5 comments about Mandarin: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. This book has almost everything you need, although i think you need some sort of knowledge cause its kinda hard too, but anyways this book its worth it, trust me



2. In my opinion, these are the best phrasebooks out there. The sections are all color coded and organized in an easy to use way, making it easy to locate the phrase you want to use. Much easier than the rest of them out there that are just white page after white page which makes it incredibly hard to dig through. These books will teach you what you need to know.



3. When I started learning Chinese this book was strongly recommended by a friend. What a disappointment; it's not suited for learning Chinese it's to superficial. This book could possibly be of some help on a visit to China, but if you seriously want to learn Mandarin - choose another one. On the positive side: This book has an appealing layout, and is easy to use.



4. I have no idea what most of these reviewers are talking about. This phrasebook absolutely uses pinyin (although it's possible that previous editions did not). This book was without question the most useful thing I had when I lived in China (for six months). Not only does it have excellent sections on grammar, etiquette, and non-verbal communication (which really you will use a lot more than anything else), but it covers basically everything you will need to survive in China. It also has every phrase written in pinyin, for you, and Chinese so if you fail to pronounce it correctly anyway you can always show the book to the person you are trying to talk to. That feature can be used even if you go to Hong Kong or somewhere else where they speak a dialect other than Mandarin.



5. Some of the negative reviews harp on this book for not using pinyin, but they seem to be referring to the 5th ed. The 6th ed. published in Sept. 2006 by A. Garnaut does have pinyin. That shouldn't be an issue.
   
   I have found this book useful, but it does have some basic vocabulary gaps. Also, I have been studying Mandarin for about a year, and I have just now found it really helpful. You could always point at the characters to ask questions, but if you are a new speaker of Mandarin, it won't help you if you have absolutely no background.

5 comments about The Hills of Tuscany.

1. Reading "The Hills of Tuscany", Ferenc Mate's exuberant, joyful ode to his adopted country, makes one eager to join that expatriate band. After occupying a series of dwellings a "houseboat, sailboat, mountain cabin, that garage in Laguna Beach, the attic in Paris, the cubbyhole in New York, and a whatsit in the Bahamas," the Hungarian-born Mate and his artist wife, Candace, deemed it time for a permanent home.
   
   Central Italy's countryside, where "Everything was small to the measure of man," beguiled them; there "reigned the gentle Tuscan light, and silence, and a calm." They became contentedly sated by "pranzo," the four-course daily meal that resembles in quantity "our average Thanksgiving dinner," and decided to buy a farmhouse, to put down roots in the idyllic Tuscan hills.
   
   Their enchanting dream was a challenging task. Mate spoke no Italian and was woefully ignorant of the vagaries of an agrarian existence. Nonetheless, he set about his search for their perfect home with a Quixote-like zeal, undaunted by a real estate agent cum undertaker who stored his listings with names of the recently departed in a shoe box. A parade of touted homesteads in abject disrepair didn't discourage him. Collapsed fireplaces and gaping roof holes were the norm. Mate zigzagged his way across unfamiliar terrain, following unmapped rutted paths, bouncing over rocky roads until he found his utopia, "a structure with perfect rhythm." La Marinaia The Sailor's Wife. Once that purchase was accomplished, attempts to have utilities turned on introduced him to an implacable, inscrutable Italian bureaucracy. It was explained that there are an almost infinite number of regulations in Italy, " . . . many dating from Roman times, some contradictory, some incomprehensible."
   
   Settling in also meant becoming a part of the nearest town, Montepulciano, "built for humans not for cars, so the main street was just wide enough for conducting daily affairs, evening promenades, and small festive processions." The couple delighted in exploring closet-size shops run by often absent, usually amiable owners. Their nearest neighbor welcomed them with fresh goat cheese covered by a large fig leaf, and they attempted to improve their Italian by watching Telegiornale, the local televised news an "Italian version of reality, a flexible amalgam of fresh headlines, old footage, and clips from Steve McQueen movies."
   
   More than an enthusiastic tribute to the ever astounding beauties of the Italian countryside, "The Hills Of Tuscany" is a paean to the pleasures of the palate as Mate describes in rapturous detail ravioli stuffed with ricotta and wild mushrooms, crostini spread with tuna and capers, rabbit ragu "spicy with tomatoes" plus a legion of dishes bathed, basted, stir-fried, swathed in or caressed by olive oil. He is also unreservedly passionate about the local wine, "wine as robust as the clay," "wine with a deep complexity that tingled all the taste buds."
   
   Today, Mate lives with his wife and young son at La Marinaia, tending his olives and vineyard. It is there, he writes, that "we learned to live and enjoy life as the Tuscans do piano, piano, con calma." Slowly, slowly, with calm. The author's enthusiastic prose is infectious. His word pictures are captivating, as he unveils a Tuscany that is both serene and seductive. "The Hills Of Tuscany" is an invitation to follow your dream . . . especially if it leads to Italy.
   
   - Gail Cooke



2. What a delightful arm-chair journey The Hills of Tuscany is! Máté's descriptions involve all senses and beyond that they make the reader yearn for something simple, ancient and cozy, -- to be close to earth and to our fellowmen, and to rediscover the joy of unpretentious things. His enjoyment of life is so obvious that his book would be a pleasure regardless where he settled, be it the Arctic Circle or the rainforest of Costa Rica.



3. Very enjoyable reading, especially if you have vacationed in this area. I could picture the coutry side and the town of Montepluciana that he wrote about. I loved the area and loved Ferenc Mate's book, "The Hills of Tuscany". Some of us wishes that we could trade places with him, living there sounds devine.



4. I thought this book was an easy read and pleasant. It was just kind of a diary of the day to day life the author experienced when he bought a home in Tuscany. It was not an in depth study of life as a foreigner in a foreign country but then again I don't think that was his purpose in writing it.



5. I enjoyed this book. I will be going back to Italy in the fall and will probably visit some small hill towns. Since this book, the Mates are now living in another part of Italy. It was fun to read. Once you read this one then read the next book "A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover's Dream".

No comments about European Rail Timetable Summer 2008: Rail Schedules - June to December (European Rail Timetable).

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.

4 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. El relato de Elizabeth, permite no solo acompañarla en su viaje a través de Europa, Africa e Indonesia por un año, sino ser además testigo de lo que suele acontecer dentro de la cabeza y en el espiritu de mujeres de este tiempo. Nos vamos formando para ser exitosas, para vivir vidas emocionantes. La falta de propósitos más profundos nos llevan a decisiones cortoplacistas y descentradas. Sublevarnos entonces contra nosotras mismas y decidirnos a cambiar nuestro rumbo se convierte en una travesía como la de Elizabeth, dolorosa y larga, en la que el verdadero propósito es alejarnos de la persona que nos fuímos convirtiendo y dejar que aflore un ser, con un centro mejor establecido que nos permita empezar de nuevo y ser capaces de tomar decisiones y caminos diferentes.



4. 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.

4 comments about Frommer's India (Frommer's Complete).

1. Many times throught this book it mentions that India is not for the fainthearted. Amen to that. Please take this book and plan your trip well in advance to benifit from the best India has to offer. This book is very specific on where to eat, sleep and how to get around with minimal ripoffs. The introductory travel sections are manditory reading. You will receive advice on how to handle unwanted attention from rude men ("strike them")and advice on the water, ("do not open your mouth in the shower"). The guidebook will tell you what sights to avoid and the ones to go out of your way for. Each of India's states are discussed in detail. This book is well written with humor and bluntness and I found it fun to read even after our trip.



2. I agree with the other reviewer that the beginning section on India is quite useful in providing tips to travelling in India. However, once you get there, the book has a few shortcomings, for example:
   1) Maps. While there are maps of entire regions, there are very few city maps. So, through reading the book, I had been cautioned that taxi drivers may take more circuitous routes to my destination, but I nonetheless had no clue on how to get there myself.
   2) Addresses. The book lists many great stores, but often does not give you more information than the street name or market name. This does not help when you're dependent on your taxi driver. On two occasions, I wanted to visit a store mentioned in the book, but never ended up finding it. One taxi driver did make a concerted effort (stopping three times on the road to ask), but we eventually ended up at a store where he would get commission because we couldn't find the store (also where a detailed map would come in handy).
   3) Yoga. It is hard to believe that a travel book on India could hardly mention yoga or have any recommendations on where to go. I don't think it's even in the index (!).
   On this trip, we also had the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide, which were much more informative. The benefits of Frommer's are that it is a more recent (2004) edition and it weighs less (but buy maps!).



3. Before going to India we checked out every travel guide the library had. We ended up taking both the Frommers and the Loneley Planet guides. Each give a slightly different view. We were relatively happy with both of them. (I messed up on the stars, but the comment edit function won't let me change them. I would have given this 4).



4. Frommer's is packed with information, and it's reasonably well organized. It covers a huge and diverse country with a reasonable amount of detail. It's written to appeal to a wide range of travelers, but it's probaly most useful for people who are (1) traveling on their own rather than on a group tour and (2) planning to go mid- to high budget, not low-budget. (Mid-budget in India will get a you a long way -- food, services and rail are amazingly inexepensive as of March '07.)
   
   There's a bit of hysteria in the section on getting ready -- you don't need all those immunizations unless you're going to places where the specific disease is endemic. Check on-line with the US Centers for Disease Control for more realistic advice.
   
   In contrast, the authors are right on target when they warn repeatedly about minor scams. From the moment you go through customs you will be approached by people who have some offer that's a scam or semi-scam. Even when you hire a good guide from a good company, there's a high probability that you'll be taken to a shop whose owner gives the guide a commission. It's endless and ultimately an amusing game, and Frommer's does a great job of hoisting the warning flag. Pay attention - from the second you arrive.
   
   The book also warns against trying to drive yourself in India. I've driven in places like Sao Paulo, Bogota, Rome and Mexico City (and Boston!), and I agree with that warning. Driving in India was scary 25 years ago and it's even more so now due to the great increase in traffic. There are clearly rules of the road, but you'll be dead before you figure them out, so hire a driver locally, fly long distances, and take the train inter-city when flying doesn't make sense.
   
   The discussions in the front of the book about what's good and what's great are excellent and valuable in helping you decide how to spend limited time in India. The suggestions are divided into rankings of sites and rankings of "moments" or experiences. In the back, theres a short but useful section on Indian history and on its multiple cultures, knowledge that you can use to put what you see into context.
   
   The book's one major fault is the lack of good city maps, as mentioned by another reviewer. Even the state maps are poor in terms of identifying good roads and main rail lines. There's a reasonably good explanation of how the rail system works and it tells you what class of travel to book, but that section would be improved with a clear description of what you get at each level of service. (The top level of overnight train is 1 AC which is a 2- or 4-berth air conditioned compartment, and the bottom level is Sleeper, which is a bare bench in a wretchedly crowded coach.)
   
   The book is organized by state and region, and two places that could be twelve hours apart may follow one another in the text, with no indication of their separation. It can take an hour or more to go 30 miles on a main highway; a table of time between major points of interest would help readers plan a realistic itinerary.
   
   Despite these shortcomings, Frommer's India is a solid guide packed with useful information. Not perfect, but very good.

5 comments about Greek Islands (Regional Guide).

1. I used this book for Crete and Santorini and it just didn't get the job done. Fortunately, I had Let's Go Greece 2005 with me as well. It had much more accurate and useful information, at least for the the two aformentioned islands.
   
   LP Greek Islands is useful for keeping your Athens cafe table from wobbling, though. So, it has that going for it.



2. I own a LOT of Lonely Planet travel guides and have always been happy with the insider information they provide. This book, however, is lacking in MANY ways. First of all, there are hardly any photos. Secondly, it seems like the same island description has been pasted onto each island. It goes something like this, " This is one of the most beautiful islands....". Lastly, it falls way short in hotel listing. In Mykonos, for example, the book only list 3 hotels in budget, 3 in medium price range, and 3 deluxe hotels. You've got to be kidding! All that's listed as far as excursions in Mykonos is the number of a travel agent and a gay cruise. Sorry,..not interested...in either!! I want descriptions and suggestions. Did Lonely Planet really ever visit all of these islands? VERY disappointing!



3. Like its companion book (Lonely Planet Greece), this is an excellent guide (but just to the islands)! It is concise, reads very easily, and gives good common-sense recommendations on what to see and where to stay. It is as up-to-date as you can reasonably expect with changing prices and euro/dollar fluctuations. A very, very practical guide from the budget tourist to middle class. Excellent pictures, very good maps, a fine job! It reminds me, in a way, of the Michelin guides to Europe. Having said that, Lonely Planet Greece gives you basically the same information on the islands, plus mainland Greece, for just a few dollars more. So unless you are flying into Athens and going only to the islands, you are probably better off with the parent book.
   
   Reviewed by David Lundberg, author of Olympic Wandering: Time Travel Through Greece



4. I read the recommendation from Amazon, who recommend reader to buy "Lonely planet island" and "Lonely Planet Greece" together.
   However, I found the book of " Greece" is enough!! Because you can find enough information of islands in the book of "Greece", you needn't to buy the book of "Greek Island" again! I am not happy for the recommendation from Amazon, which is difficult for me to trust it again!



5. In general, while I find that Lonely Planet produces far and away the best country guides, their city-, region-, and continent guides have a tendency to be surprisingly light on actual information. (One would expect city guides to have, say, _more_ information, but sadly no.) The same is true for LP Greek Islands, which uses the same stock descriptions to talk about virtually every island, really giving very little sense of how the flavor and atmosphere is different in the different places, and with very few photos to give you a sense of what each island looks like. Ferry information is minimal but sufficient, but if you're looking for information on alternative lifestyles, look elsewhere. Even the section on Mykonos, a famous gay retreat, barely acknowledges it as such!

1 comments about Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West (Culture Trails).

1. Many art historians have written about the great modern earthworks of the American West and Southwest, but this is the first travel book to do so. What sets this book apart from others of its kind is the quality of the writing and the personality of the author, Erin Hogan. Hogan, an avowed urbanista from Chicago, writes with real comedic flair about the road trip she took in her trusty VW Jetta to visit the legendary Spiral Jetty, Lightning Field, Double Negative, Rodencrater, and Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation in Marfa (almost all of them funded by the Dia Foundation). Writing in a picaresque mode, along the way she encounters some pretty hairy and scary characters straight out of the old Wild West, but gone wrong, terribly wron. While her discussions of the formidable works of Judd, Smithson et al are excellent and accessible for general readers, the account of her accidental discovery of a folk-art site known as Hole 'n' the Rock is absolutely transcendent, right up there on a par with Perelman, Benchley, Woody Allen. A fabulous read. I hope we'll be seeing more from this talented writer--and soon.

5 comments about Waterproof Costa Rica Map.

1. This map split at the seams within the first couple of times of laying it out.



2. This map has a lot of small places on it and was a BIG help driving in unfamiliar places that do not have road signs. We were able to tell we were on the right road by looking at the small town names and catching the town names off the churches once we were going through the city. Also we were able to see what town was coming up to check the rare signs with distances to the next larger place.
   
   This map is way better then the free map you get in Costa Rica. That one is detailed - but not as detailed as this map. It omits a LOT of small back roads, small cities and even medium sized cities and this map has many of them included.
   
   The map is easy to read and the waterproofing was great.... we were not there in the rainy season but had a 6 year old with us (enough said!)
   
   We did not do a lot of remote driving, but when we were driving we were certainly referring to this map.
   
   Ours did not tear or split at the seams at all - and it was pretty abused during our travels.



3. I just returned from Costa Rica and this map was great. Much better than the map provided by the rental car agency. It's durable design makes it tear proof. The country is divided North and South so everything is large and easy to read. The roads to the tourist destinations are in good shape(no potholes like I was expecting). Driving in Costa Rica was easy, although there are a lot of trucks and busses that slow you down. I would recommend this map to anyone going to Costa Rica both for planning before you go and for use on the road.



4. I have to second the two-star review by Amanda. While the cartography is good (easy to read, nice colors), the map itself is extremely fragile along its folds. Even when I first opened it there were perforations that were large enough for light to shine through. These, of course, turned into splits. Probably okay for a short trip, but don't expect this to last you a long time. Maybe try Waterproof Travel Map of Costa Ricaor National Geographic Costa Rica Adventure Map, both of which are waterproof as well.



5. Got the map within one week - Fast. It's a good product and much better than the "rental car company map" and any of the other C.R. maps I've seen. You may not need a map this detailed, but if you're driving around a lot, I'd recommend it.

5 comments about The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford Archaeological Guides).

1. Recommended to me by an archaeolgist long active in Israel, I found this book quite helpful in appreciating a number of sites (and sights) I recently visited (and saw) in the Holy Land. For folks who are looking to learn more about various ancient sites than the typical tour guide can offer, this will be well worth its price. In addition to its being informative, I found the personality of its author evident and engaging.



2. Very informative with good descriptions. The language is a little difficult to interpret at times and I wish there was a little more history with each site, but overall a great guide.



3. A must if you plan on going to any of the historical areas of the Holy Land. Much superior to any of the "name" travel guides, incredible detail and historical perspective.



4. Great description of both the sights and the surroundings of all of the different areas of the Holy Land. Provides background to understand the significance, as well as other importance in other times.



5. This book is filled with the knowledge of vast experience and travel. If you want a book that doesn't just give the religiously naive and superstitious what they want to hear (like so many do), then this is your book. Excellent in several ways.