No comments about Visions of Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

No comments about Northern Virginia's Equestrian Heritage (VA) (Images of America).

1 comments about Navegamos a Galapagos.

1. A lovely book that introduces exotic animals, talks about days of the week, has a catchy refrain (that we sing), and exudes pure happiness through its words and images. My 2.5 year old daughter loves it!

No comments about Brasil.

5 comments about Moon Handbooks: Dominican Republic 2 Ed.

1. I really enjoyed this book. It has lots of valuable cultural information and great research. While there are not snow capped mountains in the DR, it is a great book. Anyone looking at going to the DR to visit or live consider reading this book.



2. I'm sorry to say that after a month-long travel through the Dominican Republic, I have to agree with the previous negative reviewer, in that the book is full of inaccuracies and it seems obvious that the author didn't travel to many of the places he writes about. Also, the book seems to derive an awful lot of its material from another book on the Dominican Republic called Adventure Guide. Also, the author seemed overly scared of remote areas, especially around Haiti. It's more a book for older folk who are into golf courses and cigars, not for someone who wants to experience the country and really wander around and meet people. I usually do like the Moon series, though. Don't let this book dissuade you from the usually very competent Moon books.



3. I
   drove a car around three-quarters of the DR, using this book every
   step of the way for nearly the entire trip. But many times the author
   just wrote a lot of nonsense. Places he describes aren't anything like
   they really are, like he just asked other people to describe them and
   wrote what he heard from people who forgot a lot and gave him bad
   information. This book is no good.



4. Thank you for a great guidebook. I have traveled to the Dominican Republic a few times and am now planning another trip for next year, so I just bought the new version of this book. When I was in the Dominican before, this was the best guide I used--it's more than just basic information plugged into a guidebook format. It's kind of like reading a novel. I really liked his essay on "The Essence of the Dominican Republic" before the introduction--it gives you a real sense of what you will experience when you get there. Gaylord Dold obviously knows a great deal about the Dominican--he spends a lot of time on things like history and people, which is good if you have never been there and are interested in getting familiar with the culture instead of just traveling around. And he's really thorough with the practical stuff too and there are tons of choices of places to eat and sleep. I always use this book when deciding where to stay on my trips and have found the hotel info to be dependable. That said, I've used other books from the Moon series (Costa Rica, Ecuador) and I really like them. They're all really big on background info but also they give you a good variety of choices--not just backpacker stuff or places that are too expensive.



5. I wrote the first and second editions of Lonely Planet's guidebook to the Dominican Republic. While working on them, I traveled all over the DR. I adhered very closely to this rule: If I didn't visit a place, I didn't write about it. Period. No ifs, ands or buts. As any good guidebook writer would, I traveled with competing guidebooks to make certain I didn't overlook anything the competition reported on. If, for example, the competition mentioned a terrific restaurant on the outskirts of a remote town, I'd be sure to check it out; I simply didn't want my readers to miss out on anything, especially not something appearing in another guidebook. It was mostly an issue of pride, but I also felt people who bought my guidebook deserved the best work I could do. So I left no stone unturned. As a result, many business owners (particularly hotel owners) often told me, "You're the first guidebook writer that's ever been here." Sometimes I'd point to a "review" appearing in another guidebook. More times than not, I'd be told, "No, that person has never been here. I'd know it." I didn't doubt them then and I don't doubt them now, because it was usually in small, hard-to-reach or out-of-the-way places where this dialog occurred. Like many guidebook writers, I left the guidebook business soon after 9/11 -- when people weren't traveling and guidebook sales plummeted. In the years that followed, I moved on to bigger and better things, but I'd always meant to comment upon this book (the first edition, anyway) in a public forum. It was, quite simply, a piece of garbage. And if the first edition stank to high Heaven, why would the second edition be any better? Either you do good work, or you don't. If I got a dollar every time I read an inaccuracy in the Moon book, I'd be driving a Porsche today. I'm sure my book is off bookshelves these days. More than likely someone is working on the fifth edition of Lonely Planet's DR & Haiti. I'm not trying to boost the sales of my book; Lonely Planet doesn't pay royalties, anyway. I just thought anyone looking to purchase a good guidebook to the Dominican Republic ought to know my thoughts about this one. It did, and likely does, guidebook writers the world over a profound disservice. For legal reasons, I prefer using "Moving On" instead of my real name. But I am the real deal.

1 comments about Backpacker Patagonia (Backpackers' Latin America).

1. We just returned from a six week tour of Patagonia using this guide. We enjoyed all of the hikes, treks and tours recommended in the guide. We stayed in some of the recommended hostels and found them to be as described. Restaurants, addresses, telephone number, and e-mail addresses listed in the book were mostly obsolete; to be expected in a rapidly changing area swarmed by tourism. Except for public transportation costs, the costs of all services listed in the guide were off by 30 to 40 percent (too low).
   
   The reasons we purchased this guide for our trip was that it had the most current publication date and it addressed the primary area that we intended to visit: Chilean and Argentinian Patagonia.
   
   The primary reason for awarding a low rating to this guide book is the guide book's abominable design (risk of ordering on-line):
   1. It is printed on heavy large format glossy paper and contains many pages; hence, it is very heavy. Too heavy to take with you in the backpack. Small format books like the Lonely Planet guides are more convenient to pack and haul with you.
   2. The maps in the guide book are illegible. Use of color and small print on the maps and in the reference symbols makes them unreadable in low light conditions. Guides like the Lonely Planet that use simple monochrome line drawings for maps are superior.
   3. Including ads in a guide book not only adds to its weight but is ethically questionable.

1 comments about Nelles Guide: Brazil (Nelles Guides).

1. Library Journal's review of this guide: "Combining encyclopedic coverage of destinations with loads of practical information and atlas-type maps, the series illuminates the wonders of nature but emphasizes the peculiarity of a place's people and their folklore."

3 comments about Fodor's Pocket Sao Paulo, 1st Edition: The All-in-One Guide to the Best of the City Packed with Places to Eat, Sleep, Shop, and Explore (Pocket Guides).

1. Very helpful little book, perfect pocket-sized. Has some nice maps and recommended shops and restaurants. Excellent!



2. Not that useful.....didn't really help me during my one week stay in Sao Paulo



3. Most guidebooks are republished every year but this little wonder has gone several years without a revision or counterpart (until this year). The information is decidedly outdated when it comes to certain important details but the general information on neighborhoods and such is still somewhat useful. The size is perfect, and its very lightweight. However, with the pace with which things change in Brazil and especially Sao Paulo, I would wait for the guide that is coming out this spring if you can.

No comments about Sons of the Moon: A Journey in the Andes.

1 comments about The Cruising Guide to Cuba.

1. The "Cruising Guide To Cuba" covers in great detail in a first person narrative the entire coast and all of the coastal cities, ports, and harbors, i.e., about ninety percent of what is worth seeing in Cuba. Written as a first person memoir, the book is extremely readable as a novel, with local customs and situations described extensively to place the reader in Cuba, at the docks, talking with the friendly Customs guards and mechanics. Having been to Havana many times, I find the character of the country better captured in this book than in any travel guide or any other book about Cuba, including "Our Man in Havana". With humor, fairness, and keen insight into the truly comfortable Latin American way of doing things such as living intelligently with spontaneity and vitality, Charles goes farther than anyone to rectify the embedded Yanqui mistrust of Cuba by describing actual experiences which let the reader know that the embargo against that counrty has resulted in a great loss to our people: knowledge and understanding of one of the most beautiful places, and most enlivening cultures on earth. This seems to be one of those classics like "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" which some readers will dismiss as too narrow for their general interests. This book is as much about boats and cruising as that classic was about machinery: it is in there, but there is a wonderful, on-going essay about cultures, philosophy, and, without asking it directly, the one big question: who has lost the most in the ridiculous campaign of hatred against this proud, historically magnificent country, us or them? There are other cruising guides to Cuba which are dry and obviously format and budget driven. There are similar travel guides by the usual publishers for inland excursions. "The Cruising Guide To Cuba" stands out because it is obviously a labor of love, written by a man and his mate who have spent years in research and preparation; some seven months alone for the second edition just to circumnavigate the island one more time. Other authors write of Cuba as they would any other assignment, with predictable and often useful factual results, as if they are writing about a beautiful actress they saw on stage and later interviewed. This book goes far beyond the quick glance infatuation, as if the author went to the beautiful woman's house and lived with her intimately and came away with enduring respect and admiration. A sage exile architect I know listened to my account of feeling miserable for not having been to Havana in over a year. "Yes," he said, "it started as lust, but then it turned to sincere love, and you cannot forget her, can you? None of us can." Forget the leg shows and cigars; Cuba without those pop buzz topics is a direct shock to the heart, it will leave you wondering why we remain so poorly informed about one of the most relaxing and desirable places on earth. Charles' book brings that message across, with respect and admiration for what is actually there and what it is like to be there. In the same way that "The Old Man and The Sea" was not necessarily about fishing, this cruising guide is not necessarily just about boats and charts, although as just that, it is worth the price.