4 comments about Stockholm (Eyewitness Travel Guides).

1. Eyewitness travel guides are just the best in the world. They really contain everything: where to go for eating, shopping, site seeing,...
   
   This book about Stockholm is so compact but also so complete; you just wouldn't want to miss it! Everyone visiting Stockholm definitely should have this book; you won't regret it!



2. This is the updated version of the comprehensive Eyewitness Travel Guide to Stockholm, capital of Sweden and a remarkable destination. As with other guides in this series, "Stockholm" features an information-packed format that includes maps, photographs, narrative, and diagrams of important attractions.
   
   The guide opens with maps that place Stockholm in its geographic context on the Baltic Sea and an historical essay that establishes its place as Sweden's ancient and modern capital. A breakout of Stockholm's most interesting historical and tourist attractions follows by area, including excursions near the city. Among the highlights: the Nordiska Museum, detailing everyday life since the 1500s; the Vasamuseet, containing the well-preserved remains of a 17th century Swedish warship; and the Skansen, Stockholm's huge open-air folk museum. The guide closes with some practical information on traveling to and around Stockholm.
   
   This guide is very highly recommended to anyone planning a trip to Stockholm.



3. This book provides a lot of useful information on the sites, getting to and from the airport, taxis, trains, currency issues etc. as well as good maps on how to get around. It is worth the money if you are going to Stockholm.



4. I usually don't like these glossy, visual travel guides: I prefer those thick guides with too many pages, full of historical and cultural contexts.
   
   This book is an exception to my general rule. DK Publishing has done a really good job of presenting this beautiful city in stunning color photography, good maps, and enough words to present the city completely and accurately. A visual guide to Stockholm makes sense because Stockholm is such a visually appealing city. It works. The aerial photograph of Gamla Stan that opens the catalog chapters of this guide will just blow your hair back!
   
   Obviously, those readers and travelers who enjoy art and architecture will also enjoy this book.
   
   The coverage is good, with chapters dedicated to Gamla Stan, the City Center, Blasieholmen, Skeppsholmen, Djurgarden, and (especially) Sodermalm. I was slightly disappointed that the "excursions" chapter did not include pieces on Visby and Uppsala, without a doubt the best excursions from Stockholm. The guide includes particularly good sections on Stockholm's many superb museums.
   
   Listings are not entirely comprehensive, and tend to focus on the excruciatingly expensive luxury segment. If you're most concerned about a pragmatic guide with comprehensive listings covering the entire range of prices and options, the Rough Guide will be a better choice (but be sure to get a recent edition! Rough Guides go out of date quickly since they tend to focus on the quirky, "off-the-beaten-path" options).

1 comments about Photographing Yellowstone National Park: Where to Find the Perfect Shots and How to Take Them.

1. Gustav Verderber was right on the money about everything in this book. If you only have a week to explore, save yourself some time and follow his instructions. He has mapped out when the rainbows appear on the falls, gives advice on where to photograph wildlife. Some of the trails he mentions in his book have since been closed due to erosion or wildlife management but if you talk with the Park Ranger Service (not Xanterra!) you should be able to find a comparable walk to capture the images.
   
   The book may be beneath the experienced photographer but for an amateur who just wants better vacation photos and does not have the luxury to spend a year in the park getting them, this is the perfect guide!

5 comments about The Art of Travel.

1. It's always a nice thing when you read something spot on that's either close to what you believe or something you have experienced. De Botton is quite good at that, as in being able to phrase insights and observations you never realized were there bur are. I expected this one to be more about the actual travelling. To me the book should have been titled 'The Art of Looking At Things That Seem Unfamiliar, Bleak Or Uncommon At First Sight But Do Possess Certain Qualities If You Are Willing To Take Your Time To Look' but I guess that is a bit to long. Then again, it doesn't really matter for De Botton manages to make this one a breeze through read anyway, and while at it, actually gives you the idea you read something that mattered.



2. I highly recommend this book for those who love travel and art (or both). Whether you're a traveller or a dreamer this book will have something for you. The book contains two themes. The first is travel itself. How we experience it, our memories of it, where we travel, and what we encounter. The other theme is about art and how it shapes our travels, how artists have travelled and viewed/dreamed of travel.
   
   I found the book very original. The author juxtaposes his own experiences with those of famous artists, poets, and thinkers. Each chapter is devoted to an aspect of travel. Whether it be experiencing the sublime, disappointment, meeting the exotic, or the method of your transport.
   
   The book is not overbearing and neither is the author. You can tell he has travelled, but this is not a "look at all the countries I have collected in my travels" type of read. His involvement is to introduce the same or contrasted feelings or experiences someone more famous has encountered.
   
   To conclude, this book will have you up and ready to travel in no time, or at least, looking at the map dreaming about your next destination or adventures.



3. So Alaine de Botton discovers on his trip to the Bahamas. I read and reread this book for such lines--sly takes on old chestnuts, in this case, Wherever you go, there you are.
   
   Each chapter's title page includes a list of places discussed and the "guide" employed in that chapter. Chapter 1, "On Anticipation," lists Barbados and Hammersmith, London, as the places and author J.K. Huysmans as the guide. Another chapter, "On Eye-Opening Art," has Provence as its place and Vincent Van Gogh as its guide. (Oh, and there are pictures! Black and white, as befits the stately and philosophical tone.)
   
   In listing his "guides," de Botton admits that one's perception of a place is always filtered--through paintings, literature, guidebooks, or a personal account by a recently returned friend. And in fact de Botton writes of "the curious phenomenon whereby valuable elements may be easier to experience in art and in anticipation than in reality."
   
   This book will have you running to your notebook to copy down great line after great line. A travel writer myself, I recognize the Art of Travel as the perfect anti-guidebook, a guide about WHY we travel, and a meditation on how humankind's search for happiness -- "in all its ardour and paradoxes"-- is most poignantly revealed in how we travel.



4. There's a certain self-effacing charm about Alain de Botton's writing that creeps up on you and which eventually becomes irresistible. Not one to shy away from big topics (love, philosophy, status, travel, Proust) he manages to bring you to fresh insights on each theme in a completely charming, highly readable fashion.
   
   I've also seen him a few times on a BBC series about different philosophers, and the same charm is evident in person. He just seems like an altogether smart, together, sweet guy. It appears that he is quite successful, despite the disparate and commercially unpromising topics he chooses to write about. I hope that he is, because his seems to me to be a talent that deserves to be rewarded.
   
   These essays are well-written, quirky, and rewarding.



5. I opened this book in pleasurable anticipation of a good read but almost from the first line became irritated by De Botton's use of similes and adjectives, many of which border on the absurd. The decline of winter is `like that of a person into old age'. Cloudless skies are likened to `signs of recovery in a patient upon whom death has passed sentence'. A steely grey sky has - of course - to be `ominous'. But not just ominous: it has to be `like one in a painting by Mantegna or Veronese, the perfect backdrop to the crucifixion of Christ or to a day beneath the bedclothes.' and so it goes on. At times I was reminded of the laboured similes in a Rowan Atkinson comedy. Page 17 is a prime example of De Botton's laboured, Victorian style and deserves a lengthy quotation:
   
   `Awakening early on that first morning, I slipped on a dressing gown provided by the hotel and went out onto the veranda. In the dawn light the sky was a pale grey-blue and, after the rustlings of the night before, all the creatures and even the wind seemed in a deep sleep. It was as quiet as a library. Beyond the hotel room stretched a wide beach which was covered at first with coconut trees and then slipped unhindered towards the sea. I climbed over the veranda's low railing and walked across the sand. Nature was at her most benevolent. It was as if, in creating this small horseshoe bay, she had chosen to atone for her ill-temper in other regions and decided for once to display only her munificence. The trees provided shade and milk, the floor of the sea was lined with shells, the sand was powdery and the colour of sun ripened wheat, and the air - even in the shade - had an enveloping, profound warmth to it so unlike the fragility of northern European heat, always prone to cede, even in midsummer, to a more assertive, proprietary chill.
   `I found a deck chair at the edge of the sea. I could hear small lapping sands beside me, as if a kindly monster taking discreet sips of water from a large goblet. A few birds were waking up and beginning to career through the air in matinal excitement. Behind me, the raffia roofs of the hotel bungalows were visible through gaps in the trees. Before me was the view that I recognized from the brochure: the beach stretched away in a gentle curve towards the tip of the bay, behind it were jungle-covered hills, and the first row of coconut trees inclined irregularly towards the turquoise sea, as though some of them were craning their necks to catch a better angle of the sun.
   `Yet this description only imperfectly reflects what occurred within me that morning, for my attention was in truth far more fractured and confused than the foregoing paragraphs suggest. I may have noticed a few birds careering through the air in matinal excitement, but my awareness of them was weakened by a number of other, incongruous and unrelated elements, among these a sore throat that I had developed during the flight, a worry at not having informed a colleague that I would be away, pressure across both temples and a rising need to visit the bathroom. A momentous but until then overlooked fact was making its first appearance: that I had inadvertently brought myself with me to the island.'
   
   De Botton never loses an opportunity to demonstrate how much he or his quasi-anonymous companion `M' has read. While a single cloud hangs `shyly' above the bay, the mysterious `M' (is she head of MI6?) puts on her headphones and begins annotating Emile Durkheim's On Suicide. She would.
   
   The author's idea of travel seems to consist in boarding planes, catching trains, filling up at gas stations and hiring cars. He seems to have a horror of engaging with the real world of people and chatter and tears and sweat, as opposed to the worlds of art and literature and posy criticism. His is the infuriating voice of the tour guide that gets between you and a work of art, the voice that tells you what to think, the voice that prevents you making up your own mind about the works of Hopper or Van Gogh or Wordsworth or Ruskin.
   
   The book is little more than a hotch-potch of regurgitated university lecture notes interspersed by some very amateurish attempts at descriptive writing. `A black-eared wheatear is looking pensive on a conifer branch ... humans and sheep stare at one another in wonder. After a moment the sheep sits down and takes a lazy mouthful of grass, chewing from the side of her mouth as though it was gum ... Another sheep approaches and lies next to her companion, wool-to-wool, and for a second they exchange what appears to be a knowing, mildly amused glance.'
   
   Here's some more, and I promise that this will be the last example of the purple slush you will have to wade through when (or if) you read this book:
   
   `The rain, which continued to fall confidently despite the promises of the landlord, gave us a sense of the mass of the oaks. From under their damp canopy, rain could be heard falling on 40,000 leaves, creating a harmonious pitter-patter, varying in pitch according to where the water dripped on to a large or a small leaf, a high or a low one, one loaded with accumulated water or not...'
   
   De Botton does not teach us how to travel so much as how not to travel. He stops the hire car to look at an olive orchard but he can't be bothered to get out of the car and walk through it. He reads a brochure in a Madrid hotel, but is too timid to go out and rub shoulders with the locals in one of that city's many wonderful restaurants, preferring to dine on a bag of crisps in his bedroom, flicking over the pages of travel brochures.
   
   In his section on Ruskin, De Botton demonstrates a fundamental misconception about art, which he seems to think can be reduced to words on paper. As a graduate of the University of Cambridge he seems to have a pretty impoverished knowledge of aesthetics. Has he never read Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation? Has he never read Isaiah Berlin's The Roots of Romanticism? Has he never attended to Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations or appreciated that abstracts (like `beauty') cannot be objectivised, let alone searched for?
   
   De Botton is not a traveller; he is a package tourist, and not a very adventurous or imaginative one. He's the guy who asks the tour guide the question to which he already knows the answer. Can you imagine Bruce Chatwin describing clouds as seen from an aircraft window? That's what De Botton does. Can you imagine T.E. Lawrence comparing a view of the desert with what he saw in a travel guide? Can you imagine Hilaire Belloc sitting in his hotel room eating a bag of crisps instead of mixing with the locals? Or Turner staying inside because there was a nasty storm outside and he didn't want to get wet?
   
   There were moments when I felt so impatient with the banalities of The Art of Travel that I felt like flinging the book across the room. The impression I came away with was that De Botton sees art not as an end in itself but as a means to an end. Through art, he can become an `expert', and as an expert he will be able to publish books, figure in television documentaries, become a celebrity and make lots of money. Art for art's sake? Travel to travel sake? Forget it: anything and everything De Botton sees he has to analyse to death.
   
   But it is not only the banality, the purple patches and neo-Victorian writing that mar The Art of Travel: it lacks direction and unity. To the last page, I could never make up my mind whether it was about art or travel. Lifting pictures of art works from the Internet and printing them in black and white - or in this case grey and grey - simply didn't work for me. I looked at them, but only because I felt I had to. I felt they were an insult to the great artists who painted the originals.
   
   De Botton has achieved what I would previously have thought impossible: he has managed to make art and nature boring. Even from a purely academic point of view, the book is pretty well useless as it has no bibliography. That is idle and unforgivable.
   
   Basic Flying Instruction: A Comprehensive Introduction to Western Philosophy
   Seven Stories from Blackwood's Magazine

2 comments about Woodall's North American Campground Directory with CD, 2008 (Woodall's North American Campground Directory).

1. I pre-ordered the Woodall's North American Campground Directory with CD, 2008 and received it the day after Christmas. The book is what you expect from Woodall's--an extensive listing of campgrounds with very little information on each, buried in page after page of ads, hard to use but useful for finding and doing the initial screening of campgrounds which you then have to call to get the up-to-date information you really need.
   
   But the CD won't load on my Mac (OS X Leopard 10.5.1) as advertised. I called the 800 number on the CD case and got an "...extension 492 is invalid..." message so I hit "0" and got a very nice operator. She listened to my problem and then said, "Let me switch you to Lance." After leaving voice mails over several days, I finally got Lance on the phone and he immediately decided that I had received a corrupt CD. He overnighted one to me but I got the same error with it. I'm now leaving voice mails again in hopes that he will solve my problem.
   
   So, the book is mediocre, the CD won't work, and support is..., well, I'll be nice and just say that it's lacking. Two stars is generous, in my opinion. If I don't receive satisfaction soon, I'll return the package for a refund.
   
   ***Added on January 16, 2008***
   
   Well, at least they've fixed their phone system. I got through to Lance a week ago and he said there were problems with the software on Macs with the latest version of Leopard (OS X 10.5.1). He advised me to watch the CDROM Web site (not their main site--see CD package) for an updated version. Nothing yet. My disappointment continues.
   
   ***Added on January 29, 2008***
   
   Lance now says that they're not sure they'll be able to get the program to work on a Mac with Leopard OS X. He offered to refund my money. Bummer. Oh, and their 800 number is again going to an invalid extension. Kind of makes you wonder.



2. This book is a grest help to all campers, especially those with large motorhomes or 5th wheels. This reference helps us find campgrounds listed as"big rigs welcome" for us larger rigs.

5 comments about New Zealand (Country Guide).

1. Great book, the information is accurate, complete and extremely useful at the time of choosing NZ as a travelling destination. plus, its ad free. just excellent.



2. NZ definition of luxury is different from USA definition. Stayed in Victorian Hotel in Rotorua that got rave review in this book, the room we had was very ordinary and the bathroom was very old and run down. Very disappointing. Even though the hotel is about 100 yrs old, it does not have to look rundown.
   Stayed in Boutique hotel in Hamilton, very nice but not up to US Boutique standards. Best hotel on the trip was in Auckland by the sailing harbor, room modern but parking situation is pathetic. Only have room for 10 cars or so, for a large hotel. Except for the first night, had to park several blocks away in a municipal parking garage (car park), at the same price as at the hotel. Very inconvenient, we were there in summer, would be a miserable walk in the winter.
   Great information about things to do in each city.



3. So far what I've read the book has a wealth of travel info.



4. Lots of good information. Will be bringing it on our trip. Print is very small. Needed my extra strong readers.



5. For years I have relied on Lonely Planet guidebooks as one of my primary travel sources for information. After returning from a self-guided 2 week car trip through New Zealand's north and south islands, my wife and I were both in agreement that this guide was not up to par and disappointing compared to other LP guidebooks. Restaurant information in Christchurch and other towns was already outdated. Hotel information was not comprehensive and I found better information for planning our lodging on the internet before we left home. Things to see and do in towns besides nightlife and museums was sparse, and excursions to interesting places off highways was sketchy. We finally put the book away and stopped referring to it since we were better able to explore on our own. New Zealand has one of the world's best tourist information systems throughout the country which helps travelers find or plan lodging, activities, transportation, virtually anything that would be helpful to the tourist. Offices are located throughout the country under the "i" signs for information, even in the smallest towns. Maps are freely available everywhere, as are also helpful free booklets and brochures for each region you may visit. For general information, this guidebook will answer many of your basic questions, but I would suggest looking at several other books for planning your journey and guiding you along your way in New Zealand.

5 comments about The EatingWell Healthy in a Hurry Cookbook: 150 Delicious Recipes for Simple, Everyday Suppers in 45 Minutes or Less.

1. I am a registered dietitian & use this cookbook as a prize quite often. Recipes are simple, not too involved, don't call for a ton of ingredients and are well received. Many of the clients who have won it say it is their favorite cookbook. I like it because the information is clear/concise and it really is HEALTHY.



2. The book starts out with a brief section of instructions in case you aren't wholly experienced with home cooking. This includes planning ahead tips, grocery shopping tips, kitchen equipment you should have, how to approach your cooking, and even food safety concerns. Since there are plenty of inexperienced cooks who might be tempted to pick up a book of quick, healthy meals, this is a handy set of things to include.
   
   Recipe chapters include dinner salads; soups & stews; vegetarian fare; chicken, duck & turkey; fish & seafood; beef, pork & lamb; sauces; sides; and yes, even desserts. There are also some notes on substitutions & equivalencies. There are multiple indexes: a comprehensive index as well as one of recipes that take only 20-30 minutes (most in this book take 45 or less) and one of family-friendly recipes.
   
   I always have a hard time faulting EatingWell's other cookbooks for producing what I consider to be bland recipes, since there's a sizable audience for that kind of fare. However, I was incredibly relieved to find myself wholly enjoying the very flavorful recipes that we made from Healthy in a Hurry. There's a vegetarian chili that is surprisingly delicious, with a simple yet effective spice mix that adds a lot. Recipes range from the elegant (grilled lobster tails with nectarine-avocado salad) to the homey (chicken & white bean soup). These recipes make use of some wonderful international flavors to spice things up in recipes such as roast chicken dal and tandoori chicken with tomato-cucumber raita. The authors seem to have found a better balance between keeping the recipes simple (without using tons of ingredients most cooks might not have) while still interjecting flavor.
   
   Many recipes include mouth-watering photos, and the recipe layout is clean, plain, and easy to make sense of.



3. As a cancer survivor, I continually try to find tasty yet healthy recipes. (Trying to keep those free radicals at bay) This cookbook fits the bill, as well as the recipes being quick and easy for the most part.



4. Checked out this book from public library and knew I had to have it. Highly recommend.



5. I love the Eating Well magazine and cookbook - but most of those recipes are too time consuming to do after work during the week. Here is the answer - great tasting dishes for any night of the week.

1 comments about Pocket Map and Guide Paris (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. comprehensive and very conveniently small guide to be easily carried in pocket or purse--this is the perfect Paris companion!

5 comments about Croatia (Country Guide).

1. I used LP Croatia side-by-side with the Rough Guide to Croatia during May and June 2006. I only visited Southern and Central Dalmatia including Split, Hvar, and Dubrovnik.
   
   LP Croatia is concise and had no serious inaccuracies but it lacked lots of the context, detail, and history that the Rough Guide provided. If you're just looking for places to go, how to get there, and where to stay I'd get LP. If you want more of a tour guide with lots of bios, background, art & architecture info, I'd take the Rough Guide. If I went again, I'd take both.
   
   Pros: Good logistical information on how to get around and where sites were. Good food sections (burek is amazing) and good language/phrase sections(except that the most important words were all buried). Also, did a great job of explaining how the private room accommodations work. Provided good, practical advice on how to get the best rooms, etc.
   
   Cons:
   Maps were sometimes inaccurate--Rough Guide's were generally better. This was largely because of the lack of street signs and lots of small alleys that trick you. GPS would have been very useful.
   
   Unusually, I think LP underrated some places--namely Dubrovnik.
   
   Doesn't prioritize where to go or what to see. For instance, Diocletian's Palace in Split was covered in graffiti and the city had little to offer.
   
   They need a section on "If you have to choose" between different sites and different cities that tells you which are the best sites overall for certain interests.
   
   Bottom line: LP Croatia was a solid travel guide but it could have provided more advice to the first-time traveler.



2. This book is a must have for anyone traveling to Coratia. It is so informative and I love it!!!!!!



3. My wife and I used this book recently on a trip through Croatia and found it a very good mix of broad and deep, offering plenty of the details we needed for our stay in Split and drive down the coast towards Makarska, as well as great recommendations on what to do and where to go in general. We followed the book's advice when we went to the island of Brac (just off the coast near Split) for the day and visited a tiny little town on the far side of the island called Milna, and found it to be just amazing. Recommended.



4. Solid vacation advice and the book really helped us narrow down what it is we want to see in Croatia. I do like Rick Steves travel advice just as well so we are using this book as a supplement.



5. I like the Lonely Planet city guides. I find them to be very useful and true as far as guides go. I have taken these travel guides with me on my trips to various cities. I enjoy making my travel plans using these helpful guides.

3 comments about Michelin the Green Guide Italy (Michelin Green Guides).

1. I ordered the book to plan my trip to Italy. Unforunately, delivery took 150 days, thus I already traveled over North Italy and saw all major sites. But, when I recently received this Guide, I noticed that there are a lot what I missed. So, this book brought new bright ideas for the new travel!



2. I bought this because I had had the Michelin Red Book of Germany (all Red books are in the language of the country) and needed an English version for Italy. This is not the English version of the Red Book Where I found the Red Book to be invaluable in Germany (in 1996), the green book is less so.
   
   The pictures, illustrations, and maps are an improvement over the Red book but the hotel ratings are limited by comparison and the English is apparently translated by the French from Italian and is not exactly idiomatic -- whether your persuasion is British or American English.
   
   If you're from the USA you'll probably get more of what you want from Frommer or Steves.



3. The Michelin Green Guide is still the best. It will turn you into your own expert guide. The star system lets you select the best spots to fit into your time frame. It will fit into your pocket, but it is not a light weight guide. Durable and easy to use, it is a classic.

5 comments about Stories from Latin America : Historias de Latinoamerica.

1. Excellent stories covering the history and culture of Latin American countries. Makes for great reading and a valuable learning tool.



2. The book is a fine addition to help one who is studying the Spanish language. Es un buen libro.



3. This is a fantastic book for Spanish review and practice. Very easy to check yourself and translate vocabulary because of the accurate English translations. The stories give you cultural insight,as well.



4. Good book! Great to learn a little about the culture while also learning/improving my spanish vocabularly and understanding. I think it's great to incorporate reading spanish in order to attempt to fully understand the language. I liked this book in doing so, but it would be nice if there was a gradual immersion into all of the new words. I've also looked into verb books which I think would be very beneficial as there are some conjugated verbs that you can't find in the dictionary because their so different from the original word. Plus, I've heard this is very beneficial in really learning to be fluent...Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses by Dorothy Devney



5. This book is being used in a Spanish club by a small group of seniors ages 82 to 93. This is the fourth side by side book that we have used. We wish there would be more.Stories from Latin America : Historias de Latinoamerica