2 comments about GEORGIA:: IN THE MOUNTAINS OF POETRY (Caucasus World. Peoples of the Caucasus).

1. I just returned from my first trip to the Republic of Georgia. I say "first" because my wife and I both fell in love with the place and we are already planning our return.
   
   I read Peter Nasmyth's book shortly before travelling to Georgia, and I found it an excellent preparation. Nasmyth's book is largely a report of his own travels in Georgia, first shortly before independence, then just after the brief civil war and also more recently. It doesn't give as much historical and descriptive material as a standard travel book would, and the photos (which Nasmyth took himself) are in black and white.
   
   What comes across most vividly, however, is the Georgian people, and this is as it should be, since, although Georgia has an abundance of natural and historical beauty, it is the people that one falls in love with.
   
   Lancelot Fletcher lrf@jag.ge
   
   PS. My wife and I returned and are now living in Georgia. Peter Nasmyth's book is still, in my opinion, the best introduction to Georgia, even though the country has changed tremendously since the book was published. Too bad it's so expensive.



2. This is not a travel book. This is, however, an excellent introduction to the country Georgia. As a grad student preparing to write on Georgia, this was a great starting place. You will get a real feel for the country and the recent issues of current events there.
   Mr. Nasmyth has been blessed with an extraordinary ability to filter through what he's seeing (even drunk!) and spot the trends in a foreign country.

5 comments about Lithuania, 4th: The Bradt Travel Guide (Bradt Guides).

1. This is really the only complete travel book on Lithuania available. Complete coverage of the whole country. I especially liked the History chapter and the Further Reading Appendix. I always like to read up on the history of where I'm going and this book is an outstanding resource. The Where to Stay sections were large and useful.
   
   My only complaints are that this book could use color maps instead and more detailed transport sections. I would have liked it to list the estimated travel prices and travel times in a table. Actually, I wish most travel guides would have a table summarizing everything from hotels, restaurants and transport but most travel guides don't do that.



2. The product was in excellent shape when I received it. The book looked as if it were new and bought right off the book store shelf.



3. Once a year I go to Lithuania and spend a month there teaching about spirituality. The people are wonderful and the country magical.
   
   This is a great book about a beautiful, quaint, poetic country. If you are thinking about going to Europe buy this book and pack your bags for Lithuania.



4. There's no question that this is the guidebook to get for a trip to Lithuania. As another reviewer mentioned, the coverage of the rest of the country besides Kaunas and Vilnius is wonderful.
   
   It is worth pointing out, however, that this guide has hardly been updated since the 3rd edition. The additions are mostly in the culture/history section and the Vilnius section. In the coverage of the rest of the country, most passages are copied over verbatim. As an easy example, the back cover of the 3rd edition says:
   
   "The beauty of Lithuania and the hospitability of its people guarantee an unforgettable trip for any visitor. The Old Town of Vilnius, the country's capital, offers a striking and exuberant mix of Gothic and baroque architecture. Spend relaxing days exploring its cobbled lanes, and atmospheric evenings in its colorful bars. Or head for the coast and the wild dunes- a delight for the lover of nature."
   
   From the back of the 4th edition:
   
   "The enigmatic beauty of Lithuania and the hospitality of its people guarantee an unforgettable trip. The Old Town of Vilnius, a likeable and cosmopolitan capital, offers an exuberant mix of Gothic and baroque architecture. Wander its cobbled lanes before emerging for an evening in a vibrant bar. Alternatively, head for the beach resorts and the wild dunes- a delight for the lover of nature."
   
   So in the new edition you find out that Lithuania's beauty is enigmatic and that the bars are vibrant, not just colorful. Again, this warning applies only to people who either already have the 3rd edition, and want to upgrade (this is what I did), or people who have an opportunity to buy the 3rd edition cheap and don't know if they'll be missing out. You won't be. If you don't have any guide for Lithuania, though, this is certainly the one to buy.



5. I'm taking to these Bradt guides. As a dedicated Rough Guide reader, I have to say that these books impress me. There's something to the Bradt guides that other guides lack, and it's hard to put your finger on it. They're not glossy photo essays, and they don't include finely detailed maps. I think it's the depth of the writing that convinces me. You can tell that these books aren't packed with ill-informed "facts" or airline magazine history. You can tell that the authors aren't just blowing smoke.
   
   This book covers Lithuania like the winter rain. The historic, cultural and literary contexts are superb. The listings are exhaustive and accurate. The "sites" are deep, not limited to tourist traps in Vilnius. The book covers all the cities and towns for cultural tourists, and covers interesting natural sites for eco-tourists. It's a complete picture, and you'll learn something too.
   
   My only complaints are relative lack of photography (even less than a Rough Guide) and a seemingly intentional neglect of Czeslaw Milosz, the great Polish poet born and raised in (what was then) Polish Wilno.

No comments about The Rough Guide to Moscow 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

No comments about A Traveller's Companion to st Petersburg (Traveller's Companion To...).

5 comments about Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist.

1. Non-fiction. The author goes to the most dismal and hopeless places in the world, also making a point to go at the wrong time of year for travel. He goes to little lost communites that should have been absorbed into the surrounding country (mostly in Eastern Europe), but exist still, sort of like out-of-place leftovers. (Tatarstan, Kalmykia, Mari El, and Udmurtia are the places he visits... Have you heard of them? Probably not.) I didn't really enjoy this book, although there were some entertaining anecdotes. His attitude bothered me. He claimed he wanted to find out about the local people, but he came across as completely misanthropic and anti-social. Some interesting b&w photos throughout.



2. Despite the title, and the printing of the splendidly pretentious "Anti Tourist Manifesto" on the inside cover, Anti Tourism is not Kalder's main theme and it seems as though the Anti Tourist packaging is the idea of the publisher rather than the author. Seeing as apathy seems to be a common state of mind for Kalder throughout his travels in the Russian republics, probably he couldn't be bothered disputing this spin either
   
   Kalder's main idea is to explore parts of the old Soviet Union which are in Europe, but that relatively few Europeans have heard of or visited. Whilst this is a bit of a stretch in the case of Kazan, which gets reasonable numbers of travellers and has some tourist infrastructure, its certainly fair enough in the case of Mari-El, Udmurtia and Kalmykia. And unsurprisingly, he finds there's a very good reason few people go to these places - because there's no reason to go there
   
   Which is the problem with the Anti Tourist approach; I certainly agree that all people are inherently interesting, and in principle all places are worth going to, but if there's little to physically describe about the places you're visiting, and you don't really talk to many people either, then you have to be a better writer than Kalder to make a book like this work. There's only so much you can say about how rundown, bleak, uninspiring and boring the landscape is, how there's nothing to but go to McDonald's or watch Russian TV, or how to while away hours of boredom, without boring your reader as well.
   
   Kalder is an amusing writer, and is very good at describing apathy, boredom and disaffection- but ultimately this isn't enough. While I laughed a bit and found out a few things I didn't know, his travels, and this book, ultimately seem a bit pointless. Which is perhaps the point - but I think most of us have probably got better things to do.



3. This book was an excellent read for those who enjoy imagining yourself appearing on the other side of the world with little or no money. It takes the reader on a visual and personal narrative of exploring obscure regions of Russia. Starting with a more well known region it trails down to the Russified plains of things that used to be. If you enjoy non-fiction reads like Hot House or other honest journeys into abandoned places you will enjoy this book.



4. Kalder's 'Lost Cosmonaut' veers between serious and flippant in its treatment of four semi-autonomous Russian republics. He covers Muslims and Stalinists in Tatarstan, pagans and wedding agencies in Mari-El, exiled Buddhists, chess and Chuck Norris in Kalmykia, the Kalashinakov and his own unwillingness to become an 'expert' in Udmurtia. Kalder treats everything with a dry, black Scottish humor, occasionally accompanied by an outburst of entertaining obscenities, but at no point does he patronize the locals with either a scientific chin-stroking wonder or a National Geographic photographic sensibility. Deliberately distanced from the people he meets, the narrative is ironic enough to carry off occasional (and obvious) outrageous lies, like hallucinations in the Russian steppe. Kalder describes life in these republics as a combination of chance, boredom, cold obstruction, hope and self-creation, and the book reads like that itself. If you just want a laugh, it works, if you want to know about these people and places, it works, but if you want something more, it excels.



5. I happen to love "puerile deprecation." This book is laugh-out-loud funny! Lesson Learned: The places most of us live are more like the places Kalder visits than we might like to admit.

1 comments about Discovering the Moscow Countryside: An Illustrated Guide to Russia's Heartland.

1. As the founder of Discovering Russia, a company devoted to enriching cultural and business travel to Russia, we are always looking for good travel books to recommend for our clients. "Discovering the Moscow Countryside : An Illustrated Guide to Russia's Heartland" by Kathleen Berton Murrell is such a volume for those who wish to discover the fascinating yet little-explored region surrounding Moscow, a land of princely families and wealthy merchants and dedicated believers.
   
   Murrell, the author of the wonderful "Moscow Art Nouveau," presents two weeks' worth of touring.
   
   There are some items missing from this book, such as an index, and unfortunately none of the place names in the book are in Cyrillic. In a way, that omission is not too much of an issue for the tourist, as it would be almost impossible for a visitor to Russia to travel to this region without the aid of a guide, or at least a knowledgeable driver (which is what we recommend to our clients visiting the area).
   
   "Discovering the Moscow Countryside : An Illustrated Guide to Russia's Heartland" is a wonderful guide for discovering Russia beyond Moscow.
   
   Marc David Miller, Discovering Russia, New York

4 comments about Clarion of Midnight: Megali Idea.

1. I am a Kristina O'Donnelly fan; have read all her other novels. Clarion of Midnight - Megali Idea is the second novel in ber series, Lands of the Morning. For whatever reason, The Horseman, which is the lead novel, and The Scorpion Child, which is the third, were published long before this one. In other words I ended up reading The Scorpion Child two years before I got a chance to read Clarion/Megali Idea. However the good news is that CLARION OF MIDNIGHT - MEGALI IDEA does have its own story line spinning around 3 new characters, Anika, Leyla, and Mark, that makes this novel enjoyable all on its own.
   Also, there is another difference. Both The Horseman and The Scorpion Child contain undertows of mysticism, and reincarnation, ESP, etc. CLARION/MEGALI IDEA is a thriller, earthy and gritty. Turkish politics and their relevance to the United States' interest in that region or the world, are delved into in a no-holds barred manner, and the conflicted, controversial romance between Leyla, the young, beautiful Turkish girl with an American mother, and Mark, the American Jew, is both tender and believable. In fact, I find that Kristina O'Donnelly writes very well and honestly, about the psyche of a man in love and in lust. Or better said, that a man can lust after one woman while still thoroughly in love with another. Mark loves Leyla, fully and sincerely, but has to continuously battle the sexual spell cast upon him by Anika. Wow, what an enchantress is that Anika! Yes her ambitions and brilliance reminds you of Catherine the Great of Russia, and so will her libido.
   
   There is more I'd like to write about this novel but have to return another time. Meanwhile, enjoy arm-chair travel into exotic lands, at its best.



2. I found Clarion of Midnight: Megali Idea to be very power-packed. It offered a dab of everything, from romance to action to history. O'Donnelly is a very talented writer.



3. A thriller and romance all in one.
   Kristina O'Donnelly gives you it all.
   You will love it.



4. Archeologist Mark Cohen is investigating an ancient shipwreck off the Turkish coast when he runs into two beautiful women on a bus. One of these, the powerful Anika Alkibiades, takes an instant liking to Mark, teasing him with her sensual body--and with archeological treasures she claims have been in her family for generations but which he suspects may have been illegally looted from Turkish digs. The second woman, whose identity he does not learn for some time, is the daughter of the Turkish Interior Minister Burhan Bey.
   
   Mark soon finds himself caught up in Anika's plans to restore Greek rule to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) and to recreate the ancient Byzantine Empire--the Megali Idea. Yet as Mark gets to know Leyla Kayhanoglu, Burhan's half-American daughter, he realizes that Anika's dangerous plan may be the worst thing that can happen to Turkey--and to the anti-Communist alliance. A continuing investigation into past lives and a look into the political turmoil in the Middle East and between Turkey and Greece adds interest to an exciting story.
   
   Author Kristina O'Donnelly continues her LANDS OF THE MORNING series with an action-packed look into a Turkey torn between communists and right-wing Islamists, with a few leaders attempting to hold onto Ataturk's idea of a modern, democratic, and westward-leaning Turkey. Anika's plan is doubly appealing because another empire, the Turkish Ottoman Empire, once ruled virtually the same territory as the Byzantine Empire and, as Burhan points out, Turks, not Greeks, form the heart of what Anika would claim.
   
   In CLARION OF MIDNIGHT, O'Donnelly combines romance with action in a page-turning thriller. You don't need to read THE HORSEMAN, the first novel in this series, but those who have will enjoy seeing Burham continue to deal with his energetic but high-maintenance wife and daughter, as well as the sweet romance between Mark and Leyla.

2 comments about Kosmos: A Portrait of the Russian Space Age.

1. Having been a Soviet/Russian space enthusiast since childhood, I was naturally excited to learn that Princeton Architectural Press was publishing a photonovel entitled "KOSMOS - A Portrait of the Russian Space Age". This is a finely bound collection of 100 photographs taken by renowned photographer, Adam Bartos between June 1995 and April 1999 at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

   With great anticipation I opened the book, eager to see new images of Russian space hardware and launch sites. What I found between the covers was much, much more than I expected.

   With his keen photographic skills, Adam Bartos is not only able to take us into areas of the cosmodrome rarely seen by western observers, but into the hearts and souls of some of the key personalities which helped to shape the current climate of what was once the worlds greatest space industry. Through the eyes of the photographer you see rooms well worn with age now silent and barren, and faces whose stares echo ghost of the former Soviet Union. Image after image paints a portrait of contrast between the glorious aspirations of the Soviet future past and the dismal realities of the present day russian space program.

   Enhancing this somber collection of images is an essay written by Svetlana Boym, Professor of Slavic Languages at Harvard University, which poignantly illustrates the mood of the Russian people as radical political change made way to new realities.

   I highly recommend this book, not only to all Russian space enthusiast but also to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the changing climate of the Russian people and how it has affected their once dear space program.




2. As one involved with NASA in the heady days of years past, I had heard talk that Princeton Architectural Press planned to bring out a book of Adam Bartos' photographs of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and I have been looking forward to Kosmos for some time.

   Kosmos is a sad and poignant portrait--but, alas, an accurate one--of the decline of one of the great technological programs of human history. I don't believe that those who weren't alive at the time can appreciate the reaction of this nation to the launch of Sputnik and the other achievements of the Soviet space program nor can those outside of NASA appreciate the enthusiasm--and gravity--that characterized our efforts to catch the Soviets in the space race.

   Frankly, the faded glory shines through in many of the photographs, and, in the eyes of those caught in the photographs, one still sees glimpses of the spirit, albeit wounded, that drove their space program to its glories. However, in the post-Cold War era, pathos will be the most common reaction of the reader.

   The accompanying essay by Svetlana Boym of Harvard University, unlike those gratuitous essays in many photographic books, contributes to the Kosmos and brings some important insights to the reader unfamiliar with the Soviet program. It is beatifully written and is commended to the readers for their edification.

   All in all, after much anticipation, Kosmos exceeded my expectations and stirred a wave of memories. Congratulations to PAP for their achievement!

3 comments about Moscow and St. Petersburg (Fodor's Guides).

1. The book is very comprehensive, but to the type of tourist I am, 300 hundred pages of just descriptions is not good. For tourist that can only dedicate 4 to 5 days to each city, we would like to see lots of pictures of the most important places we should not miss in the city. The book doesn't have any pictures. it is also helpful to mention that the Peterhof palace needs to be (ideally) visited during late spring or summer. The gardens of the palace are absolutely fantastic, with the highlight of the springs of water flushing from every statue, step, and fountain. and the ponds and springs are closed at other time of the year. So you can not appreciate them in its full beauty and glory. We went to St. Petersburg in October and the fountains were closed in Peterhof, but the garden is worth visiting, even if they are not working in full. just remember to wrap up well!



2. This guide was OK however I there are much better ones out there. Not enough background-history & culture, no pics, just not close to being the best guide I've used. Rough Guide & Let's Go are much better. Eyewitness Guide is great for history & visual.



3. Some of the information on this guide was dated. A few restaurants had closed. Some real nice vegetarian options are not included, etc.

No comments about The tourist's Russia.