3 comments about Knopf MapGuide: Prague (Knopf Mapguides).

1. I love this series - small, light, excellent for walking around cities. It organizes information by geographic area and has large, readable maps that make getting around really easy. I use these as a subsitute for a map.
   
   If I'm spending enough time to see a city in depth (as I did in Prague), I bring a "real" guidebook too - in this case, Time Out - but this series will always have a place in my suitcase.
   
   For someone who travels really light, that is the biggest compliment I can bestow!



2. I own 11 of these Knopf MapGuides I find they are perfect for most of the sightseeing on does in major metropolitan areas. The layout, by neighborhood or zone, allows one to save steps and time by not needing to "back-track" when missing a sight. The small-sized booklet makes it easy to use and keep "concealed" when you don't want to look like a "tourist."



3. In some ways, Prague is best approached without a map. The main sector is fairly small, and landmarks like the castle, the river, and the Charles Bridge are easy to find from anywhere, so you can never really get lost. It is easier to find cool things when you don't care where you are going.
   
   Still, if you are in full tourist mode, you want to get where you are going, and finding your way through the tangled web of Prague streets can be a real challenge. Unfolding a huge map not only looks stupid, it is awkward as well. Try walking a crowded street with one open; you only need to do it once before you pitch the big map in the nearest receptacle.
   
   Big maps are bad, but small maps are useless for a city where streets are either a few blocks long, or at least change names every few hundred meters. The Knopf Guide has it both ways. It is small enough to fit into an inner pocket of a blazer. It breaks this fairly small city down into a half-dozen sectors, and covers each with a fold-out map on heavy paper. We used the previous edition for years (the changes are minor, so you'll do fine to buy either edition), and all of the maps are still in great shape.

1 comments about The Cyclades: Discovering the Greek Islands of the Aegean.

1. We're just back from a sailing vacation in the Cyclades, and brought this book along for reference. The historical perspective that the author carefully provides, is the most useful aspect of the book. After reading the book, and visiting the land, it is clear that many aspects of Ancient Greece are still alive! Visiting today and observing the ruins, one feels like a mere speck in time.
   
   The only criticism I have, is that some of the information in the book is out of date. For example, the Chora in Kea was not clean, but somewhat dirty and depressed, and felt chronologically displaced. So we're told, it turns out that Kea was a Communist enclave during the 1960's, and we even observed the word "Castro" written in Greek and engraved in large stone letters on a walkway.
   
   I recommend the book as an interesting historical read, but not as a practical guide. At least for sailing, the most popular text is "Greek Waters Pilot" by Rod Heikell. It also contains good general information about Greece and its ports.

1 comments about Crete: Discovering the 'Great Island' (Tauris Parke Paperbacks).

1. John Freely is a professional travel writer best known for his several volumes on Istanbul and his "Strolling Through Athens". His volume on Crete hasn't sold as well, because it was brought out by a small publishing house in a not-particularly glossy cover. But it is a work of great charm that reflects Freely's extensive knowledge and his love for the "Great Island." Read it before you travel, and it will inform, inspire, and delight you.

   Freely wrote this book while living for several months in the old Venetian port city of Chania in western Crete. One of the main things you will learn in the book is that Cretan history didn't end with the Minoans. Freely covers all the best-known Minoan sites thoroughly, of course, and he will also apprise you of lesser-known but intriguing sites like the mysterious palace at Kato Zakros, the small farming town of Gournia, the necropolis at Armeni, or the Minoan refugee community at Karphi overlooking the Lasithi Plain. But Freely is also excellent on the Venetians and on the various nineteenth-century Cretan revolts against the island's Turkish overlords. He also has a an obvious love for Cretan folkways and traditions.

   Freely wrote this book in an engaging first-person style, and he makes for an agreeable companion. He clearly loves the outdoors, particularly hiking and beach-going, and the book is full of excellent recommendations on both. You'll be determined to do the famous hike from the Omalos Plateau through the Samaria Gorge to the south coast after reading Freely's account of his hike through the gorge with his son. Another lesson that Freely clearly teaches is that a traveler to Crete should learn to savor the comparative merits of the island's beaches just as a visitor to England should develop an appreciation of the merits of different cathedrals or country houses. If I hadn't read Freely, I might well not have sought out the beaches at Preveli, Phalasarna, or particularly Elafonisi. The first two were unforgettable, but Elafonisi was in another league altogether: no wonder Freely chose to end this book with a visit there. Let me end this review by quoting from Freely's description of it, which shows his vivid and engaging style:

   "This is the most beautiful beach on all of Crete, a long, lagoon-like scimitar of pink-white sand where the waves of the Aegean merge with those of the Libyan Sea, the isle of Elafonisi looking like a South Sea coral reef shimmering in the shallows just offshore, so close that we swam out to it and sat there for an hour. . . . Then we swam back to shore and set up our picnic in the shade of a tamarisk tree, its branches twisted into a Medusa's head of tortured limbs bent back by the terrible Livas -- the Libyan Wind -- the furnace-blast that blows straight across from the sands of Libya over 230 miles of open sea a few days each summer, striking the Great Island here at its most exposed promontory."

   The book has useful maps of the Minoan sites and the island's various regions. It doesn't offer much in the way of recommendations for hotels and restaurants, however, so you will need to supplement it with another guide for that.

1 comments about The Rough Guides' Malta Directions 1 (Rough Guide Directions).

1. Rough Guides' "Malta & Gozo" is a very handy guidebook. Although it is only 192 pages and pretty light, it is packed with information. The thing that I like most about this book is that it contains detailed maps of all three Islands, Malta, Gozo and Comino, in addition to numerous city maps and plenty of both colour and black and white photos.
   
   The main focus of "Malta & Gozo" is to provide the reader with detailed and up to date descriptions of the main attractions, restaurants and hotels in each community. As well, this guide contains a basic overview of practical information, relating to transportation, money, communication, festivals and language.
   
   One very special bonus is that this book is accompanied by a mini CD, showing the book's contents in digital format. This feature is nice if you would like to take a closer look at the maps provided in the book.
   
   If you would like an up-to-date and thorough guide of Malta, this book is for you.

3 comments about Guide to Greece, Vol. 2: Southern Greece.

1. I have reviewed the companion volume (Guide to Greece: Central Greece) in the Penguin Classics series, and commented there that the Peter Levi translation is not ideal. One of the problems I had in mind is that the division into two volumes, while sensible in itself, does not follow the standard order of the books, but groups them geographically. Pausanias should have done this himself, but the innovation means flipping between the volumes when looking up cross-references to originally adjacent material, and really complicates using references in other volumes. Still, this is not an insurmountable problem, and should not be an objection if (when?) this translation is returned to the Penguin list. Of course, the Penguin Classics are currently (2003) being reprinted in a larger format, and that may prove an occasion for altering the "Guide to Greece" in a new edition



2. I purchased the Pausanias' Guide to Southern Greece many years ago before vacationing in the Pelopponese. Pausanias gives a very detailed account of many tourists sites. It is referred to on plaques at Greek sites in Greece. However, as important as Pausanias, is Peter Levi. His footnotes are extremely helpful in understanding the text and relating descriptions to what is on the ground today. I learned at least as much from the Peter Levi's footnotes as I did from Pausanias' text. I would not buy a different translation without his footnotes.
   I give this only a 4 star rating because it may be too detailed for the casual reader.



3. I'm not a professional archaeologist, but love the subject all the
   same -- my ideal vacation is to tour obscure sites with ancient literature
   mentioning the places.
   
   For that, Pausanias is ideal! True, as a previous reviewer wrote, the
   names are thick and obscure (just say "Sthenelaus" off-hand, then
   imagine dozens of other tongue-twisters in close context), the writing
   is not the best (although as early travel books go, this is the real
   thing!), and without looking at the actual sites, the casual reader
   may find little of interest.
   
   But I agree, Levi's footnotes bring hours of pleasure to someone who
   has visited the little-known places that, with a little attention
   from the Greek archaeologists, would be just as famous as those
   knee-deep in tourists. The fact you are alone, and with a voice from
   1800 years ago to guide you, is like a personal discovery. Having
   been to such places, I plan to return again, and I'll have my copy
   with me. . . .

2 comments about Blue Guide Greece: The Mainland, Seventh Edition.

1. Has more information than most people will need. Perhaps the next edition could have more pictures. A valuable travel guide. PC



2. "Blue Guide Greece" is wide-ranging, but its site descriptions and directions are often very skimpy; it should be supplemented with the excellent "Greece: an Oxford Archaeological Guide", which doesn't attempt to cover as much ground but does go into much more detail on the places it does mention.

2 comments about The Ancient Olympics: A History.

1. The anicent Greeks at Adelphia considered the original Olympics a 'civilized mode of war without the shooting.' The aim was winning at any cost (like American politics today), as the losers were called and looked down on as failures in disgrace. He dwells on boy athletes and shows a marble statue of the naked David minus one arm and a hand.
   
   Why did the early Greek athletes compete naked? Did it have something to do with sex or did they have perfect bodies? Why did the Romans change the games in Olympia and make it more civilized? There the Greeks raised their sporting prowess to heroic status.
   
   The historian, Bettany Hughes, wrote that this book shows "a number of hand-picked historical characters (which) bring us face to face with ... the ruthless business of winning the games." Nigel Spivey includes a photo of the naked wrestlers in marble. This is an erotic book. The poster for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics shows a naked combatant.
   
   There is a drawing of the Olympic Zeus in the original Parthenon, a huge six-story-tall fixture similar to the modern Athena statuary in the Nashville, Tennessee, Parthenon. He has written many books among which are PANORAMA OF THE CLASSICAL WORLD and UNDERSTANDING GREEK SCULPTURE.



2. I cannot praise enough the excellence of Nigel Spivey's research and presentation involved with the ancient Olympics.
   
   The craftsmanship of his narrative is first-rate and there is a refreshing candor and lack of romanticizing regarding this event and the times surrounding it.
   
   Mr. Spivey may be remembered from his presenting of "The Queens and Kings Of England" on the Biography Channel. He is a charming host on this particular documentary and one can see his sincere interest in putting forth well done research in a way to include the viewer outside the convention of a professor ponticificating to his classroom.
   
   A perfectly wonderful book by a perfectly wonderful writer!
   
   Thomas Lee

5 comments about In the Footsteps of Alexander The Great: A Journey from Greece to Asia.

1. I'll keep this as brief as possible. The book is a well conceived mixture of the history Alexander the Great's Asian conquests and the story of author Michael Wood's quest to follow Alexander's voyage throughout Asia and film it all for a BBC miniseries. He not only draws on the traditional sources such as Arrian and Plutarch, but also on local legends in the areas Alexander captured. The photographs are beautiful, and the maps help give a geographical perspective to the reader. An easy, interesting read, the book can be read in one evening by devoting full attention to the book.
   The only criticism I have is one that is unavoidable by Wood. There are parts that tend to drag a bit, by giving casualty estimates and exact military strategies that would most likely not appeal to the average reader. The best aspect, however, is how Michael Wood gives insight to a brutal, raging alcoholic treated all too kindly by Arrian. It is worth the money to someone genuinely interested in history, but don't waste your time if you're not willing to give the attention this book deserves.



2. The story of Alexander The Great remains just as relevant today as it did when the "Alexander Romance" was published many centuries ago, consider that many of the areas he conquered such as Iraq and Iran are still international hot spots today when it comes to the current state of the world. Michael Wood's "In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great" is an entertaining read because it plays like a cultural travelogue, documenting how the story of Alexander is still passed down from generation to generation in Greece and the Middle East. In some places he is a heroe, in others a ruthless barbarian, even a devil. Woods writes about his journey down Alexander's trek with vivid details, providing fascinating insights into other corners of the globe and the customs found therein. For readers who enjoy learning and reading about other countries and their traditions this will prove to be a fascinating trip. However, the only thing that makes Woods' book not the gem it should be is that in his actual writing of Alexander's history he subscribes to much of what has already been dismissed as propaganda by historians like Robin Lane Fox and authors like Mary Renault. It is no surprise that since Woods is after all making a TV program here, he indulges in the more wild, ear-catching legends surrounding Alexander such as the burning of a temple for the sake of doing something fun when drunk (eventhough Alexander, as was common in Macedon and Greece, enjoyed wine to excessive lengths) and the killing of Betis by dragging him from a chariot to imitate Achilles (this is ridiculous considering Alexander always honored opponents who fought bravely). Woods apparently likes using information gathered from writers like Cleitarchus, who is notorious for writing fictitous accounts with exaggerated numbers, events and even Socrates made fun of the guy for his flights of fancy. Luckily Woods is not writing a biography here but an account of the current state of the lands Alexander conquered and it's peoples. As a journey through these areas and as a look at how potent the image and story of Alexander are today there is no better book. But for an actual reading of the life and times of Alexander The Great, I recommend "Alexander The Great" by Robin Lane Fox and "The Nature Of Alexander" by Mary Renault, two others who write with a more serious sense of scholarship.



3. This is an outstanding book that covers the DVD of the same title.The pictures are wonderful.The reading itself is fascinating.It is divided into several sections that takes us step by step through Alexander's conquests, with ancient cities and today's actual names.
   Mr.Wood is a natural in writing ancient history.I hope he continues exploring and taking us with him,in places we cannot go.



4. Wood's book is problematic in a variety of ways, but it's predominant flaw is that it examines the actions and personality of a man who lived 2300 years ago through the prism of a thoroughly contemporary morality. Wood is fond of passing judgement, and does so with all the political correctness (and all the ancestral guilt) of a 21st century Anglo-Saxon man. To impose our world view on the world of Alexander and on the man himself is to disfigure them both. Behavior that seems odd, irrational or morally reprehensible to us had a completely different significance in Macedonian society (and Persian society) at that period in history. Alexander was acting within his reality -- he was a man of his time, and to lose sight of this leads Wood to misinterpret. He enjoys it rather too much for the account to feel balanced.
   
   The depth of his research one cannot vouch for, but however extensive it might have been, the story he presents to the reader is incomplete and his exploration of the material is shallow. The 'facts' he presents are sometimes incorrect, and when they are events whose truth remains in doubt, he fails to mention it unless it suits his agenda. He dispatches significant events in Alexander's life in a sentence or two, yet spends entire paragraphs on his own feelings about the journey and in freely imagining for the reader what a man from another culture was feeling and thinking over 2000 years ago. He takes account of biases in the source material rather selectively, and often does not even identify his sources.
   
   I have read better researched and better considered books on this subject. The photographs that accompany the book are excellent, and the maps quite good and easy to follow, but the content is best passed over.



5. If you pick this up, don't expect any in-depth or informative analysis of Alexander's life, conquests, tactics, motives or personality; expect a Junior High School reading-level synopsis of the route traveled by Alexander's army with brief, sporadic, uncohesive glimpses of major events along the way. The pictures add a bit of life to dehydratated and uninspired prose.

3 comments about Crete (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides).

1. This book is a perfect size for travelers, it fits nicely in a pocket, but in shrinking the size, the publishers shrank the type as well, to the point where it is difficult to read.
   
   More serious is the lack of organization -- much of the information is redundant and poorly classified. It appears to have been thrown together without much editing.
   
   For larger cities, these defects would render it unacceptable, but it is difficult to find good travel books on Crete, and the content is better than most, which is why I rated it 3 stars.



2. This book had a variety of interesting tid-bits, but was not very useful. The Top 10 format (Top 10 Tavernas, Beach Resorts, Eating and Drinking Tips, Cafes, Mountain Walks, Moments in History,etc.)isn't good for planning your trip. The information provided under each top 10 items is only a few sentences long, so it isn't even comprehensive enough for you to decide if you want to visit that place. It was also impossible to look anything up in this book because its order made no sense to me. I wouldn't buy another Top 10 book. I got Fodor's Greece guide and found that much better. The only thing better about Top 10 was actually the map of Crete.



3. Having travelled the world with several Top 10 Guides, I can confidently state that no one should buy a Top 10 Guide expecting to use it as a travel bible, particularly if one is traveling on one's own, rather than a group itinerary. With that caveat, Top 10 Crete is another great entry in the Top 10 series. As always, cross-reference it with your tour guide or a comprehensive guidebook, then tuck it in your bag and you're good to go. The maps will never leave you lost, and the restaurants in particular are always tasty. The top 10 list format the guides use divides the island into manageable chunks and gives a good idea of what's a must-see and what can be done without.
   
   My biggest complaint is the few niggling inaccuracies in some of the details about the archaeological sites (which no traveler to Crete should miss), but these will be noticed by (and bother only) the expert.

1 comments about Greece - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette (Culture Smart!).

1. I was hoping for something a litte more in-depth and detailed, but over-all this was a good intro book.