1 comments about Sliced Iguana: Travels in Mexico.

1. Isabelle Tree can write and travel at the same time! She allows the mystic that is Mexico to shine through. Though occasionally anti-american in that smug British way - her observations are wonderful and her connections get her into rare situations and she takes us along for the ride!! If you love Mexico, or if you are just considering exploring - Sliced Iguana is my favorite book to get you there. Don't listen to her about San Miguel de Allende - she must have had a few bad days - it is the most magical place in Mexico and most Mexicans will agree with this assessment.

No comments about Mexico City.

2 comments about Discovering the Geology of Baja California: Six Hikes on the Southern Gulf Coast.

1. This book is like a nice walk with a good friend who has a talent for telling great stories. You go along for the pleasantness of the walk, and find yourself transported right into the middle of the story. Here you are, some forty feet above the current level of the sea, standing on a shelf of land that contains the perfectly preserved remains of a coral reef. In another area, some 260 feet above sea level you come across a fossilized seabed jammed with the shells of thousands of oysters. Ancient shark teeth litter the ground on top of a 130-foot high mesa. Your friend walks on a few yards and, with infectious enthusiasm, reads the next chapter of the story to you.

   Six hikes around the Punta Chivato area on Baja's Gulf coast introduce you to the fascinating story of Baja's geologic history. If you love Baja, love geology, or just love a nice hike, you'll LOVE this book!




2. Interesting, informative, .............a delight. Yes, "Discovering the Geology of Baja California" is a pleasure and the guided tours that Markes takes one through, will in the end leave the reader with a renewed sense of wonder and appreciation for our planet. In my own case, even before I had gotten to making the actual pilgrimage to Punta Chivato, my eyes had been newly sensitized enough through the reading alone, that I was able to offer up a discovery of my own, which I more or less stumbled upon well south of Professor Johnson's "Living Museum"of Punta Chivato. I can't tell you what a thrill it has been for a novice like myself to help shed even a tiny bit more light on the solution of the geological puzzle of this fascinating penninsula! Since then, between pondering "my site" and actually walking through time at the awesomely beautiful Chivato, I realize that my life has, through exposure to this book, been fundamentally changed for the better. I wasn't looking for a new hobby but it will indeed be hard to shake this one. I therefore highly recommend this book to anyone who might be interested in the geology of Baja California and the associated birth of the Gulf of California. May it broaden your horizons as well.

4 comments about Insurgent Mexico.

1. This book has been notorious since its publication in 1914. The author was a vagabond leftist reporter for the American radical press, and did not go to Mexico City riding in relative comfort on the press train accompanying the Division del Norte of General Francisco "Pancho" Villa during his successful Constitutionalist southward campaign against the Federalista forces of the usurper General Victoriano Huerta; he who had murdered president Madero and his vice president, and seized power in Mexico City in conjunction the forces of Zapata.
   Instead, Reed, in accord with his common man leanings, while on campaign, lived among the "grunts", Mexican campesinos who made up the bulk of Villa's forces.
   There are incisive pen portraits of the Constitutionalist leaders, descriptions of the wretched living conditions of the people, observations on the siege of Torréon, N.L.. and nearby Gomez Palacio, neighboring key strategic cities on the railroad south from Juarez to Mexico City.
   This is not history or reporting but a collection of impressionistic and justifiably biased essays. Still very valuable for the feel of the times and has been translated into many languages. The author later went to Russia and wrote "Ten Days That Shook the World." (c.f.) about the October Revolution.



2. This book was written over 80 years ago, so as military journalism it is quite dated. However, the author's portraits of people and places are so vivid that the characters and events seem to come alive. The author displays a novelist's talent for description. It is a very sympathetic portrait of Pancho Villa. I don't know how historically accurate it is, but it is certainly interesting reading.



3. In this account of his adventures in the advance to Mexico City with Pancho Villa's armies, John Reed gives an excellent account of what it was like to have been there. Luckily enough for him, historians, and adventure lovers alike, he was on the winning side and survived to tell his tale. His tale is his aspect of the venture among the soldiers who fought the battles, rode the trains, suffred the hardships of civil war, and tasted the glow of victories won on the way to the capitol city. It's gritty, putrid, rough and tumble and the food isn't great but at the end you get a heck of a kick from surviving it all.



4. this book lives up to its underground billing as we are drawn into the Mexican Revolution in a way that makes us seem to be riding with Pancho Villa and living with the villagers along the way. It reminds one of a Hemingway report except with added detail. The only complaint is that it is not longer for it leaves you the urge to read more Reed.

1 comments about Mexico Westbook: A Road and Recreation Guide to Today's West Coast of Mexico.

1. Tom Miller brings the quality writing & accurate detail shown in his earlier baja guide books to the west coast of mainland Mexico. We used it to find new surf spots not listed in the Surfer Guide.

2 comments about The Tequila Lover's Guide to Mexico and Mezcal: Everything There Is to Know About Tequila and Mezcal, Including How to Get There.

1. Lance Cutler provides a witty, personal guide to tequila and mezcal - not just the drinks, but to the industries, the regions, the people and the cultures. Part travelogue, part research, the book meanders between serious study of the spirits, and playful retelling of his many trips into Mexico's heartlands. The inclusion of mezcal in the latest edition should help to open more eyes to the traditional liquor of Mexico. Very enjoyable to read and easily the best book on the subject. Highly recommended!



2. What's the difference between tequila and mezcal? This book explains it all. Cutler says it's not a travel guide, but sure make me want to go to Jalisco and Oaxaca and follow his easy to understand, detailed suggestions for tours, restaurants, shopping - the works.
   Gene D.

No comments about Mexico Baedeker Guide (Baedeker Guides).

2 comments about Spectacular Homes of the Southwest (Spectacular Homes).

1. Seems as if the books is just a display of the works by several interior designers



2. There are far better books on Southwest design and interiors. Very few of the homes in this book exibit what I would call Southwestern flavor, either traditional or modern. Spend your money on Santa Fe Style, Southwest Style, Desert Style, Behind Adobe Walls, or the one on John Gaw Meem.

1 comments about 50 Things You Must Know Before You Travel to Mexico.

1. Unless you are a complete novice to travel in general, never mind specifically in Mexico, you will not find this book worth the price. It is a scant 100 pages in length, with large type and wide spacing. The information provided is, in large part, common sense for any traveler and can be found through many other print and internet resources. The section that purports to provide insider tips on local customs fails miserably to live up to its headline. The Peoples Guide to Mexico (Carl Franz and Lorena Havens) is packed full of useful and entertaining information based on their years of travel and living in Mexico - a far greater value for your money.

No comments about Mexico D.f.: Lecturas Para Paseantes (Ediciones Especiales Turner).