5 comments about Inside Out Rome (InsideOut City Guides).

1. I just got back from a trip to Italy and I purchased an Inside Out book for each of the locations I was visiting (Rome, Florence, and Venice) and these books are life savers. The maps are incredibly convenient and easy to use and the listing of what to do is a great concise overview of the main sites in Rome. The way the maps pop out is seriously cool and the books are small enough that they can fit in a large pocket (like on cargo pants) or a purse. The compass ensures you always know where you are going an the pen was extremely helpful for making notes (there is a section in the back for notes).
   
   If you want a very detailed travel guide, this book probably isn't for you, but this is the perfect book for getting a great overview of the sites, some good restaurants and some of the best hotels. I recommend this book to take around with you as you are site-seeing as a supplement to that big heavy travel book you might be thinking of.



2. We used this book on our recent trip to Rome and really enjoyed it. It is a great size and shape...fits in pockets and purses. The maps are great too...I love the way everything folds up. The only thing that would make this book better would be a detailed map of the local metro system.



3. I recently visited Italy and I purchased an Inside Out book for each of the locations I was visiting (Rome, Florence, and Venice) and these books are life savers. The maps are incredibly convenient and easy to use and the listing of what to do is a great concise overview of the main sites in Rome. The way the maps pop out is seriously cool and the books are small enough that they can fit in a large pocket (like on cargo pants) or a purse. The compass ensures you always know where you are going an the pen was extremely helpful for making notes (there is a section in the back for notes).
   
   If you want a very detailed travel guide, this book probably isn't for you, but this is the perfect book for getting a great overview of the sites, some good restaurants and some of the best hotels. I recommend this book to take around with you as you are site-seeing as a supplement to that big heavy travel book you might be thinking of.



4. Once you travel with these guides, you will never let them go! I have used them in 3 cities in the US and 5 abroad and they have never let me down. You will not be sorry - best dollar value around too!



5. My most recent purchases of the Rome Inside-Out city guides represent a replacement for one I literally wore out after three trips and constant use, as well as two for gifts for our two grandchildren who will be traveling with us. These guides are easy to use and contain an amazing amount of information in a packet about the size of a purse-size pocket calendar.

No comments about Rome (Roma) City Map.

No comments about Florence Eat! (Where to Eat Guides).

3 comments about A Traveller's Companion to Venice (The Traveller's Companion Series).

1. Lord Norwich is a consumate storyteller with an incredible ability to weave various sources of information into a compelling narrative--or in this case, a series of anecdotes. I can hardly recommend this highly enough. His choices of material are brilliant, his narration masterful, and the overall sense of place perfectly fitted to the Most Serene Republic.
   
   Also not to miss is his A History of Venice and Paradise of Cities: Venice In the 19th Century. The letters written by Euphemia Ruskin inspired several characters in my second novel!
   
   Venice for Pleasure is useful for the traveler or writer, as well, as is Jan Morris' The World of Venice.



2. I bought this anthology in the months prior to a trip to Venice, after reading editor John Julius Norwich's excellent "A History of Venice", to which it makes a terrific companion volume. These first-hand historical accounts present a colorful review of divergent viewpoints on "La Serinissima", from its distant origins in the Dark Ages up through the 20th century.
   
   Though billed as a "traveller's companion", this is not a guide book in any sense of the phrase; rather, it serves to give one a sense of the history and character of the city and its most prominent features through letters, journals, and essays spanning the nearly 1400 years of its existence. Amongst the commentators are humorists like Mark Twain, great eccentrics like Thomas Coryat, litterateurs such as Henry James and aesthetes like John Ruskin -- and their contrasting views create a multifaceted portrait of this unique city, full of surprises and compulsively readable.
   
   For those who want a sense of the hidden history and culture under the dazzling surface of Venice, who want to more deeply appreciate the city and its sights while experiencing them, this collection is highly recommended.



3. I read this book cover-to-cover before, during, and after a recent trip to Venice. I have to say that more than any of the other books about Venice that I looked at, this one had the most profound and positive impact on my trip and understanding of the city. No, it certainly won't tell you where to stay or eat, and you probably won't find yourself looking up churches and museums in it like you might in the Blue Guide or some other book. But the centuries of travelers' observations compiled in its pages will bring color and life to the city and its monuments and public spaces in a way that no single guide or history could. The passages in this book are not merely informative; they are also highly engaging and range from touchingly serious to laugh-out-loud funny. If you are going to Venice, or if you merely want to travel there from your armchair, get this book before you even consider getting any other!

No comments about AAA Essential Rome, 6th Edition (Aaa Essential Rome).

No comments about The Treasures of Florence and Tuscany: Art, Architecture and Landscape (Italian Regions).

1 comments about Hidden Rome.

1. For a book billing itself as `Hidden Rome' it is a surprisingly superficial work that does little to get below the skin of this city. Worse still, it is badly, amateurishly written in the style of a schoolboy's essay, which, lacking in any maturity of insight, falls back on constant use of superlatives to describe each and every subject glowingly. For author Korn, there is not a statue, fountain, habit, priest, piazza or meal that is not 'the most wondrous', 'the most sublime', 'perhaps the finest', or simply 'surely the greatest' of its kind.

   The trite writing informs us that the Papal States came into being as a result of 'two Roman emperors whose names begin with the letter C - Constantine and Charlemagne', Korn, evidently delighting in this startling coincidence. And, although (at time of writing) Pope John Paul II is still alive, Korn tells us that this pontiff 'lived out the remainder of his earthly days in the pontificate'. Perhaps Korn knows something of the Popes death and a cover up that we are unaware of, and that this is the 'hidden' Rome promised in the book's title.

   The book is not arranged in any way that allows a useful understanding of Rome by neighborhood, period of history, or by a walking tour. Too brief descriptions, (little more than an expanded list, actually) temp the reader with corny leaders - the well known and very much un-hidden `Bocca della Verita' is described as an 'ancient lie detector', - but these intros invariably disappoint.

   Korn bills himself as 'an internationally recognized expert on Rome'. Reading this book, one wonders whether he has ever been there (with his eyes and ears open to first-hand experience), or whether he merely compiled bits and pieces from other guide books and histories. As a frequent visitor to Rome, and a student of Roman history and urbanism, I found this book added nothing to the lore of Rome. It is quite possibly the worst book on the subject I have encountered. Look elsewhere, almost anywhere, for a better narrative and a better insight on the subject. H.V. Morton's 'A Traveler in Rome' is a great place to start. But don't waste your time or your money on this cliched and boring nonsense.

1 comments about Who Can Crack The Leonardo Da Vinci Code? (Museum of Adventures).

1. My [...] daughter loved this book. The book is filled with fun facts and wonderful illustrations. The book is very interactive taking the reader along the for the mystery. The book had lots of clues and puzzles to unlock. My daughter had a great time reading it. We also purchased the other two books like this one. They were all highly entertaining.

5 comments about Frommer's Tuscany & Umbria.

1. I found this book practical and usefull from the beginning - We havn't gone yet but the car rental information alone saved us $100 on a 4 day rental. It's a little heavy compaired to our other book but it looks like it covers Tuscany and Umbria thoroughly.



2. This book was extremly usefull and accurate. As an example we could visit the Brolio Castle because we read that you have to find a rope, hang to it and wait until somebody opens the door. Two tourist who arrived before us this not entered...they did not carried the frommers.... All the directions, tips, locations of hotels, rating of resturants, where hundred percent accurate. I will never travel without my frommers. Congratulations.



3. This was a wonderful guide with witty, opinionated, (accurate in my estimation) comprehensive comment on the many sights and scenes that Tuscany has to offer. We used this guide constantly and exhaustively in the one week we recently spent there. The restaurant and hotel recommendations were uniformly splendid and we were fortunate to discover a new town and a new pasta shape when we ate pici in the hilltop town of Montepulciano, where we would never have considered staying but for this guide. Although I would also have liked to have had a guide with pictures of the attractions, the attraction of this guide makes it well worth that slight quibble. I would highly recommend it to anyone going to the region and I will certainly use it, or a newer edition, upon my hopefully soon return.



4. If you're going on the whirlwind "Rome-Florence-Venice" tour, don't bother with this book. It isn't for you.

   If you have a week or 2 to spend in central Italy, buy and read the whole book before you leave, and carry it with you everywhere.

   My wife and I spent a month in Italy, and 2 weeks in Tuscany and Umbria. We had Rick Steeve's, Eyewitness, and Frommers with us. In large towns with good tourist infrastructure (Assisi, Sienna, etc) we found most of the books comparable. In the smaller towns where we usually spent our nights (Spoleto, Montepulciano, Sovana), only Frommers was worth looking at. We consistently found their hotel rooms most closely matched up with the written descriptions in the book, and their recommended restaraunts, while not as cheap as Rick Steve's, were very good.

   Particularly if driving (which is really the only way to see this region), the maps and directions far surpassed the other 2 books. Great maps of almost every town, no matter how small. The only deficiency was the lack of marking of the inbound and outbound roads on the map. Once I figured out where I was entering the town from though, the maps in this book could take me anywhere.

   In the final analysis, all 3 books were useful, but we used each differently. We looked at Rick Steves and Eyewitness each morning, but carried only Frommers with us during the day. When we go back, this will be the only book we take.




5. Warning to readers! We bought this book in March 2004. A more recent edition (called Florence, Tuscany & Umbria) came out in January 2004. This edition was written in 2001 and still quotes prices in lire! We're returning the book and swapping it for the other one.

2 comments about Fodor's Rome, 6th Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. This book was great to read before our trip to Italy and it was one of 3 books we took with us. It has a different take on Rome than the Rick Steve's series and I liked it's attitude about travel in Italy. It had some good recommendations for places to eat and stay. When we return to Italy I plan to buy their book on Florence.



2. I want to start my review with getting the negative aspects of this out of the way. First, there are no photos to speak of save for the front cover. No images to accompany the many, many pages of text. I think that this definitely works against the book. Second, the map that accompanies the book is not that good. It's too small and doesn't encompass some important locations, especially Testaccio. Lastly, sometimes the writing is a bit bland and the art historical and historical facts are inaccurate while _some_ of the observations about Rome are typically touristy and lack insight.
   
   However, in spite of all of this, this is an excellent guide book. This book excels in the practical areas - such as general factual information on heading to Rome, going to Rome, travel trips, weather information, and other miscellaneous information, etc. The walking tours are also quite good and the mini-maps that are included, while orange in color, are easy to read and are well numbered. The sections on shopping and side trips outside Rome are also quite good and one of the best sections of the book. All in all, the book presents a beautiful image of Rome that is enticing. After reading the book, I felt compelled to buy the first available ticket to the Eternal City. I'm definitely looking forward to the 7th edition due out in September that I hope will have more photos and a better map.
   
   If this is your first trip to Rome, this is a guidebook that you must take with you. Couple it with the National Geographic Traveler Guidebook to Rome and Rick Steves's Rome Guidebook, and you can't go wrong!