3 comments about The Pipes are Calling: Our Jaunts Through Ireland.

1. This book is truly a magnificent piece of writing. Niall Williams and Christine Breen describe their jaunts with their daughter Deirdre so clearly that you are with them in their car as they experience the excitement as they travel the back roads of Ireland -- all of the the sights, smells, sounds and feelings of the different places the travel to, and best of all their life back home in Kiltumper.

   They fill the book with wonderful homey anecdotes about their travels, life at their farm and with their neighbors. Stories that not only open the door into their lives, but welcome you in with a steaming mug of tea and a hearty slice of Christine's Brown Bread.




2. I can't say enought for this series of books as loved every one of them.If you are interested in Ireland or just want to read a excellent series I would give an A + for these books.



3. I don't think anyone who loves Ireland will be disappointed in this book. It is very well written, moves right along. You get a sincere taste of life in Ireland as it was in the 80's. So much has changed now compared to then. I enjoyed this book so much that I have purchase the next 2 written in sequence to this book. Just about finished with the 3rd (got them out of sequence).
   The thought of 2 city people uprooting their lives to live in the "wilds" of West Ireland is amazing. It's a wonder they stuck with the country life, considering how primitive it was in the 80's.
   Just enjoy reading this relaxing enjoyable book. I am sure you will not be disappointed.

1 comments about Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire (Centers of Civilization Series).

1. He wrote on Turkey for nearly half a century. He also wrote on Middle-East as well but his real expertise is Turkey I believe. in every book of his he zooms into a subject (Turkey) and tells the story like in his other books with more detail. So if you already read one of his books on Turkey or Ottomans you dont need to read this one.

3 comments about Casa Nostra: A Home in Sicily.

1. As a fellow Brit married to a Sicilian, I can attest that Ms. Seller Manzo's insights and observations of life in Sicily are as authentic as the family's homemade tomato sauce. The flavours of Sicily are all there, seasoned with hilarious and touching anecdotes about the Manzo household and the author's daunting task of fitting into such a splendidly eccentric family.



2. This beautiful book brings Sicily to life, with its evocations of three generations of an Italian family, combined with fascinating descriptions of its history and culture, from the Greeks to the mafia and everything in between. I would recommend this book to anyone planning to visit Sicily, or simply looking to escape into its pages and experience the warmth of this family and their villa in the sun. I loved it!



3. 
   I thoughly enjoyed this book & would highly recomend it.Its amusing & informative about life in a Sicilian family where the days seem to revolve around food.
   Susan Ribeiro dos Santos

No comments about Living Abroad in Ireland (Living Abroad).

5 comments about The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe: Revised and Updated.

1. People who did this atlas wanted to cut their job and limited the Eastern Europe by deviding it by two parts. One and very big part of the Eastern Europe is not in the Historical Atlas. The biggest European countries such as Ukraine and Russia as well as other countries - Baltic states, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, etc. are not concidered to be Europe in so called Historical Atlas of the Eastern Europe. I would reccomend the authors to get some geography lessons before making any other job...



2. The reviewer below is right that this book rather arbitrarily leaves out what most lay people consider the very heart of "Eastern Europe" (itself a subjective construct): that is, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, et al. I can only assume the authors did this to make the "concise" element of their title right true. Still, to disregard the book because of this significant oversight would be a big mistake, for the terrain it does cover is done with remarkable clarity and, indeed, concision. The atlas is an invaluable companion to any reading about the Balkans or Eastern Europe up to the eastern border of Poland. Do not let our insulted nationalist convince you otherwise.



3. As the first new atlas of Eastern Europe of the new millenium, it is highly disappointing to see that this work has chosen to arbitrarily fix the eastern limits of Eastern Europe at the present-day eastern border of NATO, and leave out the "backward" lands of the former "evil empire". It is interesting to observe how people can at times discuss "European Russia" as ending at the Ural Mountains, but when it suits them feel no qualms about conveniently leaving this area out, because after all "nothing important goes on there anyway". This is just the perpetuation of long-held Western European biases about Eastern Europe (read "Slavs in the Eyes of the Occident" by Ciesla-Korytowska or "Infidels, Turks and Women: The South Slavs in the German Mind, Ca. 1400-1600" by Petkov for starters) which have been further reinforced by decades of the Cold War.
   
   While Paul Robert Magocsi's excellent atlas also stopped short of including the eastern half of Eastern Europe (probably because he wanted us to buy his already-existing tome "Historical Atlas of Ukraine"), at least it was aptly titled "Historical Atlas of East Central Europe". This book's title is misleading to say the least.

   One could make a case that the author wished to confine the coverage due to the complexity of the limited area he did cover. However, since the same author has also recently produced "The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Balkans", one wonders just how much more valuable this work is made by simply expanding the scope to include Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia (and perhaps parts of Hungary and Romania?)

   While a good job was done on the part of Eastern Europe covered, this book would have been twice as useful with the other half of Eastern Europe included as well. Thus people wanting to study the migrations of peoples such as the Hungarians and Bulgarians (or the Goths in the opposite direction), or invading threats to Europe such as the Avars or the Golden Horde will yet again be forced to buy two atlases and attempt to piece the picture together.

   Also, what is believed to be the area of the formation of the Slavs lies across modern-day boundaries between Poland, Ukraine and Byelorus, and adequate coverage of this topic would seem impossible given the book's limitations.

   It is unfortunate that despite all the progress made in the last decade, Europe can still not be seen in anything but terms of its recent political divisions. This cannot help but greatly impede our understanding of the past.




4. * * * Do NOT buy hardcover version! * * *

   Summary:
   Maps: **
   Text: ***(*)
   Text-part to be used together with a different atlas. (e.g. "Historical Atlas of East Central Europe, by P. R. Magocsi or Cartographia's "Történelmi Világatlasz" (in Hungarian))

   When I first discovered this atlas I thought: "At last a specific work on the topic in English!".
   Well, despite the range of the maps - 52, listed at the end of the review - it was a disappointment.

   First: As all ready pointed out bellow by fellow reviewers, the actual Eastern Europe - Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine - is only dealt with on the periphery. This is actually an atlas of East-Central Europe and the Balkans.
   Second: The mentality of the text sometimes. "Nationalist", is one of the much preferred word used by the author, especially when dealing with newer history. The difference between "nationalism" and "patriotism" is apparently very subjective.
   Third: The two first points could be something one could deal with - since a wrong title does not necessarily mean bad quality, and the book is aimed for US public - but now comes the greatest disadvantage about this work: The maps themselves. They can at best be described as of "average" quality, but words like "perfunctory" or "sloppy" could be used as well. There is no excuse for the roughness and distortion of state boundaries, the lack of rivers and cities/towns. And the actual errors to them have yet to be mentioned.

   All in all, the map part of this atlas is suitable for very low-level studies of the area only, likely as a picture book for kids (and/or journalists) and the text for high-school studies. It must be mentioned that the author makes a honest attempt to be objective in the history telling, by sometimes presenting several versions/views on the same event, BUT I am sure that this still won't satisfy everybody.

   A last remark: This volume shares 14 - or 1/3 - out of it's 52 maps with the "Historical Atlas of the Balkans" from the same series. (Nos. (4), 10, 16, 17, 18, 22, 24, 32, 36, 38, 39, 45, 46, 51 and 52, as observed by the author of these lines.)

   The Maps:
   1: Eastern Europe - Political, 2001
   2: Eastern Europe - Physical
   3: Eastern Europe - Demographic
   4: Eastern Europe - Cultural
   5: The Division of the Roman Empire, Late 3rd Century
   6: The Barbarian Migrations, 4th-6th Centuries
   7: The East Roman Empire under Justinian I, Mid-6th Century
   8: Slavic and Turkic Invasions, 6th-8th Centuries
   9: Eastern Europe, Mid-9th Century
   10: The Rise of Bulgaria, 8th-10th Centuries
   11: Constantinople, 10th-12th Centuries
   12: The Balkans, Early 11th Century
   13: The Rise of Hungary, 10th-13th Centuries
   14: The Rise of Poland, 10th-13th Centuries
   15: Eastern Europe, Mid-11th Century
   16: The Balkans, Late 12th Century
   17: The Latin Empire of Constantinople, 1214
   18: The Rise of Serbia, 13th-14th Centuries
   19: Eastern Europe, Mid-13th Century
   20: Eastern Europe, Mis-14the Century
   21: Prague, Mid-14th-15th Centuries
   22: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire, 13th-15th Centuries
   23: The Expansion of Poland, 14th-15th Centuries
   24: Apex of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, Mid-16th Century
   25: Istanbul, 16th-17th Century
   26: Apex and Decline of Poland, 16th-17th Centuries
   27: The Rise of the Habsburgs, 16th-17th Centuries
   28: Ottoman Decline, 17th-18th Centuries
   29: The Partitions of Poland, 1772-1795
   30: Eastern Europe, 1809
   31: Eastern Europe, 1815
   32: The Balkans after the Serb and Greek Revolutions, 1830
   33: Revolutions in the Austrian Empire, 1848-1849
   34: The Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich, 1867
   35: The Balkans, 1878-1885
   36: The Macedonian Question
   37: The Balkans, 1908
   38: Bosnia-Hercegovina, 1908-1914
   39: The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913
   40: Eastern Europe, 1914
   41: Eastern Europe During World War I
   42: Eastern Europe, 1923
   43: Independent Poland, 1920-1922
   44: Hungary after Trianon, 1920-1939
   45: Romania after Trianon, 1920-1938
   46: The Transylvanian Question
   47: Versailles-Created Yugoslavia, 1921-1941
   48: Czechoslovakia and Munich, 1920-1939
   49: Eastern Europe During World War II, 1938-1944
   50: Eastern Europe, 1948-1991
   51: Wars of Yugoslav Succession, 1991-1995
   52: The Kosovo Crisis, 1999

   Review based on First paperback September 2001 edition.




5. I bought this book along with the similar Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Balkans. Although there is considerable overlap between the two volumes (since they're both by the same authors), there was enough of a difference for me to choose both.
   
   I am intensely interested in Romanian history ... and this helped me to view many of the changes in this country over the ages ... as it (or pieces of it) were annexed by or lost to the many kingdoms and empires that ruled Romania's present-day territory.

5 comments about The Rough Guide to Ireland Map (Rough Guide Country/Region Map).

1. This map was a wonderful addition to our trip. It gave enough detail on the back roads of Ireland that allowed us to find the most amazing places. Please us this map for the untraveled roads.



2. We just returned from a two-week trip to Ireland, and this map was our constant companion. It survived rain, food spills and mud and helped us find our way all around the rural roads. It's the perfect size and scale; manageable, but including all the country roads and even some of the grassy lanes. Individual city steeet maps are not included. Even so, don't go to Ireland without this map!



3. The map appears to be durable and has details.
   
   But, the thing that I had difficulty with since only half of the country appears on either surface is there is no contiguous edge.
   
   Trying to get distances (or directions) across the map boundry is needlessly complicated. Coming up from the south to the upper map edge and trying to continue to the north of the country means a)noting the horizontal coordinate at point of interest, b) rotating to the right and c)then looking for your coordinate at your point of crossing which is now at the bottom of the map. Far easier would have been to have the upper surface of the bottom half match up with the lower surface of the top map at the edge. Accessed by rotating top to bottom. Flip back and forth to try alternative routes. Horizontal position doesn't move.
   
   Is this the first map that Rough has ever done?
   
   Disappointed,
   
   EEB



4. Although I haven't used this map yet for our trip to Ireland it looks like it would be a very good map to have while driving in Ireland.



5. When I bought this product, other reviews led me to believe this would be a very dtailed map. It's not. We bought the Ordinance Survey Atlas. (65 pages of maps, spiral bound) Even that didn't have the level of detail needed to find some of the more obscure historic markers in the Dingle peninsula for instance. You won't get lost with the Rough Guide map, you won't necessarily be able to find all the sites of interest.

2 comments about A Literary Companion to Travel in Greece.

1. Although I have bought other literary guides to Greece, this remains my favorite for its gentle humor, comprehensiveness, and generous enthusiasm. The writers range from classical to modern, and Stoneman realizes what passages you try to recall when faced with a breath-taking classical landscape. Or with a less-than-perfect road ambling gently over a precipitous mountain! This is a definite plus for the traveler's pocket.



2. Hi my name is Brian Cliette; I'm a Hospitality and Tourism major at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. Firstly I would like to express my love and admiration for your Traveler's Companion books, personally I own close to Fifthteen of them. During High school and College my interest sparked by your books has allowed me to travel to many parts of the world. Never the less yours books have led me to the best sites, restaurants, night clubs and places of interest that these countries had to offer. In less than a month on July 19th, I will embark on yet another adventure abroad, to the land of Castro, great rum, cigars, the land of a beautiful people and unique culture. "Cuba" . But because funding (educational cuts in North Carolina) my school wont be able to furnish the Traveler's Cuba Companion for my fellow students. Which I feel with really enhance their travel abroad experience. So I was wondering if they're any charitable books available for educational endeavors such as this. Doing so would spark interest in your other great products. Any help that u may be able to offer would so greatly be appreciated. And if unable to furnish books or other learning tools that would aid are experience, your books are still great.

   Sincerely,

   Brian A. Cliette

4 comments about The Creaky Traveler in the North West Highlands of Scotland: A Journey for the Mobile but Not Agile (Creaky Traveler).

1. Yes this is a travel book with advice on how to get there and what to see, but really it is a book about our nature in seeking the unusual by seeing the common in a new way. It also happens to be just plain good writing-- a joy to read and to savor, like the travels in the wilds of Scotland that the book describes.



2. THE CREAKY TRAVELER provides an amazing amount of detail (including maps) about a small part of the northwest highlands of Scotland. Mr Rovetch has a friendly and somewhat avuncular writing style which verges on the pedantic at times. He obviously kept a diary of his travels from which this text has been extracted (the minutia could only be recorded not remembered). I found some of the detail annoying for "armchair travel" but useful for objectively planning road travel in remote Scotland. After using it to plan a trip,THE CREAKY TRAVELER is the sort of book one reads a chapter a night on the road to scope out the next day's adventures.

   Rovetch and his wife Gerda who prefers the sobriquet "G" are in their late sixties-early seventies and still mobile, though as he says "not agile." Although Rovetch provides helpful hints for "older" folks, younger adventurers may find many of the suggestions useful. I bought the book because I have been seriously contemplating visiting the highlands when I travel to the UK this summer. Rovetch has convinced me road travel is the only way to go, and road travel in northwest Scotland cannot be knocked out in a few days. Also, if you truly hope to "see" anything, high summer is probably not the very best time to go.

   Rovetch suggests limiting the miles covered to under 20 per day given the condition of the roads (the path is narrow and the way is hard) and the joy of slowly savoring one of the world's most beautiful rural areas. Rovetch and G made their several week journey in May when the countryside was filled with new lambs and few tourists. The places they stayed were picturesque and relatively pricey. This is a good guide for the practical traveler.




3. The Creaky Traveler In The North West Highlands Of Scotland by experienced world traveler Warren Rovetch is a personal memoir and engaging travelogue of Britain's coastal wilderness. Penned with insight, charm, and vibrant impressions of culture, natural beauty, and the unique feel of the land itself, The Creaky Traveler is a very highly recommended, expressive, and readable Scottish Highlands guide for vacationers and armchair travelers alike.



4. This is an interesting and well written guidebook. It was mentioned on NPR I think once and it was well deserved. Finally a guidebook for active but not agile among us. A must have for any trip to Scotland.

1 comments about Travels In Wicklow, West Kerry And Connemara.

1. This is a well-balanced and interesting book on the state of life in rural Ireland in the early 1900s. Mr. Synge and his illustrator, Mr. Jack B. Yeats travel through 3 counties, living off the hospitality of local residents. Mr. Synge seems to be great at eliciting views from everyone he meets. He has much knowledge of the governmental agencies that attempt to alleviate some of the worst hardships of the poorest counties in Ireland. He presents a very balanced view of the results of these efforts. In the process, he relates some great stories given him by his hosts. You can get a glimpse of some of the archaic speech patterns of the the times. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in social history. The artwork is also great.

1 comments about Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage (New York Review Books Classics).

1. This collection of 14 shorter pieces by Tim Robinson, mathematician, teacher, artist and cartographer, gives a portrait of the west of Ireland which is unrivalled in recent writing from that country. Its' integrating device, and central metaphor, is the map. A map, stripped bare, is a distillation of topographical knowledege about an area. Onto this rudimentary two-dimensional scaffolding layer after layer of detail can be added. These are the details of culture, of history, personal memory. Robinson navigates the process of regarding a landscape with the notion of the fractal -- the notion of self-similar structures at multiple levels of observation (in "A Connemara Fractal"). He enjoyably talks us through the technical details of making maps, and has some wonderful stories of his mathematical training. I will not attempt to summarize the various chapters but would urge all those interested in landscape, biography, Irish history, coastal walks, fractal theory, natural history archaeology, literary fiction, and "home" (and that, I suppose, includes just about everyone) to read this. In a time when many find themselves living at some distance from their homeplace this book shows how a fresh intimacy with new landscapes can enrich and invigorate. As an Irish emigrant I am both compelled to return to Ireland after reading this and yet am encouraged to persevere in understanding of my new homeplace in the United States. I have loaned this book to friends in Costa Rica, in the American Northwest, and here in Georgia. All have felt its power. It should stimulate the reader to get his larger works on the Aran Islands. Be warned however these books, the present one included, eccentric masterpieces, will make you want to crumble soil between your fingers, circum-navigate your local terrain, and fumble into the interstices of your jaded soul. Liam Heneghan (heneghan@sparc.ecology.uga.edu; Athens, GA)