5 comments about Istanbul: Memories and the City.

1. Perhaps it is true that you either love Pamuk or don't. I find that once I adapt myself to his style, what he is offering is simply wonderful. You carry your expectations to a book, and with Pamuk I never know what to expect. This memoir is a description of his native city and his family, as a gateway into the mind of an unusual autodidact, extremely introverted and melancholy, yet passionately committed to his art.
   
   These three levels are the core themes of the book, which plays lots of games with its structure and images that readers can unravel if that is their bag. First, there is Istanbul - a character in the book, just like his mother and brother - a city that is in decline from its glory as the Ottoman Empire's capital city. From the heights of sophistication and colonial richness, it has entered the modern age as a decapitated giant of ruins with a crumbling (and extremely present) past. One of Pamuk's favorite pastimes is to watch old Pasha mansions burn down, another is to watch disasters on the Bosphorus. But the feeling of decay and loss pervades everything, seeps into the heart of everyone, esp. the author. He breathes this decay with a never-ending fascination and love, finding in poverty and even mediocrity a key to his own identity.
   
   
   The second level is his family, which is squandering its wealth and squabbling over a painfully unbalanced marriage. It is a mirror of the decline of the city, of course, and Pamuk must decide what to do. That is the third theme, which brings it all together: how he can carve out a role for himself as an artist, in a society that has little place for them. In addition to European writers, Pamuk focuses on a few artistic Turks, but again, they are not what you'd expect: writers who published virtually nothing in their lifetimes, even an encyclopaedist, who stops at K. Again, the descriptions are as astonishing as they are understated, a window into a developing talent.
   
   Finally, the book is packed with wonderful photos, engravings, and paintings. I wish they were of higher quality than in my edition.
   
   There is a political subtext to it, of course: Ataturk's secular revolution is woefully incomplete: while the empire is gone, nothing has risen that can quite take its place. What you get is a half-formed society, extremely sad at its decline, but somehow proud and contented in its particular melancholy, or Huzun. The expression of this is absolutely wonderful and vivid, yet understated and infinitely subtle.
   
   This is what this book said to me. I got a feeling for Turkey that was completely unexpected, and it will fuel my own passion history for years. That being said, this book is not for everyone. It is about the life of the mind in a place that many will find obscure and depressing. Also, Pamuk is so introverted that many readers will not identify with him. And his style is extremely quirky.
   
   Warmly recommended. I got a wonderful sense of the passage of history and human struggle and identity unlike anything I have ever read.



2. I think book reviews, rather like any similar activity composed of observation, reception and reflection, can be skewed by our personal experiences and knowledge, as well as corrupted by the opinion and speculation that we sometimes try and keep under control. The empathy and sense of understanding that I felt when reading Istanbul, Memories and the City, were very much shaped by my prior experiences, my personal interpretations of what I had seen, and my own frame of mind.
   
   I was going through Istanbul's Ataturk airport last December (2007) and with the prospect of a long and dull journey in front of me, I was looking in the bookstore for something that I could "lose myself in" during the incredibly dull and boring journey back to Alicante. I was doing some idle browsing in the airport bookshop and I came across Orhan Pamuk's book entitled Istanbul, Memories and the City.
   
   After hurrying to the gate to embark on my flight, there was yet another set of security check, another set of the same procedures to go through - belts off, boots off, everything metal through the scanner, mobile phones, MP3 player, pens, coins, I had so much junk; I even put the Pamuk's book into the plastic tray they provide as part of the terror free scanning service.
   
   Actually this book seemed to be of more interest to the security person than all the rest of the modern technology and metal crap I was having scanned. She looked at the book placed in the tray, as if it might contain some thing rather subversive material, she smirked, picked the book up, then she chucked it back into the tray. I pretended not to notice. Again she picked the book up, made some comment to one of her colleagues, and then chucked the book back into the tray, laughing the way people do when actually there is nothing funny to laugh about; a forced laugh. I still pretended not to notice and of this "behaviour", and just walked through the detector and picked my things up at the other end.
   
   Little things like that can really turn me off a place, it can lead to momentarily dislike and antipathy towards places, especially one that I have found to be, on occasions, desperately depressing, grey and miserable, somewhat filthy, frequently anachronistic, and neither comfortably traditional nor fundamentally contemporary; a pessimistically gloomy halfway house, stuck between a densely populated provincial backwater and a peculiar and unauthentic pastiche of modernity.
   
   I boarded the Iberia flight back to Madrid, with the feeling of someone arriving home, to the familiar and friendly. I took my seat, and prepared for the 4 hour flight to Madrid, within 5 minutes I was asleep.
   
   I awoke to the sound of the in-flight service, I was handed a tray, and I also took a bottle of nice red Spanish wine to accompany dinner.
   
   Sufficiently relaxed and replenished, I took out my recent literary acquisition and started to read.
   
   The book, as I read it, focuses on Orhan Pamuk's recollections of the experience and sensations of growing up in Istanbul, from a very young child in the fifties to a young adult in the seventies. Pamuk expresses a wealth of empathy for the memories of his childhood, and for the city that has been his home for most of his life.
   
   In many ways, Pamuk's account of his Istanbul reminds me very much of many aspects of my life in Cardiff and South Wales when I was very young. This idea was reinforced by a review in the English daily newspaper The Telegraph, in which David Flusfeder wrote:
   
   "Europe has its share of melancholy cities: the citizens of Lisbon take each destructive fire as fate's latest grim joke; Warsaw has been regularly ripped apart by foreign invaders; and it's hard to be cheerful in Trieste or, indeed, Cardiff."
   
   I find it curious that quite a few "western" travellers, writers and artists have sough to represent Istanbul, to recall memories of Istanbul, even modern Istanbul, as a somewhat some what exotic eastern place, full of mystery, harems, intrigue and promise; interesting for its cute differences and it's perceived quaint traditions, for it's ancient history, for its old buildings and even older dirt, for the perceived charm, permissible decadence and cultural diversity. As an aside, I find some of the reviews of Pamuk's work to be bizarre and only vaguely byzantine in their intricate expressions of misplaced and arrant nonsense, and far more so than authors are typically exposed to.
   
   However, I do not find it so strange that many of Pamuk's compatriots are as quick to dismiss and deride him as others in Europe are as quick to laud him, and both doing so on the basis of scant knowledge of the author or their work, and are frequently seasoned with oppressively recondite forms of anachronistic nationalism, by people both in Pamuk's home lands and elsewhere in Europe.
   
   But in his book of memories, Pamuk talks to us about his family, his father, his mother, his friends, desires, the Black Rose, as well as the city; the quarters, districts and neighbourhoods; The Pamuk apartments; Cihangir, Beyoðlu and Niþantaþi; flavoured gin, stuffed mussels, sweets and puddings; the peoples, the Turks, the Italians, the Armenians, the Germans, the French, the Greeks, the Jews, the Persians, and others; art and literature; the necessity of the cosmopolis and the importance of authenticity; the ever present Bosphorus; books, bookshops and booksellers; the cities pizza eating dogs; the trams, buses, shared taxis and metro; the calming and relaxing nature of act of painting; simit sellers and unmentioned fish sandwiches; the changes in life; shared experiences; schools and colleges; books; fishermen, fantasies and murder; art, artists and the artist as seen by the bourgeoisie; the collisions between ships on the Bosphorus, crumbling buildings, the effect of neglect on wooden buildings and the burning of palaces of Ottoman Pashas; the end of empire, the decay that follows and also the new opportunities; family apartments, change and movement; the other self; walking the streets at night; black and white; the taste of a little goats cheese held in the mouth and a sip of tea; ships and ferries; big American limousines; quarrels and complications; the westernised, ornate and hardly used lounges in many apartments; Istanbul Modern; life and death; the writers, poems and novels; the humorous anecdotes culled from articles written during more than 100 years of Istanbul journalism; of architecture, and, of course, writing.
   
   Throughout the book Pamuk comes back to the theme of melancholy (hüzün, in Turkish) which I think he strongly identifies with a depressing spectre that haunts certain abstractions of what can be seen and felt as being Istanbul. I am not so sure exactly where this melancholy stems from, but I would bet that much of it comes down to a deep sense of deception and loss, that goes way beyond the passing of innocence and has been allowed to grow into a monster of nightmares that threatens to cast asunder any modern senses of education, culture and civility; the sad and avoidable debasement of hope and the defeatist crushing of the promises of a better future.
   
   Pamuk seems to have used the writing of this book as one might use a mirror, to reflect his states of mind - his moods, and to project his desires and dislikes, his hopes and fears, into the world. It is a truth that I find compellingly attractive, authentic and very contemporary. Of course, it might not be to everyone's liking, but if you want to truly understand Istanbul then it really is a "must read".
   
   Thinking again about the insignificant incident at the airport, I suspect that the behaviour of the security guard was just another example of the petty, provincial and anachronistic spirit that has created such a depressingly and melancholic place for people who have made Istanbul their home, and yet who desperately want to live in the global "here and now", in their own interpretation of a cosmopolitan, comfortable, modern, cultured and civil society, and unsurprisingly, they do not want to be dragged back into the distant past, into the dark ages; those times that most of us have fortunately never experienced; a return to times, backwardness and conduct, that none of us in our right minds, would ever desire.
   
   Orhan Pamuk, very much like Immanuel Kant who never ventured outside of Königsberg,, has lived virtually all of his life the city of his birth. The following words written about Kant by the critical philosopher Ursula Reitemeyer, in "The History of Mankind between Nature and Reason" strike a chord of relevance and similarity:
   
   "So criticism is the core of Kant's metaphysics of history and the reason, why his metaphysics outlasted his epoch and made him to the very first global philosopher. Kant, that is to say, identified "world" not with a coincidental and necessarily limited perspective of the world but with the whole history of mankind as a morally evolving process. On this theoretical basis every human being is a citizen of the world by birth. This message contains Kant's lasting merit for the modernity - and is probably its only chance."



3. Times gone by. Greater times, present days. A very personal take on the Great City by one of the world's great writers. Not always popular in his home country, his prose transcends borders, showing Istanbul as it truly is: universal. Packed with great black and white pictures.



4. The book is personal, moody, altogether a very lovely snapshot of an enigmatic city which hangs between East and West. Vintage photographs add their atmosphere to the text.
   
   Orhan Pamuk is a master at his craft; for further reading after this, I suggest "My Name is Red."



5. I finished this on a flight from Izmir to Istanbul. It's a good thing I did: it provides an excellent preface to visiting that amazing city.
   
   Pamuk has three guiding ideas in this book. First is that all Istanbullus share a sort of melancholy which Turks call huzun. The idea is that they all lament the decline of their city since it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and that they lament their servitude to the Western world. Secondly, Pamuk wants to harness this huzun and create an artwork that is distinctively Turkish -- not Western, not Muslim, but a harmonious blend of the two. Thirdly, Pamuk believes that the city inhabits the man just as much as the man inhabits the city: Pamuk feels Istanbul's moods and it feels his. Huzun is thus a strictly collective emotion. One cannot feel this sort of melancholy on one's own; one can only experience it in a collective way along with one's fellow-Istanbullus. (Indeed, it's not clear to me that residents of any other city -- Vienna, maybe? Pittsburgh? -- can feel huzun; it may be a nostalgic melancholy that only Istanbullus are logically entitled to feel.)
   
   I didn't feel the huzun in Istanbul, but then I was only there for a few days; Pamuk doesn't believe that anyone can understand his city without living there for ten years or more. It may also be impossible for a new generation of lifelong Istanbullus to feel the huzun: those born into today's Istanbul may not realize that there's anything other than the Western model to follow.
   
   This is all his perspective as an insider to the culture. As an outsider to it, my perspective says something altogether different. When I visited Istanbul, there was at least one mosque, minaret, and muezzin per quarter square mile. One block off the main drag in Beyolu (Istiklal Caddesi), our cab had to stop to let a flock of sheep and their shepherd pass. One block off on the other side was a warren of little streets filled with conservative Muslims. I felt distinctly foreign there, both in nationality and in culture. If this is "the West," Istanbul-style, then Pamuk has nothing to worry about.
   
   At times -- certainly over the last fifth of the book -- Pamuk's melodrama about huzun gets to be a bit much. He haunts the miserable streets of a lost empire, collar upturned against the snow, trying to shake off his own desperation at a lost love and make an art form that doesn't just ape the West. On and on he goes, trying to beat us over the head with the idea that the city inhabits the man and the man the city: we cut back and forth between his furious wanderings in the streets and his fight with his mother over what he'll do with his life. Pamuk thinks he is terribly clever. He wants us very much to know how clever it is; earlier in the book he drops hints about its "hidden symmetry." This symmetry, so far as I can tell, is just the symmetry between the man and the city. So now you know. If you were paying attention during the first half of the book, you already knew. I'd rather not be bludgeoned with the Cleverness Stick.
   
   Still, it's a fun read. It's peppered with (deliberately) black-and-white photos of old Stamboul, from an era when people flocked to the shores of the Bosphorous to watch the Ottoman pashas' wooden "yals" (waterfront mansions) burn to the ground one by one. There's great romance in this book, great love for the Bosphorous, and delicious history. Worth reading, but not worth owning.

5 comments about Moon Costa Rica (Moon Handbooks).

1. I usually purchase Lonely Planet guides, but the LP Costa Rica was too old. Moon was more recently published and I'm very glad that I was able to try out a different series. I was very impressed with Moon Costa Rica and the Moon series will definitely be one that I check first when looking for a guidebook in the future.
   
   The book has a similar tone to LP as it is written by a Brit, but one with a tremendous amount of knowledge of Costa Rica as well as Latin America. The layout was logical and easy to navigate.
   
   Of all the Costa Rica guidebooks on the shelf this one had the most, and most detailed maps. In small towns where there are no road signs and "intestinal" roads that make getting turned around and confused very easy these detailed and zoomed-in maps came in very, very handy.
   
   Of all the guidebooks it also devoted the most amount of pages to the areas where we were visiting (the Pacific beaches/Nicoya peninsula and the Arenal volcano area).
   
   I liked this guidebook especially because it gave me the feeling that nothing was left out. For instance, while driving by the tiniest town I noticed that it would be mentioned in the guidebook even if very little was written about it.



2. Although originally from the US, I've lived in Costa Rica for many years. This is the guidebook I use personally and the one I recommend to friends. Not only is it very complete and up to date, but it's also well-written and enjoyable to read.



3. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, as I photographed the cover art. Having lived in Costa Rica and traveled there many times, I was interested in the content and immediately set about looking through the book. I found many of my favorite hotels described exactly as they are, in such glowing detail that I find myself wanting to go back. The writing is engaging and it's clear the author knows the country inside and out, often inserting blurbs on future projects where relevant. It's also well illustrated with b&w photos throughout. This is THE guidebook on Costa Rica!
   
   Also recommended: Moon Guatemala (Moon Handbooks)



4. Extremely happy with this guide book. It is very well organized and seems complete. The authors will tell you their favorite places as well as ones to avoid. Has phone numbers and websites (if available) for most of the hotels. Quite a few pictures included. Totally worth the money.



5. As a loyal Lonely Planet reader, I thought Moon would be as good or better, considering the reviews for the two. This book is written for the author's ideals only - anyone who is really into sportfishing and seeing exclusively expats while traveling. It does a poor job of listing the more budget-minded lodging and restaurants, and has little to no mention of info that would suit someone with cultural interest. All restaurants and lodging are "to avoid the Ticos, book here" or "try expat Chuck and Susan's pace, here". It would help someone book an entire trip to see other travelers traveling, and to go fishing. Disappointed, I went to the bookstore and paged through LP's older, more concise guide book, and was thrilled to see better descriptions, more color pictures, and more cultural insight. Moon's book also packs an extra 100 pages of Costa Rican history - something that is nice, but not necessary to take with me in a backpack trekking around the country.
   Lastly, the author has an absurd overuse with superlatives! "This beach is the best in the country" and "the wildlife in this park is unmatched" - these are good descriptions, but when applied to every park and every beach, given that there are dozens, it makes it difficult for the traveler to make an informed decision to organize their best trip to Costa Rica.
   Overall I was disappointed and will be buying a different guide book to take with me.

5 comments about The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America.

1. I am a big fan of Bill Bryson and have read nearly all of his books but I didn't realize that this was his first until I read some of the reviews here. Still, I knew this book was different from his other books. As enjoyable as they were, this was the one that really had me laughing and oftentimes wiping away tears of laughter. While Bryson is always funny, he is viciously so in this book and I could see how that would not appeal to some people.
   
   While a good number of Bryson's books are travelogues of a sort, I don't think categorizing them as such really does his works justice. They are not only a man's descriptions of his travels but also windows into his very psyche. He has always poked fun at the people of various cultures he encounters during his travels but he is sometimes downright mean in this book. While I certainly don't advocate being mean to others, the fact of the matter is that Bryson strikes me as a man who is really mild-mannered and rather awkward. What we're reading in his books, and in this one in particular, is what goes on inside his head and what I really admire about this is his candor. There are often things that run through my head that I would never want anyone else to know about and so I frankly can't help but be a bit in awe of someone who actually exposes those thoughts to the light of day. I think if we're all honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that we all share the same pettiness that Bryson sometimes exhibits.
   
   As for his comments about the places to which he travels, it is true that they aren't always kind. I'm a native of Michigan and so I eagerly devoured the section of his book that had to do with Michigan and, frankly, I was surprised that it was as positive as it was. While I do love my home state, I was rather shocked that Bryson didn't comment on the tackiness of the downtown area of Mackinac Island and that he was so mild in his descriptions of the tourist trap that is Mackinaw City. Bear in mind that the island is one of my most favorite places in the world. Even so, I do acknowledge that parts of it are more than deserving of criticism. It can be very painful to hear someone criticize a place that we love but it is also worth listening because there may just be some value to their criticisms. And, if not, it's always possible to laugh with friends later over what a jerk the person doing the criticizing is.
   
   Bryson, though, is a native of the U.S. The fact that he lived in England for so long is relevant only because the changes to his native country are so shocking to him upon his return. Yes, he is critical but he is critical of every country that he visits, including England. This is proven by his book "Notes from a Small Island". Bryson is good at picking out the things about which people are most sensitive and poking at them. This will naturally not endear him to everyone but I don't think that this book singles the U.S. out in any way. Instead, I think he has a very valid point about how sad it is that the U.S. is becoming more and more generic every day--and this book was written long before you could find a Starbucks on every corner. His points bear consideration. What have we sacrificed in our quest for convenience and 24-hour service?



2. It's an account of a car journey from Des Moines, Iowa, where Bryson was born (in 1951) and raised, around small town (and some big town) America during 1987-88 written from several perspectives that give it a special interest. Bryson looks at things in the United States from the point of view of a long-time British resident. He compares what he sees and likes or (more frequently) dislikes in 1987 with what he saw making similar car trips as a child. He looks at the Deep South, the Wild West, the Rockies, New York City and New England through the eyes of a Midwesterner. An added dimension reading it now is to compare what he saw then with things twenty years later (I was reminded of reading Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways.").
   He sometimes seems to be addressing a British reader as he makes his comparisons. In many ways the differences between Britain and America have narrowed, both for better and for worse. London is now a more dangerous city than New York and the English are almost as rich and as fat as the Americans.
   He's often misanthropic and grumpy but that adds to the entertainment value. If you want a nice guy saying nice things you buy a guidebook. It's full of great one-liners, even though sometimes he tries too hard to be funny and the jokes get repeated.



3. Bryson, an American who has lived for many years in England, sets out alone, in a Chevette! (maybe he should have taken a Camry), from his mother's house in Des Moines to re-live the family vacation car trips of his youth and search for the perfect small town. He travels through thirty-something states and finds a lot of nice, dotty people and endearing tackiness. As the Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff is fond of saying, "What a country!" I've spent a lot of time on the same by-ways, and drawn similar conclusions. Always perceptive and entertaining, often offensive, and a lot of good laughs.



4. Having been to many of the places Bryson visited in this book, I find myself wondering how he could possibly have had such an apparently unpleasant time. Bryson's wit in this volume is not just biting, it's acidic, even heartless. This book will make you chuckle, but even most of the laughs leave a bad taste in the mouth. I have greatly enjoyed three other Bryson books, but I can't really recommend this one.



5. I honestly cannot put Bryson's books down. They are good reads - I've just ordered three additional Bryson books and can't wait to recieve them.
   
   This being said - I need to re-read this book and keep a running total of just how many places he starts to go to and doesn't - because of a steep entrance fee, because of traffic, because of a plethora of reasons. I'm guessing the tally on the 'intended to' side might be greater than the tally on the 'actually experienced, as a bona fide ticket holder / road traffic warrior'. Yes, I understand what he's trying to say about Americans being easily parted with their money. However, the 'lesson' becomes annoying, and comes off as an excuse he uses to just not see many important sites first-hand.
   
   Also, try to develop a tough skin before reading this book if you are a resident of the South - or any small town anywhere in the country that could with any stretch of the imagination be considered 'backward'. My conclusion of Bryson's absolute distain for certain places, primarally but not limited to the South, is that it is so much easier to pull comedy out of the negative than the positive. Also, people are, by nature, inclined to notice the bad before the good. Bryson, especially but not limited to this earlier work, goes with the easier cliche slam against whole peoples.
   
   Don't get me started in his bizarre anti-elderly people stance. He goes on rants about Americans not recognizing national treasures. He's referring to architecture and landscape for the most part. And shows complete distain to the elderly. It reflects either a genuine over-zealous dislike, or an attempt at humor gone too far and repeated much too often.
   
   All being said, I'm still gonna read his work. It's entertaining!

5 comments about Frommer's Costa Rica 2008 (Frommer's Complete).

1. Frommer's is generally known for producing guides that are up-to-date and reasonably comprehensive. For the most part, this one is no exception to that trend. The book follows their standard format for Frommer's with "Best of" lists detailing some of the top attractions followed by general information and suggested itineraries. After that, we get into more detail for each region of the country beginning with San Jose and working through each area of the country in turn.
   
   I was primarily interested in information regarding the natural attractions that Costa Rica has to offer and I found exactly what I was looking for. There are numerous descriptions of the beaches, rain forests, volcanoes, and hiking opportunities. The hotels listed tend to lean toward the more expensive options but that may be due partly to the cheaper ones not meeting the minimum acceptable standards that Frommer's sets. It's also fairly obvious that a guide for even a small country like Costa Rica can't possibly cover every single hotel and restaurant.
   
   Overall, the book is helpful for trip planning and I would recommend it to anyone interested in a visit to Costa Rica.



2. I went to the bookstore and looked at Fodor's, Lonely Planet, etc and ended up buying this one. This is the most recent up to date version, but not as detailed or as well written as the LP version. Better than Fodors in my opinion. I used Fodors on my last trip to CR. Will use Frommer's this time.
   When travelling, I'd rather have up-to-date more so than better details.... but if you've got money, always buy two guides. The best trips come from a collaboration of opinions and perspectives.



3. I went to Costa Rica in 2001 for five weeks and took an older version of this guide (that was co-written by the same author as the current one). I found this invaluable and constantly referenced it for both daytime activities and accommodations. It is very well-written for the active traveler and I highly recommend it.
   
   I did not give it 5 stars as there were a few omissions that I was surprised to find. For example, the vans that tourists can take between the main tourist cities that are a LOT more convenient and safer than the buses.



4. Although the information in this book is accurate, I ended up replacing this book with Lonely Planet's Costa Rica book. I do not recommend Frommer's book for backpackers who are trying to paying under $40 per night for lodging, who rely on maps for walking from a bus station to their lodging. This Frommer's book lacked a map for La Fortuna and non-touristy towns. It had very little information on inexpensive hostels. Also, unbelievably, there was no information on border crossings to Panama or Nicaragua; if this information was in the book (and I doubt that it was), it was difficult to find from the index.



5. We brought two guides with us to Costa Rica -- this one and Explore Costa Rica (Fifth Edition) by Harry S. Pariser. We found this to be a useful guide. It had plenty of information on basics. However, it lacked the detail found in Explore Costa Rica which has many places and much information not found in other guidebooks we looked at. We really enjoyed the author's sense of humor, as well as the extensive background information provided. For example, we learned a great deal about the rainforest and other ecosystems, history, culture, and economy. We also were able to find some great local restaurants as well as several ecolodges that we did not find elsewhere. The book contains thousands of website URLs and e-mails and this was a tremendous help in planning our trip, as was the additional tips and online update found on the publisher's website. The color photos are great also! If you are interested in getting off of the tourist track, then Explore Costa Rica is a better guide to bring along.Explore Costa Rica, 5th Edition (Explore Costa Rica)

5 comments about New York (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. My family recently took a trip to New York. We had never been before, so I decided to buy this book to help us work our way around Manhattan and see the sights. I can say with 100% that this book was AMAZING! It's pictures and descriptions are right on, and the maps make it completely easy to find all of the points of interest. The subway maps helped to figure out the subway, and the dining list gave plenty of good restaurants to choose from! I love this book, and if I ever take another trip to a big city I will be sure to check and see if there is one of these books for it! Thank you!!



2. This guide lists information about NYC divided into areas of the city. There are great walking tours to use. Eyewitness makes the best guides for travelers.



3. I borrowed this book from a friend due to the fact that my NYC trip was unplanned. I usually am a Lonely Planet fan, but I was left with no choice but to use this one. I am impressed with the quality of the book, and yes, I do agree that this is one that can be browsed after the trip, and not forgotten in an attic. However, the coverage is completely restricted to Manhattan, and the rest of the boroughs are condensed into a "Farther Afield" section. New York City is not equal to Manhattan. Although most of the sights are in Manhattan, I am sure that there are plenty of other sights to see in the other boroughs as well.



4. This is the second book I have for cities and the eyewitness series is simply the best you will find in travel books on a particular city. Great pics, history, maps and things to do.
   
   Don't waste time on other books, get these for your travels.



5. I was recommended to buy this product by a friend - great helper when exploring the city.You have maps, admissions (eventhough not always correct), opening times and where to eat as well.Absolutely amazing value for your money.

1 comments about Frommer's Alaska Cruises & Ports of Call 2008 (Frommer's Cruises).

1. Excellent book. Very useful for anyone traveling to Alaska whether on a cruise or land tour.

5 comments about Japan (Country Guide).

1. THe book has a lot of information, it covers everything you will need to do in Japan. I stayed at the Washington hotel in Sujuku, Tokyo, a great location and a nice quiet, clean and efficient room.
   
   I DID NOT like the layout of the book. It was difficult to find things to refer back as a reference. THey are not listed in a logical order, some under activities, some under sights and not much of anything listed under the index. So, if I am trying to find a sight that I remember was mentioned in the book, chances are, it would not be in the index and I would have to sift through the pages and guess where the location was or, use a lot of bookmarks for easy refererence.
   
   Also, the location of the sight is not clearly marked. This can be a problem since Tokyo's train stations are so large, without specifics, you may get off at the site and wander around until you can find someone who speaks English and is willing to help, not always easy.



2. For years, Lonely Planet's Japan guide has been the benchmark among the many books available on the trendiest country in East Asia. The latest edition of their Japan guide continues to provide the high quality their readers have come to expect.
   
   High points of this edition include:
   
   - LP's authors seem to have found something to do in nearly every corner of Japan. While I still believe that to enjoy Japan best you must find your own places to enjoy - not just the ones within walking distance of a Starbucks - LP will help keep you from getting lost as you make your way from the train station to the twice-daily bus on the way to the Onsen In The Middle Of Nowhere (and if there is a Starbucks nearby that onsen, they'll tell you about that, too).
   
   It's especially helpful that they list smaller diversions like the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum right along side of more famous attractions such as Yokohama's Chinatown - these are very helpful for people with a couple of hours to burn while they wait for their train.
   
   - Restaurant suggestions. I don't use LP's restaurant choices religiously, but they are extremely helpful if you're unused to Japanese food (or with someone new to it); LP lists everything from high-end kaiseki restaurants to railway-station ramen stands to chain izakaya (pubs) with English menus - the last are an excellent way to try out different types of Japanese food without the guesswork.
   
   -Lodging. LP shines here in their recommendations of ryokan (Japanese style-inns) and minshuku (pensions), most of which don't appear on Expedia or even Japanese-language websites. These are great places to enjoy real Japanese hospitality, and LP knows which ones are welcoming to foreigners, which have the best food, and which have the best onsen (hot springs).
   
   -Japanese text. I can't emphasize this enough - it's absolutely critical to have Japanese translations of city names, train stations, attractions, and other important locations (hospitals, anyone?) written in Japanese as well as English. If you speak little or no Japanese, the text not only helps you read most signs outside of the major metro areas, it helps you to ask for directions, navigate restaurant menus, and maybe even learn some kanji.
   
   Here are a few things I took issue with in this edition:
   
   -Inaccurate transportation information. Don't worry, LP is generally reliable throughout the book and won't steer you wrong. The problem is what gets left out, particularly in the airport transportation category. For example, nobody bothers to tell you that Keikyu Railways provides service to Haneda Airport from Shinagawa for less money and in a shorter time than the Tokyo Monorail, which is silly because the last edition of the guide didn't make this mistake.
   
   LP also heartily recommends taking the Keisei tokkyu limited express service from Narita Airport instead of the all-reserved Skyliner. Don't even *think* about this if you have heavy baggage or are unused to crowds in Japan. The tokkyu is a commuter train and you'll be riding with several hundred close (literally) Japanese friends by the time you reach Ueno.
   
   -Toyoko Inn. LP directs budget travelers to this chain of cookie-cutter business hotels several times in this edition. Although Toyoko Inn is very popular among foreign travelers in Japan because of their English website and free rice-ball breakfasts, the chain is often more expensive than hotels with better service. Toyoko Inn's "Flintstones-tech" beds (my term) are my archenemy after repeatedly messing up my back. Do yourself a favor and make reservations at Toyoko's rival, Route Inn. Route Inn hotels have a free full breakfast for those who book online, often include a free onsen in the hotel, have more comfortable beds than Toyoko, and have rates that are often lower.
   
   In addition, Tokyu Hotels, Sunroute Hotels, Solare Hotels, Washington Hotels, and other business hotel chains have English websites that deserve your attention before Toyoko.
   
   -The "Safety" section lists what to do in case of fire and earthquake, but doesn't mention typhoons. Although most modern Japanese buildings are safe refuges in a typhoon, LP ought to devote at least a paragraph to safety precautions to take if you get stuck in a city in a typhoon's path - and several hit Japan every summer and fall.
   
   -LP's traditional wittiness is lessened somewhat as their writers turn over. Last edition's clever description of active volcano Sakurajima was: "Looming over Kagoshima is the brooding cone of this decidedly hyperactive volcano." The new authors call it "frisky." Say it with a knowing smile, folks: "Frisky" does not go in the same sentence as "volcano."
   
   Although again there isn't a overwhelming amount of new information in this book, LP's guide fits into the travel plans of just about anyone: Hardcore backpackers, exchange students, couples and even business travelers will all find the something useful in the guide for them.
   
   As always, the LP guide remains your best bet for exploring Japan.



3. Everything about modern and traditional Japan with emphasis on travel and living related information....open source travel guide to Japan, featuring up-to-date information on attractions, hotels, restaurants, nightlife, travel tips and more



4. Although Lonely Planet has good contents about all the places to visit, the suggested walks aren't as good as others. The complete descripitions of all the places doesn't orientate first vists wiht "don't live Tokyo withot.." suggestions. Terrible maps and no pictures make this guide a real bible.. not to talk about its size...



5. We've travelled all over the world using Lonely Planet guide books, and we've had a great experience with them. The Japan book on the other hand was the most useless guide book I have ever seen. We would arrive in a bustling part of Tokyo, open the book, and it would say, "just walk around, everything is good." I didn't spend $25 on a guidebook for that. The whole book seemed lazy, there were maps printed upside down, sights they write about and don't place on their maps and the most amazing things we did in Kyoto weren't in the book, we learned about them through our hostile. If you are going to Japan, don't buy this book, I would have preferred to have no book at all because I spent so much time frustrated at this book.

2 comments about Fodor's Italy 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. The Fodor's guide is the best guide to Italy out of all the other major travel guide brands. I looked at all of the books and eventually chose this one.
   
   Just as a background, I will be going to Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome) on an educational trip in 2009.
   
   This guide will give an overview of each area (eateries, places to see, things to do, hotels) but then gives a detailed list of everything. Maps are provided for easy locating.
   
   There is also a giant tear-out map which is also a plus.
   
   This book was considered alongside Lonely Planet, Frommers, and Rick Steve.
   
   I will definitely get the 2009!



2. This book is an excellent tool if you are going to Italy...visited 10 cities and several side excursions..used the book for EVERYTHING I needed to know where ever I was!! Certainly worth the price...don't leave home without it!!

5 comments about The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific.

1. I just finished "Sex Lives of Cannibals" with that relaxing sense of satisfaction. It started off slowly, but picked up quickly. Troost's personal approach to the native island lifestyle and environment are both informative and engaging. I also enjoyed the humor he wove into every one of his experiences, from serious to silly. I felt it gave a decently balanced viewpoint on the struggles surrounding island life.
   
   My only wish is that he would of been a little more scenically detailed and included more historical material. Yet, as he says, most of their history is oral so, I suppose one could only glean so much...
   
   All in all, it was a great read. Being a fan of witty travel logs, like bill bryson, Troost has become my new favorite!



2. The title led me to believe this book would concern the exploits of a drunken fraternity boy. I almost put the book aside without reading it, but you can't tell a book by . . . well, you know.
   
   Luckily, I read the first few pages. I got hooked. It turns out the narrator is an intelligent, literate, self-deprecating observer of his own culture shock as he and his wife immerse themselves into a world quite different from our own. "Sex Lives" is a great read--well written and informative.
   
   By the way, the only cannibals on Tarawa are the dogs. When the local residents aren't hunting them for food, they are hunting each other. Life is hard on Tarawa. It is also surprising and funny.



3. Funny story that really isn't about the sex lives of cannibals, although a bit of the sex lives of the Kiribati who live on Tarawa does play into this goofy first-hand account of a man and his, ahem, "wife" (girlfriend) who spent two years there. While the author is annoyingly and self-consciously cute and flippant as a post-graduate slacker in Washington, DC, he becomes more likable and funny as an out-of-place unemployed author, ahem, "slacker" in Tarawa, where it easy to laugh and feel sympathetic as he describes his experience of trying to swim back to the reef which locals are using as a very public outhouse. Or his other disillusioning experiences in Tarawa.
   
   Pair this with Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before to complete your world-tour of South Pacific disillusionment.
   
   Troost also wrote a sequel that didn't quite live up to Sex Lives for me: Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu.
   
   And if you are interested in more historical background on Tarawa, Homer Hickam (yes, the October Sky guy) has written a World War II historical novel based on the action there that is a nice companion as well: The Far Reaches (Josh Thurlow Series #1)



4. Having finished graduate studies in International Relations, Troost (he's Dutch) finds himself unclear on the next career step, so he accompanies his girlfriend who takes a job as an aid worker in Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas), where he tries to write a novel and has funny experiences.
   
   Troost is funny, sarcastic, and self-deprecating. I enjoyed much of the book. If I were reading the stories periodically (e.g., on a blog or in an occasional email), I would have found it even more funny, but in rapid sequence the style got tiresome (especially in the middle of the book). At times the humor felt unpleasantly smug (although I give him credit for being as deprecating to himself as to others).
   
   He also sheds some light on a part of the world that I know very little about: life on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific? It's a whole different world, one very different from other poor countries. When he includes history, he succeeds in making it entertaining. Ultimately, though, most of the book felt like a trifle: I enjoyed it on net but considered stopping halfway and am not rushing out to read his two more recent books (about life in Vanuatu and travels in China). Sort of like he says himself: "I like my entertainment not too serious, not too stupid, sort of like this book" (p84).
   
   I listened to the unabridged audiobook narrated by Simon Vance (British accent) and published by Blackstone Audio (7 CDs). The narration was good.
   
   [Note on content: This book is not about anyone's sex life, has very little sexual content, very little violence, but a significant amount of strong language.]



5. It's rare to find a book that is so amusing you're giggling every chapter or so. This is one of those books. The title is ridiculous, as the book has nothing at all to do with the sex lives of cannibals. This is the adventures of Troost and his girlfriend who go to live on the atoll Tarawa in the Pacific. He tells of his adventures--fishing for shark, boogie boarding on 25ft waves, trying to find fresh water to drink and preserving each drop, looking for something other than fish to eat. He tells of his thoughts--comparing this life (which is desolate to the nth degree) to that of Europe (his native land) and the U.S. Not only funny, but insightful. I hated for their journey--this book-- to end.

5 comments about Streetwise Washington, DC Map - Laminated City Street Map of Washington, DC.

1. This map was a great help when we were in DC - the detail was fantastic and it was easy to tote around. The enlarged detail for the national mall was extremely helpful
   
   one small detraction - the print is small - so be warned



2. When I moved to DC I had only been there one additional time, my job interview! My friends got me a guide book for moving to DC and this map. It saved my life the first trip to DC on a weekend, and it helped me explore great dining since I knew how far it was to walk or Metro. I love this map so much I know have one for most cities I visit, like Manhattan!



3. Map is extremely small and difficult to read. It did help but, it was not easy to use, especially while driving when information is needed rapidly.



4. This was the best source for helping us maneuver through the maze of buildings, monuments, and memorials in Washington, DC. The map is very functional. Flip it one way and you see the Metro, flip it another way you see the mall, still another and you have a DC area map. Since it's laminated, I kept it in my pocket while walking around and didn't worry about it getting sweaty or damaged. I really like the detailed names of the buildings and monuments near and around the national mall. Metro stops and streets are well marked. The next best thing to GPS.



5. We used this guide everyday of our trip to Washington, DC. The subway guide was especially useful. I never felt lost, and didn't waste any time trying to figure out where to go. It was such an important thing to have each day, we double checked each time we left the hotel to make sure we had it. I highly recommend it.