No comments about Best Designed Wellness Hotels: North And South America, Carribean, Mexico / Nord - Und sudamerika, Karibik, Mexiko (Best Designed).

1 comments about The 25 Best Civil War Sites: The Ultimate Traveler's Guide to Battlefields, Monument & Museums (Greenline Historic Travel).

1. This guide really helped us sort out how to plan our trip this summer. With maps, detailed information on the best ways to get around, and good tips on historic inns, we managed to pull off our tour of the Virginia/Maryland area really seamlessly. The book also provided a good amount of background so that everyone in our family--both the serious history buffs and the less knowledgeable among us--could understand the relevance of what we were looking at. Really made the war accessible. While there are obviously countless Civil War history books out there, this one stood out for us because of its focus on making touring easy for visitors from outside the area.

5 comments about A Wild, Rank Place: One Year on Cape Cod.

1. David Gessner isn't your typical nature writer. Not simply content to give lip service to "birds and trees," Gessner enters the landscape as an animal, swilling and raging and chortling his way across Cape Cod with glee and guts. He isn't afraid to tackle tough material either: he receives news of his father's malignant carcinoma after, ironically, beating his own cancer successfully. In the face of such significant life issues, Gessner worries about place---his own as son and native to Cape Cod, and the strength of his writing voice in the shadow of his real and literary fathers. This book does for fathers and sons what Terry Tempest William's Refuge did for mothers and daughters. I found Gessner to be charmingly self-absorbed: he allows the reader to view him ("the thing itself") and his landscape, warts and all. And just when some might dismiss him as another Abbey-wanabee who goes about the motions of outrage for outrage's sake, Gessner shows his talent and unique writing strength: he writes movingly and memorably about his own father's death in a stunning journal section simply titled, June. The last sections of the book are a Hymn---for Gessner's father, for the place of his birth, for life. In the end, Gessner shows how grace and real beauty rise from fiercely loving ALL the parts of the world, even the ones which pain us most.



2. An inspiring narrative about a young man who survives cancer, only to watch his father be taken by the same disease. In the tradition of Beston and Thoreau, Gessner brings the Cape to life in all its seasons. But this book should not be tied to one place: readers from all over the globe will identify with Gessner, his family, and his love of home. A Wild, Rank Place is a very special book. You'll be glad you read it.



3. Mr. Gessner has created a powerful memoir of his childhood on Cape Cod, the loss of his father and his love for the harsh Cape environment that is emblematic of personal struggles Gessner has faced and, with humor and intelligence, ultimately overcome. A thoughtful and thought-provoking work from a promising young author.



4. I found this book a disappointment because the author allowed his personal issues and problems (e.g. family problems, illness, drug use) to interfere with the picture he was trying to paint. Henry Beston's THE OUTERMOST HOUSE, A YEAR OF LIFE ON THE GREAT BEACH OF CAPE COD, is much more to my liking, because of the beautiful prose and the full concentration of Mr. Beston on the topic at hand (i.e. the Cape, its history, its beauty, its wildness). I find it incongruous for this author, David Gessner, to make the effort to get in touch with nature by living out in the wilds by the ocean, and then to take the unnatural step of using drugs while doing so. It offends my senses almost as much as do the actions of people who play boomboxes at the beach while supposedly enjoying nature. I guess I like my nature natural and without the distractions of these other modern day intrusions. And I like my information and insights gleaned from my readings to be based on reality not drug induced fantasy. These personal issues (which in another context, might have been appropriately raised and interesting) seemed only to be undesired distractions in this context.



5. I had the pleasure of meeting Gessner at a bookstore he made an appearance at. I bought two of his books, "Wild Rank.." and "Return of the Osprey." I was almost unable to put down "Wild Rank." It was so moving...so touching...so brilliantly honest, I kept the pages open as I did mundane things so I could peek over occassionally and be mesmerized by his essay. The book is a mix of so many things -- there's a little "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in his brutal honesty. Then there's a little Thoreau when he briefs us on what the marshes and the "Suet" mean to him. This book is a must read for anyone who understands or wants to understand that life on life's terms is the only way we can exist -- and one of life's terms is that we take care of the land. Another of those terms is that our parents, for whatever faults they have, shape us in ways we can neither forget nor sometimes identify. David, I'm so glad I met you -- the book has been one of those wonderful surprises in life that change you a little bit when you encounter them. Kudos!

No comments about Seattle (Eyewitness Top Ten Travel Guides).

5 comments about Riding with Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles and Books.

1. Although there were portions of this book that were good, many of them seemed uninteresting to me. I had hoped it would be a story that provided interesting details of both a bike journey and book collecting. In the end I feel like a got less than I hoped for either. He seems to gloss over many of his actual riding journey but spends a lot of time on details that added nothing to the story for me. Perhaps I am spoiled by Peter Egan.



2. As a reader and rider, I enjoyed this book as a motorcycle travelogue with all its arcane bits of literary data strewn throughout.
   If I have a small complaint it is that Bishop spends too much time in Austin and not exploring more of the places he is terrific at writing about. When we were traveling with him, he made some of those stops come alive and gave the book some fun and substance. When he halted (as he had to in order to do the archive research), so did the cycle action.
   However, with that being said, some of the book's best and most poignant passages are his ruminations on reading and riding - his description on p. 112 about the "readiness of books" has been accurate in my reading life. And the couple of pages (p. 124-6) about silence and listening were memorable.
   So is the line: "I wrote on the bike and I rode in the reading room. I'm sure it's the same in offices everywhere." He's right, of course, as I work while I ride and ride while I work in the form of a quick daydream. Nice to know others have the same feelings.



3. Not a mere travelogue or another bike adventure...Bishop escorts the reader through the very essense of riding in the most spiritual, thoughtful and surprisingly, visceral treat of a book...yes, this little book travels well: I took a ride to New Mexico and there it sat patiently on my nightstands in all the different hotels, motels and inns along the way...then, upon opening the book's pages, it (the book) merrily displayed its well-crafted prose to bring together this joy of riding a motorcycle and the sheer bliss at reading the power and majesty of word after word, woven together into images and concepts of both of these Life-sustaining activities...OK, so it is not for everyone, it is for me and that's what we're talking about here...if you Love either, read it, if you Love both, devour it...if you Love neither, God help you, 'cause you are missing out on Life at its finest and the "Now," the moments...love of riding, love of words, love of Life...another tapestry to bring form and content to our Loves...live on that edge and slip back to write about it...darn, I'm going for a ride now: "four wheel move the body, two wheels move the soul" and I feel the call of the wind...



4. When reading RIDING WITH RILKE it is easy to see that Ted Bishop, a good writer, loves books and Ducati motorcycles but for me this book felt a little flat. There are too many pages about minor characters and minor events that add nothing to the story. The book would be helped if the 261 pages were cut back by a quarter. I too love books and ride a motorcycle, a Harley Road Glide, so it gives me no joy not to rave about the book but still, I would recommend it even if you feel like skipping a few pages.



5. Disclaimer: I have been a librarian for 35 years, and a motorcycle rider for 46 years, so I can hardly claim to be a typical or neutral reviewer of this book. If Amazon permitted 6 stars, I would award them. It is a rare event indeed to find a work that so lovingly deals with both motorcycle riding and books.
   
   Ted Bishop captures vividly the essence of long distance motorcycle riding, including writing in one's head while riding, and the distraction to a writer to riding in one's head while attempting to write (a considerably less dangerous activity). His words took me back to an 11,000-mile ride that I made two years ago, along many of the same roads.
   
   Equally vivid are his characterizations of librarians and archivists who work in special collections, and of the process by which a scholar mines the books and papers in such collections for insights and publications.
   
   Bishop has a keen eye for irony, and I found myself laughing so hard while reading Riding with Rilke on a plane flight that I fear I was creating a disturbance for my fellow passengers.
   
   Riders who aren't especially interested in books may find too little motorcycle content in this book. Scholars and librarians with little interest in motorcycles may find too little about books and literature (and very little, indeed, about Rilke). For those few who are passionate about both motorcycles and books, Riding with Rilke is a rare treat.

5 comments about Access Chicago, 8th Edition.

1. When it came to finding a place to eat or the best site in the city of Chicago, Access Chicago is a must. Even finding a good quality not to expensive Hotel the book became very useful. A must have if going to Chicago.



2. there is a newer edition out there. this one is way out of date and shows how long "cool" stuff lasts in the windy city. Better get off of that moneyclip and spring for the newer one.



3. very easy to read and quite descriptive= having the focus on neighborhoods helped a great deal. this would not be my first book of choice for chicago -go to the green guide or lonely planet if possible- but the information is helpful and easy to access



4. Not only do you find all you want to know about Chicago, you get an appetite just by reading it upfront. It was a great help to my visit.



5. If you plan any visits to Chicago, this book is recommended! You can find out about the museums,the sights, the restaurants,the hotels and the wonderful things that makes this city the greatest! It helped me plan a trip and this guide can do the same for you!

2 comments about Strangers and Sojourners: A History of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula (Great Lakes Books).

1. I purchased this book after a vacation to the beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula where I toured one of the copper mines mentioned in the book.

   To enjoy this book it helps if one has a curiosity about the region's history it's industry and the melting pot of people that made up it's workforce.

   Although a dry history at times, I believe this book to be one of if not the best on the topic. An important contribution to Michigan History. It is my hope that upon reading it people will recognize this book as the labor of love it truly is.




2. I agree with another Amazon reviewer that the reading can be a tad 'dry' at times, quite uncustomary for the author.
   
   However, it still has that "Thurner style" fast, pleasing pace that precludes excess verbiage and allows for the covering of a rather-broad topic in a single, readable volume. Furthermore, the author is a native to the area, which doesn't hurt his case.
   
   For 'complete' coverage of the Copper Country, look no further than Mr. Thurner's three such books.

No comments about Fodor's Healthy Escapes, 8th Edition: 288 Spas, Resorts, and Retreats Where You Can Relax, Recharge, Get Fit, and Get Away from It All (Special-Interest Titles).

2 comments about Havana: Two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis.

1. This book is a rich resource on a wide range of issues associated with the nearly 500 years of growth and transformation of Havana. It is a seminal work that belongs on any Cubanologist's bookshelf, and an essential text for anyone reading to prepare for a trip to the island. It is also an important work for those with only a passing interest in the specifics of Havana's built environment, but who are interested in urban history, architectural forms, state socialism, or Cuba's post-Soviet transition.



2. Joseph Scarpaci is a well-known expert on Cuba, especially in affairs dealing with urban planning and related subjects. Having studied with Dr. Scarpaci on a short academic trip to Cuba, I can personally testify to his expansive knowledge base. This book, a compilation of information dealing with the history and development of Havana, is a must-have for anyone interested in learning more about Havana, and Cuba overall. Though much of the book focuses on the history of the capital, those who are interested in learning about contemporary Cuba will find a wealth of information on why Cuba has developed the way it has. The only reason I gave this four stars instead of five, is that the reader must be made aware that this is a scholarly work, so those accustomed to reading only fiction for pleasure may find the style a bit difficult. However, this is an outstanding piece of work that should be in the house of any person truly interested in discovering more about Cuba.

1 comments about Castles and Cottages: River Retreats of the Thousand Islands.

1. One of the most outrageously beautiful places on Planet Earth is the Thousand Island Region that straddles the U.S. and Canadian border along the northern edge of New York State. This book helps to show why the wealthy in the late 19th century flocked there. The homes and the "cottages" are sumptuous, as is the terrain. This book is no substitute for the real thing, but it sure does bring back lovely memories of a wonderful place.