5 comments about Patagonia: At the Bottom of the World.

1. I bought this book hoping it would help me in planning my upcoming trip to Patagonia - no such luck. Basically, Chapter One contains the author's dryly written noodlings from his trip diary - which, by the way, follows the typical tourist trail itinerary that your local travel agent could beat after putting in 45 minutes of research. The rest of the book has the quality of downloads from the web and excerpts from pamphlets left over from museum visits. Maybe the book was just the author's half-hearted attempt to recoup some of the cost of his trip (good for him, bad for me). Wow! What a waste of time.



2. In "Patagonia: At the Bottom of the World" Dick Lutz reminds us that to the European navigators who first discovered it, Patagonia was a strange region inhabited by giants, cannibals, and mysterious beasts. Occupying the tail of South America that stretches southward toward Antarctica, it remains even to the modern world a, little-known, off-the-beaten-path, sparsely inhabited region. Although politically divided between Chile and Argentina, Patagonia has a special climate, unique wildlife, and strange, and sometimes violent, history all its own. In this highly portable 206-page guidebook Lutz covers just about every aspect of this peculiar region including its history from the days of explorers and adventurers like Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Francis Drake to the Patagonia of today. An appendix includes Charles Darwin�s account of his 1834 trip to the region later published in The Voyage of the Beagle.
   The book opens with Lutz�s own account of his experiences as part of a tour to the region. You might want to read this chapter last, since the body of the text is broken up by notes that refer you to later sections of the book, and they can be intrusive. They occur only in the first chapter, so if you read this chapter last, you won't have to spend your time flipping back and forth. Still, leading the book off with this chapter is an excellent idea since most visitors to Patagonia will probably travel there as part of a similar tour group, and this lets them know exactly what to expect.
   The remaining chapters in the book cover the region's environment, history, people, wildlife, and just about everything a traveler might want to know. One other bit of information is not confined to a single chapter but permeates the whole of the book and that is the author's own love of the area. There is no question that Dick Lutz considers Patagonia one of the most beautiful places on Earth. He enthusiastically describes mountains, the towering glaciers that tumble into the Strait of Magellan, and the region's interesting and diverse animal life.
   He doesn't, however, gloss over the hardships the region endured throughout its early history: acts of genocide carried out against its native population, the ruthless exploitation of its forests and mineral wealth, its dubious record as a popular spot for penal colonies. As recently as the early 1970s, the political enemies of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet were confined to a prison in the area.
   In short, Patagonia is a place like no other on Earth, and to take you there, you�ll find no better guide than this author. Dick Lutz has four previous books to his credit and writes skillfully and well. The book, quite honestly, could have benefited form a better proofreader, but most of the errors are typographical rather than textual. Despite this minor annoyance, Patagonia: At the Bottom of the World contains much solid information, and you would have to search far to find a more compact and useful guidebook. If travel to Patagonia is on your agenda, this is a good one to slip into your carryon.



3. Fabulous non-fiction Adventure. Lutz combines historical and geographic reference with his own personal tales of trekking to Tierra del Fuego. Especially good information on Charles Darwin's voyage of the Beagle, the animal life and fauna, and the native cultures.

   Particularly interesting is the information on the now extinct native Fuegian tribes that once roamed the area who some believed to be a near sub-species of Homo Sapiens, perhaps Late Cro-Magnom or even Neandertal. Actually, I would have liked to see even more in-depth info on this badly neglected topic.

   Also, good info on the Argentinian and Chilean villages that dot the region which could prove very helpful to travelers. Great photos. Fantastic cover art. Though, there are a few typographical errors here and there. Could be cleaned up a bit for a second edition.

   Eric Dondero, Author, Worldwide Multilingual Phrase Book




4. How often do you come across a book that is really disappointing? And when it is was it your fault because you chose it because of its misleading cover picture or its contents page? Dick Lutz, asserted writer of several books on animals and out-of-the-way geographical regions has provided us with some reading which must be below the expectation of even an average book consumer. His personal account of a trip to Patagonia with a certain tour operator might well have paid for his fare, however, it leaves much to be desired in the way of writing. Simplistic, badly-put together sentences many of which are semantically ill-formed make reading a continuous strain. "We then got into the zodiacs for a ride around Tucker Island. This is a bird paradise so we refrained from landing in order not to disturb them." (p.14)
   
   What is meant to be helpful advice for a future would-be traveller to the place unfortunately does not go beyond a rudimentary enumeration of lengthy bus rides between unnamed destinations and occasional lunch menus. "We took the small boats to shore where we were met by buses and vans that took our group through the town of Porvenir and also to an estancia (ranch)." (p.15) Sentences like the following would not go uncorrected by any editor with a minimum of pride in their occupation and one must wonder if this book received a second reading by anyone at all before going into print. "The drive through the countryside was different from what we had seen until now." (p.15) and "After driving awhile and seeing some more astounding vistas we next visited another spectacular locale." (p.17) At some stage the reader must ask themselves if the book was intended for children and incredulously reads on page 79: "Since there is a Lesser rhea, it follows that there is also a greater rhea."
   
   The chapters on the land, its history and its people certainly provide the unitiated reader with much new and useful background information although also here textual continuity is sporadic and superficial. Quotes are not always sourced and the few photographs receive no comments. The book does, however, have a good word index and provides an extensive bibliography.
   
   Should you buy this book? Only if you really need to.



5. This book is absolutely fascinating from start to finish! It's extremely well-written, and the author shows great insight, perspective, and knowledge. It's simply eloquent. I bought it for myself, and also as a gift book for two friends. It will enchant anyone.

2 comments about Mexican Mornings: Essays South of the Border.

1. This is Dr. Michael Hogan's latest book, a collection of essays written over the past decade while the author has lived and taught in Guadalajara, Mexico. This is quite possibly his best book, displaying a wide range of topics and an incredible maturity and intelligence that only comes when one's perspectives have been expanded. In one essay, "Letter to a Troubled Student," he deals with the Zapatista uprising of Chiapas, Mexico, telling his student that it is not scary that a group of Indians are taking on the Mexican government, but that, in any war, the truth is always the first victim. To him, and to a lot of us, that is truly scary. Through this essay, marked for its open-mindedness and its intelligence, Hogan is able to explain how his fears transcend the egocentric level, acheiving a greater understanding and universality.
   This is the modus operandi for the rest of the book, which is a collection of essays written in Mexico over a period of the past ten years. They relate the expatriate experience, but they differ from other expatriate books because these essays are observations told through the eyes of a person who is committed to the lifelong quest of knowledge, a person who is committed to learning about his surroundings. All the essays are examples of a deep thought process, and one gets the realization that the author is just as much the teacher as he is the student.
   One of the best examples of this, and also one of the defining elements of the book itself is the obvious influence that Mexican Poet Octavio Paz had and still has on Hogan's life. Paz's presence is everywhere in the book; the musicality of his poetry helping Hogan the young boy overcome his stuttering problem, the incisive nature of his essays helping Hogan the teacher in teaching the Odyssey to his ninth graders, the profound depth of his social critiques helping Hogan the human being understand humanity and the Mexican better.
   This book is a deep, insightful study into the psychology of the expatriate. In my opinion it is a peer to that other great book about the human condition, "The Labyrinth of Solitude." It is also the only expatriate book that is fully able to document the reasons why a person chooses to leave his home country. It interacts with the reader on many levels, displaying intelligence, while appealing to the poets, the teachers, the scholars, the human beings in all of us. It also displays a deep love for a country that is not the native land for the author, nor for many expatriates. And it is this love that makes the book, and the essays within so compelling. I am reminded at this point, while searching for the place to end my review, of some lyrics from the song "Atlanta" by the Stone Temple Pilots.
   
   "Visions of Mexico seduce me,
   It goes to my head so carefully."



2. I am always skeptical about books written on Mexico by foreigners. However, Michael Hogan who has lived in the country for more than a decade is a careful, although often critical and sometimes humorous, observer. He also has an obvious love and affinity for the Mexican character and writes about it accurately and well. The book contains observations on the effect of globalization on the Mexican economy, a night at a Mexican concert with the Tigres del Norte, a revolution in Chiapas, a university riot,a meeting with Fidel Castro when he comes to Guadalajara, as well as more tranquil moments riding in the forests or hiking the mountains.
   The book is far better than any tour guides I have read, especially of the Guadalajara area, both with its descriptions of the people and the flora and fauna. It is an expatriate equivalent to the Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz, who by the way, is an inspiring presence in several of the essays.
   For someone visiting Mexico for the first time, this is a valuable handbook. For someone who has chosen Mexican as their adopted country it provides clear evidence that it was a correct choice. For all Mexicans living outside the country, and for those who have visited and not yet returned, it clearly evokes the love and the longing that so many have for this land south of the border. Hogan writes lovingly of the person and the poetry of Richard Shelton here as well. For those, like myself, who are enarmored by the Tucson poet, it is a refreshing visit to an old friend who also has strong conenctions to Mexico. All in all, a wonderful read. Hogan has an accesible style with occasional flashes of brilliance and a quiet but poignant wit.

5 comments about Lonely Planet Chile & Easter Island (Lonely Planet Chile and Easter Island).

1. When planning my trip to Chile, I bought about every Chile guide I could find, and I have about 8 or 10 of them. While none of them had "everything" this one was definately the best of them. The city maps were useful as they are in all Lonely Planet books anad its practical information helped decide where to go and how to get around. I think it gave me the most useful information of all the other guidebooks. I planned my entire trip to Chile and Easter Island from guidebooks and phone calls without any tour agency. I think I did find a couple things out of date as others did, but that is, as said another reviewer, common to all guidebooks as they are researched over a period of time, then edited & compiled, then finally released. I recommend getting this book if you plan to visit Chile and also another book for another point of view and other details. The book is not perfect, but it is probably the best out there on the subject.



2. This is for certain one of the best Lonely Planet guides I came across (and I do have a very large collection). Perhaps aided by the fact that Chile is a relatively small country, yet stretching from the tropical to the antarctic areas, and by the relative homogeneity of the country in terms of society and culture, the author and editors have done an excellent job in collecting and putting together all the best information a traveller to Chile would need. I know Chile very well, and can witness that this information is up-to-date, correct, unbiased, and altogether an indispensable tool for any traveller, providing all necessary data for the more well-off and for 'backpackers' alike. The information is concise and clear. Everything is excellently written, thus ensuring real pleasure too. The sections on politics, history and society are excellent too. Altogether, it is a great companion while travelling in Chile or dreaming of Chile.



3. Some Lonely Planet guides become a traveler's "bible". Unfortunately not this one. I lived a whole year in Chile and during this time traveled extensively from north to south. The book is alright if you are just looking for a short overview and some basic info. However, the book falls sadly short of providing really detailed info on accomodation (especially budget and mid-range) or restaurants and in general too often only scratches the surface, leaves out less known but equally interesting places. In a nutshell - the LP is good for some practical info but shouldn't be the traveler's only source of information. I would recommend to buy either the "Chile Experience Travel Guide" (English) or the annually updated, excellent "Turistel" guides (Spanish), both by Turiscom. You can get them in any bookstore in Santiago or other Chilean cities. Chile is a wonderful country to explore and definitely deserves a better guide book.



4. While staying in Argentina, my husband and I decided we'd like to travel to Chile for a short period of time, and thought we were lucky to find a copy of this book in a bookstore in Buenos Aires. In retrospect, I think we should have spent the money on a fancy restaurant (Yes, B.A. is that cheap.).
   
   Even in helping us decide which city to travel to, this book contained little information, lacking the great in depth and funny stories that characterized the other LP books we've used. (Perhaps other cities in Chile had better info, but we were comparing Santiago, the capital, Valparaíso, and Viña del Mar.)
   
   We ended up going to Viña del Mar, and in spite of the city being a huge tourist destination, there was little information about lodging; ditto for restaurants or entertainment. Those 3 things being our main use of the LP books (which we could not have lived without in Argentina and Brazil), I wish we had not wasted our money.



5. Lonely Planet Chile & Easter Island
   as I was traveling to Chile this was a very helpful book, and how can
   you go wrong with Lonely Planet?

5 comments about Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable.

1. Maybe the most important thing for you to know about this book is that it isn't just, or even mostly, about Edgar Degas. If you're in the market solely for an art book about Degas, you may not like this book. What this book is really about is 19th century New Orleans. Degas' 1872-1873 trip is the main theme which the author has used as his framework. Mr. Benfey "improvises" on this theme and goes off in interesting directions. He talks about what made New Orleans unique- the early Creole settlers vs. the "Americans" that arrived after the Louisiana Purchase; the free black population (pre-Civil War) vs. the slaves who became free because of the war; the rupture caused by the war- as New Orleans was occupied by Federal forces through almost all of the conflict. (Many of the local women proved to be fairly feisty in showing their contempt for the Yankees. One woman in the French Quarter supposedly downloaded the contents of a chamber pot onto Admiral Farragut's head. On another occasion, the soldier in charge of keeping order, General Benjamin "Beast" Butler, was riding by some women and they all turned their backs to him. Butler remarked, "those women evidently know which end of them looks best.") After the Civil War the economy, based almost solely on King Cotton, took a beating in the Depression of the 1870's. Yankee "carpetbaggers" were despised. Liberals who wanted integration of the races did battle, sometimes literally, with reactionary forces who yearned for a return to the days of slavery. Mr. Benfey works in some analysis of the writers Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable, who were interested in some of the above themes. The author does devote a fairly good portion of the book to discussing Degas' "Louisiana Connection," (his mother was born in New Orleans; he had relatives who were involved in the cotton trade; and his younger brother, Rene, left France to try to make his fortune in New Orleans). If you enjoy Degas' art, you will find Mr. Benfey's musings on the portraits and "genre scenes" that Degas did during this period to be interesting and informative. For example, from a purely painterly standpoint, Degas enjoyed the juxtaposition of black and white skin, as well as the white of cotton against the black suits and hats commonly worn by businessmen of the time. Mr. Benfey also, convincingly, shows that Degas' started to use, in these paintings, certain compositional effects- such as slanted floors, the arrangement of figures in interior spaces, and certain hand and head movements- that would shortly reappear in the more famous "ballet paintings." We also see Degas in transition from his early "realistic" phase to a looser, more "Impressionistic" style of painting. I also found it interesting that Degas was fascinated by many things he saw while walking around New Orleans, but he was limited mostly to painting interior scenes because the light of New Orleans was bothering his eyes. (He started to have problems with his vision while serving in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. By the time of his death in 1917 he was nearly blind.) There was enough about Degas and his family and art in this book to satisfy me, plus I enjoyed Mr. Benfey's "improvisations." If, in addition to being a Degas fan, you have any interest in the antebellum and post-Civil War worlds of New Orleans, I think you will get a lot of enjoyment and intellectual stimulation from this book.



2. Maybe the most important thing for you to know about this book is that it isn't just, or even mostly, about Edgar Degas. If you're in the market solely for an art book about Degas, you may not like this book. What this book is really about is 19th century New Orleans. Degas' 1872-1873 trip is the main theme which the author has used as his framework. Mr. Benfey "improvises" on this theme and goes off in interesting directions. He talks about what made New Orleans unique- the early Creole settlers vs. the "Americans" that arrived after the Louisiana Purchase; the free black population (pre-Civil War) vs. the slaves who became free because of the war; the rupture caused by the war- as New Orleans was occupied by Federal forces through almost all of the conflict. (Many of the local women proved to be fairly feisty in showing their contempt for the Yankees. One woman in the French Quarter supposedly downloaded the contents of a chamber pot onto Admiral Farragut's head. On another occasion, the soldier in charge of keeping order, General Benjamin "Beast" Butler, was riding by some women and they all turned their backs to him. Butler remarked, "those women evidently know which end of them looks best.") After the Civil War the economy, based almost solely on King Cotton, took a beating in the Depression of the 1870's. Yankee "carpetbaggers" were despised. Liberals who wanted integration of the races did battle, sometimes literally, with reactionary forces who yearned for a return to the days of slavery. Mr. Benfey works in some analysis of the writers Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable, who were interested in some of the above themes. The author does devote a fairly good portion of the book to discussing Degas' "Louisiana Connection," (his mother was born in New Orleans; he had relatives who were involved in the cotton trade; and his younger brother, Rene, left France to try to make his fortune in New Orleans). If you enjoy Degas' art, you will find Mr. Benfey's musings on the portraits and "genre scenes" that Degas did during this period to be interesting and informative. For example, from a purely painterly standpoint, Degas enjoyed the juxtaposition of black and white skin, as well as the white of cotton against the black suits and hats commonly worn by businessmen of the time. Mr. Benfey also, convincingly, shows that Degas' started to use, in these paintings, certain compositional effects- such as slanted floors, the arrangement of figures in interior spaces, and certain hand and head movements- that would shortly reappear in the more famous "ballet paintings." We also see Degas in transition from his early "realistic" phase to a looser, more "Impressionistic" style of painting. I also found it interesting that Degas was fascinated by many things he saw while walking around New Orleans, but he was limited mostly to painting interior scenes because the light of New Orleans was bothering his eyes. (He started to have problems with his vision while serving in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. By the time of his death in 1917 he was nearly blind.) There was enough about Degas and his family and art in this book to satisfy me, plus I enjoyed Mr. Benfey's "improvisations." If, in addition to being a Degas fan, you have any interest in the antebellum and post-Civil War worlds of New Orleans, I think you will get a lot of enjoyment and intellectual stimulation from this book.



3. This is one of the best books I have read. It's so fascinating, easy to read, and just interesting in general. I highly recommend it.



4. Benfey's study is an elegant, exciting study with many facets. He truly evokes a vanished world. An interdisciplinary study which does not meander or bore. Highly recommended.



5. This book is quite informative, just not about Edgar Degas. For the first few chapters I had the feeling that all this information about everyone else was setting the stage for Degas to become, as the title would suggest, a focus of this book. I still had that same feeling while reading the final chapter.
   
   The book would have been more aptly titled "New Orleans from 1865 to 1879, with a Brief Visit by Edgar Degas in 1872". If you've been to New Orleans or are interested in its history or never gave it much thought until Hurricane Katrina and are now curious, this book could be good for you. If you really want a book that focuses on Degas the artist, man, etc... this is not your book.
   
   Beyond that, 1 thing that still bothers me is that I've never read anything by Kate Chopin. In fact I'd never heard of her or Cable until I grabbed this book. I was substantially into their portions of the book, so much so that I'd decided to see which (if any) of their books I could find at my library. I was none too pleased when this book suddenly gave away the ending of one of Chopin's books I'd already planned to read. Let that warn you. In those last couple chapters if you're beginning to care about those books being discussed, skip those sections until you've already read the books.
   
   Of the 2 books I've just reviewed, All Poets Welcome: The Lower East Side Poetry Scene in the 1960s, Includes 35-track CD of audio clips of poetry readings was greatly preferred.

1 comments about Trekking and Climbing in the Andes (Trekking and Climbing Guides).

1. There are several shortcomings in the book that keep it from being a reliable and useful climbing guide. First, it is too bloody large and heavy to haul around, being printed on heavy paper stock so that the photos are pretty. Second, it was not well proofed, and a book that has three authors should have some luck in catching basic information errors if there were indeed three qualified persons involved. Instead, we believe that the errors in many of the simpler subjects point to the possibility of more grave errors in significant details. A modern and serious trekking or climbing guide would include detailed positional data, including topographic and GPS coordinates. These are generally lacking. There are also some fundamentally silly statements, such as "Bolivia is a relatively safe country." Bolivia? Safe? Perhaps compared to Colombia. But Bolivia is fraught with hazards ranging from generally poor health and hygiene, unsafe tourist accommodations, treacherous public transport, and considerable street crime in the cities, even if you don't accidentally end up in one of the coca-growing regions. (There is also a statement that Peru is relatively safe, so evidently the authors' perception of "relatively safe" is not shared with those from the civilized countries). In the Chilean portion of the book there are considerable errors, including one that describes going "clockwise" as a way to make the John Gardner pass "less of an uphill struggle." Anyone who has climbed this pass will attest that the western side is steeper and more slippery than the east side, so this book's recommendation is quite backward. Another part of the same chapter even seems to contradict this observation, leading us to think perhaps one author was not really talking to another. Similar errors persist throughout the book, along with misleading information, misspelling of Spanish words, internal inconsistencies, and then the absence of essential data that should have been included. Pretty pictures, though.

No comments about Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism (Latin American Literature and Culture).

No comments about San Juan: Ciudad Sonada (THE AMERICAS).

No comments about State Parks of the South: America's Historic Paradise : A Guide to Camping, Fishing, Hiking, & Sightseeing.

No comments about Paradise and Plantation: Tourism and Culture in the Anglophone Caribbean (New World Studies).

2 comments about Chile in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture (In Focus Guides).

1. Not a spectacular work, but is takes care of much of the information about Chile.



2. This is a great little book. It's an excellent intro-to- Chile book. If you only want a short, easy to read, interesting book about Chile, this is it.