5 comments about Mexico (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. I've been to Mexico twice, and I'm in love with it. I was planning a special short trip on Easter week this year, but because of personal reasons I couldn't go. In my frustration, I went to the book store and looked at every guide about Mexico, and to my surprise, this was the most complete. The rest were just text. I bought it inmediately, and while I read it I traveled without leaving home. The most importante feature is the abundance of pictures.

   If you are planning to travel to Mexico, or just enjoy learning about other countries, this book should be part of your collection.




2. I've used Eyewitness guides for about 10 years. I quite like the way they are organized. Strong points of these guides include:
   (1) Historical timeline; key points identified with good breadth & depth
   (2) Traveler's Survival Guide section has accurate & helpful information
   (3) Wonderful walking guides with three-dimensional maps so that one does not overlook the not-to-be missed sites, monuments, buildings, works of art, cultural highlights, etc.
   (4) Well-organized into provinces and major sections of cities that help trememdously in mazimizing time so that one is not back-tracking or wandering hither and yon.
   (5) Many good color photos and illustrations of major attractions
   My one major dissatisfaction is that no phonetic pronunciation of cities, attractions, historical figures, etc. is included. That one small feature would be tremendously helpful and appreciated.



3. I love the Eyewitness Travel Guides, I already have some of them, and because of my great experience with them in Prague, Italy, Russia, and other places, I wanted to get the one for Mexico. But once I got it I was already disapointed by its size being half of the other ones that I got. The regions that interested my most was Guadalajara and Jalisco, which are only described on 2-3 pages, although being the colonial hartland of Mexico. A lot of emphasis is put on Mexico City, and the Jucatan Area. So if you travel there, I can recomend the book. For those who dont like to travel to the typical touristy areas, i'd say rather not.



4. Since my husband and I discovered the Eyewitness travel guidebooks that's all we buy. It's not very analytical but it gives a good overview of what you shouldn't miss (places, food, shopping). We recently went to Mexico City for a week and this guide was very helpful. I am only giving four stars because we would have preferred to have a guide only about Mexico City rather than all Mexico (like we have for Paris) but DK did not publish it yet.



5. EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDES are the best guides you could find. I've bought every one they have published to the places I have visited, and always know where I want to go and what are the most important places to visit,
   with the pictures and 3D images of the buildings and maps I don't get surprises as to visit a place not worth while. You optimize your travel time. I have about twenty of their guides, just hope they increase the places they review in the near future.
   I'm from Mexico and found it very useful.

5 comments about Morocco (Country Guide).

1. I love this books, they are the best travel guides. The book was in perfect condition and it arrived on time.



2. For a recent trip to Morocco, I bought the 2007 edition of Lonely Planet's MOROCCO guide alongside its major competitor, The Rough Guide to Morocco. While Lonely Planet's guide covers the major sights and will be just the thing for casual holiday makers, it unfortunately continues the publisher's trend of abandoning "travel as lifestyle" readers, once Lonely Planet's target demographic.
   
   If you intend on slowly working your way through the whole of Morocco, seeking contact with the locals at all cost, and traveling cheaply, then Lonely Planet guide is not really worth it. LP seems to assume that the reader is rich: it recommends expensive hotels and suggests that one hire guides. It also doesn't push people to meet ordinary Moroccans. Hammams (Turkish-style baths) are a great way to enter into local custom, but instead of listing ones patronized by the locals, LP often lists expensive spa-type locations. Morocco is also a paradise for hitchhiking, where again one is brought directly into contact with people not in the tourist trade, but LP doesn't pitch it.
   
   Comparing the LP to the Rough Guide to Morocco, the Rough Guide comes out on top. Sure, the presence of a few ads in the text, and the fact that the Rough Guide line is published by the faceless corporation Penguin, are annoying. Nonetheless, the Rough Guide caters to all audiences, both the wealthy and shoestring travelers. The Rough Guide also describes Morocco in considerably more detail than the Lonely Planet guide, gives substantial recommendations on music, books, and film from or about Morocco, and even includes a few tales by Moroccan traditional storytellers.
   
   Ahough both publishers have put out 2007 editions, the Rough Guide is more up to date than the Lonely Planet. An increasing number of travelers are heading down through Western Sahara to Mauritania and beyond. This route has gotten easier, with transportation now easy available from Dakhla. But Lonely Planet's coverage of this entire area seems to have changed little since the 2005 guide, and the authors still claim you have to provide your own transportation.
   
   I found really only two points in favour of purchasing the Lonely Planet guide. One is a large section dedicated to trekking, which the Rough Guide lacks (though here it again assumes that the readers are wealthy). The other is that LP's maps are slightly more detailed for some cities than those in the Rough Guide. All in all, if you are a wealthy traveler looking for a relaxing but exotic vacation, you can ignore all that I've written and buy LP's guide with confidence. If you are an independent traveler planning on trekking, get both the LP and the Rough Guide. But the backpacking and hitchhiking crowd can just get the Rough Guide and pass the LP by.



3. I used the Lonely Planet Morocco guidebook this past summer in 2007 for about a three week trip. I spoke no French or Arabic so needless to say I was pretty much dependent on the guidebook to give me a basic overview of the cities I visited. I really didn't have a definite itinerary so using the information from the guide I was able to make arrangements on the go. I liked how the chapters were organized and the breakdown of logistical information was really helpful. The maps in the guidebook were pretty basic and sometimes more confusing than helpful.
   I truly benefited from my use of the guidebook and without it I don't know what I would have done. However, I did have a few dislikes. First, this book is extremely heavy so I ended up ripping out pages I needed. Second, Lonely Planet devotes a good amount of pages to history and culture, which is interesting yet not always directly useful to the traveler on the road. Also, I found the descriptions of the hotels under the budget heading in Rabat and Ouzoude to be sub-par to their gushing descriptions in LP. And a negative aspect I encountered in Morocco, especially in Fes, was that hoteliers were using their exposure in LP to hawk their hotels. One place I inquired after even raised prices because they were featured in LP. The overbearing and opinioned tone of the guidebook can be off-putting as well. And, I had some of my most memorable experiences when I put aside that LP guidebook.
   LP gives a rough sketch of the cities and is a great tool in researching a place ahead of time. And does a great job in serving as a jump-off point for further exploration and adventure.



4. This book disappointed me. The info is cursory, at best. But what is profoundly disappointing is that there is basically *no* help in selecting or planning a trip. All that it amounts to is a catalog of places, with a summary about each place. If what you want is page after page of what, basically, you could get with a cursory web search, then this is your book. If what you want is a little help in picking what to do on a trip to Morocco, then buy something else, like the Rough Guide or even the excellent Fodor guide.



5. This is yet another informative and useful travel guide from Lonely Planet. Almost all the descriptions are very detailed and accurate. I recently came back from a rather short, but power packed tour of Morocco and this guide helped me plan the trip very well.
   The supplemental information about the food, sweets, history and culture is very helpful.
   
   It only seems to lack in providing a list of tour companies that can arrange trips into Sahara. It is very difficult for a solo backpacker to plan a trip to the desert without being ripped by the travel agents and the so called faux guides.

5 comments about Frommer's Alaska 2008 (Frommer's Complete).

1. This will be my first visit to Alaska and I purchased the book to help me make the most of the trip.



2. This is an must for the tourist who wants to know something about the area they will be visiting. It is full of good info for a person going on a cruise. It has helped us to plan our days in the different ports we will visit. We highly recommend this book.



3. Frommer's Alaska 2008 proved to be as complete a vacation guide as we'd expected from previous worldwide books purchased under this name previously.



4. My wife and I are in our 30s, and took our first trip to Alaska to cruise and see the beauty of the coast and its wildlife. In preparation for the trip, we bought 3 books: (1) Frommers Alaska, (2) Lonely Planet - Alaska, and (3) Fodor's Ports of Call. If you are taking a cruise, and are buying less than 3 books (or if you don't want to check a 2 pound book in your luggage) - then you should not buy Frommer's Alaska.
   
   Frommers Alaska is the largest / thickest of the books discussed above, but much of the information is irrelevant to a cruise ship passenger (cities in the deep interior, hotels, suggested 2 week-long itineraries, etc). There is one 20 page chapter, not written by the author, devoted to choosing a cruise-line, which can be helpful. However, better information can be found in a cruise-specific "ports of call" book.
   
   One of the irritating aspects of the Frommers Alaska book, is the author's negativity towards cruise vacationers. Every chapter that discusses a port, includes a backhand remark regarding cruisers / tourists. It is much more pleasant to plan the vacation using a book that is more cruiser-friendly (or at least neutral, such as Lonely Planet).
   
   Frommers Alaska is geared towards the land-traveler, and cruise passengers are better served with a cruise-specific book.



5. Great Book! Really helped us while in Alaska. Don't go there without it

5 comments about Lonely Planet Tokyo Encounter.

1. When we were planning our trip to Japan, we purchased The Rough Guide to Japan and The Lonely Planet Guide to Tokyo. Reading through the Lonely Planet Guide, I found very little that sounded worth doing or seeing. The same items described in The Rough Guide were much more intriguing. So I chose what to see and do based on The Rough Guide.
   Close to the time of our trip, someone who had just been to Japan recommended The Time Out Guide to Tokyo for the maps. But when it came time for planning the details of the tour - where the chosen attractions were located, when they were open, and how to get from here to there, the maps and the details in the descriptions in The Lonely Planet Guide were far more useful than those in the other two books. For practical use, I have given this book four stars.



2. This book needs to come with a free magnifying glass.
   
   I recently purchased the 2007 edition of Tokyo Encounter by Lonely Planet. We will be flying to Tokyo in November, 2007. They condensed the size of this book to fit into a pocket and as a result, the print is tiny and difficult to read. In fact, much of the print actually cannot be read without straining the eyes or needing a magnifying glass. The highlighted areas are shaded in pinks, greens, blues and the print on those shaded areas is ridiculously even more reduced to the point it cannot be read. This book is only for those with 20/10 vision and for those who carry along a pocket magnifying glass. Otherwise, don't spend your money.



3. I had no idea this book was so small until I received it, and I don't mind it at all. I have other Japan travel books by Frommer's and Fodor's so this thin book was a blessing.
   
   Another reviewer mentioned needing a magnifying glass to read, but I can read it fine and so can my husband -- we're twenty-somethings and he wears glasses -- so I think that if you have grandchildren or existing eyesight problems then yes, it might be an issue.
   
   For me, the bright colors behind the text were no problem. I love how colorful everything is -- EVERY page is in color. Great photos and summaries of the top "must do" attractions.
   
   The descriptions are short to keep the size of the book down, but they list all essential info: name in english AND hiragana/kanji/katakana (really handy!), address, hours of operation, admission fees (if applicable), a URL if they have one and what train to take to what stop and even what exit to use from the station. AWESOME.
   
   The only blemish on this otherwise amazing book is the foldout map. Mind you the map itself is helpful as heck, what with the Tokyo subway system map included, close-ups of three popular neighborhoods, every sight listed in the book listed on the map with appropriate designations (a2, d4, etc), and even helpful phrases such as "hello" and "two beers please." However, the perforation on my copy was poor and the map was glued in VERY crooked. While trying to carefully pull the map out like was intended, it pulled the cover from the back of the book. I should have just cut it with scissors in retrospect, but that was the point of the map: to pull it out easily. When I got it loose, it was difficult to pull the excess paper from the perforation. So just cut out your map out of your copy of the book and you won't have any problems!
   
   Oh, and the super-glossy parts of the front and back covers are just slick as hell.



4. First of all let me say that I do love this book. Next time I head to Tokyo, it will be in my bag. That said, I think the book could have gone a bit better in actually making a specific Akihabara section of the book, as it is, Akihabara is kind of mashed into the rest of Tokyo when it is a very distinct part of the town with excellent shopping opportunities. Mentioning what goes on in Akihabara on Sunday would be good too. Having a section on cheap eats would be good too, most of the places listed in the book are all higher class. Having some of the little one counter shops listed where you buy a ticket to select your meal would make it a bit more of a fun book.



5. This is really a beautiful book, with lots of colorful pictures and everythig. It's very concise and small, what is really good and easy to carry.
   
   It does not have as many information as other books, but is one of the best I've ever purchased.
   
   I reccomend.

5 comments about Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Family in the Heart of Italy.

1. I loved this book. Wine, food, gossip, history - who could ask for more. Page 128 has a story of a wedding that will have you rolling on the floor with glee. The only drawback is trying to find a bottle of Vestini Campagnano Pallagrello Bianco - which Mr. Esposito describes as, '..being seduced in a Pompeii brothel before the volcano erupted.'



2. Sergio Esposito, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich started Italian Wine Merchants in 1999, a retail shop that sells fine Italian wines. There are many interesting wines on offer, the staff is knowledgeable and helpful, and the weekly and monthly emails provide a wonderful education on Italian wines and wine in general.
   
   The emails are written by Esposito, and this wonderful book is a perfect example of Esposito's warm and educational style of writing. He starts his memoir with a description of an idyllic childhood in the slums of Naples: he remembers that "women lowered baskets from their balconies to buy the fish straight from the sea and grapes straight from the vine."
   
   When he was a child, his family moved from Naples to Albany, New York. Esposito writes movingly about the transition: The pasta they ate in Italy had been laid in the middle of the street, "so that the unique combination of Mediterranean and mountain winds would dry it in just the right way, to produce the perfect texture when it was boiled." His first pasta in Albany was "mushy ...like glue in my throat."
   
   Esposito describes his travels as a student and as a wine merchant with great enthusiasm. Wine geeks will love passages like these, this one about Friulian winemaker Josko Gravner:
   
   "Gravner is a proponent in the use of open-top wood vats, extended maceration on the grape skins, no added yeasts, no sulphur dioxide, and no temperature control--purely natural winemaking. This is Josko's current position, and he employs both amphorae and large oak barrels to make his three wines; Collio Breg, Ribolla Gialla, and Rosso Gravner. The grapes for these wines come from his 18 hectares of vineyards in Gorizia (Oslavia) that straddle the Italian-Slovenian border. It is here that he exercises his current approach to wine: 'I am convinced that wine is a product of Nature, not of Man, whose role therefore is to accompany its maturation process while avoiding any artificial intervention.'"
   
   Any reader with the least interest in Italy will love his descriptions of the food and vintages he consumes on his adventures. For example, in one Roman restaurant, a white wine "smelled of apricots, white flowers, dried honey, nuts ... [I] got the sensation that I was being seduced in a Pompeii brothel before the volcano erupted."
   
   Bill Buford is glowing in his praise: "Without qualification, the best book about Italian wine today, if only because Sergio Esposito understands that its mysterious greatness is in its poetry--the earth, its diurnal magic, the ghosts of great-grandfathers. A beautiful, boldly sentimental memoir."
   
   As a long time reader of Esposito's prose, I couldn't agree more. Wine, of course, food, family, travel, more -- an absolute delight.
   
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008



3. Esposito write with a real zest for wine and the food that accompanies it.He provides the reader with a large amount of historical information about the origin and development of the Italian wine industry. However he gives the reader little insight in how he got to where he is and how he made his business a success - if in fact it is. Finally one has to ask the question - how does he survive so much food and drink in a day only to get up and start all over? Yeah, yeah I am Italian American and I couldn't come close to what he says he does.



4. Although I don't have even a single corpuscle of Italian blood in me, my wife is 100%. Her grandparents on both sides were immigrants who came to Newark from the town of Avellino, which is about 45 minutes east of Naples, and if known at all in America, it's probably as the alleged hometown of Tony Soprano. Naples, of course, is far more famous for crime, but it's also the ancestral home of Sergio Esposito, author of Passion on the Vine, and it provides the springboard for his worldview and life's work.
   
   So I know a little about life in a Southern Italian family, at least through osmosis. It would also probably constitute full disclosure to add that I have an amateur's abiding interest in Italian wine, as evidenced by a number of Amazon reviews I've written on books that deal with this specific subject.
   
   
   Throw in the fact that I've been to Esposito's Italian Wine Merchant store in Manhattan a number of times, and you'll probably understand why I had certain preconceptions about this book before I ever opened it. In hindsight, I probably would have been better served if I had read it blind (pardon the atrocious mixed metaphor), and like a blind wine tasting, known nothing about it before I tried it. I was kind of hoping for a book that celebrated the true and the beautiful in Italian wine, but also the accessible, in the sense that you shouldn't need to take out a home equity loan before you buy, as would be the case if you were chasing '05 first growth Bordeaux. You certainly can find good, authentic QPR (quality/price ratio) wines in Esposito's store. Unfortunately, you won't find them in the book, but I'll return to this theme later.
   
   Passion on the Vine really isn't a traditional wine expert's memoir (here I lump together the works of intrepid importers like Kermit Lynch and writer/educators like Gerald Asher), because the story of Esposito's Neapolitan family is deeply woven into the narrative. It's a relatively engaging immigrants' tale, and the personalities of his parents, uncles and aunts especially come to life and remind me sharply of my wife's many relatives who still live in Avellino. But if your goal in reading this book is full immersion in the contemporary Italian wine scene, you may be disappointed by the family details that spill across the pages at the expense of more stories about wine. Or maybe you'll love them. You'll also probably find more details about the food he's eaten than the wines he's consumed, but that goes with the territorio.
   
   Accordingly, I'm not going to recount the "portrait of the wine merchant as a young man" story since that's not of real interest to me. For me, the first half of the book seemed to drag on and occasionally frustrated me. There are a few strange things I noted, like how his transplanted family appears to have suddenly gone from near abject poverty in Albany to relative affluence in Scottsdale without explanation, and occasional incomprehensible statements, like when he describes one of his early mentors as a true "scientist," since no one can reproduce his experiments. I also can't for the life of me figure out why he would effectively call the initial investors in The Italian Wine Merchant a bunch of clueless Wall Street boobs who couldn't understand how a store could only sell Italian wines, but then gave him the money anyway. At times the book reminded me of the scene in Animal House when Bluto says "...was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" Otter whispers to Boon, "Germans?" And Boon replies, "Don't stop him, he's rolling."
   
   Esposito seems to believe he alone invented the idea that a store dedicated to Italian wine could succeed in the US, although he didn't get around to opening the store until 1998. I recall shopping in a wonderful Italian food and wine store in Chicago in the early `80's called Convito Italiano, at a time when Esposito was still in knickers. The profiled producers (see next paragraph) were mostly all well established when Victor Hazan wrote his wonderful guide simply called Italian Wine, published in 1982.
   
   When we finally get to Italy on business, the chapters are mostly arranged around visits to iconic, world-renowned properties (Bartolo Mascarello, Biondi Santi, Soldera, Josko Gravner), each singled out I presume for their respect for the land and what I might term modern traditionalism, where the best of the past is effectively preserved and enhanced by application of non-interventionist technical advances. Like I said before, these are fiendishly expensive wines that all sell for $100 a bottle or more, so don't come looking for bargains here. But Esposito has a real gift for letting the winemakers tell their own stories. The chapter on biodynamics, for example, unfolds as a Socratic dialog between a Serbian winemaker and the author's wife. It is unquestionably the best and most entertaining introduction to the how's and why's of biodynamics I've encountered, and should be required reading for anyone who wants a primer on biodynamic theory and practice. The wines you read about here are mostly true vini di meditazione, so much so in fact that when visiting legendary Barolo producer Bartolo Mascarello, the winemaker sits mute for an hour smelling the wine and smiling to himself. Except for the fact that's he's confined to a wheelchair, all that's missing is the lotus position.
   
   Esposito isn't afraid to reveal his personal foibles to the reader. He's impatient, petulant, self-absorbed, and even downright mean at times, particularly when he openly baits the effeminate son of one of his wine producers with a string of female names like Coco Chanel and Ursula Andress. Is he a homophobe? Well, that's passion of a different kind.
   
   I recognize this review is getting a little off topic, not unlike the way my initial expectations wandered from where they started. Read this book as a cultural history based on Italian family, food and wine in that order and you'll probably love it. Despite my grape gripes, I enjoyed a lot of it, and I don't think anyone could have summed it up better than Gianfranco Soldera, quoted after another prodigious Italian meal recounted by the author: "La storia, la famiglia, il cibo, il vino. Questa e la vita dell'uomo. History, family, food, wine. This is the life of man." A bottle of the wine they drank that afternoon, the '99 Casse Basse Soldera Brunello, isn't available at the Italian Wine Merchant, but you can get the '01 on pre-arrival for a little less than three hundred smackers a bottle if you inquire now.



5. PASSION ON THE VINE is a deeply moving, eloquent and personal expression of his love for the essence of Italian wine and its inextricable, sensual and sacred relationship with the land, its people, its culture and of course it's food. As an accomplished cook, my most surprising discovery on my first trip to Italy (Tuscany) was not the quality of the food - I've had comparable quality in LA - but how the experience of food was imbued with wine and the company of friends at table. Nothing was "segmented", nothing was rushed or regarded as "food as fuel" as in the US. It that moment, my understanding of Italian food at a soul level incarnated. And that was my experience reading Sergio's book: this is a very challenging, profound and intimate concept to communicate and he did it masterfully.

3 comments about Come, reza, ama / Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia.

1. Con humor y realismo Elizabeth Gilbert explora su esencia espiritual llevando al lector a encontrarse con ella cara a cara en su camino. Cada mujer que lee este libro puede identificarse con muchas de las experiencias de crecimiento personal y espiritual. Esta es una comedia divina que todas vivimos y pocas podemos articular.



2. Este libro es para cualquier mujer, de cualquier edad y condición, porque todas encontrarán en él algo con lo que identificarse.
   Gilbert aborda con cierto humor y con inteligencia temas como el amor y el desamor, la vida, el éxito, el fracaso, la espiritualidad, el auto-conocimiento y mucho más.



3. This book is amazing. I bought it cause one person in my family is going through something similar and it has really helped me to give her advice. I haven't finish the book but i can't stop reading it. Definitely something that happens to many women.

5 comments about Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle.

1. Every Neil Peart book is better than the last. Don't get me wrong, I like them all, but he is making incredible strides as a storyteller with each book. His writing is so good now that you really care what he's going to have for breakfast in Denver, or if he'll change his bike's oil in Dallas or Oklahoma City. Simple everday things, for sure. But the prose are so riveting, he makes you want to know.
   
   I admit I'm a huge Rush fan, and I know that influences my enjoyment of his books. But I am also a published author, and I can recognize the work of a talented writer. His musical talents aside, Peart can write, and it seems that he's found a perfect niche in these travel memoirs.
   
   Even if you're not into Rush, give this book (or one of his other books) a chance. His books are hidden gems in the literary world that I fear may not be fully appreciated.



2. I found this book very interesting as I am intrested in my favorite performers lives. The only reason I gave it 4 and not 5 stars is because of the constant Christian bashing. It's obvious Neil is very bitter about Christianity for whatever reason. He never really tells us why. He did mention that after the tradgedies happened in his life that the Bible was no help. He quotes all the church signs he comes across in his journeys through the US. I agree that some of them were over the top but others had a good message. As a Christian myself I am praying for Neil. I pray God will change his heart and turn his face toward Christ.



3. Full disclosure here; I've been a loyal Rush fan since I first heard them back in 1979. With that said, being a fan only adds to the enjoyment of reading the smooth and vividly descriptive writing of Neil Peart.
   
   He did a fantastic job of giving the reader a candid look at the band, their history, backstage antics and the more indecorous side of the music business. He does an equally impressive job of describing the freedom, beauty, aroma, and adventure of touring our beautiful country on a motorcycle. As a "Beemer" rider myself, I share his love for the open road. I can relate to the sights, sounds and exhilarating thrill each mile brings; I often found myself "riding with him".
   
   Throughout the book you will find many examples of his quest for perfection in his music, practice, and performance. (To those of us who've had the pleasure of attending a Rush concert, that discipline is readily apparent) At times he appears a bit fussy when things do not go according to his plans (but then, don't we all?). He reviews his performances probably more harshly than the most anal music critic, often not giving himself the credit due for such great performances; all while enduring the trials and tribulations of living on the road. The book describes in detail what it's like to tour with the band all that it brings, and at the same time portrays his private struggle of carrying on while overcoming insurmountable loss; pleasing everyone but himself. He describes the delicate balance of work and home life in living color.
   
   I came to admire his methodical, exacting approach toward his music, writing, and riding. In addition to the portrayal of one who is fun-loving and self effacing, you will also find by reading this book that he is an intensely private person with a close circle of steadfast friends, which I'm sure is a luxury at his status.
   
   In summary, Roadshow is a fantastic book for Rush fans and motorcycle travelers, and more so to those of us who are lucky enough to be both.



4. Neil Peart's books encompass a lot of things which makes them hard to categorize, but if you had to pick one genre, he specializes in Travel Writing -- what he sees, thinks and experiences while traveling around the world via car, bike, or most frequently motorcycles. Most of his books rarely mention his career with Rush. This one chronicles his motorcycle travels during their 2004 30th Anniversary Tour, and its his most straight forward and best to date. Peart writes with a vivid, conversational style that makes it easy to imagine his journey (He travels separately from the tour entourage and keeps a low profile), and he peppers his books with opinions and observations - which are enjoyable whether you are a Rush fan or not. Most of this book is about riding the open highways and enjoying the winding scenic roads of America, Canada and Europe, so this is not the definitive Rush memoir. But if you're open to something intelligent that defies catagorization, this is a very enjoyable read.



5. I wish everyone could appreciate the lonliness of fame. Everyone knows your name and what you do but no one really knows you. Neil Peart is a man of many levels and the fame is only the top level that the world knows and although appreciated for its brilliance, left the rest of him unknown and unappreciated. I am so glad he has chosen to write his mind, as it is+ honest- love it or hateit. It is accepted by those of us who will never be able to get to know him on a personal level to have a random cup of coffee. Written for those of us who just might in an unusual way understand or don't and want to. Hats off!!!

5 comments about Restaurant Financial Basics.

1. I used this book to teach financial management of restaurantes to pupils in a culinary school. It was very usefull and I highly recommend it, especially the chapter where you find the different forms of calculating the price of a dish.



2. This is an excellent book that must be a part of your business library. As essential as any cookbook



3. I am an accountant and this books gives me great ideas to share with my restaurant clients



4. 
   It provided me with the guidelines I was searching for. I needed a model for structure.



5. The book hasn't been used yet for our group discussion at work, but I've looked through it and I'm excited about the book. Its easy to read and understand.

5 comments about Rules, Britannia: An Insider's Guide to Life in the United Kingdom.

1. Whilst scanning my local bookstore's shelves for a quick read I came across "Rules, Britannia" by Toni Summers Hargis. After finishing it (in one sitting) I know not to say "it was 'quite' good", for that would indicate something less than extreme pleasure on my part. "Rules, Britannia" is VERY good, informative and funny and while our language differences deserve credit for the book's inspiration the author has earned all of the rest.
   
   Having grown up on the other side of the pond, Ms. Hargis has spent sixteen years in the States and has a perspective that is most welcome from an American point of view. For those of us who have spent a good amount of time in England, reading "Rules, Britannia" tells one more of the things one doesn't know but probably should. This is not merely a collective glossary of word translations (although at the end of each chapter there is one, relating to that particular chapter) but a look at what every American needs to know upon visiting the mother country. From transportation and food to shopping and partying, the author is a gentle teacher, or perhaps more of a cultural ambassador.
   
   What Toni Hargis does so well is relate things from an English viewpoint. I was surprised to see that the Brits find it very rude if you refer to another person in your midst as "he" or "she", or that if you cannot attend a dinner party it is essential (almost to a comical fault) that you let your host know exactly the reasons WHY you won't be there. I laughed out loud after reading about the fact that Brits never park their car leaving it in gear when the author then goes on to say, "if you borrow someone's car, for heaven's sake don't leave it in gear when you return it, or the owner will kangaroo straight through the garden wall next time the engine's turned on." Who can resist such advice?!
   
   Occasionally, you'll find some repetitions in the book....what you're reading you just read a few pages ago. A couple of additions would be good also... (unless I missed them) when stepping off the pavement make sure to look right before crossing the street (there are reminders on London streets) and if trying to book passage on BritRail on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, forget about it. I suppose this is a way of saying there is probably enough material for another book by author Hargis.....one I would stand hours in a queue to purchase!
   
   I highly recommend "Rules, Brittania". It's practical, down-to-earth and immensely enjoyable.



2. Very funny, easy pick up and put down...and then pick up again. I read parts aloud to my ten year old and she laughed too. Good variety of topics and the website additions helpful. I liked best when she wrote about her American born husband and her children's reactions. The potty talk section really got me laughing.



3. I've now read this book front to back twice and I have found it to be so incredibly helpful as I prepare for my move to the UK in July. I would highly recommend this book to anyone moving from the US to the UK, or the UK to the US...or just anyone interested in British culture, as it is highly entertaining as well as informative.



4. I read through the entire book the first day I got it, and am sure I will reference it again and again before (and probably after) I relocate to London for six months. It's extremely informative, witty and well-written. Many topics are addressed that I hadn't even thought about. It covers do's and don't's for nearly every situation imagineable. The pronunciations and "glossary" sections the end of each chapter are most helpful.



5. This is an excellent "study guide" before going to the UK. I would definitely recommend it from cover to cover. The author is very thorough to the point of giving lists of American words vs. British words with their respective meanings.

5 comments about Turkey (Country Guide).

1. Come ivsit Turkey and use Lonely Planet to help you with your tour! I have lived in Turkey for a year. The Lonely Planet goes everywhere with us...it is worn and bent and highlighted and marked up and excellent. We have been completely happy with all the suggestions from LP. Here is the thing. Turkey is a fabulous country, however, there are a few things LP cannot control.
   
   1. The prices are inaccurate but that is not LPs fault. The Lira is very unstable and has had an outragous inflation rate. Also, you have to be good at bargaining to get a good rate and most of us Westerners are uncomforatble with this.
   
   2. Directions/ getting around....the majority of Turks rely on public transportation. There are VERY FEW road signs if you are driving. LPs maps are great, but unfortunately hard to follow without signs. I know people are sometimes frustrated with the bus routes...they can be inconvienent and drop off in the middle of the night, and hard to find your way around if you don't speak Turkish....again not LPs fault. Just keep asking for someone who speaks English to help you and the hospitable people of Turkey will find someone.
   
   I find LPs history background one of the best things about it. It is just enough to get you interested in seeing a place and you can supplement it by GOING to the museums. We have been 100% satisfied, but you must have realiztic expectations.



2. The proper name of the country is TURKIYE, not turkey. Why do the english speaking countries change the names of all existing countries but yet force those countries to use their own created names? for instance USA. This should not be so. If an existing country has their own name, it shouldnt be changed, therefore it's TURKIYE...........please make a note in the future



3. Im not the kind of guy that usually buys travel guides, but I was impressed with this lonely planet. It has excellent coverage and ideas for alternative trips, and this is the new version which was printer in Apr 07 (so its very upto date) worth purchasing!!



4. Reading the accommodation sections throughout the book and comparing them to the REALITY, I am getting the following impression about "how it works": a person from the Lonely Planet contacts the property and says: "Hi, I am from Lonely Planet travel guide! Would you please tell me how much your rooms are?". The property owners (especuially in Turkey!....) immediately sense a great opportunity for them (their propery is going to be listed in the worldwide travel guide! wow!) and respond to the Lonely Planet with some totally irrelevant, dirt cheap and UNTRUE rates. What happens next? The Lonely Planet prints out that garbage, in many thousand copies. How come EVERY property I contacted quoted me the prices being MULTIPLE TIMES higher, than what the newest, crisp copy of this book says?! I had especially unpleasant experience with the "prominent" Shoestring Pansion in Goreme. When I requested an explanation why the prices they quoted were multiple times higher than the ones listed in the book, our nice and friendly correspondence has abruptly ended. I have never received another word from them. So.... expect to pay for your accommodations in Turkey much more than the Lonely Planet listings and for the Lonely Planet I would wish to investigate the hotel prices in a little more professional way, before they actually give them away to the world.
   Very disappointing!



5. We just used this guide -- thankfully supplemented by others -- to travel around western Turkey, including Izmir, Selcuk and Istanbul. We found it uniformly atrocious. Lonely Planet, I think, enjoys telling you *every* available restaurant, hotel, and cultural attraction, and aggressively refuses to filter. Consequently, we ended up staying at an abysmal hotel in Izmir and eating at any number of subpar restaurants. When we switched to the Time Out guide for Istanbul, we had nothing but success. I recommend Time Out Istanbul in the highest possible terms, and DISrecommend Lonely Planet Turkey with the same intensity.