2 comments about Laminated Rome City Streets Map by Borch.

1. I love this map! It's laminated, durable, easy-to-read, and so full of information that you almost don't need a guide book to accompany it. Love it.



2. In the labyrinth of streets called Rome, walking without a map like this is like walking with a blindfold - You can walk, but your end-up where you didn't plan and have to rely on the locals, which are not very english-literate.
   A laminated map is a must since you'll be puting it in and out of your bag doxens of times. A paper map will wear out very quickly.

No comments about Journey Through Bavaria (Journey Through...).

1 comments about Daytrips in Germany's Rhineland: 25 one day adventures from Frankfurt and other bases throughout all of Germany's Rhineland and beyond.

1. Came on time in excellent condition and has been very useful in planning a forthcoming trip.

No comments about Overnight Sensations Europe Middle East Africa.

No comments about Andalucia, 8th (Cadogan Guides).

2 comments about Wallpaper City Guide: Amsterdam (Wallpaper City Guide Amsterdam).

1. This booklet fits into a pocket, extract it and thumb through as you wait for your pankoeken breakfast. Think of an interest, or a need, for the day (or evening) and you will find something here that will surprise and delight. Neither a "best of' nor a "see every wonder" compendium, it's a rich source for modern Amsterdam and those items selected for inclusion.



2. Thin, light and right to the point. There is info in this book, but not much of it. I don't like guidebooks to begin with so a light, easy to pin down one like this is passable. You won't find most thins, but the stuff that is in here is decent or better - it has very select information.

5 comments about A Tramp Abroad (Penguin Classics).

1. A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain's tongue-in-cheek, semi-fictionalized account of his second European trek, is, despite it's 600+ pages, a lightning quick read. Twain's singular wit is on full display engaging the reader to such an extent that pages swiftly fly by. Though not his best piece of travel writing (see Innocents Abroad), I devoured this book in large chunks eager to see where Twain wandered next. When he arrives in the Alps, A Tramp Abroad vaults from an amusing piece of travel writing to a supremely satisfying form of entertainment.
   
   If there was any disappointment it occured with Twain's unexpected exit from the stage. A Tramp Abroad covers Twain's travels in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, but concludes quite suddenly with mere mention that the Netherlands are next on the docket. Yet, wishing a book to continue confers no blackmark on an author. It is further confirmation that A Tramp Abroad easily merits 5 stars.



2. A Tramp Abroad is the third and least successful of the travel books written by the pen of Mark Twain.
   In this book we follow Twain as he tours Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. I found the early chapters chronicling his visit to Heidelburg University; hilarious visits to opera houses and tale tales such as the Blue Jay yarn to be well done.
   The longest section of the book deals with Twain's alpine climbing adventures in Switzerland. This material is interesting but goes on a bit too long for the modern reader.
   This is a fine book and deserves to be read and enjoyed by a wider readership that better known but lesser Twain novels and
   travel writing,
   I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys listening to a great author recount his peregrinations through Europe in a leisurely and informative manner.



3. It's fascinating to compare my own experiences, having lived now 3 years in Germany, to those of an American from 125 years earlier. I've been learning to speak German, and his Appendix on the "awful" German language was hilarious. In poking fun at German grammar (e.g., long sentences), he purposely commits the same errors in his own writing. The scene "riding" the glacier down the Alps was so funny I had tears running down my face. It's amazing to think that it was written in 1879, when America was barely a century old, and the insights and perceptions then can be incredibly, eerily similar to either my or "typical" American's attitudes today.
   
   I'd recommend it to anyone, but particularly to anyone visiting or living in Europe. It's way funnier than his "Innocents Abroad", which is also a good read on travel in Europe.



4. This is a single book, not the whole set and the book is in less then usable quality. The seller was to send return address materials and has not as of 12/19.



5. I listened to the audio version of both books, and will admit up front that the narrator for this one is not one of my favorites, but I got past that after a while.
   Twain seemed to be "padding" the narrative with an awful lot of folktales and legend, rather than his own experience. There's a lengthy (and highly annoying) "fantasy" sequence - I suppose he was trying for parody - as well. I found myself fast-forwarding through almost a full cassette of a gory description of two deuls (near the beginning); he delights in recounting grisly mountaineering stories later on during the novel. The storyline ended abruptly at the end of cassette 11 of 13; the last two were the appendix, which I skipped.
   I really liked "Innocents" and am planning on purchasing "Following the Equator" (I looked through it at a bookstore and it seemed pretty interesting), but I wish I'd skipped this one. Three stars for the humor when he actually describes his own experiences.

No comments about Fodor's Denmark, 5th Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

5 comments about A Traveller's History of Turkey (Traveller's Histories Series).

1. There's too much - more than 60% of the book - devoted to the pre-Ottoman period. There's too much emphasis on ancient Turkey. To understand modern Turkey, it is essential to understand the Ottoman and the Attaturk legacies. Only about 30 pages are devoted to the Attaturk and post-Attaturk period. It is just not possible to understand the role of Islam, the military, the position of women, etc., in modern Turkey, without in-depth reference to the impact of the Ottomans and Attaturk to attitudes and values in the country.



2. This book is not optimistic



3. ln the book Mr.Stoneman is claiming that Turkish army massacared 10000 kurds.And also about the greek invasion, he says turks killed and raped the greek and armenian inhabitants of izmir. The information he is providing is sided.lf we are talking about the history, the author has to have evidences and written records about the events he is reporting.lf he is just writting the stories he heard from the others it can not be accepted "true" immediately.lt seems that he did not make any research about the past at all, but he wrote the things just like he wanted. People can not change the past.Mr. Stoneman should be more responsible and correct the wrong information in his book.Or he has to rename his book:"A fictive story of turkey to the sided people who likes to believe that all turks are bad" Finally, general sound of the book is blaming turks on every issue.lt is %100 wrong that Turks did all the bad things.One should make researches and listen to both sides before coming to a conclusion.lf there is no written records, those events should not be mentioned in the serious! history books.Although he has the names of some books listed at the end of the book he is not refering to the certain pages of the books for his conclusions. All because of these the book is not professional at all.



4. This book is just another silly tourist's book by just another ignorant tourist. Not worthy of real travelers!

   Read Mary Lee Settle's "Turkish Reflections" to get a good introduction to Turkey. It is becoming a bit dated but is still much better than silly books like this.




5. A quick and effective overview of Turkish history from prehistory to the present.

No comments about Czech Republic: The Bradt Travel Guide.