2 comments about Wittgenstein in Ireland.

1. but the idea appealed to me so I bought it. The author (not a philosopher) went to Ireland and essentially followed Wittgenstein's (50 year old)footsteps while there. He took a lot of pictures to help you see the views that Wittgenstein saw but most of his biographical information comes from Monks DUTY OF GENIUS and Rhees RECOLLECTIONS OF WITTGENSTEIN. He comes across a few people who remember the strange English philosopher but no stories that make this worth its price. An insane Wittgenstein completist like myself probably couldn't resist buying this, but perhaps you should.



2. While the author presents many of the facts of Wittgenstein's visits to Ireland (many of them culled from Monk's bio), he makes little effort to DO anything with them. Wittgenstein's fascination with both Norway and Ireland as places of solitude for him to accomplish "real work" is a significant influence on his philosophy. It is a shame that a book of such promise fails to deliver. (But, as with the other review, still necessary for the completist).

No comments about London Illustrated (Collins British Isles and Ireland Maps).

2 comments about Nature's Silent Music: A Rucksack Naturalist's Ireland.

1. In this book, Dr. Callahan shows how "civilized" insanity is turning Ireland away from her naturally harmonious, aesthetically pleasing, sound practices. Why remove a thatched roof, for example, to replace it with galvanized tin, only to increase the heating bill? With insightful wisdom, he also examines the mysterious power of round towers, "magic spots," and the healers such as Biddy Early. His study of hedgerows, booley people and Ireland's traditional form of agriculture can teach everyone the value of the land and why not to carelessly destroy it with toxic chemicals. Softcover, 224 pages. Other books by Dr. Callahan: Exploring The Spectrum, A Walk in The Sun, and Paramagetism (Rediscovering Nature's Secret Force For Growth).



2. If para-magnetism interests you, buy this book because it's another great book by Callahan. Again anyone interested in agriculture should read this book. Some great explanations to why certain things were done the way they were in old Ireland and the purpose of the old Irish paramagnetic towers. Another great job by Callahan.

1 comments about Eyewitness Travel Planner: British Isles.

1. The first I knew that Eyewitness also had travel planners is when I was looking through the available titles on this web page. I have used Eyewitness Travel Guides before and have found them to be the best around for more indepth information. I am currently reading the Eyewitness Guide for Great Britian and this travel planner complements the guide perfectly. The planner comes with a comprehensive index in book form with a large detailed map of the British Isles and Ireland. The map also has travelling distances between major cities as well as places to visit in towns and cities. This map have replaced the need to purchase another map for this area, and the great thing about the map is that the symbols used in both the travel planner and the guide are the same so cross-referencing is so easy. I will definately use these travel planners again for my travel.

No comments about Place-Names of Northern Ireland: Volume Four: County Antrim I: The Baronies of Toome (Place-Names of Northern Ireland).

No comments about Georgina Campbell's Ireland for Gourmet Golfers: Ireland's Tip-top Golf Courses And the Very Best Placesà (Georgina Campbell's Ireland: The Guide All the Best Places to).

1 comments about Literary Landscapes: Walking Tours in Great Britain and Ireland.

1. In the mode of many engaging books, L.N. Franco's Literary Landscapes, Walking Tours in Great Britain and Ireland, unfolds with a humorous, casually written anecdote that demolishes any fear of dry, academic verbiage ruling the page. This sets the pace for a lively, analytical glimpse into how a diverse range of landscapes have helped sculpt the voices of long hallowed British and Irish authors. At the beginning of this unique and entertaining (if slightly whirl-wind paced) collection of easily accessible walking tours - spanning mountain terrain, city streets, wild moorland and village woods - we find ourselves seated beside the author in a legendary Dublin pub. As Franco becomes amusingly ensnared by a local barfly's literary yarns, (hinged on first hand knowledge of the area rather than James Joyce's novels), the concept of discovering one's own impressions when physically walking through contemporary Dublin and figuratively `walking' through historical Dublin, seems extremely alluring. Before I knew it, I was hooked into a vision. As I imagined myself caught up in the local's individual `amendments' to Ulysses, I found myself yearning to discover the places which breathed life into James Joyce's works and the works of numerous other literary masters; landscapes which have yet to loose their `yarn spinning,' as well as truly inspirational potential.
   
   Franco is sharp to point out that many people who presently inhabit James Joyce's, Charlotte Bronte's, or William Wordsworth's landscapes mention literary figures regularly in everyday conversation, and that pub chats often involve serious literary discussions. Typically, heralded literary terrains have not altered drastically thanks to British land laws and the National Trust's efforts to preserve historic spaces, while commemoratory plaques serve as lucid reminders of significant moments and places. Therefore, when traveling through Wordsworth's flourishing Lake District or Charlotte Bronte's stark mores, it is illuminating to realize that the literature and landscapes that molded their perceptions are still an integral part of present life. Interestingly, so called historic moments and places, however, are often derived from an authors' imaginings or are altered remarkably within their texts; thus, the philosophical question of `what makes history: events, perceptions of events, mis-stories lodged in a culture's psyche?' is also implicitly addressed by Franco, to be pondered if the mood strikes you.
   
   Although Franco stresses reading as an active process, both physically and mentally in this context, this compilation of treks can simply be enjoyed on a passive level-(while sitting the couch in Chicago, for instance)-due to fascinating, lesser known details which Franco has taken the time to include. I won't give away too many of his interesting morsels, but the opening scene in Ulysses, which depicts Stephen Dedalus grumbling about his temporary roommate who dreams of hunting a phantasmal panther, is actually based on real life, and Lewis Carroll's `Alice in Wonderland' rabbit has quantifiable roots on the banks of Oxford's Thames. Another of Franco's strong points is his ability to guide literary legends' chariots down from the heavens to well rounded, personally relatable heights; turns out Wordsworth was also an avid landscaper, Thomas Hardy an architect, and many of the discussed authors were also amateur guidebook writers, meticulous about charting the settings they embraced or disregarded, but rarely remained indifferent too.
   
   One of the drawbacks in this book stems from what is also one of Franco's strongest assets - his desire to be `reader friendly' to a wide range of audiences. Unfortunately, in this vein he create seamless, easily digested juxtapositions between authors to a point where a handful of severe overgeneralizations are introduced at the expense of historical fact. For example, Charlotte Bronte is painted as an extreme extrovert who embraced London life and relative fame, in opposition to Emily Bronte, her introverted, quiet sister who shunned the mere shadow of society. Anyone who has read Rebecca Fraser's or Lyndall Gordon's popular life histories of Charlotte Bronte, knows that Charlotte was also afflicted with problems adjusting to her boarding school beyond the moors, and was torn between the desire to study life in motion and her disassociation and dissatisfaction with London. Thus, she and her sister Emily were far from clear-cut opposites.
   
   Also, on a practical note, it would be helpful if Franco had jotted down precise distances within the body of each chapter, so readers could gauge approximately how far along each walk they had traveled. And periodically, the location of landmarks is not well defined. My fiancé and I spent a half hour searching for the `plain wooden cross' in St. Martin's Churchyard where Dylan Thomas was buried. If Franco had indicated what corner of the churchyard it was hidden in, our search would have been swifter. I suppose the lack of specifics spurred us to discover elements of the graveyard we would not have noticed if able to immediately find the marker, though I doubt this was the author's motivation for dismissing certain details!
   
   Minor issues aside, Literary Landscapes is a book worth reading, whether or not you are planning a trip across the pond. Quotes are integrated superbly into the text, for they ebb and flow to a point where the transitions between Franco's guiding hand and the authors' texts - illuminating the landscape at hand - are barely perceivable. This book is also helpful as an excellent bibliography of primary sources for studying the authors discussed. If you are hungry for a dazzling, and for the most part, accurate journey through famous literary geography, look no further, and prepare to find yourself gazing more carefully at your own, self-defining landscape.

No comments about The Golf Guide: Where to Play, Where to Stay in Britain & Ireland (Golf Guide).

No comments about Portable Ireland: A Visual Reference to All Things Irish (Cyclopedia).

1 comments about James Joyce's Dublin Houses and Nora Barnacle's Galway.

1. This handsome vademecum fits the hand, pleases the eye, and informs the mind of the Joycean pilgrim searching not along the streets for Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom, the denizens of Nighttown or the cast from "Wandering Rocks"-- but their engenderer in his native habitat. This parallels not only the ubiquitous electronic and print guidebooks for walkers recreating Bloom's steps, but academic maps for the fictional counterpart, the topographical dictionary by Ian Gunn & Clive Hart, "James Joyce's Dublin," (Thames & Hudson, 2004). Igoe's title speaks for itself.
   
   Igoe, a Joyce scholar and former curator at the Sandymount museum, gives requisite passages from Joyce's fiction, period and recent illustrations, and comprehensive but not mind-numbing biographical details that guide armchair visitors as well as direct real tourists. Neil Hyslop's handsome, readable, and hand-lettered maps recall the elegant ones that used to grace endpapers of historical hardcovers. They are easy to consult, spare enough not to be cluttered with extraneous information, and large enough to be accurate and not merely decorative.
   
   A new version expanded to 208 pp. (shown here, Lilliput Pr.) appeared in June 2007 but I haven't seen it, nor is it listed for sale on Amazon US. I review the 1997 version; I judge that the basics in the older edition should remain the same. Perhaps URLs & updated transport data are added for the itinerary supplement that carefully leads you around by bus to Joyce's Dublin houses, each residence given a few pages per biographically organized chapter, and their environs.