natives as part of a hospitality exchange for a ride. You get a real feel for the hard life in the outback and a view of the different yet hard forms of work that is done by the people of the outback while on on the roads or of course the pubs that are the main centers of every town no matter how small. Each town, driver and interesting person has a story and Horowitz captures them all. He also mixs a little history and travelers education of the land both past and present. Of course, Horowitz sprinkles it all with dry humor particularly as he runs into some interesting situations such as the outback man's love of beer, particularly Fosters, "the blue one". A defining qoute from Horwitz' Australian wife is very striking when she comments that Americans tend to panic when they cannot see evidence of another person while out in the wilderness whereas in Australia, that is the norm in most of Australia. An enjoyable book where the land and the people are captured like verbal snapshots. After finishing this book, I had to go out and buy Fosters beer. I only found it sold in a 24 ounce can, which seems appropriate as a man in the outback can empty the contents quite readily on a hot day after a long day of work.



4. It is an enteratining (if slighty dated) view of Australia from an American Hitchker's point of view. I did find I was not totally sucked into the book, but his descriptions were rich and un-biased. Throughly enjoyable



5. I would recommend all of his books, but there is still only one I will go back and read again and again.....Confederates in the Attic. The best.

5 comments about Moon Fiji (Moon Handbooks).

1. As a frequent visitor to the South Pacific I have found David Stanley's Moon Handbooks to be the perfect traveling companions. Following his recommendations I have never been disappointed. There have been several times that I have avoided hassles and delays by listening to his advice. My wife and I are going back to Fiji in a few months and I just purchased the new Fiji Handbook. The new layout, color maps, internet resources and pictures make this the only handbook you need to bring on your trip!



2. This book IS Fiji. Even the people who live there should own a copy for themselves as a guide to their islands' resources.
   
   The indispensable information and guidance within Moon Fiji about trip planning, transportation, dining, lodging, entertainment, recreation, tours, events...will save the traveler the cost of the book many times over.
   
   I've edited other publishers' guidebooks and am most impressed with the excellent composition and layout of this book, the perfect refinement of seven previous editions. It is amazing that: so much information has been included; the type size is big enough to be easy to read: and yet the book is small enough to carry everywhere.
   
   Don't waste your time searching the Internet for information about the Fiji Islands. It's all in this book, including reviews, maps, photos, telephone numbers, schedules...and, if you must, a list of the top twenty Fiji websites. There is too much more info to mention.
   
   Let me be succinct and direct: Anyone who is planning to visit the Fiji Islands must have this book--they will be handicapped there without it.



3. Awesome book, well written and very insightful.
   South Seas Photography uses all these Moon South Pacific books and the Fiji Book for all our travels throughout Polynesia.
   Easy to use, perfect for detailed information, easy to carry and share.
   
   Karl Meinhardt
   www.SouthSeasPhotography.com



4. We've been talking about going to Fiji for years, and have looked at other books, but this book trumps them all. It's very thorough, with excellent descriptions that make us wish we could pack our bags and go today. Author David Stanley obviously loves Fiji, and his passion comes through in his writing. We also appreciate the way he doesn't sugar coat the less than perfect. This seems like a book you can really trust. And the history sprinkled throughout (great stories of Capt. Bligh, for instance), the interesting boxes full of fun information, and the very useable maps make it easy to get educated in all things Fijian. We also love the beginning section with beautiful color photography. It would be nice if all photos could be in color, but we'd happily trade the excellent info in the book for color pictures.
   
   This book provided us with our new dream adventure vacation: A stay on the Yasawa Islands, where there are no motorized land vehicles or roads. You can stay in a thatched "bure" and make a vacation exploring the island chain via a catamaran line that offers a kind of "Eurail Pass" for island hoppers. Who knew such a place still existed?!



5. The 8th. Edition of David Stanley's Moon Fiji handbook continues to be the essential guidebook for travelers to Fiji. And whether you are a seasoned Fiji traveler or an eager first-timer, you will find Stanley's book critical to getting the most of your Fiji visit.
   
   Compared to the earlier editions, this one is totally revamped and redesigned. It's compact, attractive, and very usable. Information is easily located and details are ample. Every section is updated and expanded to include current relevant information, insofar as any destination guidebook can be anyway.
   
   Each geographical region of Fiji is fully detailed covering related visitor attractions, accommodations, dining options, activities, recreation and more. Specific recommendations make each section extremely valuable. Stanley pulls no punches in both his criticisms and compliments to vendors of accommodations, restaurants, activities and others. Descriptions and explanations are quite trustworthy.
   
   Detailed maps and interesting photography makes for a well laid-out book. Placement of the Background reference section to the back of the book make the tome usable. The opening section with such things as "The Best of Fiji," and "Island-Hopper Special," plus "Culture and the Real Fiji" and others get the reader quickly immersed in Fiji and offer practical ideas for getting the most of a Fiji visit.
   
   The book's regional Fiji sections provide all the detail and information needed for planning a visit to these storied and historic South Pacific islands. Whether you see one area such as Nadi and the Mamanucas, or take in Suva, the Coral Coast, Lomaiviti, the Yasawas, Taveuni, or the "Friendly North" of Vanua Levu, you'll find Moon Fiji a fine and very useful traveling companion. Like the saying goes, don't leave home without it! As a veteran Pacific Island traveler, I'll have my copy of Moon Fiji along on my next Fiji stop.

3 comments about Frommer's Tahiti & French Polynesia (Frommer's Portable).

1. is suprisingly good! Probobly because it is based on the Tahiti section of the South Pacific guide (now in 10th edition) it doesn't contain most of the first edition problems - inacurate info, little info etc. It is really nicely researched and though it is quite a slim volume it is really helpful. One of the best guides to Tahiti & Her Islands.



2. It appears this is the first edition of the Tahiti and French Polynesia guide, and the only version I could find on Amazon was the Portable version. Maybe a more full version will come out in the future, but for now I just picked up the portable. We're planning our honeymoon to Tahiti, and the book has been invaluable in doing so. You can kind of tell it's a first edition though -- there are even some typos I've come across! Also, there is definitely a lot less information than other guides I've used from Frommer's, but I'm guessing that is the point of the "Portable" line of guides to keep them more travel-sized. Some of the information is a little outdated (already!), but using it as a starting point allows you to take what you learn from there and do the rest of the research online. For example, the exchange rate between XPF & USD is already off by about 10% (not in the favor of the USD), and the Sofitel Moorea they speak of was closed through all of 2006 for renovations, making me think even though this is a first edition, the information was put together in 2005 at the latest because there is no mention of the renovation -- and the hotel would obviously need to be re-evaluated by Frommer's after re-opening.
   
   All in all though, there are some great money saving tips, a lot of information about places to eat, foods to try and sights to see, all in one portable book that we will definitely be taking with us when we go in July. Can't wait! Thanks, Frommer's for helping us save money by planning this ourselves instead of enlisting the help of a travel agent.



3. Finding this book in Dallas at a major bookstore was next to impossible.Seems like there is little demand for books on the South Pacific. This may be due to expensive airfare to the area and lack of crusie ships traveling in those waters. The book contains the regular Frommer sections and much of it we have "tossed" since we are traveling on a cruise ship. Dining out, hotels, ect. won't be of much use. When I searched various web sites I did not find a lot of great information. This book at least puts the reader in touch with what's worth seeing in Tahati, Moorea and Bora Bora---these are stops our ship will make.The book has a copyright date of 2007 and the sites discussed throughout the book won't be changeing.We found the reading and recommedations to be good. Now we just have to see how accurate they are when we visit. If you are traveling to French Polynesia, this is the best book we have been able to locate. Hotel and dining prices are changeing so rapidly throughout the world I would personally not count of the book prices as being up to date.

5 comments about The Rough Guide to New Zealand 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. We are yet to take our trip to New Zealand, however, I'm sure we'll feel more comfortable with our decisions on where to go, what to see, where to stay, and what to do from using this Book. The book gives general price ranges for hotels, activites, and in some cases restaurants. I think the greatest resource has been the website listings within each section. The websites cover everything from airlines, to tour groups, to just general information about the country. Needless to say, We're very excited to take our trip and I know this book will be coming along with us!



2. After trying another guidebook, we purchased The Rough Guide shortly before we left for New Zealand. It was an invaluable companion during our travels. The reviews were spot-on, leading us to a number of excellent restaurants and good campgrounds. We even appreciated knowing that a restaurant was "somewhat overpriced but adequate" before we went in--and that description was completely accurate.
   
   The Rough Guide covers a range of restaurants and accommodations, which is useful. Even budget travelers sometimes like to splurge (and know that the splurge is worth the money). Their evaluation of activities was also accurate.
   
   This guide is well worth the price--and worth it's weight when traveling.



3. I planned our entire trip using a good road map and the 4th addition of the Rough Guide. Everything regarding the locations we visited was amazingly accurate. There are good maps of all the cities as well as the areas of interest. I did not find particularly useful the recommendations for accommodations, which featured either places for backpackers or those at the higher end, with not much in between. I also did not agree with some of the restaurant recommendations. Nevertheless if you are looking for a great guide book for everything else, this one is a winner.



4. 
   
   I had Rough Guides recommended to me but I am disappointed in the size of the print, I would have rather the book been larger that having to strain my eyesight to read. I'm sure the book is very informative & we will ready ourselves hopefully for a trip to NZ in late 2008.



5. This book was awesome. I am going to NZ on my own, and this book provided all the information I would ever need to know about locations to visit, the people, and lodging. Great value.

5 comments about The Songlines.

1. As i never wanted to go to Australia, i have to say that after reading this book i have not changed my mind, but it is not a point. It is not a book about traveling in Australia. It is more a book about walking, for example. As i like walking, i have found in this book so many great examples of what the walking is about, it is not just moving from one point on the Earth to another, it is also philosophy. And so on...this book is highly recommended for those who knows what the word "travel" means. In present time many people travel, but just a few ones deserve to be called "traveller". Bruce Chatwin is among them.



2. This is the kind of writing/reflecting many people do while travelling and is not a "how to" type of travel guide. I've recommended this book to several thoughtful people, given it to many thoughtful teens as they begin to self-discover, and re-read the book twice. VERY nice writing, good thoughts, great ideas about humans.



3. In Alice Springs the narrator called Bruce meets Arkady Volchok, an Australian citizen who is mapping the sacred sites of the Aboriginals. Arkady is fascinated by them, by their grit and tenacity and their ways of dealing with white people. Arkady speaks a couple of their languages and he is often astounded by their intellectual vigour, their memory and their capacity to survive.
   It was during his time as a schoolteacher in Walbiri that Arkadi learned of the labyrinth of invisible pathways which meander all over Australia and are known to Europeans as Songlines - a way for Aboriginals to sing out the name of everything that crosses their path during their wanderings: birds, animals, plants, rocks, waterholes and so sing the world in existence.
   When a route is suggested for a new Alice to Darwin railway line, Arkady's job is to identify the traditional landowners, to drive them over their old hunting grounds and to get them to reveal which rock or soak or ghost-gum is the work of a Dreamtime hero. Bruce is happy to join Arkady and to spend some time "out bush".
   The reader of this novel learns a lot about Australia and the Aboriginals. The plot and the characters however are a bit thin. One finds it hard to sympathise with the Aboriginal figures appearing in the story. What they have to say and the way they express themselves amounts to practically nothing. It seems as though they need the white people to tell their stories and traditions.



4. The Songlines really captured my attention. Human ecology, cultural anthropology, human evolution, cultural imperialism, Songlines, Native Australians ("aborigines"), travels... this is a book with information about a people and a place. I enjoyed the flow and pace of the story, and I hope I learned the reality of Native Australian culture.
   
   However, Bruce Chatwin chose to use this book to publish assorted observations, quotes, and reflections from other travels. For me (me), they affected the flow of his storytelling, my ability to focus on the theme - Australia, not nomads - and the ending. Perhaps this is a style thing, and I don't know if Chatwin applies this style in his other books.
   
   Didn't work for me. I wanted a conclusion to his original story.



5. The first sentence sounded promising:"In Alice Springs - a grid of scorching streets where men in long white socks were forever getting in and out of Land Cruisers - I met a Russian who was mapping the sacred sites of the Aboriginals." And indeed what follows in the next thirty or so chapters is a very readable and insightful travelogue of a British (author? archaelogist? historian?) "going bush" with Arkady Volchok, trying to learn about the mythical Aboriginal songlines. Not understandably, then, the author throws in bits and pieces of the protagonist's notebooks, which all more or less anthropological citations and thoughts from very different sources. The concept reminded me a bit of the motif in "The English Patient", where Almasy carries a copy of Herodotus' The Histories with him, adding his own notes and observations. Fortunately, in Ondaatje's novel, this remains a motif which does not disrupt the plot itself. With "The Songlines", however, I found myself flicking impatiently through the interjection-pages in order to get back to the story.