1 comments about A Voyage Up the River Amazon: Including a Residence at Para.

1. An excellent narrative full of hard-to-find details on the life, people and the land in the Amazon region during the mid-nineteenth century. This book has inspired Alfred R. Wallace and Henry W. Bates, in their mid-twenties, to come to the Amazon region on April 25, 1848 and start one of the most celebrated expeditions made by Victorian scientists on that region. Certainly, Edwards' book still is a great source of inspiration (and information) to all interested in the wonders and mysteries of the Amazon region.

No comments about Through the Brazilian wilderness;: And, Papers on natural history (Thw works of Theodore Roosevelt. National ed. vol.V).

No comments about Travels in the South of Europe and in Brazil; with a Voyage up the Amazon, and Its Tributary the Xingù, Now First Explored: Volume 2.

No comments about A Second Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, between the Years 1810 and 1816: With a Journal of the Voyage by the Brazils and Bombay to the Persian Gulf.

No comments about Curitiba: Capital ecologica =the ecological capital.

5 comments about Lonely Planet Brazil.

1. I never viewed Lonely Planet as one-size answer to all your travels: along with brilliant LP guides to strange and not-so-strange destinations (West Africa and Canary Islands are just two big success stories) there are sad failures (Iceland & Greenland, Bolivia and anything else penned by Deanna Swaney), marred with self-important ideological preaching, poor research and lack of any writing skills.

   Brazil is somewhere in between. The book does not suffer from excessive ideologization and does not fancy itself as a latter-day Marxist's political history handbook. America-bashing was kept to a minimum. This is refreshing.

   There is fairly good amount of practical info (some of it is out of date), although nothing has been done to address the chronic ailment of Lonely Planet: shameless recycling of "general info", which in most cases is either misleading or simply insults your intelligence. The guide, as before, has no idea how most people book ticket these days; and nuggets of deep knowledge and inside advice like "your camera can get damaged, lost or stolen" (you don't say - how many years of travel experience helped you acquire this rare insight?) makes you wish you could have your money back.

   However, useless passages are essentially harmless (apart from making the guide thicker than it needs be). More regrettable is the stuff that's MISSING: that is, focus and helpful informed opinion. It seems that, once a traveller got to Brazil, got a place to stay and figured out the cheapest way to get around, he's not entirely sure why he is there in the first place. Descriptions of the places to see are lazy, unenthusiastic and uninspired. The authors seem to have been going through the motions.

   With abundance of books on Brazil on the market, there is no compelling reason to stick with this one other than brand loyalty.




2. There is no other option than to agree with the other reviewers. the language section is bad (how do you call a waiter? how do you ask for the bill? basics that are not deemed important by the writers). The descriptions are sometimes uninspired..but most importantly...the information on Brazil's most important city, Sao Paulo, The city that is most difficult to find your way in, but that has far more to offer than Rio is limited to just 15 pages!



3. Some of the other criticisms here seem petty (e.g., the changing cost of visas, changes in costs due to unstable currency, the screed about the Carmen Miranda museum which isn't difficult to find, yammering about the fairly moderate politics). Indeed, some seem typical of the reviews of travel guides one expects from people with unrealistic expectations of a guidebook and limited travel experience. That said, this is definitely one of LP's weaker efforts. I found numerous errors on maps and in descriptions of locations, important enough that one can miss important places (like hotels or laundries--which can be few). There are significant areas of neglect, e.g., the book doesn't mention that Itacare is an international surfing center, although this is evident pretty quickly. People looking for quiet beach town will be disappointed. My guess is that the next revision needs much more care. Unfortunately, the alternative is the "Footprints" guide which has some gaping holes (e.g., few descriptions of tours and jungle lodging in the Amazon) and the Rough Guide which also has significant weaknesses.



4. On a three month research trip to Brazil, my husband and I began a letter to Lonely Planet detailing every mistake, omission, and out-of-date reference we could remember. Sometimes we just couldn't write fast enough! Many of the maps were virtually useless (particularly the one of Salvador, we thought). Prices were vastly different and inaccurate (and not due only to changes in the exchange rate). At the end of three months, our letter was in excess of 7 single spaced typed pages! And we certainly didn't go everywhere.



5. Just used this book for a trip in November and was not impressed. LP covers tons of podunk towns and then has very little coverage of tourism hubs, like Salvador. Basically they covered one neighborhood in Salvador. I also found a lot of their information to be out of date (not surprising, since the book came out in 2002, which means the information is probably from 2001) and just plain WRONG. For instance, they made a huge deal about how touristy Porto Seguro is and we saw a total of about 10 tourists there. We almost didn't go because LP made it sound so overrun with tourists. And LP didn't give us any heads up that the beautiful beaches are about 2 hours away from Porto Seguro via ferry and truck, so you should stay near Arrial d'Ajuda or in Trancoso instead. They make it sound like it's super-easy to hop back and forth. Then there was the ridiculous note about the "constant noise of tractors" in Morro de Sao Paulo, which also made me think twice about going. I'm glad I ignored LP, since M de SP was the highlight of my trip. (And I saw a total of 2 tractors in 3 days, and they did not, as LP claimed "disturb the peace considerably.") Skip this guidebook. Rough Guide was better (but still didn't have good info on Porto Seguro). Heck, Fodor's was better. But the LP Rio city guide does rock.

No comments about Rum & Reggae's Rio de Janeiro (Rum & Reggae series).

5 comments about Salvador for Partiers.

1. I had considered purchasing the guide in preparation for my next trip to Salvador, thinking it might present some new insights and recommendations. However, reading some of the sample pages proudly displayed on the author's website [...], I could barely contain the urge to vomit at the sight of senseless and superficial drivel this guy wrote. Most of the time I could not figure out if he was mocking foreign tourists by constantly assuming their complete brainlessness and total lack of cultural competence, or if the author himself is the kind of guy whose idea of a fun vacation is pure consumption - of alcohol, women, food, must-do items, whatever - without any regard for the local culture or people. Aside from the fact that Salvador for Partiers is generally a cheap cut and paste job (as evidenced by the reference to Ipanema in the 10 Salvador commandments section), it only reinforces the already existing negative perception of and attitude towards "first world" tourists in countries like Brazil. I would be ashamed to be seen with this guide.



2. Overall, I was pleased with this guide. I found the cultural background, sightseeing suggestions, musical genre overview, and street price guide to be quite useful during my trip. However, it was the cuisine and food sections (which might be even better if they were combined into one section) that were especially helpful and informative--good explanations and pictures.
   
   As an additional bonus of getting this book, the author offers to forward complaints against taxi drivers who are problematic to the local authorities. I had one bad situation, and the author responded to my email the next day telling me that he had passed on the information. (I should add that all the other taxi drivers I had in Salvador were honest and professional.)
   
   It is true that the book has a few "non-PC" sections, although nothing that is overly offensive for most people, or nothing that can't be ignored for those that might be. In addition, some of the places listed have vague or missing information (e.g., no street numbers or even addresses), and the maps are not very detailed, which made it difficult to find certain places. The bottom line, however, is that this book is a useful, quirky guide to a magnificent city in a gorgeous country. Don't be put off by the title either if you're over 30--there is still good information in here for everyone, even if your partying days are fewer than in previous years . . .



3. This book was very helpful for my recent trip to Salvador da Bahia. Because I was given the inside view I didn't have any surprises, it prepairs you for the foods, the people, the taxis the beggers, everything. The book does have a lot of typeo's and some missing page numbers. That is made up for by the humor and the vivid pictures. It is a very quick read, but very informative and helpful, for everyone not just partiers!



4. This book is produced by pretty much the same team that produced the excellent "Rio for Partiers". Surprisingly, it has much the same content - literally. It also is riddled with so many typographical errors, it appears as if it was assembled in a careless, mad rush. There is relatively little here on Salvador or Bahia and what there is lacks the knowing sophistication of the Rio book. Come on guys, do a second edition and do it RIGHT.



5. Lots of information. Some quite funny and very useful. Needs to be edited properly with many items from 'Rio for Partiers' accidentally copy and pasted into this book and many page references filled in with 'See page???'. Info on nights out and places to go is also a little out of date with venues and events having changed almost 2 years ago.
   
   If you want info on local food and drink or best tourist sites in Salvador then buy this book. If not, then don't bother.

No comments about Brasil.

3 comments about Let's Go Brazil 1st Edition (Let's Go Brazil).

1. I bought this book for my short trip to Brazil: Rio and Iguaçu in Dec 04. I had purchased other travel books from lonely planet, rough guide, etc. I think Let's Go guides are easier to read for someone from US (no strange UK terms :). Back to Brazil book, all the basic information is well organized and concise. For people who likes more details and less traveled spots, this book will not be good enough, although I find that one can always talk to people at the hotel or hostel to get more precise info. Also maps are small and not very detailed.



2. Hey, I am Brazilian. Brazilian guidebooks on Brazil are lousy and package-tourist-who-hires-expensive-cars-oriented. So, I gave Let's Go a try - I used many of Let's Go guidebooks before.
   
   To say it shortly: rubbish. I come from Porto Alegre, a dull Southern city, with no beaches at all. Let's Go, nevertheless, calls it "beachside beauty". If I had used its maps to find my way, I would be lost in my own city and reappear in the seediest and dodgiest parts of it.
   
   Don't buy it.



3. I just returned from a four week trip around Brazil. I took this guide and the Moon Handbook of Brazil.
   
   This book gave pretty good restaurant recommendations. The hotels that were recommended were mainly for budget/student travelers, so we didn't use them much. The maps were good, thank goodness! However, the book didn't give much background information on the history or culture of the country. It was also lacking information on the northeast coast, which is where we spent most of our time.
   
   If you're looking for a real budget guide, this may be the book for you. I found it to be rather incomplete though.