No comments about The Quiz of Enchantment.

3 comments about Southwest : Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico (National Geographic's Driving Guides to America).

1. This is a good sightseeing guide that should help anyone who is interested in traveling the States of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico by car.

   Even if you know you want to see the Grand Canyon, what else do you do in the Northern Arizona / Southern Utah area? This book answers that question.

   Arranged by state, the book highlights different attractions in each area. It also suggests driving loops, designed to hi-light the highlights while traveling a circular route along major highways. This is certainly designed well for someone who is unfamiliar with the area and wants a travel itinerary laid out with suggested sights and attractions.

   Accommodations or restraints are not listed, so one would have to look to another guide or the internet for those. This book can get you started with your destinations, however.




2. Nice pictures but pretty lame as a guide book. Very little in the way of useful information. Go with Roadtrip USA's "California and the Southwest." A GREAT book.



3. bought this book at a used book store just before our SW vacation.It came very handy in planning what sights to see before we went. It was also handy when we were driving around in the SW and came across an attraction,looked it up in the book and stopped.It even gives info on the history and other facts of the great SW.I was very happy to have it with us and I recommend it for your trip to the desert,especialy if you are from the NE like me.

4 comments about Frommer's Portable Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo and Guadalajara.

1. I enjoyed this guide book. It's not super comprehensive, but then it's not meant to be. The small size enabled me to slip into my pocket and carry it with me. It had enough information to guide me around Puerto Vallarta, and we tried several of the restaurants that it recommended with good results - the La Palapa restaurant was superb! I loved that place - slightly expensive, but worth it. A very romantic beach front restaurant.
   Buy this guide-book and the Moon guide-book and you'll have enough information to explore the Puerto Vallarta area.



2. I got some good tips from the book. It helped me get familar with the layout of the area. In short, the top things I learned from the book were:
   
   1) At the Puerto Vallarta airport keep your head down and don't talk to anyone. They're all trying to sell you something.
   
   2) Use the pedestrian walk to cross over the highway and get a cheaper cab than from the airport. (We bargained and got a $13 USD ride to Nuevo Vallarta)
   
   3) Vallarta Adventures is a reputable tour group in the area. We booked all our tours through them in advance on their website. www.vallarta-adventures.com



3. As someone who was on my 5th trip to Puerto Vallarta, I bought the book for some new ideas on restaurants I hadn't tried, and on new activities. The book does a good job for that purpose, and for its $10 price on amazon, I can't complain. However, its coverage of other subjects is fairly poor; I would almost say downright silly. For example, it spends 75 pages going through oodles of general information with limited to no relevance to Puerto Vallarta, such as how many Starbucks in the U.S. have T-mobile hotspots, the relative benefits of Yahoo versus Hotmail accounts, and the location of the South African embassy in Mexico City. For example, it goes through pages of customs formalities on taking your car into Mexico--yet I feel it's unlikely that someone who's going only to PV is going to drive there.
   What makes this all the more silly is that the book devotes only 7 pages to hotels in PV. It describes two in the Marina Vallarta area, two in the northern Hotel Zone (one of which it doesn't particularly recommend, giving it one star), three downtown, and 3 in the southern Hotel Zone. Of the three hotels discussed in the downtown area, one has been long torn down (the Molino de Agua), one is kind of yucky (the Playa Los Arcos--I've stayed there), and the third is a rather quirky choice--the Hacienda San Angel. This last hotel is a long hike to any beach, and its rooms range in price from $310-$590 depending on the room and season (except one room which goes for as little as $235 in low season). I'm sure it's a fine hotel for a small niche of customers, but it's not what I would include if I had only very limited space for hotel choices in my book.
   The book also has some space devoted to other cities, and another one of the other hotel recommendations which I found bizarre was the "Hotelito Desconocido" (unknown little hotel). Again, there must be a market for places like this, but I suspect that the market's pretty small for a hotel with no electricity (lit by candles), almost no activities, a beach with water unsafe to swim in (no swimming allowed), and mosquitos galore with rooms going for $300-$600 a night, not including a required meal plan.
   I don't mean to imply this book is useless. I did learn about new places to go with it, and the price is right. However, I have issue with the choices of material the books covered: to much of certain things, and too little of others.



4. This 2008 portable edition out in 2007 gives an overview for the mainstream, first time tourist to the area. The back cover reads,
   Experience a place the way the locals do...." but in reality it's
   hardly more than an introduction for the non-trekker types. Maybe someone who wants to play golf, buy drinks and wade in the Ocean will gets something from this little volume; otherwise it's a superficial overview of the area.
   
   I bought the book primarily to "discover" more about Manzanillo and was disappointed that it gave so little information.

No comments about Moon Handbooks: Santa Fe-Taos (1st Ed.).

No comments about Women of New Mexico (The New Deal and Folk Culture Series).

2 comments about Sonora: An Intimate Geography (University of Arizona Southwest Centre).

1. I read this book that I borrowed from a friend 3 years ago. I am a Sonoran native, and I found most of the author's comments accurate. Although I found it a bit pessimistic and cynical at times, I really enjoyed his observations on the present conditions in the state, since most of them are true.

   Arturo Wagner Navojoa, Sonora




2. This is a delightful read, a vivid description of the land, the people, and the culture of Sonora, written by a person who loves it.

   A research scientist at the University of Arizona, David Yetman creates a nice balance among history/geography; the human stories of people he meets; and his personal relationship to the land and indigenous people .

   The esteem in which Yetman is held, both by Sonoran natives and gringo colleagues, is awesome. He moves easily from intimate conversations with native families willing to share their last tortilla, to sophisticated discussions of politics, agriculture, and drugs with officials in the highest of places. While acknowledging the challenges facing Sonora in light of ecological and social changes, he goes easy when questioning reluctant locals about the drug culture, presumably to avoid putting them, and himself, in harm's way.

   Yetman's academic credentials are revealed in the wealth of information about the varied landscapes within Sonora. That he truly enjoys and respects the people he has encountered over thirty years and hundreds of visits shines through and gives the book its personality.

2 comments about From Santa Fe to O'Keeffe Country: A One Day Journey to the Soul of New Mexico (Adventure Roads Travel).

1. RE: From Santa Fe to O'Keeffe Country: A One Day Journey... the seven-hour 162-mile New Mexico sightseeing trip. I expect this book has some useful information, and as a disclaimer, I have not read it yet. That said, I cannot imagine how one can "do" this itinerary in 7 hours. On my last trip to the area I drove from Santa Fe to Abiquiu and toured O'Keeffe's home, and then drove on to Ghost Ranch where I shot some photos and took in that astounding landscape, and then a short stop in the gift shop. From there I drove back to my casita in Santa Fe. It was an all-day trip, with a leisurely lunch in the middle in Abiquiu. So how can one possibly do as the authors suggest and see the opera, Native American pueblos, Anasazi ruins, village towns, and the homes and studios of GOK in seven hours? I visited the Anasazi ruins many years earlier, climbing the rocks and seeing inside the caves. That too was an all-day trip from Santa Fe. I think Georgia would laugh. Sign me, Mystified.



2. My sister and I wanted to go to Santa Fe for a long time. So we bought alot of books and did alot of research. While the trips we planned took several days, we felt this book gave us ideas and helpful advice in using our time wisely, especially since we were going to be there in March- not really the most colorful time of year.

2 comments about Route 66 Chronicles: Volume I Shadows of the Past Over Route 66 Arizona - New Mexico (Route 66 Chronicles).

1. I just finished Route 66 Chronicles and found the book to be a wonderful collection of stories that take the reader to a new level of understanding and appreciation of the "Mother Road". Unlike many of its predecessors, Chronicles vividly reveals the human side of the small towns and people who grew up along this famous hiway. The author's insight into the character and soul of the "Old West" in the 1930's and 1940's, brings us back to a special time in American history. The next time I drive from Los Angeles to Chicago, I'll have a deeper appreciation of what lies beyond the red mesas and little trading posts.



2. After reading this book, and being an old Route 66 fan, I was left with a rather hollow feeling. Upon completion, I realized I had just finished a nice, rather first person account of times loosely happening in the general area of Route 66 in Arizona and, somewhat, New Mexico. But, as a Route 66 book, it was lacking in content, and connection, to the road.
   Perhaps a marketing ploy, the book itself is more a recounting of the authors personal experiences and related stories. Most focus on Native Americans, others on western folklore.
   If your a fan of such work, then I'd recommend the book. If, like me, your a Route 66 fan, it's better to pass.

1 comments about Land of Enchantment: Memoirs of Marian Russell Along the Santa Fe Trail..

1. I purchased this book originally to help me pass the time on a business trip in my hotel room - my mother grew up on a farm in Kansas traversed by trail and I had heard stories all of my life - mostly a lot of legends - I had occasion to visit northeast New Mexico several times over the past twenty years and now having read this book I have a deep respect and reverence for those persons whose dreams and visions made possible the taming of the American frontier - I became personally involved in the life story of Marian Russell and came away at the conclusion of the book feeling as if I had heard the story of a close family member - it was as if I were there with her living the story as well - wished there were more

2 comments about Camping New Mexico.

1. This is a decently detailed book for New Mexico campers, but not as detailed as I would have liked it to be. There's not nearly enough information in here for backpackers, or for tent-camping. There are a few sites around NM that I know about that are great for tent-camping which aren't even mentioned here. But if you're a recreational camper, looking to find a spot that everybody else knows about and takes their poodle to, then this book ought to help.



2. Due to the paucity of detailed New Mexico camping guides, this book became a part of our library. After two awful, even frightening experiences at campgrounds, we have considered tracking down the author to register a complaint. We doubt that she has actually visited these campgrounds herself or the decriptions would be at least more accurate. And possibly some sites would be completely eliminated. It is unfortuante that there are not more publications to choose from on this topic. If there were, I am positive that this one would go quickly out of print.