No comments about Italy (Eyewitness Travel Guide).

5 comments about The Alhambra (Wonders of the World).

1. This little book is packed with the author's detailed opinions about the history of this marvel. It's good reading to prepare one for a visit, but it left me wondering if the legends that the author debunks may not be a prophecy of what tomorrow's scholars may think of this work.



2. Visiting the Alhambra is a once in a lifetime, must do event. See it first from the plaza adjacent to the little church of St. Nicholas across the valley. And when you do finally go in to the Alhambra, bring this guide.
   
   It's the sort of guide one might have had when visiting this place two hundred years ago--more Baedeker than Lonely Planet. It emphasizes the wonder of the place rather than entrance prices and opening times. Written in a narrative style that plays up the history of this magnificent palace, it is a joy to read both before and during one's visit. In fact, a careful reading of the book prior to visiting the Alhambra is bound to enhance the visit tremendously (as, after all, the Alhambra is so popular you'll be limited to a 15 to 30-minute window to make your entrance into the most stunning part of the complex, the Nasrid palace.) For that reason you'll want to know ahead of time what you'll be looking at, because once you're inside the rooms and courtyards go by in a blur--a gorgeous procession of delicate columns and sparkling fountains. If you're trying to read your guidebook for the first time in the midst of it all, you'll miss most of it. Once you are inside, you're much better off just using the book for a quick consultation as you enter each new room, gallery, or alcove.
   
   Irwin's 'Alhambra' tells you what you really need to know about this place (one of Europe's most magnificent palaces) including the unfortunate fact that much of what you will see (or are seeing) has been recreated; the presumed use of each area of the palace is at best an educated guess (and at worst, a shot in the dark). Even some of the carved inscriptions are misleading (assuming you can read medieval Arabic). As Irwin notes: "...Contreras, who knew no Arabic, rearranged them [the inscriptions] in such a way that it is no longer possible to make sense of them" (p. 47, hardbound). Regardless, there is beauty in this truth, and this book has it in spades. Your standard tourist guidebook will not confront you with such sincerity (although you'll need it for the basics mentioned above: entrance prices, opening times, etc., as Irwin is not concerned with those).
   
   The hardbound version of Irwin's 'The Alhambra' makes a great keepsake to remind you of your visit, and you can put it on your shelf next to the copy of Washington Irvings' 'Tales of the Alhambra' you picked up in the gift shop. Bottom line--if you are going to visit the Alhambra, do it right: bring this book, and read it ahead of time.



3. The good: debunks some of the myths, gives a good background to some of the names and how the appearance was radically altered by perceptions of what people thought (and what they wanted to think) represented Moorish architecture.
   
   The bad: He spends so much time explaining why this or that is not true that we almost learn about the Alhambra by what it is not. He never really gets has a together, narrative history here, which makes it difficult to get a 'grasp' on the place by just reading this book alone.
   
   Also He unfairly criticizes Irving's Tales of The Alhambra (apparently Washington Irving was at once dull, but too imaginative, prejudiced against Moors but sympathetic to Bobadil, cheering for the Spanish yet anti-Catholic - and yes Irwin contradicts himself on the same page!) while (strangely) praising movies like the 7th Voyage of Sindbad (which was filmed there). Shows a lack of understanding or depth about Orientalist Art, which doesn't stop him from talking about it.
   
   The guide he suggested to buy, available at the site and in Granada, is far better- (unfortunately not available in the US) its published by Ediciones Edilux, called "in focus' in English and available online if you google it.



4. The book gives a good overview of the history of Alhambra palace and Islamic Spain. Some minor translation problems as the author try to root some of the names of the various rooms in the palace to its Arabic origin. Nonetheless, the book is well written, and is an excellent source for beginners on the Alhambra palace.



5. Page one, paragraph one has two glaring errors. First, there are indeed figurative paintings in the Alhambra. They are painted on leather decorating the ceilings of the recesses in the Hall of Kings. Second, Columbus did not present his plan to cross the Atlantic to Ferdinand and Isabella at the Alhambra but at Santa Fe, their encampment several miles outside of Granada.
   I didn't bother to read further. This book promised to be worthless.

No comments about Michelin Poland (Michelin Map).

2 comments about Speak in a Week Flash! German: 1001 Flash Cards (Speak in a Week Flash!).

1. The only reason why I bought these cards was that I need to expand my PASSIVE vocabulary in German as fast as possible. But mind you, this set takes you only that far. You can use them to fill up some empty times-lots in your day with meaningful activity. You can even arrange a quiz show with a colleague, friend, or family member who is approximately on the same level as you are.
   
   Let's see the strengths and weaknesses:
   
   + the part of speech is colour-coded (nouns, verbs, adjectives, others)
   + the gender is indicated with the nouns
   
   - sometimes you cannot find the German word even in a good dictionary (or with Google!)
   - sometimes it is not clear which sense of the English equivalent carries the correct meaning (take "cancel" as an example)
   - no example sentences or typical idiomatic expressions for the words are given
   - no plural or genitive ending is given with the German nouns
   - it is not indicated if a German verb belongs to the weak, strong, or mixed category
   
   To sum up, it is a very good idea to give you the first 1001 words you will need in a new language, but the implementation is far from faultless. My cards are filling up with notes and cross-outs and replaced words. I would definitely not recommend this card-set for a true beginner. It is much better for an eternal re-starter like me, who knows too much for a complete beginner's course and can check suspicious words and fill in missing information from a good dictionary.



2. Good choice for a visual and easy learning of some German words.
   Very useful for practising. Almost like a game.
   Nice presentation and cover.

2 comments about Frommer's Barcelona (Frommer's Complete).

1. I have purchased a number of Frommer's books over the years and overall I have found them to be among the most helpful guides that exist. This Barcelona edition has been frustrating for me to use for my upcoming trip to Barcelona.
   
   The advantage that this and all Frommer's guides will give you is a star rating for various sights, hotels, restaurants, etc:
   
   3 stars = must see
   2 stars = very highly recommended
   1 star = highly recommended
   reviewed but no stars = recommended
   
   This feature is why I continually use Frommer's guides, they help me find the "priority" spots so that I can most efficiently use my vacation time. The Barcelona edition is no different, they have helped me identify the must-do activities on my upcoming trip.
   
   The downside of the Frommer's Barcelona guide is 2 fold:
   
   1) There are no pictures with in the book - a picture on the front cover and on the back cover, that is it. Most Frommer's guides have a few pages within them with a few photos. I don't buy Frommer's guides for the photos, that is not the kind of guide they make. But a few photos would have made the book better. There is however a color page included in the middle of the book, an advertisement for Travelocity.
   
   2) The bigger issue I have with this edition is the lack of useful maps. There is not a single map that shows the entire Barcelona region. There is a map of the Barcelona attractions (which is helpful), but it does not include a number of things mentioned in the guide and does not include the Barcelona airport. In addition they have separate maps of the same area over and over again, one for sights, one for hotels, one for restaurants, one for the metro system. It would be very helpful to have a map that has the metro system locations included in the "What to see" section so that travelers would know how to get to what they want to see.
   
   Frommer's Barcelona is packed with information (most of it very useful) but could use a few more pages from some useful maps and maybe a photo or two.



2. Indeed - what has happened to the maps which have been with this series of Frommer Guides? They were even detachable - but moreover they were GOOD maps!

3 comments about Moleskine City Notebook Berlin (Moleskine City Notebook).

1. While not a suitable replacement for a travel guide, the Moleskine is very handy for a map and journal. The Notebook content is very flexible to suit your needs and is much more discreet than the more obvious travel guides.



2. This is a very unusual product and I would strongly encourage anyone considering getting one to be completely aware of what it is before they purchase it. First, if you are looking for a single travel guide to prepare you for your trip to New York (or anywhere else there is a guide for), this is very close to worthless, if not entirely worthless. I would call one's attention to the title of the product. It is a "Notebook." That means that most of the pages are blank. This literally is a book for taking notes in.
   
   So what do you get when you buy this? Every book in the series follows the same format. First there is a personal information page with address, phone, allergies, family doctor, passport number, then map information with public transportation maps. Then follows information on the various forms of transportation with phone numbers and websites, including cabs, buses, other forms of public transportation, and airports. There are some blank itinerary pages, measurement and speed conversion charts, size conversion charts (for shoppers), then a long series of neighborhood maps, including an index. And that's it. The final two-thirds of the notebook are blank. The next 20 or so pages are completely blank and unlined for whatever use you want to put them to. Next come several pages intended for writing down names of restaurants, bars, museums, historical sites, hotels, or whatever. The book also comes with unlabeled tabs with stickers to use as desired (for theaters, concert halls, or whatever you desire) as well as tracing paper for, as the label says, "Itineraries or Whatever." Finally, there is the usual pocket at the back that is found in all Moleskine products.
   
   For some people this is going to be an absolutely useless product. But for many this will be remarkably useful. In fact, I can envision two uses for this notebook. First, those who are planning a trip to one of the places for which Moleskine has produced a book. Let's say one has consulted the Blue guide, the Eyewitness Guide (by DK), a Rough Guide, the Michelin guide, and the Let's Go guide. Maybe you've bought all of these, making for five guides. No way do you want to drag all of these on your trip or more than one on your flight. So what might you do? You might take the Moleskin Notebook, record into it all the places you want to see, restaurants you want to dine at, museums you want to stroll through, and anything else you want to do while in your destination of choice, and record it there. So the Moleskine City Notebook can serve as a distillation of all the various travel guides, web sites, and other resources you have consulted. And instead of hauling about a large Fodor's guide, you can carry about this small Notebook that can easily fit into a backpack, purse, should bag, or even pocket.
   
   The only downside is that the Moleskine City Notebook is only as good as you make it. If you do a good job of planning your trip, it will be filled to the brim with useful and helpful information. If not, it will be as unhelpful as you have made it.
   
   There is a second use to which the City Notebook can be put to use, though it is not one for which it was primarily designed. You could use it for the city in which you live, should you live in one of the cities for which one is made. I live, for instance, in Chicago. I have bought one of these so that I can over time use it to record every bit of helpful information that I might find useful or helpful. I can record what hours the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore (the real one, not the trade version on 57th Street) is open. The hours for the Chicago Public Library and the Newberry Library. Phone numbers of restaurants and addresses of bars. And so on and so forth. Granted, these books will only benefit those who live in one of those cities, but for the U.S. New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are pretty populated areas.
   
   So this is a very well conceived product though it absolutely has to be stressed that it is a specialized one. Please note: THIS ISN'T FOR EVERYONE. If you don't want to use the Notebook to plan your trip it is going to be very close to worthless. I'll emphasize again: this is only as good a product as you make it. But if you use it to help you plan your trip, it could be the single item you would most loathe to be without after your notebook.



3. This notebook is perfect for the traveler who wants to pick out his own sites. I took recommendations from other guidebooks I had and put the information in the notebook. If I ran across a good place, I wrote it down. My goal in using this notebook was to have a reference for if/when I return to Berlin. It's perfect for combining information from different source in one place.
   
   This notebook contains maps of the city (with a street index) and maps of the public transit system (with a station index). Indexes are incredibly helpful when you're standing on a street corner but have no clue what part of town you're even in, or what direction you're facing. Trust me - very useful. I carried this notebook everywhere I went, even if all I needed it for was the maps. I loved having a place to write down things that I should do, or places I loved, or other ideas.

5 comments about The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through The History Of Prussia.

1. That was what one coworker told me on the first day of my new job. Yea, awkward. (my ancestors left in the 1880s) Anyway, there is a lot more history to Prussia than Nazism and these days books about Prussia don't exactly pop out of the book shelves; those that do typically refer to places remote in time and place. However, the author has done a tremendous job of joining the past and how they touch and concern lands and locations today. Well researched and organized, it is a great introduction into a history your teacher might have forgotten to cover.



2. 'The Vanished Kingdom' by James Charles Roy is a fascinating travelogue, combined with the history of this enigmatic land known as Prussia. This land that is so integral to the German identity, is now split between Poland and Russia. Seen by Germany's enemies as a symbol of German expansionism, any talk of reunification is usually met with a less than warm reception. Nevertheless, Prussia remains in the hearts and minds of Germans, and many still hope to reclaim it someday. Roy travels this historically rich land, talking to Poles, Russians, and German tourists engaging in some very interesting conversations along the way. Along with this travelogue, he fluently blends the turbulent history of Prussia, from the Teutonic Knights to Bismarck, and from Frederick the Great to Von Hindenburg. My only criticism is that the author tends to ramble on in certain places, exerting too much time on subjects of limited relevance to Prussia. For example, the several pages he spends discussing Napoleon, I could have done without. Nevertheless, I found 'The Vanished Kingdom' to be enjoyable as well as informative. I would consider it an extremely valuable addition to any student of European history in general and essential for students of German history in particular.



3. "The Vanished Kingdom" By James Charles Roy. Subtitled: "Travels Through The History Of Prussia". Westview Press, 1999.
   
   I first was acquainted with James Charles Roy when I read some of his books on Ireland; see, for example: "The Fields Of Athenry: A Journey through Ireland, 2001". More than 50 years ago, I studied the German language, and the "culture" sections exposed me to those forever gone places: Prussia, East Prussia, Pomerania, and Silesia. Also, that small city-state whose postage stamps I collected: Memel. So, I was quite happy to see Roy's book, "The Vanished Kingdom".
   
   James Charles Roy has written an excellent and eloquent book tracing the history of the lands way east, well beyond the Oder and the Elbe rivers. The author goes back to the early Crusades to trace the beginnings of what later became Prussia, and develops the story into more modern times, with Napoleon, and then the Franco Prussian War, Bismark and the Kaiser (William II) and, of course, the two world wars. Interspersed with all this history, Mr. Roy makes personal observations of the present conditions in the lands the book discusses. He spends substantial time on Koenigsberg, the present day Kaliningrad, which, by the way, still employs Russian postage stamps and is nominally Russian. The author is impressed with Koenigsberg's philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Sorry, Mr. Roy, since I went to a Catholic college, Kant was a footnote to St. Thomas Aquinas.
   
   My fellow Amazon reviewers appear to be of two minds on this book. Those with German-sounding names want to emphasize the recovery of the lost lands to the East. The others want to emphasize the poor opinion the author presents for the Poles he met on his journey. I would remind my Polish co-religionists that James Charles Roy had travelled extensively throughout Ireland where he was undoubtedly met with Irish hospitality: Cead Milte Failte....literally, A Hundred Thousand Welcomes. His journal of this journey shows that the Poles he encountered were not that hospitable; they therefore became fair game for this reporting. I know that the author believes that they were mistakenly identified him as German, and this raised some animosity. I can understand that, but the benefit of the doubt should have been given. Since I have blue eyes, a fair skin, and once had blond hair, I encountered the same animosity at some oil refineries in Europe, especially since my Dutch had a German accent. When I replied that I was of Irish descent, everyone was again all smiles. By the way, I wonder how many of them could pronounce "Athenry" correctly.
   
   I suggest that this is a fair and eloquent book that deserves five stars.



4. I quite enjoyed this book; Roy has got a very fine ability to make history come alive, and combines it with a sort of "travel journal" from the contemporary Prussia of the early 90's. You can really tell that time has passed since he wrote his account though, and not in a good way. The book serves well as a picture of Prussia and its neighbouring lands just after the Berlin-wall fell, but it's hardly updated for the third millennium. I enjoyed the fact that Roy uses the old and valid idea of race and folk souls in his writing, not many authors dare to do this. I really loved the book when it chronicled early Prussian history, before the more controversial periods, but I started to get a bad taste in my mouth as we were nearing the post-ww1 period.
   
   And suddenly it comes out in full bloom "Anyone that questions the Auschwitz should be whipped" and other emotional tirades in an otherwise wonderful book. He is of course entitled to his opinion, but were it any other subject he would be ostracized for using such language, but for some reason that completely eludes me, the official history of the Jewish troubles during ww2 is holy and beyond research and questioning. What if he had said, "Anyone that dares pry into the history of the conquest of the American continent deserves to be whipped?"
   
   As an end-note I'd like to add that he does give a rather good and objective picture of Prussia and its inhabitants, but when he got to the Holy Cow of the West, he fails miserably. So in other words a conclusion is hard to reach, I can only embrace the first two chapters of the book, the rest should be read with the help of Dr. Kevin Macdonald's book "Separation and its Discontents", it will help you understand the Polish and German attitude better, to say the least.



5. Loved it! I took this book with me as I toured Berlin and Western Poland, and I gained more of a sense of place by reading it along the way. This book contains the usual assortment of names, dates, etc.--info you could find in any college textbook. Roy makes all sorts of interesting connections using obscure stories and quotes, personal interviews of those who lived through some of these times, and his own observations touring the area after the fall of the wall. He additionally references other historians, particularly on the topic of the third reich, and adds new ideas on the subject.

3 comments about Fast Talk Slovene (Lonely Planet).

1. This little guide has been very useful in this wonderful country. Slovenian people understood me very well.



2. We visited Slovenia for five days recently and this book was useful for sharing common curtosies (i.e., please, thank you, hello) and deciphering menu items. It's very small and was easy to take along in a pocket or purse. Many people in the larger towns and cities speak English and most signs, menus, etc are translated in English but it was nice to be able to learn a few phrases in Slovene to show our appreciation to the people we met.



3. Although it speaks sadly of my language skills, I found that I really didn't need much more that the Slovenian in the main Lonely Planet guide to Slovenia. Most Slovenians speak English and almost half of the songs I heard on the radio and at concerts there were in English. While I a firm believer in trying to learn the language and culture of the places that one visits and lives, for short trips, you probably do not need this book.

1 comments about Spain (Exploring Countries of the Wor).

1. This year in our studies of Medieval History we will cover Spain. I wanted a picture book that represented past and present. As we unwrapped the book, the pictures are so stunning my 9 yr old commented that it felt like we were in Spain and could we go there. My daughter is now interested in learning more about Spain. Mission accomplished.

5 comments about Brassai : Paris By Night.

1. One only has to compare the nicely reproduced dust jacket photo to the print of it in the book to see the amount of detail that is lost in the rest of these images. Even the thumbails in the back next to the writeups show more detail than the muddied out larger vesions in the book. Brassai's images are so great that even muddied up like this they are worth looking at, but what a shame the publisher didn't do better. Shame, shame, shame.



2. This book is very important. Paris By Night by Brassai is a book that is central in the history of photograhy.It has been a great inspiration for many photograhers (and others).
   It is a shame, that this edition is very badly printed (loss of detail).
   I am sorry to say, that therefore the book is too exspensive.
   I bought the book anyway. Why?
   Because I wanted to have it on my shell. To study it. And because it reminds me of the first time, twenty years ago, when I saw some of the pictures from Paris By Night, and found that photograpy could be a great art.



3. This book was conceived and executed around a specific printing process, heliogravure. The original 1933 edition, if you could find it, which would be quite a feat, would look very much like the Pantheon edition published about a decade ago, and have many of the features of the current edition that some reviewers find objectionable: matte paper, black borders, strange tonality when compared to traditionally printed work. That's why the Pantheon edition, which some of the leading figures in modern printing and photography worked on, was such a landmark, and why the cheaply printed editions between the original and that one were junk -- and gave people a very serious misapprehension of how Brassai wanted his work to look.

   Unfortunately, an attempt to reproduce the characteristic look of heliogravure using a more conventional printing process is a pretty tall order. If you don't like the way this edition looks, and you very well may not, see if you can find a library that has a copy of the Pantheon edition and compare them. You'll be amazed that the aspects of this edition's printing that you found objectionable actually make _that_ edition beautiful and unique.

   It is a shame that Amazon does not even list the Pantheon edition so that it cannot be searched for as a used book -- and that the current publisher deceptively printed an edition that looks superficially like heliogravure but is not.




4. is a pleasure to learn how to use available light with the craftmanship of Brassai's pictures of Paris by night with all the life of those years !!



5. Brassai was probably more responsible than most for generating the noir genre associated with Paris but that, I think, was a function of his equipment. The deserted streets could be a factor of the five minute exposure while the close up shots of the street workers, of all occupations would have been necessary because of the lack of electronic flash. When looking at his pictures, we must be careful to pass them back through the filter of his time. BUT, that same filter has given us some beautifully composed images. There are no accidents. Thus, as well as a wonderful collection of very evocative images, the book can act as a reminder of the importance in engaging the intellect to make such images.