4 comments about Mysterious World: Ireland.

1. we used this book all over ireland - looking for sacred sites --
   you do need a car - as public transportation does not go all placres - and taxis are expensive
   
   the book worked wonderful



2. When I opened the package from the mail and pulled out "Mysterious World: Ireland," my jaw literally dropped open! Wait, I could not have ordered a book such as this in paperback form. Then I remembered I had because it is a travel guide. What is the publisher thinking in making a lush coffee table book into a travel guide? You would have to see it to believe its incredible content and beauty. But I blather on.
   
   Even the website (www.mysteriousworld.com) is dedicated to a lush presentation of things mysterious and beautiful about a country. I have never seen anything like this book or website. Publisher Doug Elwell explains in the book's introductory section that MW does not plan to add a print version of their website articles, as print sources end up in old files, old books, and in out-of-sight places. As a librarian, I can attest to the veracity of his statement. Then why do I hold a big, thick, heavy paperback travel guide in my hand? Take a logical guess: travel. Not everyone wants to carry a laptop on vacation. On trips before, I have known friends to leave their guides at the last stop before heading home. Nope, not so for this book. This guide is a souvenir, a memory book of places visited. "Mysterious Places: Ireland" then becomes a new kind a coffee table book. At home leave it out, dog-eared, worn and torn, and guess how many visitors will pick it up? I dare say virtually every one!
   
   Travel writer Ian Middleton begins his tome with the history of the first people of Ireland, Scythians, who descended from Noah's son Japheth through his son Magog. But it was through the oldest son of Magog that the first Gaedelic Celts descended. It is these Gaels who followed the balance of life: between the light and the dark, the natural and the divine--to become the Irish.
   
   The first 300 pages of this 776 page book are dedicated to the Mystery and History of Ireland: invasions, deities and demigods, sea serpents, monsters, beasts, druids, poets, fairies, fairy tales, folk tales, mythical tales, then the History: the coming of the Christians, ancient cultures, and Ireland today. For full enjoyment of the book and your trip, you might consider reading this half before you go.
   
   The travel section kind of unfolds from the history. There is, however, a clear demarcation between the two. Pick up the book and look at the bottom. The mostly white section is the Mystery; the second half with the dark area is the travel section.
   
   Middleton provides the necessary travel information (clothing, monetary exchanges, etc), but much much more. Remember that archway over the two pages? Alongside each each from top to bottom of the page in a dark green rectangle is listed pertinent local information: where to eat, where to stay, costs, pubs, ferry crossings, and more. Then the pages provide information about out-of-the-way places, mysterious sites, and touristy areas. Also, on each two-page spread is at least one photo, map, and/or illustration. The book really is quite astonishing.
   
   "Mysterious World: Ireland" is unlike other travel guides: it is a mini encyclopedia of a country with a focus on its mysterious past. Publisher Elwell says this is the first of a series he and writer Middleton and staff will put together. There is no dearth of people interested in the mysteries of a place, its world and culture.
   
   For more information and updates to the travel guide, please visit http://ireland.mysteriousworld.com and www.mysteriousworld.com.



3. This gives the reader an excellent overview as to why Ireland is often described as mystical!



4. If you've ever wanted to know almost everything about the oddities of Ireland - its people, its places, its myths, its legends, look no further. "Mysterious World: Ireland" is nearly 800 full color pages filled with photos and information on almost every myth and legend about the small nation. Killer dwarfs and devious leprechauns fill an epic journey to uncover anything and everything enigmatic about the small island. Enthusiastically recommended for armchair travelers and anyone who's planning on going to Ireland and wants to see something a bit weird, "Mysterious World: Ireland" is for you, and should more than earn its spot on any travel shelf in community libraries.

No comments about Northern Ireland Road Map.

No comments about Travel, Gender, and Imperialism: Mary Kingsley and West Africa.

3 comments about Silver Linings: Travels Around Northern Ireland.

1. Martin Fletcher has captured the essence of Northern Ireland in this delightful book. He introduces us to a wonderful patchwork of characters while he describes the beauty of the countryside. He addresses the sometimes-tragic history of the province, but he also provides some fascinating historical tidbits about the connections between Ulster and the United States that should interest American readers. Those who enjoy the work of Bill Bryson and anyone who loves Ireland, north or south, will appreciate this book. I have traveled to Northern Ireland over fifteen times since 1974, and I just happened to find this book on the last day of my recent five-week holiday. I have never read anything else that mentions so many of the people, places and things that I love about the country. I certainly share the author's hope that there are some "silver linings" on the horizon for this special corner of the world.



2. I just finished reading Martin Fletcher's book about his travels around Northern Ireland. I'm so sorry my wife and I didn't know about this book before we visited Ulster in September 2002. The author correctly goes out of his way to let the reader know that there's more to Northern Ireland than bombings, religious stife, and high unemployment. A trip to the British province is an educational experience -- a wild and complex history, beautiful countryside, and warm people who welcome visitors. It's not surprising that Travel Weekly magazine, "The Travel Industry's Leading Newspaper" (as it calls itself) highlights Belfast in its 10FEB03 article, "The Next Big Thing -- Up and Coming Destinations." Silver Linings opened my eyes to the opinion that the USA probably wouldn't be what it is today were it not for its links to Ulster. If you read this book and like it, you'd probably enjoy reading one of the "Incidents of Travel" books written by John Lloyd Stephens about his travels throughout Mesoamerica and the Middle East during the 1800s.



3. Call me picky for marking down an outstanding book like "Silver Linings" for two omissions that probably aren't even in the author's control, but so be it. A combination between a travel guide and a collection of memories, this book badly needs at least one more detailed map of Northern Ireland than the small ones provided at the start of each chapter. Fletcher makes the reader truly wish to visit many of the sites he describes, but one could never find them with the maps provided. Second, a few pictures, even black and white, would add immensely to the impact of Fletcher's words. That said, this is a terrifically entertaining and informative book that I'd recommend, "Go you out and purchase it!"

No comments about Guide to Living & Working in the UK and Ireland (Guide to Living & Working In...).

No comments about History and Landscape: The Guide to National Trust Properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

No comments about Insight Compact Guide Belfast: & Surroundings (Insight Compact Guides).

5 comments about Emerald Fairways and Foam-Flecked Seas: A Golfer's Pilgrimage to the Courses of Ireland.

1. As we plan our trip to Ireland Jim Finegan makes us realize that we need to spend more time there to enjoy more courses from the great ones to the unknown treasures . His epistle on Scotland does the same. My only real question is, Do I need a Michelin guide as well or shall we just enjoy the beauty and finesse of the Irish courses as he tells us to ?? A great manual for Irish Golf.



2. this book is a must. I am a PGA professional who recently spent six weeks in ireland. thankfully i brought along my copy of emerald fairways. it was just as valuable to me as my golf clubs. his insight on the golf courses are extremely accurate, but the most valuable information is on food and accomodations. It was amazing to have read the book and then experience everything exactly how it read. even the people he comes across and writes about, really exist and are still around interacting in the same manner as he writes. simply a must have for anyone who has even dreamt of going to Ireland. Scotland may be the home of golf, but Ireland is golf heaven. there is a reason so many golf pros (woods, janzen, duval, stewart, etc.) take trips there. Finegan does an amazing job that could not be topped by anyone, not even Christy O'Conner. Enjoy it, I know you will.



3. Golf in the Kingdom comes to life with real information.

   My golfing buddy and I are in the planning stages of a trip to either Ireland or Scotland. If you appreciate humorous, passionate writing, then this is the book. You can feel the pace of play and exciting in his words. You can also feel his appreciation for the joy of the trip in his conversations with golf pro's, barkeeps, hotel owners.

   After reading this joyful book, you'll be hooked on travelling just like he has, same courses, same restaurants and inns.

   Makes a wonderful gift for golfers who fully appreciate the game of golf. Between this and the Scotland book, I think that I've given away seven copies.




4. James Finegan's three volumes guides to golf in Scotland, Ireland and England are literate and engrossing. I can't imagine a golfing trip to the UK or Ireland without these guides.



5. Stopped wearing this item and replaced it with a different model from another company. It slipped off my belt too easily.

5 comments about Round Ireland in Low Gear.

1. I found this book very disappointing. It is neither a travel book or a history book. Eric Newby's positive approach to life and adventure seems to be missing in this book and I found his attitude towards the people, the weather, the condition of B&B's, the roads and the food very condescending. His complaints about his bicycle sounded to me like a bad workman blaming his tools. Even if you have 21 gears you still need the skills to use them. Why oh why does he complain about the weather when he chooses to cycle around the westernmost outpost of Europe in Winter? Want a good cycling book? Then try Miles from Nowhere with a sympathetic author who gets into more serious scrapes and comes out of them with better grace and humor than the Newbys.



2. The author and his wife, sexagenarians both, took four tours of Ireland in one year in the 1980s, mainly by bicycle. The author has no inclination to conceal his rather acerbic personality, so you may find yourself rooting for the trucks early on. But keep reading, there's many a worthwhile nugget awaiting, and it's easy enough to discard the refuse. By page 291, when the author or his editors or the Lonely Planet reprinters get the spelling of "fuchsia" right on the fourth attempt, you will feel that anything is possible. So when the author cuts short his description of the final leg, decides not to undertake a planned trip to Northern Ireland, and leaves the book in its present rather untrim state, you're apt to feel a considerable sadness.

   The maps provided by Lonely Planet add value to this edition.




3. can't help but agree with another reviewer and concur that this book neither inspires nor stimulates, an unexpected experience with Eric Newby's writing. The occasional and unwelcome slide into condescension displayed might well be a reflection of the author's mood. I suspect this might have resulted from an almost unbelievably bad choice of travel timing for a book of this nature. Ireland, in winter, on a bicycle? As gloomy a metereological prospect as the literary result. Try Tony Hawkes' 'Round Ireland with a Fridge' for an infinitely more enjoyable read.



4. I slogged my way through half of this book before I gave up. (My usual threshold is 50 pages) Eric & Wanda Newby cycle through Ireland in winter and are suprised/perturbed by the weather (?!!).

   Mr. Newby is stangely self-centered. The book is a catalog of their travails with little comment on anyone they meet. I assume that he thought this would be humorous and entertaining, but after awhile I wanted him to shut up about himself and go home or get on with describing Ireland. When he does touch on history the descriptive passages seem to be read wholesale out of various guidebooks, which Newby acknowledges and feel like an add on instead of woven into their narrative. There are a few wonderful pages of landscape description but only enough to rate two stars and far too few to justify 298 pages.

   I would not recommend this book. Instead read any of the late Thomas Flanagan's three novels about Ireland, The year of the French, The Tenants of Time or The End of the Hunt. Even Ray Bradbury's Green Shadows, White Whale (about living in Ireland while writing the screenplay for John Huston's film of Moby Dick.)




5. Those who have given this work low scores are doing it a serious injustice. It is definitely not an example of perky, predictably upbeat travel writing, but is instead a thoughtful, moody, highly literate and contemplative treatment of a deliberately oddball adventure -- to bicycle through Ireland, at the age of 66, in the chill of winter.
   
   It may be that those who have rated this work poorly are fans of Irish tourism who picked it up expecting it to validate their enthusiasm in a predictable way, and were blindsided when it turned out to be something completely different. But it is far above the norm for travel writing.
   
   The author and his wife both have a great, dry sense of humor, and Newby deftly captures the character of all kinds of amusing types they come in contact with. He is known for his thoughtful travel literature -- in the New York Review of Books recently, Larry McMurty revealed that he has been re-reading one of Newby's other travelogues, 'Slowly Down the Ganges', more or less continuously since it was published in 1964.

5 comments about The Bells in Their Silence: Travels through Germany.

1. Nobody writes travelogues about Germany," writes Michael Gorra at the beginning of his book "The Bells in their Silence: Travels through Germany." Indeed Germany has, in recent years, failed to inspire travel writing as sophisticated as that of Jan Morris or as candidly humorous as that Bill Bryson, a fact that makes Gorra's book a welcome addition to the genre. But after making such a statement, Gorra acknowledges the many writers who have travelled Germany before him, those who tried to makes sense of the country by seeking the marrow of the German culture beyond Lederhosen and the occasional oompah band.

   A book that itself sometimes lingers too long in the past, "The Bells in their Silence" is an erudite rendering of the year the author spent living and travelling with his wife in the port city Hamburg and across northern and eastern Germany. Not a professed Germanophile, Gorra's distanced approach to Germany as well as his initial mistrust of the possibility of writing a travel book about the country are grounded in his understanding that travel writing itself is for amateurs seeking impression - and that those who choose to write about Germany are journalists. But once he gets past this initial barrier, Gorra has a keen eye, one that is guided by the extensive reading he did to prepare himself for his journey.

   When the author isn't bemusing cultural differences and delighting in the small moments of daily life, he takes his reader on a literary tour of Germany from Goethe through Fontane and Thomas Mann. An English professor at Smith College, Gorra is a frequent reviewer for the New York Times Book Review. He is a traveller whose understanding of people and place is indebted to literature. Weimar can only be understood through Goethe - and the commercialization of the 19th century renaissance man that bloomed when the city was Europe's cultural capital in 1999. The Berlin that fascinates Gorra is colored by Theodor Fontane's Prussian Berlin, before, as historian Michael Wise writes, the "country's past rendered patriotism suspect." Towards the end of the book, his most touching and personal chapter concludes with a glimpse into the place that Thomas Mann's family saga "Buddenbrooks" has held in his life.

   As a cultural investigator, Gorra is at his best in a chapter called "Hauptstadt," in which he dissects the peculiarities of the German capital. "Take the subway," he writes, "and mole your way beneath the city, dropping down into darkness and popping up again in a street that doesn't match the one you left behind, into rain you didn't know was happening, a view that seems suddenly all park, or all slum." When writing about Berlin's "big footprint," Gorra must have recognized that like Christopher Isherwood in the 1920's - whose "Berlin Stories" inspired the film "Cabaret" - he was viewing a city in full transition. He visited the German capital in 1993 and then again in the late 1990's, a brief few years that saw Berlin's Mitte district rise up as a cultural hotspot and when the city's edginess began to draw the country's artists to its empty factories and abandoned apartment complexes.

   An appendix to the book - including works both literary and historical - is without a doubt one of the greatest boons of the book, for Gorra has selected a way to approach Germany without having to speak German. And it is appropriate that he chooses to settle into his daily rhythms in the very areas that are less often known to attract tourists seeking old world charm, cities that were left mere shells and rebuilt in a new aesthetic after the Second World War, cities that bare their scars openly but not proudly. Gorra seeks out those old wounds and dissects what they may mean for Germans and visitors to Germany today.

   But if Gorra often falls into the same questioning that has defined the "German problem" for over half a century, he also displays a profound sympathy for the German people and the burden they carry as the children and grandchildren of Nazi Germany. The title he chose for his book doesn't come into play until the last chapter, when he visits Luebeck's Marienkirche, where a pair of bells lay destroyed in a courtyard as a testament to the tragedy of war. "But what, exactly, does it remember?" he asks. "Does is commemorate what Luebeck itself suffered, or does it mark the suffering of war in general? Does it tell the city that "this was done to us by them," or does it perhaps declare that "this is what we brought upon ourselves?" ... maybe it simply says that these particular and much-loved bells used to ring, and now can't." These lines are among the last resounding notes in an excellent investigation of Germany that might have been more colorful with more anecdotal insight into the Germans he met.




2. Michael Gorra notes that Germany's recent history causes certain stumbling blocks when writing literary fiction about modern Germany. Though he clears the barrier in his own travelouge, it sometimes feels like he is trying too hard to be erudite. Quoting everyone from Goethe to Bill Bryson gives the impression of scholarly name dropping. Still, the book is at its best when relaying personal vignettes from his year in Germany, such as his reaction when a German customs agents accidentally discovers an embarassing book he imports to the country, and his first-hand experience with the efficient German health-care system.



3. Michael Gorra, an American academic married to a Swiss academic, finds himself in Germany for a year. He's on sabbatical, so he doesn't have to go to work every day, but he needs something to show for his year off. This book is it.
   Normally I wouldn't read something that seems so eggheady. But the New York Times gave it a good review and I was intrigued by Gorra's statement that no one travels in Germany for fun. So I skipped the parts on German literature and read about Gorra's adventures with the German language and the German people.
   
   When Gorra talks about these everyday matters of travel and being in a different country, he is quite good. But when he goes off into literary discussions, he becomes the professor. Why is it that literature is interesting, but literary criticism always manages to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment out of a novel? I suppose it would be the same if you were to over-analyze a good joke.
   
   In a surprising twist, Gorra also touches on travel writing in general, observing (but not over-analyzing) the writings of Patrick Leigh Fermor and Eric Newby to Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson.
   
   The Bells in their Silence (which refers to the fallen bells of the Marienkirche in Luebeck) is mostly an enjoyable book on travel in modern Germany by an open-minded and curious writer.



4. To call this book a travel book is really stretching the definition. I would more describe it as a collection of rambling unstructured snippets of other authors' accounts of travelling in Germany. It rarely puts these into historical context, or relates them to what you might find in modern Germany.
   The author inserts a few annecdotes of his own travels to the Harz Mountains, Weimar and Berlin and a small account of his life in Hamburg.
   
   There is little original material and insight into living in Germany, travelling in Germany and modern German attitudes to themselves, their history and their place in the world.
   
   The prose is often convoluted and frequently pretentious, and the name-dropping of other authors becomes irksome after a chapter or two.



5. I was lured to check this book out by an interest in travel writing, also in hamburg, and by the positive reviews. but honestly this guy is a clown. unless you are one of the '...americans who are surprised that there are good things in germany other than oktoberfest', then you will be bewildered by how stupid this guy is. basically this book is a combo of 1, incessant references to various other travel writers, naipaul, greene, etc 2, a simplistic description of german patrimony- fontane, goethe, etc, which is fine as far as it goes but it just doesn't go far- for example, could he talk about, say, wolfgang tillmans, who lived in hamburg for many years? gerhard richter? german music since the war, a super rich tradition? beuys? etc. his vision of german intellectual history stops a long time ago. 3, a weird preoccupation with the holocaust. i know, maybe it seems reasonable to have, but i am frustrated by a vision that travel books about germany must be about the holocaust basically which is a good half of this book. he writes about being uncomfortable that young berliners can go to a restaurant or eat tagliatelle or something, which leaves me like WHAT i mean americans eat tagliatelle, what about vietnam? not that its comparable but i don't see his vision that all germans until the end of time (furthermore assuming all people in chic berlin restauraunts are german anyway) can't have any pleasure because of the holocaust. stupid passingby references to adorno, the fact that he couldnt really learn the language enough to read simple literature, etc doesnt help, nor do bizarre unrelated assertions about how the american civil war was caused exclusively by slavery and any other reason is a mystification. he is so provincial! and pompous! i mean its germany not like thailand or zimbabwe, it really isn't so exotic! yet for him the idea that he lived in germany for a while on a grant is some crazy adventure. and it could be if he'd done cool stuff there, but mostly he just sips on ice cold pilsners and stupid stuff like that. I never have been to hamburg, some of his info about that was interesting- on the level of the wikipedia article about hamburg- but his description of berlin, a place i have lived, is preposterous. where are the american-esque parts of berlin he talks about? its true as he points out, many parts of the city are relatively recent- but like, 1900, not 1950. in fact the city has contracted severely since 1950. where are the walmarts in berlin? maybe he's talking about like neukolln? but turks in weird pants and occasional discount shops aren't really american to me. honestly suburban paris or london is a million times more like newport news or silver spring MD than anywhere I have ever been in berlin, and I lived there for half a year.
   
   basically this guy has less knowledge about german intellectual history, the recent history of the places he writes about, etc than a sophomore german studies student should. and that is coupled with a bizarre sense that germany is evil and no book written about it can not be about the holocaust.not reccomended at all for anyone who isn't self-satisfied, lacking in intellectual curiosity and over the age of 60.