No comments about The Hawkins' Voyages during the Reigns of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and James I.

No comments about Lewis & Clark: Legacies, Memories, and New Perspectives.

5 comments about Brazil Up Close: The Sensuous & Adventurous Guide (Brazil Up Close).

1. This is an excellent book with an enormous scope. The author has hadmany experiences in Brazil--from sports to culture to shopping to even dancing in Carnaval. She has a great writing style and makes reading a guidebook fun. If you have interest in Brazil, get it and go. It was the best vacation I have ever had and want to go back and back again. I give this a book a great rating.



2. I was planning a trip to Brazil for quite some time and I looked on the internet for books to help me get around. I read the first review of this book (1 star) and couldn't believe that a book could be so bad. As a gag, I bought the book just to see how close to "fraud" the author actually came. I read through the book quickly (it does not read like a travel book) and went on my merry way to Brazil with many guide books in hand. I don't know what book that first reviewer read, but Bloom's book was probably the most helpful of the books I brought with me. Any book can tell you about the stores and hotels, but it is a rare one that gives you an accurate glimpse into the culture of a nation. Bloom's book did just that. Perhaps that first reviewer is a rival publisher jealous that he does not have Pamela Bloom under contract.



3. I just returned from a 10 day trip to Rio and the surrounding areas and was profoundly disappointed by the guide book for the following reasons: 1) No useful maps (do you really want to carry around multiple guide books?); 2) Totally out of date (I tried virtually every club/bar listed and wasted much time on wild-goose chases); 3) No useful info on hotels (doubt the author stayed in any of them or even visited them); 4) Restaurants recommended were all disappointments (if they were still extant)and 5)Assumes reader knows Portugese and is familiar with how to get around.

   If you plan to visit (and you should because it's truly a wonderful country) invest a few weeks in Brazilian Portugese lessons. Surprisingly few people in and around Rio speak English (even in the service sector) and if you have a basic understanding of the language your trip will be a thousand times better. And if you want info on the local music scene, just pick up the local paper and it's all there.




4. I read this book both before I left and used it while I spent 12 days traveling Brazil. I was inspired before I left and was much less surprised by many of the cultural differences when I got there. It offered accurate and detailed descriptions of the hotels and restaurants. I actually made my hotel reservations with this book in hand with positive results. We also went to at least 5 of the recommended restaurants in Rio and Fortaleza, all of which were fabulous (and received double recommendations from the hotel staff). Word to the wise: Many people in Rio do speak English, but it does help (especially if you are traveling in the Northeast where English is much less common) to learn a few words of Portuguese ie number, greetings, "Thank you", "Stop here/now"(for taxi & bus drivers) and "I don't speak Portuguese, do you speak English?". This and a big smile will get you surprisingly far. Oh, and make sure to get the price of your cab rides in Rio before getting in the cab(I paid double to get home what I had paid to get to the club)! It's hard to argue prices in 2 languages. This book is great in combo with one of the boring fact/price/time books.



5. first of all. if you are looking for a book about a liberal woman impression of brasil, you will definitely like this book. ms bloom writes with a non guide book attitude and it~s quite captivating. problem is, many guidebook readers want to find info to assist their travel. in this area, ms. bloom~s shortcoming is most salient. another interesting observation is, ms. bloom~s liberal bias can be amusing as you continue the read.... you will see her abhorrance of consummerism (which in a way contradicts the essence of tourism which is pure form of consumerism) and her prescription to fix the problems in brasil are abundant (i.e. big government to be staffed by her so called indigenous people and the socially conscienous scholars and the usual the rich are taking advantage of everyone and should be made to pay). now, if you are looking for facts to assist your trip DON~T BUY THIS BOOK. you get better info for free elsewhere. worse yet, this book has so many errors that to a brasil newbie, sounds very accurate. the truism is, errors, when presentedly eloquently, sounds much better than facts. fortunately, these errors won~t cost your life, just a few bugs. case in point, in the money and exchange section, ms. bloom urged her readers NOT to use credit card to avoid the surcharge and use traveller~s checks and U.S. dollar and change to Real. this is blantantly wrong. first of all, anyone with a dosage of common sense will wonder as how the dealers, money changers make their paycheck as you use traveller~s checks and US dollar. the surcharge is factored into the f/x rate!! hello??!! in fact, it is tototally stupid to use traveller~s check since it offers the worst exchange rate with no additional protection of theft. the best strategy is (well, as a true conservative, i always offer a workable solution - and cost no one a payment - as i critique), use 1. ATM card from your banks. here you get the official rate, as of this writing (12/31/02), the official rate is the best of any rates you can find. your bank may charge you a non bank ATM usuage fee ranging from $1-$3 per withdrawal but you can always call your bank and have them waive this fee as a courtesy. in addition to the non bank ATM surcharge, the bank also take off a few points for their f/x desk. e.g. if the official rate is US$1-R3.54678, you will get R3.5; 2) second best option is credit card. as you charge to your card, you get the current day trading F/X rate (minus a few points for the bank~s f/x desk similar to the ATM card). most major banks credit cards charge you up to 3% of surcharge if you use the card outside US. so get a card with no surcharge or low surcharge, use MBNC, First Union, Wachovia, Sun Trust. these banks charge 0% and you only pay 1% to VISA or MC. also check website researching on bank card rate for most up to date info. 3) the third best option is use U.S. dollar, here depending on the currency market, you may get better or worse than official rate - as of 12/31/02, you get worse, however, the rate is definitely better than traveller~s checks. the downside of this is security. no one wants to carry load of cash around. by the way, ms. bloom is WRONG again on asking her reader to get the day~s newspaper and check for the exchange rate. the current day newspaper f/x quotes YESTERDAY~s f/x rate as close of trading NOT the rate the bank will give you per the info i provided above. for current f/x rate, go to CNBC.com or even better bloomberg.com. the info posted there is current f/x rate on the currency exchange minus 15 minutes. go to any internet cafe and you get onto the web easy for as little as R2.5 for half an hour. there are a lot of other errors that i can write a book to save the souls of ms blooms misguided soul but i have better things to do... so (by the way, i am not talking about the location of the restaurants or shops since tourist business is seasonal and you can~t hold ms bloom accountable for these what i call time sensitive information). errors like when ms bloom threw in her personal moral political beliefs and made inaccurate remarks about the single men~s night clubs. don~t believe her. the girls in these night clubs are better than the super models from playboy. of course, to ms bloom, she prefers to see everygirl in tree hugging suits. also, she made me laughed when she stated that the haircare products in brasil are inferior to U.S. any travellers to brasil will notice brasilian women~s hair are much better than their u.s. counterparts and that american brand hair care products are widely available. also errors like health/ disease as not to use tap water to brush teeth and use aqua con gas....

   now, how to get the most accurate and updated info on brasil? get the frommers or fodor~s guide books. these books are truly professional guide books and updated regularly w/o political bias or personal agenda. even better, check many websites about travelling in brasil. for up to date info on restaurants and night clubs, don~t worry about those info until you get there. at the airports, they have lots of free brochures available and most of the info are accurate, at least better than you get from ms. blooms and it~s FREE.

   so, save a few bugs and get better info. 1 star for ms bloom~s funny political spinning and 0 star for accuracy.

1 comments about Frommer's Adventure Guides--South America, 1st Edition (Frommer Other).

1. This book, part of a new series, describes 25 adventures in 7 South American countries, 5 each in Venezuela and Argentina, 4 in Peru, 3 each in Ecuador, Brazil and Chile, and 2 in Bolivia. Whatever mode of transportation you may prefer, there is something to fit your taste, from flying to rafting and 4-wheel-driving, from mountain-biking to horse-riding and hiking. Each adventure is described in 6 to 12 lavishly illustrated pages, and the back of the book has a 60-page section with practical information. Clearly, these 60 pages cannot cover all the possibilities in all the areas discussed, let alone other areas in the 7 countries the book deals with (I had a wonderful adventure week in the Ecuadorian Amazon, for instance, that is not mentioned in the book). If you want to make detailed plans for an extensive trip on your own, you will need more than this volume. But if you are looking for armchair adventure, or for inspiration for that adventuresome part in you that is itching to go to some far-off place, or if you just want to get started with lots of attractively presented information about some highlights that you can build a trip around, this is a wonderful book. It is probably the most visually attractive guidebook I have seen, with lots of National Geographic style photography that will make the would-be adventurer's mouth water (even more attractively presented than the volumes in Fodor's Exploring series, or DK's Eyewitness guides, or the Insight guides series). Whether you are looking to canoe through a flooded forest, stay on a ranch in the world's largest swamp, hike some of the continent's highest mountains, watch wildlife along the coast, or search for dinosaur bones, this book has an adventure wrapped up for you.

No comments about Time Out Havana 1 (Time Out Havana & the Best of Cuba).

No comments about Lonely Planet Ecuador Y Las Islas Galapagos (Lonely Planet Travel Guides).

No comments about Mexico Travel Pack, 2nd (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

No comments about Patagonia Argentina.

No comments about The Rough Guide to Rio De Janeiro CD (Rough Guide World Music CDs).

5 comments about Amazon: A Young Reader's Look at the Last Frontier (River Series).

1. This is a good book because it gives a lot of detail of what is going on in it.



2. I have two step-sons, ages 14 and 12. They are not avid readersbut were fascinated by this book. We are planning a trip to Brazil andamong the books I suggested for them was this one. I picked it up at on a recent trip to New York. My kids found it a great adventure book and motivated them even more to want to visit brazil.



3. This book was a very interesting book. I thought it was really sad when Peter Lourie passed by the river side and there were little kids learning and it was their school. The children were sick and skinny. Peter Lourie explained that their parents were very poor and they didn't have any money to buy clothes or food. I thought it was really cool when they followed the guy that collected the latex. I thought it was interesting when he cut a V into the tree and the latex dripped into a cup. When I read that the gold was found in the river I thought how did the gold form. I don't know how it did but it was a pretty amazing thing. When Peter Lourie went to the Indians I thought it was really interesting the way they caught their fish they poisoned the water so the fish would go to shore and they would pick them up. If they were still able to move they would spear the fish. This book really taught me a lot I really consider you to read one of Peter Lourie's books!



4. This book is a beautifully illustrated, fun, and interesting book. The pictures are so amazing and it feels like I am really there, (or wish that I was there). This book is a educational book because it has maps that show where the author, Peter Lourie, went when he was exploring. It tells what cities are there, and also where the bodies of water are. This is a fun book because the author, Peter Lourie, gives wonderful writing like this:
   Now as we left the tribal outpost and headed back the way we had come, we glided down river with the soft, slow, ancient current.
   An interesting part was when the Indians put the poison in the water where the fish would swim and it would be easier to catch the fish.
   
   This is why this book is the best!



5. This book is aimed at giving a brief picture of the Amazon to a young reader. It focuses on a few aspects, such as: the indians living in the Amazon, the gold rush around the southern Amazon, the river and its dolphins, and the rubber boom and the railroad built to transport rubber.
   
   The book is written as a travelogue, describing the author's trip chronologically. It is simplistic, of course, as any book for children should be, but it provides some vivid pictures of the region. About half of the pictures are very good, the rest should have been reconsidered.
   
   My main criticism is that he associates the colonists as being evil doers destroying the forest; it is hardly ever an evil vs good fight. Anyways, I would recommend it especially to a family with children planning a trip to the Amazon as a way to wet the appetite.