1 comments about Brazilian Portuguese In Your Pocket (Globetrotter In Your Pocket).

1. This little book is packed with all the basics you need to get around Brazil. It is well organized and each section is a different color for quick look up. I was impressed with how much information is in this book and it fits in my pocket. I will be returning to Brazil next month and this is the only language book I'm going to take. In a book this size it's impossilbe to get all the words in the dictionary in it so you might want to take along the Collins dictionary. Muito Obrigado!

1 comments about In Focus Brazil a Guide to the People Politics and Culture (Brazil (in Focus Guides)).

1. "Brazil in Focus" gives a synthesized, yet complete overview of Brazil's history, politics, society and economy. Anybody travelling through, or planning to live in Brazil would benefit greatly by reading this book, as it will help the reader understand why Brazil is what it is today, and why Brazilians act the way they do. The travel helps section, tacked onto the end of the book in five short pages, is inadequate.

   Jim D. Leonard, Missionary, President of Cariri Baptist Bible College Crato, CE BRAZIL

3 comments about Amazon Journal: Dispatches from a Vanishing Frontier.

1. O'Connor's brilliance is that he combines a writing style that simply engages the reader with a the knowledge that he can't and doesn't know all that there is to know about his topic. He brings together several issues and introduces many intriguing characters (Rauni, Kenny Good, Davi, just to name a few). The combination of the political ineptitude of the Indian organizations and the skewed perception of the Religious affiliates in the Amazon create an overwhelming amount of obsticals for objective journalism. O'Connor reports what happens from the viewpoint of a jounalist that knows he is part of the problem. I have come into contact with Venezuelan Yanomama and have seen first hand the impact that contact has made. O'Connor's unbias journalism is a releif from all of the news specials, and talk-show trash that seems to abound with the "Save the Rainforest" campaign. Read this book if you want a true report of what is happening to the last remaining independent people in the world. The truth is that contact with "white" people has braught innumerable destruction to this once self-sufficient society and Geoffrey O'Connor is not affraid to tell that side of the story.



2. As an American living in the southern Amazon basin, near the Xingu Indian Reserve, I unfortunately can attest to the truth in Mr. O'Conner's writings. He manages to give one a glimpse of what it is like to exist in this lawless, confusing frontier. To capture the flavor of this land of anarchy truly is difficult but the author does a superb job in transforming the vagueness of this bizarre and mystical frontier into words.

   Mr. O'Conner, thank you for putting my thoughts into print. The grand Amazon is under serious attack and ,in my region especially, is being leveled at an exponential rate. Someone please do something.




3. I picked this book up on Granville Island in Vancouver on a clearance/remainders table out of interest. For people who wonder what has happended to the rainforests in Brazil after much international coverage during the late eighties and early nineties would find this of interest. Kind of sad.

3 comments about Idle Days in Patagonia.

1. This is a tranquil, contemplative work of reflection on the varieties of nature. Like the amazing bird that changes its song regularly when one of its species, for reasons unkown, 'decides' to create a new melody which the others then follow. Another thing to look out for is the sensation that Hudson's glasses has on the local indigenous population - mocking laughter turns to incredulous amazement. This book brought peace to my life, and hopefully increased my sensitivity to natural wonders all around me - everyday ones as well as the extraordinary.



2. What I love about the writings of W. H. Hudson is his wonderful descriptions of the flora, fauna, and folklore of South America. But I suppose it is true what they say about idle minds. There is way too much anthropological philosophizing in this book and it gets tedious. The romance with rugged naturalism is a bit much.



3. Of the three non-fiction books I've read by W.H.Hudson(the other two being The Naturalist in La Plata and A Shepherd's Life)this is far the weakest. Where the personality of the writer was unobtrusive in the other works, it becomes intrusive to the point of being offensive in Idle Days in Patagonia. There are some interesting anecdotes about local characters and happenings, as well as details about animal behavior. But the biggest drawback is the overlong philosophical rambling, of which the topics sometimes seem downright trivial. However, don't be put off by one lesser work. The Naturalist in La Plata is an excellent book of natural history of the pampas, and A Shepheds's Life is quite good as well.

No comments about Where The Locals Eat: Louisville (Where the Locals Eat).

1 comments about Hilton Head Island (Images of America: South Carolina).

1. I enjoyed looking at the pictures in this book but I was a little disappointed that it didn't have more of the really old history of the island. The 1900 to present was captured very well. The pictures were interesting and of good quality. The captions were clear. If you aren't doing research and just want a general background, this book is great. Having just been on Hilton Head, it is too bad that almost nothing remains that were pictured in this book. What a change a bridge made. Since 1960's, this island has been so built up and gentrified it no longer is a agricultural or natural area. Thank goodness for pictures.

No comments about A Parisian in Brazil: The Travel Account of a Frenchwoman in Nineteenth-Century Rio de Janeiro (Latin American Silhouettes).

2 comments about Travelers' Tales American Southwest.

1. This is just a fabulous book. It will bring the Southwest to life for all discerning readers.



2. The Travelers' Tales series is a set of anthologies of short pieces, typically 5-20 pages each, assembled around a particular theme. Many of the volumes are dedicated to a particular travel destination (e.g., the Southwest, Thailand, Italy), while some are thematically organized (Food, Spiritual Gifts of Travel, Women on the Road, etc).
   
   The collections run from the passable to the magnificent: reading them reminds of how terrific writing becomes when inspired by an exotic, memorable place. The best of these volumes bring back the flavors, the smells, and the breezes of distant places with an immediacy that your vacation photo album can't by itself match.
   
   This southwest volume is probably one of the better ones in the series, owing largely to the fantastic quality of the region. I consider myself a fairly experienced world traveler, and for my money the unspoiled beauty of the landscape in this part of America is unsurpassed anywhere in the world. (I haven't yet seen New Zealand, the Alaskan wild, or the Himalayas, so I'm still reserving an absolute final judgment.)
   
   I am a lover of desert landscapes, but I've come to understand that I don't love all deserts equally: I've seen deserts ranging from the Gobi to the Sahara, but have found nothing quite like the American southwest, with its canyons, its hoodoos, its towering red rock formations like so many giant goblins, its endless views, its rock labyrinths, its lizards, the peaceful shade of its cliffs, its scents of juniper, sage and pinion. The introduction to this book compares a journey into the desert southwest to a breath of fresh air in the soul, and that certainly fits.
   
   With such inspiring material, a collection of pieces by skilled writers could hardly miss, and this one delivers. The best piece in here is probably the excerpt "Water" from "Desert Solitaire," by the incomparable and curmudgeonly Edward Abbey. This piece is, however, closely rivaled by the also-magnificent "Bridge Over the Wind," a tribute to Landscape Arch in Arches National Park, vividly capturing not only the gorgeous improbability of that particular arch, but also the feel of a hike through Devil's Garden to reach it.
   
   Other fine pieces in the collection explore the hidden treasures of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, the fascinations of Navajo country, and activities ranging from flying solo over Monument Valley, to hunting for obscure pictographs.
   
   It's not a flawless collection: there are a few too many New Age-y pieces for my taste. The southwest seems to draw a fair number of spiritualist pilgrims, so for every Edward Abbey withdrawing to the wilderness to see himself and the society around him more starkly, there are plenty of folks who luxuriate in reducing Native American culture to a collection of comforting but absurd talismans and superstitions. A reader with a perfectly healthy respect and appreciation for Native American cultures might well come away, as I did, annoyed at some of the insipid romanticization of their folkways.
   
   But, in a sense, it is what it is; this phenomenon is definitely part of the southwestern cultural landscape, and it's therefore appropriate that it be reflected in this book.
   
   The collection is a pleasant read throughout, and will inspire both real and armchair travelers to direct their attention to this most beautiful of American places.

4 comments about Romantic Weekends Texas (Romantic Weekends Series).

1. This book offers the best places for romance in and around Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and the Mexican border. Only those lodgings with special appeal have been selected, and all have been visited by the author - former Houston Chronicle editor.Table For Two sections profile the most intimate places to eat, where ambiance and service are as important as the food. But this is more than a guide to the best places to stay and eat. Activities that a couple will remember forever are also covered - balloon rides over the desert, romantic strolls under a starry sky, horseback trails into the wilderness. Contact names, telephone numbers and website addresses are given. Maps, index and photos, plus hand-drawn sketches.



2. This book offers the best places for romance in and around Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and the Mexican border. Only those lodgings with special appeal have been selected, and all have been visited by the author - former Houston Chronicle editor.Table For Two sections profile the most intimate places to eat, where ambiance and service are as important as the food. But this is more than a guide to the best places to stay and eat. Activities that a couple will remember forever are also covered - balloon rides over the desert, romantic strolls under a starry sky, horseback trails into the wilderness. Contact names, telephone numbers and website addresses are given.



3. The updated second edition of Romantic Weekends: Texas covers places to get away for a romantic weekend in Texas, outlining both popular areas and hidden places which can be easily accessed in a long weekend. From central Texas and the Southeast to the Panhandle, the regional breakdowns make it easy to look up particular areas, while specifics on restaurants and accommodations make this a winning set of recommendations.



4. Mary Lu Abbott rounds up Lone Star lodgings, restaurants and sightseeing with lovers in mind. Recommendations are organized regionally and introduced with a brief history of the locale. Among the romantic stays are rooms in a former stagecoach stop; among the memorable restaurants is the palatial Mansion on Turtle Creek Dining Room in Dallas. The book includes major festivals and strikes a nice balance of activities, sightseeing and recreation of interest to both genders.
   Chicago Tribune

No comments about Mount Rushmore: The Story Behind the Scenery.