5 comments about 50 Hikes In & Around Tuscany: Hiking the Mountains, Forests, Coast & Historic Sites of Wild Tuscany & Beyond (50 Hikes).

1. What a surprise to find such a wonderful book for hiking in Italy!! I am planning a trip and hope to put this book to good use during my visit. I am sure that the scenery will only be more beautiful than the photos in black and white. Aside from the 50+ different hikes there are also tip's on traveling in Italy. I am sure that this will be a useful tool during my visit.



2. This is the best hiking book I have ever read. It is very user-friendly. Just about any question I might have has been anticipated. The book is arranged in a very concise orderly fashion. I will recommend it to my hiking friends. I look foward to purchasin books this author may write in the future.



3. Ecologist, educator, and avid hiker who has traversed thousands of miles Jeff Taylor presents 50 Hikes In & Around Tuscany: Hiking the Mountains, Forests, Coast & Historic Sites of Wild Tuscany and Beyond, a combination hiking and travel guide to Italy's gorgeous Tuscan region. The fifty hikes featured cover Tuscan Hill Country, the mountains of the Alpi Apuane, the Cinque Terre and Ligurian Coast, the Northern and Central Apennines, and much more. Yet 50 Hikes In & Around Tuscany is supplemented with far more than information than simply descriptions, maps, and black-and-white photographs of hiking trails; also covered are the best times to visit, how to drive and travel around Italy, local customs, lodging establishments for overnight hikes, a list of useful English-Italian translations and navigating terms, insights into the region's natural history, flora, and fauna, and much more. Enthusiastically recommended for any hiker planning to visit the Tuscan area.



4. This will seem odd, but I'm the other Jeff Taylor. There are four or five of us, writing for a living and publishing books and articles.
   
   But I came upon Jeff Taylor's book about Tuscany while looking for articles about hiking in Italy. By coincidence, Tuscany and hiking are two of my own interests, and the fact that the author's name is identical to my own makes this the kind of book that piques my interest. Weirdness to the seventh degree, Rod Serling standing at the crossroads leading to a little town somewhere in Tuscany ...
   
   So when I say I loved this book, and it told me a lot about my life's future mission (to explore Tuscany), there's a certain degree of bias. But even if the author's name were Jones, it would still be THE book I'd buy before buying an airline ticket to Italy.



5. Bought this book on-line 48 hours before heading to Tuscany, which I and other non-walkers do every 2nd year. Managed to do four of the walks and the descriptions: how to get to start, directions on the walk etc etc were excellent. Really opened up new parts of Tuscany for me. One of the best hillwalking books I have come across.

2 comments about Michelin Map Switzerland/Suisse (Michelin).

1. The map arrived quickly, and in the very good condition it had been marketed as. Smooth transaction.



2. The map was just what we need and the service was quick. A great price too!

4 comments about Streetwise Naples Map - Laminated City Street Map of Naples, Italy - with integrated metro lines and stations.

1. Have used these Streetwise maps for various locations and found them easy to read and carry, fit right in your pocket. This particular one we did not use as much as others as we were not in Naples but for taking the train! Had one for Florence and it was great, highly recommend.



2. This is a great little map. It shows the street where the famous daMichele Pizza is located (Via de C. Sercele) which other maps did not show. And it shows the funicular stations. It does not show Metro stops, however, the National Geographic Naples book has that.



3. I was really dissappointed with the map, it wasn't even regular map size, if it was they could have put the whole city on one side.



4. I have used these maps before and like them for a variety of reasons - they are virtually indestructible, very clear with plenty of information and they fold up quickly and easy to put away in your bag. There is nothing like having a big paper map clutched in your hand to lable you TOURIST.

No comments about The Rough Guide to Ireland 9 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

No comments about Michelin the Green Guide Burgundy Jura (Michelin Green Guide: Burgundy/Jura English Edition).

5 comments about In Siberia.

1. This is a tremendous book, one that I would recommend to anybody that has either spent some time in Siberia or that is simply interested in the region. Indeed, one of the few criticisms that I have is that the book is too short. Thubron glosses over a lot of interesting places. He is undoubtedly more interested in peripheral, off the beaten track places than he is in major cities. He barely describes places such as Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia and the third largest in Russia. He similarly doesn't spend much time describing cities like Omsk, Ekaterinburg, and Krasnoyarsk, and he doesn't even make it to Vladivostok. Thubron's forte is describing life in places forgotten by Moscow and unknown to the outside world. I've long been fascinated by Siberia and have spent many hours poring over maps, identifying population points in the far north and wondering how on earth anybody could live there. Well, Thubron visits such places and portrays the difficult conditions of life there. He spends nearly a month in a small town near the Arctic Circle. Since there are obviously no hotels there, he finds a bed in the hospital. He describes how every night the drunks knock on the doors and windows trying to get inside so to find a warm bed for the night. The local doctor is a highly educated man who could have had a successful career in any of Russia's larger cities, and it is fascinating to read his story of how he ended up in this godforsaken place. Thubron also describes how Soviet planning destroyed many of the traditions and ways of life of the native peoples of Russia's far north. The author has a fine ear for detecting racism in his discussions with ordinary Russians, whether it is directed against the ethnic minority groups whose traditions were altered under the Soviets or the Chinese who have immigrated in large numbers to Russia's Far East. Among the more interesting parts of the book is Thubron's stay in Birobidzhan, the capital of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast' in the Far East. This region was originally established to serve as a homeland for Russia's Jews, and many Jews from abroad immigrated there in the early Soviet period. Thubron describes how most of the Jews have emigrated to Israel and those still living there are planning to do so as soon as they find the means. Whatever semblance of a Jewish community that existed there in the past has pretty much evaporated. Thubron also visits a community of Orthodox Old Believers in the Republic of Buryatia and describes how they are trying to hold on to their traditions amid the social upheavals that have engulfed post-Soviet Russia. The book ends with Thubron's visit to Kolyma, the infamous prison camp during Soviet times. He provides a chilling account of the atrocities that occurred there and it is simply eerie reading his description of the buildings that still stand. Overall, Thubron does not provide a great deal of direct political analysis. Rather, his tactic is to understand how the tumultuous events of Russia's history, both recent and distant, have shaped the lives of ordinary people. Thubron is at his best when he lets these ordinary people speak for themselves and relate their experiences. This is truly a great book for anybody interested in Russia, past and present. I only wish that Thubron would write a sequel to this work!



2. We found Colin Thubron at least the equal of Newby and Theroux with the confidence to depend on his unique description skills without photographic backup. What puts this book among the top few is his commitment to the language which permitted him to hear first hand the concerns of those he met, which he reported while allowing the readers to draw their own conclusions. This is an essential reference for inclusion among the few strictly necessary aids to travel through a tortured and fragile land.



3. I thought that the depiction of Siberia was magical, and would certainly recommend this book to those that have not read it yet. For those who have, and are interested in more about this land, I would recommend Tent Life in Siberia: An Incredible Account of Siberian Adventure, Travel, and Survival.



4. What on earth drives Colin Thubron? Why, traversing a subcontinent whose name has become synonymous with suffering, would he face tedium, banality and appalling weather to seek out agonizing communities, explore Artic death camps, plumb the worldview of demoralized individuals and contemplate remote sites where dramatic events unfolded years, if not millennia, ago? Certainly there is an unrelenting fascination with the mysterious heart of Eurasia, crisscrossed at least three times by the Russian and Chinese-speaking author, but there seems to be more. The intensity of the effort to bear witness to mankind's resistance to inexorable forces sometimes seems like part of a manic attempt to hold back the passage of time itself. Whatever the motivation the result is particularly appropriate when dealing with a place where not only maps, but also human memory and history itself have already been partially "blanked out" by a truly evil empire. This splendid book not only enlightens us about a part of the world and its peoples of which most people are ignorant but makes us regard with awe the commitment of its author.



5. Colin Thubron takes you right into Siberia with him. And with him, you can experience the hardships and the love of the land that these people face. This is not a tourist book. It is a book about people, interwoven with geographic fact.

2 comments about Take Your Kids to Europe, 8th: How to Travel Safely (and Sanely) in Europe with Your Children (Take Your Kids to Europe).

1. If you are planning an extended stay in Europe with children, you need this book! Take Your Kids to Europe, 7th: How to Travel Safely (and Sanely) in Europe with Your Children (Take Your Kids to Europe) My 3 school-age children and I have just returned from a 4-month trip to the UK. This book was the single best purchase we made as we prepared for our trip. The book helped us to set up an accurate budget, buy and sell our car, camp our way across Wales and the Lake District, rent housing for our stay in the UK, and rent an apartment in Paris for a week. Harriman's suggestions for how to help children adapt quickly to a new home-away-from-home were indispensable. We used TYKE to pick the cream of the crop of sites to visit and then used the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: Great Britain Great Britain (Eyewitness Travel Guides) for additional information and photos of each excursion. My 10 year old relished the job of "checking the book" and filling us in on our next stop. I cannot overstate how much this book helped us to have a safe and fun adventure. If only life came with a guide this thorough and helpful!



2. I bought this book as a supplement to my already strong European travel plans (been before several times) and expected I might get one or two things from it. I was surprised and delighted by the great insights in the book and the time and money we will now save due to the excellent advice on kid-friendly Europe. Our trip will be so much better taking in some of the sights which we would have otherwise missed - such as the cheese and chocolate tour in Switzerland - can't wait!

2 comments about Scandinavian Europe (Multi Country Guide).

1. good volume as I've found all LP publications to be.........a little thin on Estonia but enough for a day in Tallinn



2. Got this book 7 days after ordering on free shipping. Not too bad, kudos to Amazon. The book is the latest version and includes updated information, though not to a very large extent.
   
   Provide good practical information on National Parks in the region but probably a bit lacking on transportation. It would be ideal if there's listing of popular train routes as I found it in the Russia and Belarus edition.

3 comments about When in France, Do as the French Do.

1. Useful for people planning to live in, do business in, or merely visit France. Or even an armchair traveller interested in customs and mores elsewhere.

   Steele gets it right. Many of his comments are also revealed in some of the best books about living in France such as Sarah Turnbull's 'Almost French' and Adam Gropnik's 'From PAris to the Moon'.

   Steele has sections on a whole range of subjects: arts, business, daily life, food and drink, identity, language, philosophy, politics, and more.

   Discover the answer to questions such as: when should you mention a person's family name in greeting? how should you attract a waiter's attention? where was Napoleon Bonaparte first buried? what French fast food chains are there? why don't French people smile as much as Americans? when in a meeting do you hand over a business card?




2. I wanted this book because my husband and I are planning a week's vacation to Paris. I found this book pretty much useless for our purposes. The book is arranged in one-page primers on various subjects. The vast majority of the subjects are about French history or music or whatnot. There is some information about business etiquette that could potentially be useful for the business traveler.

   But I find the title to be a misnomer. It isn't a book about doing things the French way. There are very few cues on how to avoid faux pas. This is not a useful book for the average traveler, and I'm sorry I bought it. I've considered returning it, but am not sure the $9 I paid for it is worth the hassle of packing it up, sending it off, etc etc.




3. This book provided a cultural understanding. I work for a French-owned company, and after reading the book, had an expanded appreciation for the way the French see things. I also can understand why Americans may see the French as unfriendly and/or rude. I recommend the book to people who want to increase their knowledge of French culture, history and norms.

5 comments about Time Out Berlin (Time Out Guides).

1. Time Out's 320-page guide is both compact & comprehensive. I've used it to plan a visit to Berlin & will be in a much better position to assess how well its savvy-sounding advice pans out in actual practice after I've put it to the test. If Rimmer's opinions turn out being ill-informed, I'll post an update. So far, I'm satisfied that for $13 I got good value for money.



2. I bought this guide before going to Berlin to study German for a summer. I had no experience with Time Out guides before this, but I just knew I was sick of the bland and sometimes out of date recommendations I kept getting from Lonely Planet guides and ready for something new. Well, what a great decision--I lived in Berlin for 11 weeks, and this guide was the only thing I ever needed. Ideal for the 20-40ish crowd, it definitely has a younger, more hip (or maybe "cosmopolitan" is a better way to describe it) focus than any guide I'd encountered before, and I loved that. For one thing, because of that kind of focus, I found all these great, inexpensive "art hotels" listed in the book, and the experience of staying in those amazingly unique hotels absolutely made my trip.
   
   The guide also has great suggestions for fun bars and clubs, restaurants and cafes, shopping, and English-language bookstores. The history and sightseeing sections were thorough and fascinating to read, there's a section on the city's fabulously modern architecture, and there's a great guide to museums and art galleries. There are also sections on music (classical and opera), things to do in Berlin with children, sports and fitness, gay and lesbian Berlin, day trips (Potsdam, etc.), overnight trips (Dresden, Leipzig, etc.), and even a section on visiting Hamburg or Prague. Especially important is the guide's directory, which provides basic information about everything from the climate, to driving in Berlin, to health care providers, to public toilets. The vegetarian restaurant suggestions (important to me, personally) were reasonably ample, but as it turned out I mostly lived off falafel from street vendors anyway.
   
   My copy is tattered and written all over after almost three months of continuous use, and I never found a single mistake in the book. Berlin has so many treasures, and this guide helps you to the best of them all. Highly recommended!



3. I was in Berlin for two weeks, and this guide helped a lot. Its not a heavy book, easy to carry in a day bag, and all the tips for sightseeing etc were helpful.



4. I chose this over the other guides for my recent trip to Berlin based on the reviews here. Normally I use Let's Go! or Lonely Planet guides. The layout took getting used to: it's arranged by category (hotels, restaurants, sights, etc) then by district within the category.
   
   The biggest complaint I have with the book is that it's not targeted at the on-a-budget traveler. It was hard to find restaurants listed that were inexpensive - maybe 1 out of every 3 or 2 of 5 was less than 10 E for meals.
   
   Also, the book has no mention of the (frequent!) German holidays, when businesses and museums have altered or no opening hours.
   
   But it helped me in planning out what I wanted to see, so it wasn't a total wash.



5. This is the best guide for you if you've think you've outgrown the Lonely Planet books or aren't getting enough detail and insight from the Eyewitness Guide. The color pics and maps outdo the LP guide and the variety of touristy and off-beat sites beat the EWG. While LP is best for the younger/collegiate, budget traveler and EWG is great for broad overviews in a colorful format, the Time Out is the ideal prep for a grown-up trip to Berlin and even better to have in your pocket.