No comments about Fodor's Chile, 4th Edition: Including Argentine Patagonia (Fodor's Gold Guides).

5 comments about Let's Go Chile 2nd Edition: Including Easter Island (Let's Go Chile).

1. I used the Let's Go Eastern Europe book last summer and liked it so I gave this a shot for a trip this winter to China (Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Guilin, Yangshuo, Guangzhuo, and Hong Kong). Overall I like the way that information is presented/organized in the Let's Go books better than Lonely Planet, but this particular edition is due for an update. Some small (but possibly confusing) problems: certain large streets in Chinese cities have different names indicating the north/south/east/west side. This wasn't explained until deep in the book on a section on a particular city, but it is pretty important for orienting oneself. That should have been foregrounded and the street names for addresses and maps made consistent throughout. Also more detailed/comprehensive maps (with coverage of subway systems in cities where they exist would have been great). We came across a number of places that were no longer in existence, but that just harkens back to my earlier comment. It also would have been nice to have more Chinese on the maps (in addition to Romanizations) when asking for directions,etc.
   All in all, well done but there is still room for improvement. I would use a Let's Go guide again.



2. After just returning from a two week adventure in Chile, I found the guide book very helpful navigating through the major destinations in the country. Not only does the book give travel information, but interesting background information such as history, government, and social norms any traveler should know before setting off. The information is accurrate and really easy to use. The only flaw of the book is that it does not include some of the really small towns. However, these towns seemed to have no real major attractions in them. The book helps normal travelers and those people who like to experience a country on their own schedule.



3. This book was indispensable when my husband and I lived in Beijing for 6 months. I bought it together with Lonely Planet's The Best of Beijing, but found later on that I preferred to use this book because it contained a lot of leads to great deals on shopping, restaurants, etc. (Read: Good but cheap, and that's where most locals go) After checking out places from both books, I found Lonely Planet's contained a significant amount of "high end" places. Gave this book four stars only because I found that some prices quoted on particular restaurants are a bit outdated. Other than that, I loved it.



4. I just returned from Chile. This book was horrible. Maps were wrong. Prices, hours and addresses were way off. The section on the Torres Del Paine is absolutely worthless. I doubt their guide writer even went there. Buy the Lonely Planet guide instead. I ended up throwing the Lets Go away and borrowing a Lonely Planet guide from a fellow traveler.



5. I used this book two years ago during a trip that took me from Hong Kong to GuangZhou, XiAn, TianShui, JiaYuGuan, DunHuang and Urumqi, and even though it was useful as a geographical and cultural guide, ALL the prices were way way off for all the places I visited in XiAn and Western China. I don't know about Eastern China, but the prices to most of the hotels and sights/parks were actually DOUBLE what they were supposed to be, according to the Let's Go guide. Big big disappointment there.
   
   I ended up expecting prices to be double what the book said, and was able to plan the last part of my trip pretty accurately.
   
   Another big mistake was NOT to include the PinYin accents on all the city and sight names. In the Lonely Planet, you just look up a section about a city and you get the PinYin for it AND the accents, which are important if you want to pronounce the name properly. I had to borrow a Lonely Planet on China in order to find the names of the places I was going to and write down the tones so I could say them properly. Miss your pronunciation, and most Chinese people won't understand right away what you're talking about!
   
   Note that the Lonely Planet other travelers had was way wrong about prices as well for the whole of XinJiang and GanSu.
   
   I love Let's Go in general, but they need to work on this one a bit better! I recommend this guide, BUT be careful when you make your budget! Expect some prices to be much higher than anticipated, and if you speak mandarin, double check how to pronounce the names of the places you're going to. Have a great trip!

5 comments about Enduring Patagonia.

1. If you climb and have a deep-rooted passion for the emotions that climbing stirs in you then I would highly recommend this book. You don't have to be on the cutting edge of climbing to understand in your heart what Crouch talks about in Enduring Patagonia. Empathy, focus, inner-demons, harmony, determination, pain, self-realization and the laurels of success are the streams of conscious thought that are conveyed so beautifully in Crouch's book. If you climb you know that all these feeling come out in great strength throughout almost every climb. I've never been able to put into words all the emotions and the reason for ones passion of climbing but Crouch's book does a stellar job of wording our obsession with the sport and lifestyle.



2. I read this book while stranded in an hosteria during a storm in Patagonia. How much more perfect can the situation be? I totally appreciate the passion Crouch conjures, but you can only hear the same old cliches so many times before you realize the author doesn't have anything else to offer. Yes, he loves climbing. Bravo. A lot of people love climbing, and a lot of people sacrifice a comfy job and home in order to satisfy that addiction. Crouch is trying to pave his climbing with a book that just doesn't quite measure up. He has some lovely passages, but if I were reading them from my apartment in Seattle rather than the aforementioned atmospheric perch in Chalten, Argentina, they wouldn't mean anything. That's the true measure of the book. Read it if you're an alpine junkie (or trapped by the Patagonian winds in Chalten), but otherwise, don't bother.



3. It's always good to read a mountaineering book that goes beyond the travelogue or that recites only overcoming the hardships. Gregory Crouch shows he has a knack for storytelling and a literary skill which makes this an enjoyable read. While the latter part of the story lacks the precission and insight of the first part, the narrative style still makes me hope this is not his only book.
   As an aging mountaineer of far less skill and experience as Crouch, I found Crouch speaks to the inner psyche of those who find themselves obsessed by the affliction for high places.



4. Crouch does an excellent job of bringing the reader into the obsessive world of hard core mountaineers. His writing is exciting , crisp, and vivid. You feel his enthusiasm for his sport and can understand the sacrifices people like him make to climb the world's most challenging peaks. Anyone with an interest in adventure travel or outdoor sports will enjoy this book.



5. Truly a book you can't put down. Greg has a tremendous ability to make you feel like he's with you in a fire lit hut telling only you the story while you're both kicking back a cold beer. This book bridges the gap between the romanticized view of mountaineering and the extraordinary effort and tough decisions it takes on a summit attempt. You'll laugh your self silly and feel the sting of the cold while pinned to a granite wall as Greg leads you through his experience.
   
   Extremely well written and a book you will not want to put down.

5 comments about Patagonia: At the Bottom of the World.

1. I bought this book hoping it would help me in planning my upcoming trip to Patagonia - no such luck. Basically, Chapter One contains the author's dryly written noodlings from his trip diary - which, by the way, follows the typical tourist trail itinerary that your local travel agent could beat after putting in 45 minutes of research. The rest of the book has the quality of downloads from the web and excerpts from pamphlets left over from museum visits. Maybe the book was just the author's half-hearted attempt to recoup some of the cost of his trip (good for him, bad for me). Wow! What a waste of time.



2. In "Patagonia: At the Bottom of the World" Dick Lutz reminds us that to the European navigators who first discovered it, Patagonia was a strange region inhabited by giants, cannibals, and mysterious beasts. Occupying the tail of South America that stretches southward toward Antarctica, it remains even to the modern world a, little-known, off-the-beaten-path, sparsely inhabited region. Although politically divided between Chile and Argentina, Patagonia has a special climate, unique wildlife, and strange, and sometimes violent, history all its own. In this highly portable 206-page guidebook Lutz covers just about every aspect of this peculiar region including its history from the days of explorers and adventurers like Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Francis Drake to the Patagonia of today. An appendix includes Charles Darwinýs account of his 1834 trip to the region later published in The Voyage of the Beagle.
   The book opens with Lutzýs own account of his experiences as part of a tour to the region. You might want to read this chapter last, since the body of the text is broken up by notes that refer you to later sections of the book, and they can be intrusive. They occur only in the first chapter, so if you read this chapter last, you won't have to spend your time flipping back and forth. Still, leading the book off with this chapter is an excellent idea since most visitors to Patagonia will probably travel there as part of a similar tour group, and this lets them know exactly what to expect.
   The remaining chapters in the book cover the region's environment, history, people, wildlife, and just about everything a traveler might want to know. One other bit of information is not confined to a single chapter but permeates the whole of the book and that is the author's own love of the area. There is no question that Dick Lutz considers Patagonia one of the most beautiful places on Earth. He enthusiastically describes mountains, the towering glaciers that tumble into the Strait of Magellan, and the region's interesting and diverse animal life.
   He doesn't, however, gloss over the hardships the region endured throughout its early history: acts of genocide carried out against its native population, the ruthless exploitation of its forests and mineral wealth, its dubious record as a popular spot for penal colonies. As recently as the early 1970s, the political enemies of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet were confined to a prison in the area.
   In short, Patagonia is a place like no other on Earth, and to take you there, youýll find no better guide than this author. Dick Lutz has four previous books to his credit and writes skillfully and well. The book, quite honestly, could have benefited form a better proofreader, but most of the errors are typographical rather than textual. Despite this minor annoyance, Patagonia: At the Bottom of the World contains much solid information, and you would have to search far to find a more compact and useful guidebook. If travel to Patagonia is on your agenda, this is a good one to slip into your carryon.



3. Fabulous non-fiction Adventure. Lutz combines historical and geographic reference with his own personal tales of trekking to Tierra del Fuego. Especially good information on Charles Darwin's voyage of the Beagle, the animal life and fauna, and the native cultures.

   Particularly interesting is the information on the now extinct native Fuegian tribes that once roamed the area who some believed to be a near sub-species of Homo Sapiens, perhaps Late Cro-Magnom or even Neandertal. Actually, I would have liked to see even more in-depth info on this badly neglected topic.

   Also, good info on the Argentinian and Chilean villages that dot the region which could prove very helpful to travelers. Great photos. Fantastic cover art. Though, there are a few typographical errors here and there. Could be cleaned up a bit for a second edition.

   Eric Dondero, Author, Worldwide Multilingual Phrase Book




4. How often do you come across a book that is really disappointing? And when it is was it your fault because you chose it because of its misleading cover picture or its contents page? Dick Lutz, asserted writer of several books on animals and out-of-the-way geographical regions has provided us with some reading which must be below the expectation of even an average book consumer. His personal account of a trip to Patagonia with a certain tour operator might well have paid for his fare, however, it leaves much to be desired in the way of writing. Simplistic, badly-put together sentences many of which are semantically ill-formed make reading a continuous strain. "We then got into the zodiacs for a ride around Tucker Island. This is a bird paradise so we refrained from landing in order not to disturb them." (p.14)
   
   What is meant to be helpful advice for a future would-be traveller to the place unfortunately does not go beyond a rudimentary enumeration of lengthy bus rides between unnamed destinations and occasional lunch menus. "We took the small boats to shore where we were met by buses and vans that took our group through the town of Porvenir and also to an estancia (ranch)." (p.15) Sentences like the following would not go uncorrected by any editor with a minimum of pride in their occupation and one must wonder if this book received a second reading by anyone at all before going into print. "The drive through the countryside was different from what we had seen until now." (p.15) and "After driving awhile and seeing some more astounding vistas we next visited another spectacular locale." (p.17) At some stage the reader must ask themselves if the book was intended for children and incredulously reads on page 79: "Since there is a Lesser rhea, it follows that there is also a greater rhea."
   
   The chapters on the land, its history and its people certainly provide the unitiated reader with much new and useful background information although also here textual continuity is sporadic and superficial. Quotes are not always sourced and the few photographs receive no comments. The book does, however, have a good word index and provides an extensive bibliography.
   
   Should you buy this book? Only if you really need to.



5. This book is absolutely fascinating from start to finish! It's extremely well-written, and the author shows great insight, perspective, and knowledge. It's simply eloquent. I bought it for myself, and also as a gift book for two friends. It will enchant anyone.

No comments about Insight Compact Guide Chile (Insight Compact Guides Chile).

No comments about Narratives of the Voyages of Pedro Samiento De Gamboa to the Straits of Magellan (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society. 1st ser., no. 91).

No comments about From Here to Tierra del Fuego (Transnational Cultural Studies).

No comments about AAA Caribbean, Central & South America: Including Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, French West Indies, Grenada, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Martin, Tobago, Trinidad, Virgin Islands: Plus Caribbean And (Bermuda Air Charts, Hamilton Bermuda Inset Map, Old San Juan Puerto Rico Inset Map: International Series 2008, 1206309103107).

No comments about Patagonia Argentina Chile.

5 comments about The Last Cowboys at the End of the World: The Story of the Gauchos of Patagonia.

1. If you cherish the ways in which John McPhee and Barry Lopez make meaning out of landscape, if you appreciate a writer with an observant heart and a feel for language, and if you wonder how people manage to live--for well and for ill--in a world turned inside out, this is the book for you. By turns harrowing, hilarious, and touching, "The Last Cowboys" will command your attention and remain in your thoughts long after you have read the last page.



2. If you have been to Cisnes,Patagonia (or want to go there) this is a must book to read. I spent 10 days in this area in February, 2002 and saw some of the people that Nick writes about. In reading the book Nick made me feel that I was back there as I could visualize where the events were taking place. The changes to Coyhaique have continued since 1999 as I found it to be a very modern town. After reading this book I would like to make a return trip.



3. This is just to correct a gross mistake from one of the other reviewers. Gauchos are the archetypical argentine country men, not chilean. and Patagonia is argentinean in more than 90% of its extension.
   Gaucho literature is almost exclusively argentinian. An obligatory introduction to the world of gauchos is José Hernández' Martin Fierro. See this book first to get a glance at the gaucho's rough life before embarking in a second-hand misleading historiography.



4. I had the pleasure of meeting Nick Reding earlier this year, and as I chatted with him over some drinks, I was really struck by the thought, "This guy has led a really amazing life!" As a result, I went out and grabbed this book and as I read it, I became even more amazed.

   Nick tells the story of his experiences in the Chilean Patagonia in a way that draw you in to every moment. The vividness of his writing and the beauty of some of his comparisons made this quite an enjoyable read. His attention to detail leaves the reader with a feeling that they are right there staring over Nick's shoulder as he goes about life in a very different part of the world.

   Nick has that knack that some of the best writers have of being able to see the common thread that exists between very different experiences and places. This book is also extremely well researched with a lot of attention to historical detail, but this detail is not integrated in a dry textbook like manner. Instead when Nick feels it is neccessary to illuminate the reader about a particular piece of history to provide context for an event, he explains that history without distracting from the main storyline.

   Overall, this is an excellent piece of writing and I look forward to future books by Nick (he assures me at least one more is on the way).




5. This is an exceptional study of the Patagonian gauchos and their life style and habitat before it is extinguished forever by western values, money and culture. As a tourist in Patagonia it should be required reading, especially if you are attempting a riding trip there as we were, across the Andes. For a moment you can understand what you are seeing and experiencing, for a second you are part of the scenary, not just watching it voyeuristically unfold before you. I don't think I understood travel until I read this book.I will never travel again with my eyes open and my mind closed.