5 comments about National Geographic Road Atlas - Adventure Edition.

1. This is the best atlas I have ever owned. My husband and I travel out West every year and camp, so this atlas will come in very handy.



2. I last bought the National Geographic Road Atlas in 1998 for a road trip in the USA/Canada and found it to be excellent. I recently purchased the current version and it is even better with a section devoted to top adventures and national Parks in the USA. I have looked at other road atlases and they don't even come close. For anyone looking at travelling to the USA, Canada or Mexico and hiring a car, this is the atlas to get!



3. This Atlas lived up to expectations and more! It is beautifully detailed and easy to read. A little large to handle but small price to pay for good detail.



4. I have used the 1999 edition on road trips for nearly a decade. It is the first thing I pack. Beautiful, accurate, informative, and reliable, it has made the going easier through many strange cities to many remote places in North America. Although I rely more and more on Google Maps now, I still wouldn't take to the highway without this atlas, and I am glad I can replace it with a newer edition. I've never found my copy dated, but it is getting a little tattered.



5. Just as good as the first edition. Most all states are in fact on two pages, so the maps are larger. This edition comes with a protective front and back page that hopefully will keep the atlas looking good and flat till the next new edition comes out. Great Product!

5 comments about Lonely Planet Nicaragua & El Salvador.

1. Lonely Planet is by far the best travel series for independently-minded, backpacking folk. That notwithstanding, my only question for this particular book would have to be: Why did Lonely Planet put Nicaragua and El Salvador together in one book? This seems a bit arbitrary, since (as a native-born Nicaraguan) these are both very different countries with substantially different things to offer a traveler. Additionally, both countries are vibrant enough to each warrant a separate book. But all in all, I think it's still the definitive guidebook for travelers.



2. My trip to Nicaragua has been postponed but it looks like this book will be as helpful to me as the other guides in the Lonely Planet series have been.



3. As ever, Lonely Planet comes through again. It's a comprehensive guide that is essential for travel in these countries. Don't leave home without it!



4. This book came highly recommended and when we decided to visit my husband's country of birth, I thought I better prepare myself. Reading through this book, marking up where I think I might like to go, made me wish I would not have to wait till December to get there. I particularly like the fact that it was a bunch of women on their own who did the research to this book - not being Latina, I know I will stick out when we get there, but I feel that I am warned now and that things might not be as bad as they used to be. I think I might write an update to this review once we have been and tried some of the places described in the book!



5. This guide to Nicaragua and El Salvador isn't great, but if you're traveling to El Salvador, this is all there is.
   
   The book would benefit from better organization, better maps, and less snarkiness. (and why did they put Nicaragua and El Salvador in the same book -- the two countries don't even share a border!) Alas, no other publishers offer a current El Salvador guidebook, so you have no other choices.
   
   When Moon publishes an El Salvador guidebook, I'll be the first in line to buy it...

4 comments about Fodor's Caribbean 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. This book is very informative. The price was very good and it got to me fast!



2. It is difficult finding information on the small island of Dominica. This book covers it and has a lot of useful information, as well as general travel information.



3. Informative and fun, has the facts straight (the few that I can verify as an infrequent but enthusiastic visitor).



4. We were looking for a place to go on our honeymoon in the Caribbean, but could not decide on which island to choose. This guide provided a great table comparing all the islands based on hotels, restaurants, activities, etc. and then a detailed description of each island. Would definitely recomment as a great starting point in planning your Caribbean vacation.

5 comments about Yosemite, The Complete Guide: Yosemite National Park.

1. I purchased several books on Yosemite and found this one to be the
   easiest to read and most useful.



2. A great general information/guide book for Yosemite.
   
   I highly recommend this book for everyone. If you haven't been to Yosemite before, you get high quality photos of what is to come and some great general trail information to help plan your trip. If you have been, it is still a good buy as it is more than just a trail guide. The first 100 pages provide history and geology of the area and are a quick but fun read. In my opinion, it is just a great overall book to own. I plan to purchase the author's books about other National Parks in the future.
   
   I also purchased the Moon book for Yosemite. It has more details on hikes, but for the average vacationer, I think this book is better.



3. Thought this was the best of the Yosemite guides I previewed. Great mini typo maps covering different areas of the park. My only complaint is that the maps are not oriented with North at the top, so it took some time to get the orientation correct. Other than that, the book is great.



4. Bought this book back in March for a trip in early May. At the time, there was only one review, but I bought it anyway as it was the most recently published guide available.
   
   Wow - the day it arrived, I sat down and read it front to back. The history of the park, the geology, the history of the Native Americans who lived on the land ... I was so impressed that it was more than just a "camp here" and "eat here" kind of guide.
   
   What this book has over the others out there:
   - The most gorgeous photos. It made me giddy with excitement to go and see those places for myself!
   - a small but helpful section with pictures of the most common wildlife and plantlife that you encounter in the park (ended more than one debate about "what flower is this?!")
   - Information about the native tribes' names and legends for the features in the park, or other important history of a particular place, highlighted in boxes set off from the main text.
   - A sizeable section on the High Sierra Camps and hikes around them. Absolutely made me want to do the whole circuit (maybe next year...)
   - This guidebook was clearly a labor of love for the author. This wasn't compiled from a bunch of staff travel writers ... it was written by someone who obviously knows the park extremely well and has chosen to highlight only the best parts, to give readers the best experience in Yosemite.
   
   Why this might not be the book for you:
   - There are no compass markings on the detailed mini-maps. This bothered others in my group more than me.
   - Very few details on lodging. Not a problem for me, as I already had accomodations booked, and the lodging choices in the park are few anyhow, but this book is better for planning your TRIP, not your STAY.
   - The descriptions of the hikes are kind of vague. If you are going to Yosemite to back-country hike, this isn't the book for you. If you want the best day (or 2-day) hikes, he hits the great ones. I was relieved to see how well-marked they are once you're on the trail.
   
   I thought this guidebook was absolutely cream of the crop. So did my mother and sister-in-law - they each wanted to steal it from me and keep it as a coffee table book! (I bought them each a copy once we returned home)



5. This guidebook was perfect. It included all the information you would want to know visiting Yosemite. The pictures are beautiful and give you a great idea of what is to come. I think his descriptions of the trails were very accurate and helped make my trip to Yosemite perfect. I am going to buy all his books!!

5 comments about Beijing (City Guide).

1. The information is good but there are no Chinese characters of locations/names to show to taxi drivers. The pronunciations are just too difficult for some one not adept at languages or who has not studied some Chinese. I have taken over a dozen trips to China and find books with Chinese characters far more useful.



2. If you go the largest imported books bookstore in Beijing, which is located in Wangfujing, and grab this title from the shelves, you will find that several paragraphs in the book have been covered with a white paper strip: my own educated guess is that one probably dealt with Beijing's traffic congestion and the other with a certain bloody episode which happened on Tian'anmen Square in 1989.
   
   I asked an employee what this meant. "The content must have been politically harmful", was the answer. There was no trace of embarassment in his voice. Business as usual...
   
   Nevertheless, the book is available. Who will want to buy a blatantly censored copy for what is still a high price remains an open question. This may sound anecdotal but it isn't. It just shows how little things have really changed although China is reputedly the land of Change. I must congratulate the author for having written some "politically incorrect" stuff about Peking (let's stick to the old name, it is so much easier to pronounce), but I have to disagree with his general appraisal of the city. It is quite true that, as he states in the preface, Peking has been a "global irrelevance" for many decades, but it is simply false to claim that it is now an "exciting time" to visit the Chinese capital.
   
   Think about this: John Blofeld (1913-1987), a British scholar who wrote books on Eastern philosophy and religion, and traveled extensively in Asia, including China, reports in one of his travelogues that when he visited Peking in what are for us "the good old times", before the Communist takeover that is, local people were already complaining that the old ways had disappeared.
   
   Today, more than half a century later, after the Great Cultural Revolution and the demolition of the magnificent city walls, Peking finds itself in the midst of what in fact amounts to a second Cultural Revolution: an unprecedented, huge urban overhaul designed to turn it into a futuristic metropolis.
   
   To sum it all up, Peking has completely lost its soul and one must ask: Where is the excitement, really? Are we talking about the five-stars hotels with their international buffets? Are we talking about the fact that local people can now buy French foie gras in the nearest supermarket? Are we talking about those glass and steel skyscrapers that have turned large areas of the city into what looks like a kind of alien Martian base? If that is something that makes you excited, yes, then by all means do visit the city. You will be satisfied.
   
   Leaving aside the architectural monstrosities of the recent past and those that are being built in complete disregard to the ancient city environment, let us have a look at Peking's much publicized cultural heritage. Is it really worth seeing?
   
   My answer is a definite NO. Keep your money for Pompeii, Tikal, Versailles or Angkor Vat. First of all, unless you are acquainted with Chinese culture, chances are that you will not be able to appreciate what you see. Just as it takes some time to appreciate a book or a piece of music. The reason is that Chinese architecture is not spectacular at all. And it is quite devoid of originality. If you have seen one pagoda, you have seen them all. Besides, you probably can't read Chinese characters. Chinese art is an extension of the writing system.
   
   But there are many other factors that combined will probably make a visit to Peking quite disappointing, if not infuriating (for a sensitive traveler, that is). First of all, the crowds of tourists, both foreign and Chinese. They are overwhelming (and unfortunately most interesting sites have rather short opening hours). Second, the ruthless commercialism and incredibly bad taste: the merchants of the Temple are omnipresent. I am not only talking about nagging vendors, souvenirs shops, noisy fast-foods and bars inside the premises, but also about big and small advertising boards and a multitude of ugly modern artefacts that mar both the great monuments and the more modest ancient alleys ("hutongs").
   
   A few examples: if you go to the Forbidden City, you will find pistachio green plastic garbage cans everywhere. The benches inside the palace all bear advertising plaques for a company that sells air conditioners. If you visit the( few remaining)hutongs, you will find that the old houses are lined with brand-new cars and that their façades are marred by big air conditioners. Near the Forbidden City, the hutongs are dotted with ugly telephone booths in the shape of an orange mushroom (yes!)every five or ten meters. The tiles on most pavilions and pagodas are made of ugly, grey concrete (the real thing is too costly). There must be more than a hundred big, red fire extinguishers in the otherwise quite beautiful Lama Temple and there are alas not hidden from view. Roofs around Tian'anmen Square are bristling with huge, unsightly mobile phone towers. The wonderful animal and human statues in the Spirit Way, which is part of the huge Ming Tombs Site, are all flanked by a big plastic garbage can and they have built new roads on both sides of it: enough noise to scare away the spirits and prevent you from entering a meditative state...
   
   Etc., etc., etc. There is no end to the list of things both small and great that spoil the remnants of the past in Peking and elsewhere in China, which shows just how culturally decadent Chinese people have become. One could without exaggeration say that today the urban culture in China is an extension of Las Vegas and Hollywood with some Chinese elements thrown in for good measure (and face!).
   
   Sometimes the incongruities are so blatant, so ludicrous that one starts wondering if there isn't a kind of conspiracy, a deliberate attempt to debase and desecrate the past, which is after all just superstitious rubbish for a true Communist and a mere merchandise for a true Capitalist (they are pretty much the same in my opinion). The alliance of the two has produced what may be the biggest kitsch paradise on earth: Pe-kitsch.
   
   The third point you need to keep in mind is the weather, which can be summed up as: cold winter smog, spring sandstorms and smog, summer sauna and smog (+heavy rains in July) and dry autumn smog. Twenty years ago(yes, I have lived that long here!), Peking had a Mediterranean climate of sorts with clear blue skies most of the time, but due to heavy traffic pollution the city has now smoky skies with no wind and therefore a suffocating atmosphere most of the time (let's say about 70 percent of the time). In many places, the air stinks with the smell of chemical paint. It is also full of dust particles from the thousands of construction sites, to say nothing of the exhaust fumes from the hundreds of thousands of trucks, bulldozers and private cars that race through narrow alleys and oversized avenues alike.
   
   The fourth point is traffic. It is increasingly difficult to go from one place to another without being caught in huge traffic jams (the government actually encourages people to buy cars and they hope every household will have its own car by 2020!!!). The happy times when you could go around leisurely riding a bicycle are basically finished. Now the streets have become a battleground and cars crowd even the sidewalks. The subway network is pitifully inadequate and incredibly crowded. As another expat once said to me: "I never take the Beijing subway because to find the nearest subway station, I have first to take a taxi."
   
   The fifth point is service. While young shop assistants and other employees are generally friendly (but not always competent), a large part of the local staff, specially in parks, museums and big supermarkets, is composed of (sexually frustrated?)middle-aged women who are rude, indifferent and lazy. There is a pervading mood of discontent and irritation in the city, which is quite comprehensible considering the high level of environmental stress, the lack of genuine community life (most "local" people are rootless domestic immigrants)and the political tyranny. Add to this the fierce competition for jobs, the money problems and all the cares inseparable from both great and modest affluence (blessed are the poor, indeed!). Almost everyone will try to rip you off. Money reigns supreme.
   
   This is not to say that there aren't any beautiful or interesting places to see--the author of this guide has done a good job in this respect since he mentions not only the (fake) Great Wall at Badaling, but also other segments of the wall in wilder areas-- but most of them are outside the city. Or you have to be in the Forbidden City on a cold, rainy day or at the peak of a media-orchestrated flu epidemic, when the crowds are away. Even then, you will have to close your eyes often in order not to see all the jarring details I mentioned before.
   
   You may appreciate the cheap food. The poor will still smile at you and greet you (while the new middle-class rich won't even look at you). The huge parks provide a welcome respite from the ugliness and noise of the rest of the city, but they are quite ordinary and, like the whole place, not genuinely Chinese, but a sloppy mixture of styles. Even here, under the shadow of gracious willows, your contemplation of the beautiful lotus ponds will often be interrupted by the awful noise of spitting indigenous males clearing their throats. This is China!
   
   Remember the white tags of censorship in the book. And know that contrary to what the cover photograph wants you to believe, very few young people in Peking practice kungfu. These days they prefer to play basket-ball or electronic games.
   
   
   PS: Read the "Ugly Chinaman" by Boyang to understand why this country has become such a mess.



3. Comprehensive, concise and well-organized. A great resource and a true bargain. The fact that this series proudly features long-time local residents in their guides says a lot about their commitment and values. I also appreciate that they inspire enthusiasm and exploration in the reader almost from the first page. Also note this is hot off the presses in August 2007. Unless they somehow got everything totally wrong (I'll know when I visit over New Year's) this is 5 stars easily.



4. I saw this book in a book store the other day and sat down to take a peek through it. Two hours later and I realized that, well, it was two hours later. This is a very good guide, but for a city as culturally interesting as Beijing, one wouldn't really expect anything less. Beijing is easy to get around (it's essentially a giant grid enveloped by a handful of ring roads) and the transportation system is a breeze, if not a little dingy. Also, there are plenty of engaging sites and areas to take in (the hutong are fascinating) and it is quite obvious which places you should see and which you may want to forego. The Lonely Planet doesn't always come through in the way you expect it to, but it does here. Moreover, it doesn't prattle on in flowery, over-generous language like it does it some volumes. I give this book a bouyant four stars.



5. The quality of the book does not compare with many others available. Very few pictures let alone even fewer color pictures. Information is pretty helpful. However nothing really stands out.

5 comments about Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die.

1. There are a lot of places i realy wish i could go fly fishing. Unfortunatly, there are only a few select places that are affordable. and those that are doable just don't have much description convincing me to go. if there was only some background info or narrative this book would go be a much more useful guide.



2. nice book, but i would like to see more pictures of the different species!! also some maps to locate some places would be great...I live in argentina and the 3 places chosen are great, although you must be a millionaire to fish rio grande!! Fortunately we still have a lot of places here to fish for free.
   I would rather see a book where they tell where to fish and spent little money (as an example the book tells you that i f you want to fish rio traful, the only way to do it is going to arroyo verde lodge and thats no true!! you can do it for free if you want..there are accesses by foot or you can reach it by the lake, an there are other private places much more cheaper, but why they dont describe that??). Do not tell me where i can go spending $ 5000 a week because its obvious i could go everywhere with that money!!!!



3. A wonderful book for the fly fishing enthusiast. A keepsake for all fishermen. A must have for the coffe table!



4. 
   This is a beautiful book, one that is smartly designed and packaged, pleasant to leaf through and to handle, but somewhat lacking in substance.
   
   Here's an example of the kind of lapse that would have been caught had the book been written for hard core fisherpeople. We read, "The South Island of New Zealand is awash with beauty and teeming with trout". And then a few sentences later, "The South Island trouting experience is certainly one of quality rather than quantity. A majority of the rivers simply don't support large numbers of fish. Some of the most fishy-looking water you can imagine may not contain a single fish".
   
   So is the South Island "teeming with trout" or is it not?
   
   Ultimately it doesn't really matter. This isn't a book about information - it's a wonderful collection of vicarious fishing trips. I'd never flicked a fly rod when I got it, yet I was engrossed, transported, and in the end captivated.
   
   The settings range from intimate, "Brown Trout on Letort Spring Run", to grand, "Steelhead on the Dean River". Along the way we encounter tarpon, bonefish, snook, pike, redfish, all manner of salmon and trout, and even something known as a giant trevally that lurks in the waters off Christmas Island.
   
   And the photographs are stunning. I only wish there were one for every destination.
   
   Recommended to wile away a winter's afternoon while waiting for the ice to break.



5. It was a very good quality book, very informative. It is NOT a full informative planing trip gide, but rather a good place to start planing your own trips.

No comments about Frommer's Cape Cod, Nantucket & Martha's Vineyard 2008 (Frommer's Complete).

2 comments about Frommer's California 2008 (Frommer's Complete).

1. I needed to plan a 3-day visit to the San Francisco area, and this book proved to be perfect for that. Far better than random information available on the web. I chose a wonderful small hotel from the book and loved it. Also chose restaraunts, grand and small, with excellent results. Chose a variety of sites to visit as a tourist from the book's descriptions. Also charted a 1-day trip through Sonoma valley from the guide, ending up at the Point Reyes Pacific coast and beautiful views. The book also provides site addresses (wineries, for example) useful for tapping into the GPS navigator in the rent car. Too large to carry on a walking trip, but otherwise absolutely a perfect guide for my needs.



2. I was born and raised in California and live here with my 2 school-age kids. I bought this book for ideas for summer day trips and longer weekend excursions. Somewhat favors Northern California in its thoroughness, and it does cover No. Calif. very well. Good coverage of Los Angeles and surrounding area, with a lot of good notes on places a little more off the beaten path, as well as the "must-sees". Orange County is completely glossed-over -- as if it consisted solely of Disneyland and the beach, with trite references to out-dated stereotypes. Coverage of San Diego and the So. Calif. Desert are covered, but definitely not with the same level of attention devoted to No. Calif. areas. Still a good overview of the state, but if your trip is solely within Southern California, this probably isn't the book for you.

4 comments about Benchmark Colorado Road & Recreation Atlas.

1. This is another in the single state map book series and it's just as good as the previous books. For those travelling the highways and byways just because they like to do so, this is an invaluable tool with large scale maps showing most of the interesting features plus some that were once interesting but have now disappeared! Not just a map for getting from one town to another, but a book of topographical information for those that want to know what the terrain is really like before they arrive. I have most of the available series and cart them between the UK and the USA everytime we visit on our fly-drive vacations. Well recommended!



2. Excellent source of info. Great details. Only thing better is the Trail Maps that are available for additional detail. This Atlas is a musy have for traveling and camping Colorado.



3. Since moving to Colorado from the UK in 06 I've been looking for a detailed enough map of Colorado - and I think I've found it. I've worked with maps and GIS back in the UK and have always appreciated the level of detail provided by the Ordnance Suvey, but struggled to find a comparable line of products for the US.
   
   I do a great deal of hiking, mountain biking, 4 wheeling and general exploring of the State, and wanted a comprehensive map which would show me trails, roads and interesting features/places.
   
   The atlas is separated into 5 sections.
   
   Section 1 shows regional maps: Entire US (1:9600000), western mountains (1:4500000) from Dallas in the SE to Bend (Oregon) in the NW, and Colorado (1:650000).
   Section 2 shows recreational maps and separates the whole of Colorado into 13 areas. Each one goes into great detail about the recreational facilities of each area, lists climate info and gives addresses and phone numbers for all kinds of services, camp grounds etc. Scale is 1:500000, except for the eastern plains area which is at 1:1350000. The final map shows locations of all the 14ers, major ski areas and 22 popular off road trails.
   Section 3 shows landscape maps at 1:200000. These are fantastic and show all the trails I've ever hiked, biked or wheeled.
   Section 4 shows the metro areas of Denver, Colorado Springs and the Boulder area at 1:125000.
   Section 5 has a comprehensive index.
   
   Overall this is an invaluable resource and miles better than any other Atlas I've looked at (and I've looked at them all!). A great all in one buy and a bargain at the moment on Amazon.
   
   Other products to consider: Latitude 40 produce some great, detailed maps at a smaller scale, but they cover selected areas and some sections are about 15 years out of date. National Geographic maps are best for hiking in the wilderness, but are only available for limited areas.



4. This map book is the best! Better than all the others I have seen which cover a state in a book format. I can only wish the mapmakers covered more states.

5 comments about Under the Tuscan Sun.

1. The lanuage and visualizations are stunning. I enjoyed the pictures the author paints not just of the country itself but of the food and the people. The base story is a bit hard for me though, most of us that have such trials in our life can't afford to "buy" happiness so it makes the heroine a bit tiresome.



2. I picked up this book when it first came out and couldn't get through it because of the painfully detailed descriptions of the remodeling. This is less a book about beginning a new life in Italy and more about the remodeling of a house which just happens to be in Italy. I picked up the book again last week and did manage to finish it. I'm really surprised that this became a bestseller and would probably not read other books by this author. Julia Child wrote a wonderful, wonderful book called "My Life in France" that I would definitely recommend as a great example of travel writing.



3. I was so looking forward to reading, "Under The Tuscan Sun". An avid traveler, I love to explore various places through books since having 3 kids doesn't allow me to travel as much as I used to. I assumed the book would be good considering it was a #1 New York Times Bestseller.
   
   Maybe my expectations were too high. I found the book to be monotonous, laborious and rather self-indulgent. The relationships Mayes appears to have developed seem superficial at best and imagery of the old, deep south conjured in my mind as I read about her cook "Wille Bell" and her seamstress as a child in Georgia. I thought I would relate to this part of Mayes' life as I too grew up in Georgia, but, again, the absence of any emotional impact left me wanting just to finish the book and be done with it.
   
   Aside from the rehabilitation of her home in Tuscany which was written about mostly at the beginning of the book, I found the book to have a lack of continunity and really any depth. The self-proclamed pagan describes churches and locations, but doesn't capture the romance, innocence and intrigue that will keep you flipping pages.
   
   Mayes does appear to be a fabulous cook and I would probably like a cookbook by her. However, if you are looking for a novel with a plot to sink your teeth into, this is definitely NOT it. I much prefered "Eat, Pray and Love" and the first chapter (which I am now reading) of "Almost French" is wildly more clever and intriguing.



4. ISBN 0767900383 - As a fan of lists, I'm always curious about books that make bestseller lists. I rarely read them, but I'm always curious. This was the case with Under the Tuscan Sun until a rather beat-up, unsellable copy fell into my hands. My curiosity, but little else, has been satisfied.
   
   A recap of the plotline is usually the second paragraph for me. The trouble here is that this book doesn't actually have a plotline. The author and her boyfriend bought a house in Tuscany, living there during the summer and restore it and the land around it. Seriously, that's it: no actual point, no build up, not a character to root for (although there were moments I admit to rooting for the house to fall down on them, just to liven things up). So much for the recap!
   
   Beautifully written, Under the Tuscan Sun isn't without redeeming qualities. Tuscany sounds like a bit of Heaven on Earth and Mayes, reputed to be a good cook, turns out to be a decent writer, at least so far as descriptive writing goes. A few short sections are even well-done humor. For that, the richness of language, the way you can nearly smell the food and hear the quiet of the countryside, for that, Mayes gets 5 stars. For boring me nearly to death, ZERO stars! An average of 3 stars seems a reasonable compromise. There are definitely readers for this type of book, I just happen to not be one of them. If you're looking for a relaxing read, this one certainly fits your needs; if you want a storyline, something more exciting than recipes, this book is a snore - if your blood flowed to the rhythm of this book, you'd be dead.



5. This is a wonderful, wonderful, journey, adventure, book. By all means, it should be read....just not aloud by the author. Why do people think that if they write a book they have the skill to read it??