No comments about Words for Country: Landscape & Language in Australia.

5 comments about Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space.

1. I found Islands in the Sky a very entertaining, enlightening and uplifting book to read. It boldly addresses a wide range of subjects dealing with space exploration and appears to come up with concrete answers! There is an underlying optimism in the whole book that given human ingenuity, anything is possible. This is a far cry from the many 'post-modern' books that crowd store bookshelves seeking to convince us that science is not the answer, that mankind is bad and its actions are always in conflict with the environemnt. This book speaks to those of us who believe that we are the masters of our universe.

   Some chapters are too abstruse and perhaps only for the specialist, but most of the book is eminently readable. A must for every space enthusiast.




2. Zubrin makes a very good example of how it could be done. The snag is, that he reaches so far in the future, that it is impossible to imagine it as anything else than science fiction. I would have prefered to have some ideas developed about the colonization of the outer solar system. On the other side, the section about Oort cloud settlements has been thrilling. All in all, it's a very good book and certainly worth the investment buying it.



3. The book deals with ideas about making space travel easy and colonizing space simple. The first few chapters deal with getting out of the gravity well we call Earth with known science and equipment. The next deal with using the resources that could be found on the Moon, Mars, Mercury and even the Oort Cloud (as well as planting a few colonies here and there)with the knowledge we have and the equipment we could have soon. After that is starts to get harder to picture doing all this projects with current technology. By chapter 8, for explain, we are dealing with terraforming and star engineering. Near the end of the book, starting with chapter 11 we are talking about interstellar space ships and the economices of interstellar commerce. But by than, you think all of it can be done! Each chapter helps to hold up the next one. For example, cheap, easy ways to get into space would cut the cost of space travel and allow for the next step which is exploring the planets and finding resources to help the next step.



4. This book is an excellent collection of essay by the leading producers of cool, far-out ideas alive today. Just reading it will expand your horizons and help you look at the final frontier in a new way.

   Some of the essays, such as G. Harry Stine's on Single-Stage to Orbit spacecraft, are on near-term science and technology. Other essays, such as "Islands in the Sky," are longer-term and closer to science fiction. All are good.

   My personal opinion is that the asteroids -- not the planets -- are the future of mankind, so the Mars-exploration essays by Zubrin et al. I found less enthralling. But you Mars fans out there NEED this book.

   The essay, "The Economics of Interstellar Commerce" alone makes this book worth the cost.

   Although I enjoyed John Lewis's _Mining the Sky_ more (simply because my bent is toward the asteroids), this book is better written and required reading. 4 stars.




5. I'm giving this five stars for the benefit of the chapters by Robert Zubrin and Martyn Fogg, which are ingenious and daringly original analyses of astronautic engineering and terraforming, respectively - each is the godfather of his field. The other material ranges from curiously quirky but not well-thought out (on terraforming Venus) to the kind of worthlessly unintelligent and uninteresting speculations you might expect to overhear from some goon at the bookstore but not to read in print (see the chapter on settling the Oort Cloud). This book was assembled as a "best of" selection from Analog; in a better world it would have been edited by the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, which would have known where to make the cutoff. Still, the good entries are fantastic enough to be well worth the purchase price.

No comments about Lonely Planet Cycling Australia (Cycling Guides).

5 comments about Maui for Dummies.

1. Loved getting a bit of "history" along with what to do and what to see! You'll get a better feel for the island with this book. Very detailed (right down to the best roadside stand to buy fruit at on the road to Hana). We love this book....it will be our "bible" when we go...



2. This is a pretty decent book, with some good information and tips on the island. The post it not tabs are nice to mark information you want easy access to. Some of the icons (heads up, kid friendly etc) are also helpful. Beware - there is some word for word duplication with the Frommers book.
   
   For anyone traveling to Maui, this is a decent resource. But the ultimate is Maui Revealed.



3. The book seems a couple of years old (although it says it's published in 2005). There are certain places that have moved or closed. However, the general idea of the book is to familiarize you with Maui which I thought it fulfilled the overall purpose. There are great tips which I corroborated with locals including good snorkeling spots, best snorkel gear, best luaus, restaurant, shops, etc. It lists out the places you SHOULD go while in Maui and suggests what to avoid and refuse. This is my first Dummies travel book and I plan to use future Dummies along with the current year's Frommer's for updated info. By the way, Cakewalk in Paia....no longer there.



4. I have both this book and Revealed and by far I recommend the Revealed book. This book is ok to use as a companion guide with Revealed, but I did not find it nearly as helpful. I mainly bought the Dummy book to see if I could get a different point of view about sites, restuarants, etc. and I did in some cases, but I will be using the Revealed book as my main guide when I go back to Maui this year.



5. I am a regular visitor to Maui and I got this book cheap at a library book sale because I am always interested in anything to do with Hawaii. It was surprisingly informative and accurate. The author has even covered some 'local' restaurants (unlike other guide books) she's now blurted to the world, but also missed a few, so some of my favorite finds are safe.
   I liked the very detailed, personalized info on hotels etc: 'the owner leaves notes in your room saying things like bang the top of the TV twice if the reception is bad'.
   This is an author who clearly enjoyed her research. I gave her four out of five only because she spills the beans on my favorite hideaway restuarant. Now I'll never get in!!!

2 comments about Cruising Guide to Tahiti and the French Society Islands.

1. If you are chartering a sailboat around French Polynesia you should get this book or the Charlies charts book to plan your itinerary. Bring it along and use it too. It helps you navigate, saves you time by pointing out good anchorages, and gives you perspective as to where you are when you are sailing around. If your not sailing, get one of the travel books. Find out which ones by reading my trip report at DiveAtlas.com.



2. There obviously isn't a large market for books of this kind, which explains why this 1st edition has never been revised and nothing comparable has appeared from other publishers. And Marcia Davock really did create a classic with lots of excellent maps, lively photos, and delightful texts, plus amazingly detailed and useful information on how to stear a sailboat right around Tahiti and Moorea. Back in 1985 when Marcia's book came out, the Leeward Islands (Huahine, Raiatea, Taha'a, Bora Bora, Maupiti, etc) still hadn't developed into the popular charter cruising zones they are today. Thus the Leewards get only 86 pages in the book while the Windwards (Tahiti and Moorea) get 115. If Marcia were writing now, that ratio would certainly be reversed and then some. The Marquesas and Tuamotu islands receive no coverage at all. Nevertheless, as the author of the South Pacific Handbook I strongly recommend this guide to everyone planning a passage under sail through French Polynesia. It will provide stimulating and informative reading matter on the long journey south from Hawaii and lead you into some amazing places later on.

No comments about Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales.

No comments about Live & Work in New Zealand (Live & Work in).

No comments about Auckland Travel Map (Periplus Travel Maps) (Australia Regional Maps).

No comments about Groovy Sydney Map 'n' Guide (2008).

No comments about New Zealand Country Map by Hema.