2 comments about Antique and Flea Markets of London and Paris.

1. Antique and Flea Markets of London and Paris is a book serious shoppers will love. While spending several summer months in London, I have visited a number of the markets described. The authors are right on target, and the photos are enjoyable. I learned about many features I've missed, and read about several new places to try on the next trip. The book realizes that shoppers are people, not machines, and tells a little about the market's surrounding area, especially places to stop for a snack and a rest.

   I'm not as familiar with Paris, but if the Paris section is even close to being as accurate and useful as the London section, it will save shopping time and hassle across the channel, as it will in London.

   This is not "the" book for your trip if you need a complete guide book. If you like antiques and markets, however, you will love this book.




2. This book met a lot of my expectations by being very portable, very well-illustrated, and full of good descriptions of the merchandise one is likely to find in London and Paris flea markets. "Antiquing" is a very visual experience for me, and having plenty of photographs to whet my appetite for the various shops was a real plus. The book was useful too in helping me plot which days to attend which markets. Even if the merchandise changes and vendors sometimes move, there is enough general information that stays constant for this to be a useful guide for several years. The two-for-one format--London and Paris in one book--is also fun. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the maps could have been better. Otherwise, a great resource!

2 comments about The Dog Lover's Companion to New York City: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog (Dog Lover's Companion Guides).

1. Living in an area where there aren't many dog friendly places, yet within commuting distance of NYC, I thought this would be a good book to add to my collection. It has valuable resources like maps and contact numbers for the places they list. There are a variety of places you can go to with your pet.
   
   The reason I gave this book a 3 instead of a 5 is it lists Eisenhower Park as allowing dogs on leash. I have lived near this park for most of my life. To my knowledge they had never allowed dogs. I called to see if they changed their policy - so happy that a nearby place would allow me to bring my pet. Sadly, they confirmed never in their history have they allowed dogs within the park and you can receive a big ticket if you do.
   
   When I contacted the books publisher, I was told that was why the caveat of checking first is in the book. The caveat is nice, but I was still frustrated they listed this source when it was never an option.
   
   I have not had a chance to check on the other sites listed yet.
   
   So in summary, good for dog lovers living near or visiting New York City, but do your homework before you bring your pet.



2. Exellent. I've bought several books in this genre, but "The Dog Lover's Companion to New York City: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog (Dog Lover's Companion to New York City)" is the only one that's easy to read, addresses exactly what you're looking for (the best time for you and your dog) and then get you jazzed to try the exciting destinations listed.

No comments about 50 Hikes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Walks, Hikes & Backpacks from Ironwood to St. Ignace (50 Hikes).

1 comments about Scenic Driving New England.

1. In 320 pages and 28 scenic drives Stewart Green leaves no stone (or should I say rock) unturned in describing each drive.
   
   With this book, you'll not only get directions from one town to another along the route but everything that's in-between, and a fair dose of area history and stories. Stewart takes his role seriously in being your guide, and not just a "tour driver" regurgitating memorized facts.
   
   I'm very familiar with many of the drives he describes and confess to discovering places and information even new to me.
   
   This isn't a book to read cover to cover in one sitting. It's too dense, and the drives are much too varied as well. My suggestion is to have an idea where you'll visit and then read those scenic drives related to those areas. It'll provide insights and planning material for your trip as well.
   
   The smaller format of the book begs for it to be taken on each trip with you. Many of the pages in my copy quickly became "dog-eared" and full of sticky notes.
   
   I was a little disappointed with many of the pictures in my paperback edition. I found myself staring at photos of non-descript riverbeds with rocks. I'm sure in full color and glossy format they looked great, but in black and white on non-glossy paper many looked flat and over-indulgent.
   
   But I didn't purchase the book for the photography.
   
   If you're looking for a New England scenic drive book with all the directions and details to make sure you don't miss a thing along the way, then look no further than this book.

1 comments about North Woods: An Inside Look at the Nature of Forests in the Northeast.

1. This book is a concise introduction to the ecology of environments in Northern New England, especially those of the Appalachian peaks. Marchand, a professor at Johnson State College in Vermont, wrote the book partly in response to discussions about the mountains he had with visitors to Green Mountain hiking huts. Topics covered include reading the landscape, plant communities, adaption at high elevations, and the future of the north woods. The book is illustrated with black-and-white photographs and drawings and includes an index.
   
   Although the book is not a field guide to local species, it does include some information that can be quite useful. Rather than provide specific keys to determining the species of trees based on minutiae, Marchand instructs readers how to identify firs, spruces, pines, and hemlocks along the roadside, while driving 55 mph. That is, he encourages readers to look at the big picture first, and only then begin observing details, an approach that many beginners may find less daunting than studying complex keys, but just as effective.

1 comments about The Description of England: The Classic Contemporary Account of Tudor Social Life.

1. This is a wonderful account of life in Renaissance England by someone who was actually there, a quite worldly clergyman named William Harrison, who is opinionated and often comically pedantic. Did you know that England has more "idle servingmen" than any other nation on earth, who "otherwise would be brought to labor and live in order like subjects. Of their whoredoms I will not speak anything at all, more than of their swearing, yet it is found that some of them do make the first a chief pillar of the building, consuming not only the goods but also the health and welfare of many honest gentlemen, citizens, wealthy yeomen, etc. by such unlawful dealings" (119).
   
   Not many people know that "If the philosopher's stone were once found, and one part hereof mixed with forty of molten glass," we would have glasses that would never break, but bounce right off a stone floor (128). Did you know that clergy and religious men have the strongest wines (130)? Harrison also includes detailed instructions for making your own beer, starting with raw grain.
   
   In the olden days of England, accused malefactors were subject to a trial by fire or water. In the trial by fire, you were forced to walk over iron ploughshares heated red hot, "whosoever did bear or tread upon the same without hurt of his body, he was adjudged guiltless; otherwise, if his skin was scorched, he was forthwith condemned guilty" (168).
   
   Most people think that "idle vagabonds" are simply an disordered rabble, but in Renaissance England they were actually a highly organized hierarchy consisting of Rufflers, Uprightmen, Hookers or Anglers, Rogues, Wild Rogues, Priggers of Prancers, Palliards, Fraters, Abrams, Fresh-water mariners or whipjacks, Dummerers, Drunken Tinkers, Swadders or Peddlers, Jarkmen or Patricoes; Women Vagabonds were classified as Demanders for glimmer or fire, Bawdy Baskets, Morts, Autem Morts, Walking Morts, Doxies, Dells, Kinchin Morts, and Kinchin Coes. Harrison provides definitions of all of the above. "Players" or actors were also classified as vagabonds during this time period.
   
   For serious crimes, malefactors were taken from "the prison to the place of execution upon an hurdle or sled, where they are hanged till they be half dead and then taken down and quartered alive; after that, their members (genitals) and bowels are cut from their bodies and thrown into a fire provided near-hand and within their own sight. Sometimes, if the trespass be not the more heinous, they are suffered to hang till they be quite dead."
   
   According to Harrison, everything in England is going to hell in a hand basket in these newfangled modern days, "for when our houses were builded of willow, then had we oaken men; but now that our houses are come to be made of oak, our men are not only become willow but a great many, through Persian delicacy crept in among us, altogether of straw, which is a sore alteration" (276). Everybody is trying to get rich and etc. etc.
   
   Nevertheless, according to Harrison, England is plainly the greatest country in the world, with the best sheep and cows, the best houses, the best building rocks, the best water, the best religion, the best ships and best everything, certainly much better than those effeminate French or Italians, not to mention those corrupt Spanish!
   
   In sum, this is delightful tour of the English world during the 16th century. Not much on politics, but lots on the social and cultural life of everyday Englishmen. I won't say it's consistently fascinating, but it has lots of interesting tidbits.

No comments about Kayaking the Maine Coast: A Paddler's Guide to Day Trips from Kittery to Cobscook, Second Edition.

No comments about You Know You're in Rhode Island When...: 101 Quintessential Places, People, Events, Customs, Lingo, and Eats of the Ocean State (You Know You're In Series).

1 comments about Lonely Planet Cape Cod, Nantucket & Martha's Vineyard (Lonely Planet Travel Guides).

1. I spotted this Lonely Planet guide for the Cape at the library. Using it during a long weekend at the Cape made me realize I needed to own it. It contains a wealth of useful, interesting information about what to see and do--and every restaurant evaluation from it was accurate. This guidebook is worth every penny for a family or a couple traveling alone.

No comments about Vermont Street & Road Atlas (American Map).