No comments about Walking in the Harz Mountains.

3 comments about Hungary: The Rough Guide, Third Edition (Rough Guides).

1. The Rough Guide Hungary is a complete paper guide: both practical as well as good in in-depth knowledge. Arriving in Hungary by plane as I did in the Summer of 2000, you feel you have arrived in a country where a completely strange, vigourous and stimulating language is spoken and little else except goodwill. This book has the capacity to guide you into this really foreign country, offering you several possibilities in the above situation, varying from the safe: 'take a cab but fix the price beforehand', to the more adventurous: 'take bus # 93 (red) to the metro terminal and continue your journey to Budapest by taking the blue metro line to the centre of town'. Whatever your choice, I found this is all excellent advice with no mistakes. The guide continues in this reliable way both in the capital and in the country side, but does more as it also describes Hungary's history and culture in its own words, not copying textbooks. Boxes with extra, spicy information are included.

   Because this guide is so good on history, contemporary politics and culture, it doesn't cover every village in Hungary, as other guides in the same category and written for the same public do. This one maintains an enjoyable balance between tourist information, background knowledge and girth. Although its electronic variant as seen on Internet is weaker than its direct competitor, the paper variant is second to none, even superior.




2. This book was extremely helpful - up to date, easy to navigate for wanted information, and full of interesting tips. The language section provided enough help to get us through some out of the way experiences.



3. This book is typical of all Rough Guides: It a nice chunk of a book with the best balance between pragmatic information and cultural/historical contexts of all travel guides. Dedicated Rough Guides fans already know that you don't buy these books for their glossy photography. You buy them for density of information.
   
   Three things that stand out about this one are:
   
   1) In additional to a 100-page treatment of the capital, the catalog offers unusually dense coverage of the lovely attractions beyond Budapest. If you leave the country without excursions to Sopron, Tihany and Eger, you've missed the essence of Hungary.
   
   2) The bibliography (you know, the "literature" section) is perhaps a bit thin, and some of the entries there really belong to Romania rather than Hungary.
   
   3) This book is now in its 6th edition, with a 7th on the way. The authors are familiar with the country. The information is up-to-date and sound.
   
   To committed Rough Guide readers: You know what to expect. You won't be disappointed.
   
   To new Rough Guide readers: Come on over if you like words more than images. We prefer to leave the photography to others.

3 comments about Hedonist's Guide To Berlin 1st Edition (A Hedonist's Guide to...).

1. You can judge this book by it's cover - elegant, slick and an air of exclusivity about it. That is exactly what you should expect from this brilliant guide. It makes for pithy reading, allowing a very directed approach to pursuing the pleasures of your choice during a short visit. Having experience this guide first hand I doubt I will now visit a city which does not have one.



2. I was expecting a wild hedonist's guidebook to the varied wicked delights of this wonderful city. Instead, I got a punchlist of pricey places that were by and large already covered in the Time Out and Lonley Planet guides to Berlin. Save your money and get those instead, and hit various online guides to Berlin to find the really fun spots instead.



3. Very snazzy good-looking guide book, exceedingly reliable on how to hit the right spots. Essential packing for hip travellers!

No comments about Memoirs of Hector Berlioz, Member of the French Institute, Including His Travels in Italy, Germany, Russia and England 1803 - 1865. Translated and Edited by David Cairns..

No comments about Dawdling by the Danube: With Journeys in Bavaria and Poland.

No comments about Lonely Planet Encounter Berlin (Spanish Guides).

3 comments about Wilhelm Marr: The Patriarch of Anti-Semitism (Studies in Jewish History).

1. This book is the biography of the German revolutionary Wilhelm Marr. Marr was a radical revolutionary left wing intellectual who based his philosophy on that of the Left Hegelian Ludwig Feuerbach, advocating atheism and maintaining an anti-Christian and antiSemitic belief system. He became known as a journalist and editor of the paper _Mephistopheles_ during the nineteenth century. He became known for his antiSemitism (and may have originated the term "antiSemitism") despite the fact that he was to have a series of Jewish wives after writing a book entitled _The Jewish Mirror_ (_Der Judenspiegel_). He also involved himself in business deals in America where he may have participated in the slave trade and the ensuing debate over slavery. After having met the Italian liberal nationalist intellectual and founder of the "Young Europe" movement, Giuseppe Mazzini, Marr became enamored of this individual and earned for himself the title of "The German Mazzini". Subsequently, Marr would write another infamous antiSemitic text, _The Victory of Judaism Over Germanism_. During this period, Marr's political alignments began to shift so that he became favored in certain reactionary circles. Marr also became involved with the Anti-Semitic League at this time. Later in his life after having several failed business dealings, Marr would come to criticize antiSemitism. He argued that antiSemites were fostering an environment harmful to the poor worker in the same manner that the Jews themselves were. At this point, Marr renounced his antiSemitism as well as his previous reactionary leanings and returned to his original revolutionary beliefs. Marr died in relative obscurity, penniless. However, he had made a name for himself as the instigator of antiSemitism and perhaps as the man who coined that very term. Marr generally comes across as a rather despicable individual despite the fact that he would later come to at least partially repent of some of his antiSemitic beliefs (though never of his atheism and anti-Christian beliefs). He played some role as a prophet who foretold the coming of the Third Reich and the horrendous evils of the twentieth century, although he would be rejected by the actual intellectuals of the Third Reich, as would the term he coined - antiSemitism. Marr's place is among the antiSemitic left wing revolutionary intellectuals such as the musician Richard Wagner in Germany in the century before the coming of the World Wars. This book provides a good biography of an obscure figure who played some role in predicting the coming events in the German nation in the twentieth century. It is to be recommended despite the fact that its central figure is certainly less than savory.



2. I was researching this guy on the internet and found out the prototypical anti-semite was, in fact, the son of the famous jewish actor Heinrich Marr. Perhaps this explains why he always married jewish women. Will add more after I read this one.
   
   Edit: After further research, it appears I was mistaken about that. Too bad as I enjoy the irony like that - such as when Republican 'family values' politicians get arrested for sexual peccadilloes.



3. This book is an excellent study on Wilhelm Marr. The book is especially valuable because it is based on a variety of primar sources. It is based on the huge collection of manuscripts and literary remains of Marr, stored in the Archives of Hamburg.

No comments about Klaus Eschen: Berlin Images 1960-1970.

No comments about Living in Berlin (Living In . . .).

No comments about Majorca Maps: Tourist Map, Outdoor Leisure Map, Palma Town Plan.