No comments about Insight Map Frankfurt: Fleximap Plus Travel Information (Insight Fleximaps).

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 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.

1 comments about Germany (National Geographic Traveler).

1. This has been a very good book for us. It has a lot of the standard sights but a few that you don't find in every other guide book. In fact, at the back of each section there are small blurbs about (usually) smaller sights or villages and we have enjoyed some of those more than the really popular cities and sights. We're living in Germany for just a few years and like to choose different areas to explore when we can. This book has been the only one we've needed to refer to.

1 comments about Wallpaper City Guide: Munich (Wallpaper City Guides) (Wallpaper City Guides (Phaidon Press)).

1. This isn't worth the $8.95 or whatever it costs. For all of Munich, this guide lists 4 landmarks. That's it! The only person who I can imagine might possibly like this pamphlet is someone who had only 1 hour to spend in Munich and could only pick 1 single thing to do... This book is a waste; half of its pages are blank "notes" pages for you to write on...?! There aren't more than 4 sentences about any single landmark, store, hotel, etc... I can't imagine who they thought was going to use this book. I am returning mine because it can't help me plan my trip to Munich!

2 comments about Berlin Made Easy: The Best Sights and Walks of Berlin (Open Road Travel Guides).

1. The best part of this book are the five walking tours (with maps). There's a Berlin Wall Walk along the former Berlin Wall, two walks in former East Berlin and two walks in former West Berlin. These walks are a great way to get to know this great city.



2. This book was great! The eating recommendations were excellent. I was able to travel around Berlin easily and map out what to do and what to see. This is the only book you need for Berlin.

No comments about Cool Shops Berlin (Cool Shops).

5 comments about Eyewitness Travel Guide to Germany.

1. .
   Summary:
   Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!

   The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.

   But, the really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
   ............Very complete
   ............Easy to read
   ............Beautifully and artistically completed
   ............Good shopping, safety and other tips
   ............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.

   Summary Negative:

   The country books are too general to really satisfy all your needs in any given location. So, if your entire trip is spent in Munich, for example, you will also want to get the specific guide for that city (but, the Berlin Section is fairly good)

   Guide Specifics:

   The guides are organized as follows:

   How to use this guide
   Introduction to Germany
   ............Portrait of Germany
   ............History of Germany
   ............Germany Through the Year
   Berlin, Area by Area
   Germany by Region
   ............Eastern Germany
   ........................Specific Cities / Towns
   ............Southern Germany
   ........................Specific Cities / Towns
   ............Western Germany
   ........................Specific Cities / Towns
   ............Northern Germany
   ........................Specific Cities / Towns
   Travelers Needs
   ............Hotels
   ............Restaurants
   ............Shopping
   Survival Information
   ............Practical Info.
   ........................Police, safety, buses, trains, etc.
   ............Travel Info.
   ........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.
   ............General Index
   ............Phrase Book

   Discussion:
   The book begins with "A Portrait of Germany", including a complete map, a review of Germany, it's history, and Germany's History (very interesting), and Germany thought the Year - including events, etc.,

   Region with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of Cities / Towns, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.

   Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.

   The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on resorts, hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions

   The books are so well thought out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.

   Negative:
   The country-wide guides are by definition more general than the specific city guides. So, if you are going to Munich, get the specific "Munich" guide (another great guide). If you decide to get the "Germany" guide for your 3, or 4 city tour of Germany, understand that this guide may be a little to general for all your local travel needs.

   Conclusion:
   As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location.




2. We purchased an Eyewitness travel guide when we went to London and it was terrific. Unfortunatly the Germany book did not live up to the previous book. While there are many nice pictures there is virtually no information on how to get to the sites. Part of the problem is the book tries to cover too much. Germany is a large and varried country and as such is hard to cover in a such a small book.



3. Eyewitness Travel Guide to Germany from DK upholds a great dradition in quality from this publisher. This is a very good book with plenty of colour photographs and maps. The street maps are very good and help you get around when other maps fail. It gives you the option to compare directions with other maps! I am very pleased with this book and others I own on Italy all from DK.



4. I am in the US Navy and am stationed over seas. I have relied on Eyewitness Travel Guides (ETG) for travelling throughout Italy (and specific ones for Florence, Venice, Sardinia, & Naples), Germany, and France. ETG descibes the qualities in every location so that you can tailor the trip to met your agenda and desires. They describe everything from churches to ruins to castles to festhalls. I even knew where to purchase tickets for watertaxis, buses, theatres, and shows. I once was stuck unintentionally in an area due to a flight problem, but due to ETG, I had the time of my life. I would not have known what was in the area without it. Don't leave home without it. Forget Rick Steve's guides. They are too specific and assume that you don't want to know about what else is in the surrounding areas.



5. I did not find this book of much use during my trip. It did not go deep enough into the attributes of the cities I wanted to visit. I took it with me but did not use it.

1 comments about Dresden (Bradt Mini Guide).

1. Very portable and going into 2008 very accurate, considering Dresden is in considerable flux from extensive rebuilding, with varying availabilities of their collections and exhibits. The nearby attractions of Meissen and Moritzburg are presented very well too. The author's greatest strengths are his thoroughness in necessary information and his eye for architecture; his weakest is his lack of interest in shopping (except for books and music).

No comments about Pocket Menu Reader Germany (Langenscheidt's Pocket Menu Reader).