2 comments about Fodor's Norway, 6th Edition: The Guide for All Budgets, Completely Updated, with Many Maps and Travel Tips (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. It's a very complete guide for you that want to travel. Take advantage of this book that gives you detailed information about Norway cities with maps and is VERY EASY TO CARRY IN A TRIP, because it's not heavy!



2. If you are tired of guidebooks whining about Scandinavia being expensive, this is your choice. The book quietly assumes that if you want to go to Scandinavia, you are aware that it is going to be more expensive than India. Do not worry, it is not written for millionaires but it does not discuss relative merits of garbage bin contents, either.

   Fodor's encourages you to travel to this wonderful country rather than tries to peddle doom and gloom message about "clean, boring and expensive Scandinavia", as opposed among some guidebooks who feel as if they HAD to cover the area but really hated doing it.

   Maps are very good, descriptions accurate and listings cover all you want to see there. I like my travel guides with pictures and these are in short supply there, but (as the previous reviewer rightly noted) the book is handy and light, and you do not want it thicker.

   A solid and well-researched publication, and good value for money.

1 comments about Pilgrim Road to Nidaros: St. Olav's Way " Olso to Trondheim (Cicerone International Walking).

1. This book was aimed for a largely British audience. It gives extremely thorough descriptions of the long route from Oslo to Trondheim, as well as fair and forthright critiques of the state of lodgings & etc. along the way. I have yet to take the journey myself, so can't comment on how reliable it is as an actual guide, but the historical information, resources and advice seem like the perfect starting point should one want to do the route.

3 comments about Beyond the Cold.

1. Beyond the Cold by Michael Kleiner will enthrall you with its warm insights into Norwegian culture and his introductions to the many friends that he has made during his travels around Norway. Kleiner insightfully describes attractions that you will surely want to visit on your travels to Norway. Or even if you never get to Norway, you will feel as if you've been there and have met Kleiner's friends. From the author's warm remembrances I learned that wherever your travels may take you, mixing and living with the locals adds a unique value and perspective that you will treasure always.
   
   Even though I do not normally read this type of non-fiction, the book held my attention and made we want to read on once I started it. Beyond the Cold is well written and tightly edited. I heartily recommend it.



2. I am no stranger to fine travel books, memoirs, or books that define other cultures. But Michael Kleiner's Beyond the Cold gives us all three in one. Beginning at age 11, when he and his family spent a full year in Norway, continuing through his seven return trips, this author lived and learned amongst Norwegians. He traveled the country with the refreshing eye of a native exploring his homeland for the first time, as he visited and revisited places of particular interest over a course of twenty-some years. We are treated to an insider's view of the sites, hearts and minds of these people and the emotional tug these elements evoked for him as a growing boy and at various stages in his adult life. I could feel the excitement of discovery as I vicariously strolled through Frogner Park, giggling at the site of the charming statue of a young child in the midst of a temper tantrum! I could feel the anxiety of the author as an eleven-year old boy, suddenly plunged into a foreign country, all at once confronted with the multiple adjustments of new language, peer group, geography, climate, and customs. I learned a bit about Norwegian history, their museums, culinary treats, and ski trails. But most of all, this American author helped me internalize the meaning of true friendship through the warmth of the Norwegian people, their customs, lifestyle and values.
   
   Lois W. Stern
   Author of Sex, Lies and Cosmetic Surgery



3. I usually read a book to be inspired, educated, or entertained. BEYOND THE COLD managed to do all three. Being a Nature lover, the cover alone was alluring. Once on the journey inside, I was introduced to a country, a culture, and the sensitivity of a man and a family, that took me there. I was left with a desire to feel the Norway 'cold' on my own face and the 'warmth' of these people in my own heart.
   
   The author is a family oriented man, a man that treasures his roots and experiences in two countries and he shares them with the reader freely. We learn about the topography and the lifestyle of an incredibly beautiful country. Lasting friendships that have overcome the drain of distance and time, illustrate the fact that all of us can nurture understandings and friendships that do cross distances, cultures, and rare reunions. And maybe we don't even have to travel across the world to experience this phenomenon. Maybe we can start with our neighbors and a warm smile. Thank you for the insight, Mr. Kleiner.
   
   Susan Haley, Author
   RAINY DAY PEOPLE - THE NOVEL
   RAINY DAY PEOPLE - THE AUDIO
   FIBERS IN THE WEB

No comments about Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark and Memoirs of the Author (Penguin Classics).

1 comments about Scandinavia: The Complete Guide to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (7th Edition).

1. Overall a good book for Scandinavian travel. The things I liked about the book include the general information about each country, it was very helpful during a recent trip to Norway and Denmark. The hotel and restaurant information was useful and right on. It is a good guide to use if you want to see the highlights of each country, but perhaps lacks in-depth information about off the beaten path.

   A couple of things that are lacking in the book include web site and email addresses for hotels, restaurants and museums. Also, there is not a lot of information in the book about train or boat travel in Scandinavia.

   Even though this book was released in 2000, some of the times museums were open differed from the guide, so confirm with the museum before exploring.

   If you are just going to one country, I would recommend purchasing a specific book on that country. Overall, I was pleased with my purchase and it served me well while in Scandinavia.

No comments about Norway (Michelin National Maps).

No comments about Norway Insight Travel Map.

No comments about Handbook for Travellers in Norway: With maps and plans.

5 comments about Four Against the Arctic: Shipwrecked for Six Years at the Top of the World.

1. Only about 1/4 of this book is about the Russians shipwrecked for 6 years. The rest is about the story of researching the Russians. Roberts has nothing but vitriol for authors who have come before him. Roberts' way of detailing his research is so painstakingly boring that you'll think you're reading an accounting textbook. If Roberts sent a FAX to someone seeking the translation of a map, he'll not only tell you about the FAX but how fast he received a reply. Adventure has here been turned into how words have been translated into different languages and lost their original meaning. Of the dozens of Arctic and Antarctic survival books available this is among the worst.



2. Note: this review is based on the audio book. I have not read the paper version.
   
   I agree this book was deceptively titled and marketed as another pure frozen wilderness survival story, yet in its own right (and once I had identified the book's real purpose), "Four Against the Arctic" is a captivating story of world travel, historical obsession, devoted research, and yes, an amazing if not scantily documented survival story in the arctic. Admittedly, I imagine the book would not have sold as well if the cover gave a more accurate description of its contents. If you are looking for a great survival story at the end of the earth that is surprisingly well-documented, I would recommend Shackleton's adventure as written up in "Endurance" by Alfred Lansing. David Roberts' book, "Four Against the Arctic," takes on a tone resembling (to this reviewer) that of Simon Wincester's "The Professor and the Madman", with just enough details of the pumori sailors' adventure to qualify the book simultaneously as a survival story. Roberts' book also proves to be a decent regional history from around the tenth century to the present of the Arctic family of islands that serve as the setting for the pumori adventure.
   
   While listening to the audio book, I noted to myself how beneficial it would have been to have the paper version in hand so that I could consult the maps I assumed would be included. Though I now see some reviewer's criticisms of the paper version for not including enough maps. While I agree that Roberts takes some tangents in his narrative which distract the reader from the real story, those portions of the book can be skipped or skimmed without losing the flow of the story.
   
   "Four Against the Arctic," read in proper context and with appropriate expectations as to its intent, is an engaging and exciting story of a man's obsession for getting to the truth of a story that at first hearing seems to be only a result of the exaggeration of oral history. Yet truth is often grander than fiction.



3. This was a fascinating book. I enjoyed it so much I bought another copy to give to my brother.



4. I kept going with this book because I felt it just had to get better at some point-but it doesn't. As other reviewers have pointed out, this is a story about research, not about the four men who survived the shipwreck. I was hoping the polar bears would get the whole boring lot of them, but no luck with that, either.



5. It is difficult to understand why anyone would state as a COMPLAINT that "The book is about David Roberts and his research into a survival story." Yes, that is EXACTLY what it is. Roberts' story-within-a-story is accessable, immediate, often humorously self-disparaging, and it shows a drive for knowledge which one can only admire.
   
   I was captured by the end of the first paragraph of the introduction, and I couldn't put it down. Great stuff.

1 comments about Living in Norway : A Practical Guide.

1. This book is exactly what I was looking for when we moved to Norway a year and a half ago...only it didn't exist! I snatched one up when I saw it come out in December and have not been disappointed. Every day I discover something else I either didn't know or didn't completely understand. I have friends who have been here 14 years who are still finding things they didn't know. It's also a great reference for such things as laundry labels, conversion tables, cooking terms, etc. If you're moving to Norway, buy this book!