5 comments about Southwest USA (Regional Guide).

1. This guide has tons of info for food, lodging, shopping, services, attractions, and activities. Margin "tabs" make it easy to thumb to a specific area. My only complaint is the greyscale maps are unreadable because of tiny fonts and low contrast.There is bleed thru from backside of pages also causing contrast problems and readability. Overall though, it is a good, packable guidebook.



2. I recently made a road trip across the American Southwest and purchased both the Lonely Planet 4th Edition (December 2005) and the Rough Guide 4th Edition (October 2006) as my guides for the week-long adventure. Lonely Planet emerges as the clear winner when the two are compared side by side. It is less than half the thickness of the Rough Guide book, yet has more coverage per town or natural site. I commend Lonely Planet for using such a thin but readable font and thin, high-quality paper to make this guidebook have such a small footprint.
   
   The Lonely Planet guide is divided into tabbed chapters by state (the guide covers Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Las Vegas, and Southwestern Colorado). Maps cover both regions and downtown areas of the major cities and towns in the Southwest. For each city, restaurants, hotels, attractions, and essentials like internet access, post offices, bookstores, and medical facilities are listed. The sidebars contain information from a historical or side note perspective--these are perfect for reading aloud during the inevitable driving time for any Southwest adventure.
   
   If you are planning to spend a long time in the Grand Canyon or other attraction area, I recommend purchasing an additional supplemental guidebook. As a road warrior, I appreciated that this book has all the essentials, but leaves week-long trips to Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon to other guidebooks.



3. I am a major, lifelong supporter of Lonely Planet from the first core Asia books. I have till date not filed a review of a book online, but felt compelled to highlight some major deficiencies in this product and make a recommendation to look elsewhere for information on the American Southwest. Of late, I have begun branching away from Lonely Planet for more detailed information, but still rely on it for useful phone numbers, maps and other logistical information. For a three week camping trip in the Southwest with a few splurges along the way, I wanted to rely heavily on just such a book.
   
   In the Southwest book, much of this information was not present (for example, 'Many campgrounds are available in local state parks' is one of the entries, but no phone numbers, maps nor details given. Not only were options for lodging half-heartedly described, often food options and maps were entirely missing or erroneously described.
   
   The cities are a bit better described, but that isn't offering much of an excuse for an area and geography that is utterly unlike any on earth.
   
   It is not surprising that this particular book is so short on useful information given its small size, but I found it egregious that LP would compromise so heavily on its core responsibility - providing useful, practical information that saves time and enhances the travel experience.
   
   I highly recommend flipping through another guidebook in your local bookstore or experimenting with one of the other brands before relying on the Lonely Planet in this case. I plan to do so for the near future.



4. I feel this book has been very helpful in planning my forthcoming trip to the area. However, compared to other lonely planet volumes, I feel the details concerning points of interest, lodging and dining are a little skimpy.



5. There don't seem to be many all-encompassing guides that address travel in the Southwestern US. However, I was excited to see that Lonely Planet was among them. After reading some of the reviews on this site, I was a bit apprehensive about purchasing it, but a combination of my high regard for Lonely Planet and the alternative of having to purchase several books convinced me to buy it. After spending the past month trying to use this book as a resource for planning a week long vacation in the Southwest, I have to agree with the critical reviews.
   
   Perhaps the editor of this text had a trigger-happy finger with the delete key; whatever the reason may be, this text is missing a good bit. There are many generalizations and few applicable insights. I found myself having to rent other texts from the library, do a good bit of research online, and print maps of the bigger parks from their websites. The maps that are included are difficult to read and a good portion of notable features are missing. Many areas and parks don't have real maps though, including Mesa Verde. The attention given to state parks is even worse. Their treatment of Monument Valley was especially disappointing, as there is less than half page on it, no mention the park's lodge or area's restaurants and statement like, "There are tours" that leave much be further researched. I'm also wondering why the dinosaur tracks outside of Tuba City aren't mentioned; why the IMAX theater outside the Grand Canyon isn't noted; why there isn't any mention of famed attractions inside some of the parks (such as Double Arch in Arches and Angel Arch in Canyonlands); why multi-award winning Las Vegas restaurants such as Bouchon (whose founder was recognized by Time magazine as "Best Chef in America") aren't noted; and so on.
   
   Obviously, there is a lot to cover, but I'd happily pay an extra $5 - 10 for a slightly thicker book that does the region more justice. If I could revisit my purchasing decision, I'd look at Moon's Four Corners guide a bit more (their guides have been just as good and even better than Lonely Planet's in my experience) and supplement it with a small Vegas guide.

1 comments about Streetwise Downtown Manhattan Map - Laminated Street Map of Downtown Manhattan, NY - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated subway station locations (Streetwise).

1. If you think you'll ever find yourself in Manhattan, do us all a favor and buy this map. You don't want to look like a tourist fighting with that huge copy of the NYC subway map that they hand out for free. I'm convinced that the MTA has some sort of deal with the muggers to hand those unnecessarily large maps to mark the tourists.

   This is by far the most comprehensive Manhattan map I've seen packed into an easy-to-carry, laminated package. It has all the essentials that would be valuable to the casual visitor or the local yokel who would never admit they don't know where Essex crosses Rivington.

No comments about Travelers' Tales San Francisco: True Stories (Travelers' Tales Guides).

No comments about Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Northwest: Jayson Loam's Original Guide.

5 comments about Lost Cities of North & Central America (The Lost City Series).

1. There are two ways to read Childress. If you want to live in a button-down, straight laced world of academic archeologists, then every time Childress asks a question, just answer (to yourself) No! Then go about with your boring life.

   But if you want to live a little wild, to peel back the layers & pierce the veil, then answer (again, to yourself) Yes! to every one of his questions. Should you do that, you will have a gay old time figuring out how the world all fits together!

   Honestly, DHC's speculations are full of BS, but it sure is fun suspending your disbelief & reading these books. Someone mentioned that DHC really seems like a great guy, and you get that sense reading this book. Sounds like he would be a really cool guy to travel & chat with. His travel writing is straighforward, but exciting.

   Unfortunately, the book is full of typos & poorly done photographs. After reading 5+ of the Lost Cities series, I don't even notice anymore, but it will bug some beginners.




2. Much of this book is pleasant escape reading, and some of the things discussed are intriguing, such as tunnel systems associated with some ruins. The book was spoiled for me, however, when I came to chapters dealing with things I knew of firsthand. One major Northwest petroglyph site is placed in the wrong state. There are just enough wrongo facts to make me wonder how many others masquerade as reality in the text. I will reread the book in the future and enjoy the mysteries of past cultures south of the border, while keeping a salt block handy for the rest of it. His books certainly hold true to the basic instructions for finding lost cities - ask the locals. Few lost cities are truly lost to those who live in the area. They're just forgotten. Enjoy this as a tale told by a traveler, and a collection of some of the more interesting legends of American mystery archaeology. I don't really think there are Egyptian treasures in the Grand Canyon, but I would be delighted if they were real. The same holds true for the treasure-laden tunnels of Death Valley...



3. Of course, the reason others won't tell you those stories may be because the stories are patently false. I was looking for a book that would be a good read after "Collapse" -- something that would tell me about fallen civilizations. This isn't that book -- at least not from a rigorous, scientific approach. The author, for example, asserts that pterodactyls live in today's Arizona.
   
   The author believes that traditional academics are dismissing the truth because it doesn't fit in with their preconceived notions. The only reason I didn't rate this book lower is that it is clearly a great source for others who feel the same way. The rest of us, however, need to look elsewhere for scientifically grounded speculation into North American prehistory.



4. I thought I was a student of the esoteric but David Hatcher Childress makes me realize I am still only an alcolyte. History is a mystery and you can believe it because I told you so, just like your highschool history professor. This book will take you on the grand tour of North America and reveal some of the mystery that historians attempt to hide from us in their ivory towers. If you want to expand your mind without taking a lot of mind altering drugs try reading Mr. Chilress' Lost City books. He must have spent a lot of time in the underground book stores prior to his travels. That might be why he decided to hit the road in the first place, to find out for himself. Could America once have been a land of giants, or do pterydactyls still carry off unsuspecting travelers, or are there hidden books with knowledge from the ancients? Maybe, and maybe after reading this book, you will want to take a road trip and find out for yourself.



5. I loved the book. From the places I have been and the books I have read, this book hits the mark. We need more like it.
   
   Good Job!

1 comments about Streetwise Tokyo Map - Laminated Center City Street Map of Tokyo, Japan - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated subway map including lines & stations - JR lines (Streetwise (Streetwise Maps)).

1. This map is not helpful as it excludes relevant portions of the city. Portion relevant as Tokyo is not a centralized city as many others, but lives on various epicentres as Shibuya, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Ueno, Asaksa etc. which have thir own suburbs bustling with life and activites of every day relevance.
   If you're only interested in the main area of the city then this map is otherwise excellent.
   Tommaso

No comments about Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City's Best Unusual Attractions.

3 comments about Roadside Guide To Indian Ruins & Rock Art Of The Southwest.

1. I reviewed this book for the Gila Cliff Dwellings bookstore that I run down here in Southwest New Mexico and am extremely pleased with this publication and thrilled to add it to my stock as a "Staff Pick." For the SW visitor (or resident!)interested in exploring ruins and sites here I encourage the purchase of this book not only for the outstanding photography that captures the essence of this area but for the research and accurate content, which is often hit-or-miss with travel books. The authors have included many obscure sites along with the popular ones.



2. Last Week I was driving east of Flagstaff, Arizona when I noticed a sign saying Walnut Creek National Monument. I had no idea what was there, but turned off to go see. It was fascinating. A collection of cliff dwellings from the long ago Sinagua indian tribe. It was only by accident that I went there.
   
   Then I found this book that describes and pictures all or nearly all of what remains from these early cultures in the four corners area. It is beautifully done, both the writing and the pictures. Using it we were able to find numerous points to visit that we simply wouldn't have thought about otherwise.
   
   The book talks about a lot of places such as Walnut Creek as well as the larger, better known sites such as Mesa Verde. It covers my own favorites of Hovenweep, Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly quite well. This is, foremost a visitors guide. It is not a book on the people, where they came from or why they left. It doesn't cover things like why do experts think that people didn't really live at Chaco Canyon. It tells you instead that Chaco exists, how to find it, and what's there.



3. Gordon and Cathie Sullivan have done an outstanding job of describing many of the more accessible ruins and rock art sites of the Southwest. The text gives a succinct overview of each site and what is known about its history. The color photography is outstanding, and the production qualities of the book are first-rate. This has clearly been a labor of love by two people who have really done their homework.
   
   I own many books on prehistoric ruins and rock art of the Southwest. None can cover everything. This book focuses on the more easily accessible sites (not always well known) and a few well-known but less accessible ones like Keet Seel and Betatakin. It also doesn't go into a lot of detail about what you will see when you get there. But as an overall introduction to prehistoric Indian ruins and rock art, there is none better.

3 comments about Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains, 2nd.

1. Joe Kelsey has taken the old trail book of Finis Mitchell's and turned it into a Trail and Mountain Guide that leads you to every nook and crany, you would want to go.

   Many years before Joe's book, I would hike the Winds with Mitchells book in hand as if I was following an old adventurers pencil notebook. Today, Joe Kelsey's "Wind River Hiking/Climbing Guide" is as necessary as the matches.




2. This book outlines hundreds of different routes up all of the Wind's well-known peaks (as well as several not-so-well-know ones). He did a phenomenal job amassing all of this information. There is enough here for a short lifetime of awesome mountain trekking.
   
   The information Kelsey gives is mean, lean, and straight to the point. Novices beware, this book makes no attempts to come down to anyone's level. It is written for those grounded in that arts of route-finding, technical climbing, and alpine survival. It is not a hiking book. If you are uncomfortable with this, either buy a more toned-down Wind River guide, or pick up a book to build your skills like "Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills" and start psyching yourself up for some world class backcountry.



3. I bought this book to plan a week-long backpacking trip. It is very similar in concept to Secor's "High Sierra" guide for CA's Sierra Nevada: Adequate description of the trails and off-trail passes, and comprehensive information for climbers on about everything climbable. I am not a technical climber and cannot judge the book's usefulness as a real "climbing guide", but I like to take off-trail excursions, shortcuts, and scrambles. Together with the "Earthwalk" topos (which are excellent) this book was just the right thing for planning a backpacking trip with "side adventures". If you stay strictly on the trail, you might find a pure trail guide more useful, as trail descriptions only make up 10 or 20% of the text. Off-trail travel turned out to be easy in the Wind Rivers, though.
   The book has a short and very interesting account of the history of Wind River exploration.

3 comments about City Lights: Stories About New York.

1. It's the Sunday before Christmas. First thing this morning, pre-coffee, pre-bowel movement/ablutions, pre-church, I went into the front yard to retrieve my copy of the New York Times. I knew the pages would be filled with column after column of depressing dispatches from Darfur, Wichita, Whereveristan, mass homicide, sub-prime scandal, suicide bombing, official doublespeak about why torture is a crime except when practiced by CIA/Blackwater, the inexhaustible ineptitude/fathomless arrogance of the Bush administration, and opposing platitudes/feckless fulminations by Frank Rich.
   God's mercy on us all.
   I didn't rescue the Times from pelting rain and soot-ridden snow, however, in order to batter my wounded/aged soul with the alarming/ deteriorating condition/direction of our country/world. My intent was to turn immediately to Dan Barry's latest report from the homeland/ hinterland and to see what redeeming/enlightening observations had come from the pen/laptop/PC of the single-most powerful, poetic, sublime columnist at work at this moment in these Disunited/Dispirited States. (And, caveat lector, Dan Barry is not to be confused with satirist Dave Barry.)
   I wasn't disappointed by what I read. One again, I was amazed. (I almost wrote "astounded," except that the end piece in the NYT Book Review of several months ago by Joe Quinlan--a satirist every bit as good as Dave Barry and a lot more savage--has rendered that word verboten by anyone attempting a review.) Here in the face of yet another merciless deadline, Dan Barry had managed to pinpoint a revealing angle on a familiar story (check it out for yourself, "A Place Just like Every Other Place. Only Not," 12/23/07) and produce a precisely chiseled, exquisitely faceted journalistic gem of finely cut reporting and lyrically evocative writing.
   My original introduction to Dan Barry's writing was in his "About New York" columns, a selection of which is reproduced in his newest book, CITY LIGHTS. Barry's predecessors in this spot included the newspaper equivalent of Gerhig/Ruth or Mantle/Maris (Yankee fans, take your pick)--the inimitable Meyer Berger and the nonpareil Francis X. Clines. Barry has not only matched their achievement but set a whole new standard, producing column after column that exposes/celebrates/ investigates/ mourns/explores the incessant/inexhaustible tragedy/comedy/ soap opera/ burlesque/masque that unfolds in New York each and every day.
   I'm sure that I read every single column in CITY LIGHTS when it first appeared in the Times. But as I read and re-read this book, I'm astounded (sorry, Joe Quinlan) anew by how utterly fresh/invariably perceptive/carefully observed each and every article is. Years from now, this book will be taught in journalism schools (if such institutions still exist) and devoured by historians (if such a profession still exists) interested in what life was really like in New York during the first decade of the 21st century. Those who are neither collectors nor teachers nor historians will simply keep it by their bedsides, reading it over again, a story at a time, to remind themselves of the dignity/ intensity/complexity of life as lived by Gotham's extraordinary/ ordinary people.
   Attention book collectors: At some point, Dan Barry will be awarded the Pulitzer Prize--why he didn't get it for his reporting from New Orleans on the consequences on Katrina, eludes me--which will make this book especially valuable. Non-collectors also take notice. If you simply love great writing, buy this book. If you're fascinated by New York, buy this book. If you're bewitched/bothered/intrigued by the human condition, buy this book. And if none of the above categories applies, but you love to read anything by Alice McDermott, buy this book. Her introduction is worth the price of admission. CITY LIGHTS will endure as long as New York does.(And if journalism ain't your cup of tea but you want to imbibe THE BEST memoir to come out of suburban New York, get a copy of Barry's PULL ME UP.) Thank you, Dan Barry.



2. Whenever I read the NY Times over the past few years and became despairing of the state of the world and humanity, I always knew I could turn to Dan Barry to "pull me up." Barry's collection of columns are really prose poems, filled with soul and spirit of the Hidden New York City: cello playing bus drivers, workin' stiffs, everyday Janes and Joes, whose lives Barry illuminates with a style that is a pleasure to read again and again. These columns were my daily vitamins. Rereading them in this collection is truly a revelation that the spirit of the common people is what gives NY and America its uncommon soul. Buy this book. Then buy another and give it to a friend. Read it and feel renewed. It will "pull you up" too.



3. Dan Barry writes about New York as if it was a village. Its size is not as important as the individuals who live there, the people who inhabit it, make it the alive, vibrant and wonderfully alluring city it is.
   
   This is not about New York, the city. It is about the flesh and blood of the city, about the people and characters of the city, and it's hard to imagine a city anywhere that has more characters and color to write about than New York City. Dan Barry does a good job of capturing their individuality, their uniquenss and their inevitable ties and bonds to the city.
   
   Obviously, this review is written by an unabashed lover of NYC...and from Alabama, too.