Travel Books

I finished this book in one sitting because I was just so eager to experience the author's journey of picking himself up from rock-bottom. I would have given it 5 stars if not for the overwhelming Starbucks mention but was able to get past it because I have heard that it is a really good company to work for, and from personal experience have really come to appreciate the value of being in a positive work environment where you are around people who genuinely care about you, and bring out the best in you rather than beat you down. I've recently come to the conclusion that you can get positive work experiences anywhere from being a waitress to a high-powered CEO depending on what you find fulfillment in (and everyone is different in what they find fulfilling) and am happy to hear that the author was able to find it in the most unexpected of places. I applaud the author's candid story; it's one thing to be 30 and down and out, but in his 60s and being what seemed like on top of the world and to have to enter into a brand new world of unknown mostly on his own is exceptionally challenging. If you're someone who thinks that extra-marital affairs are "wrong" and are going to judge him for it, don't bother reading because you probably won't be able to get past that fact to see his other accomplishments. If you can empathize with someone who's just doing what he can to pick himself up you'll probably find this to be a good read.

Really.... Save the holier than thou literary garbage for some never got layed Ivory league professor who couldn't hold a normal job with normal people if his life was on the line. Fact is most...I mean most! normal folks would enjoy this type of reading while on vacation or waiting in a airport terminal. That is the market for this, if not most publishing. I am so tired of some unaccomplished idiot's remarks that really mean nothing to 95 percent of the population. Listen fools!!! I have never met a soul (outside of the few I mentioned before) who thought A Tale of Two Cities was ..well.....good! or half the writing of Harwthorn and lets not forget the garbage and crap in old waldens pond!!! Really, most folks would rather read Mad magazine..and the fact that they are still publishig Mad after 30 years...well there is my pudding and proof!! Get a life. Oh, now it your turn to live up to the starnards I mentiona nd say..oh look at Ace's grammer...oh, he misspelled this or that...have fun, but I have a good life with good friends and well........lots of real GOOD books that us nothings share..

Interesting premise - spoiled man of privelege is forced to join the serving class and actually finds happiness. I like Gill's writing style and the book kept me interested. I did see some holes, such as details (or at least more info) on the 10 years between the ad agency and Starbucks. And how, exactly, did he embark on the path that caused his family to break up? How did his move at the book's end really come about? I felt much was glossed over or disregarded as irrelevant, when in fact it's relevant to grow this reader's empathy with Gill and his story. Perhaps he was worried about being seen as a bad guy (when in fact, he's just human), or perhaps there was heavy editing by Starbucks PR. Overall, a good, quick, interesting read. I just think substantial info was missing.

I bought this book wondering how anyone could enjoy slaving away all day long serving beverages. I have noticed over the years that hardly anyone works very long at any of the starbucks I frequented. Now I realize after reading this book that it's b.s. He only worked there a year. And, being in advertising, he came up with an idea to promote working at starbucks. I'd like to see him work there for 10 years. Now he's getting rich from this stupid book and the movie. This book is poorly written, it continually flashes back and forward in a confusing manner that's hard to keep up with. It's not interesting at all--it's just the usual horsepooh from corporate america.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. The premise was great - a man who's had everything pretty much handed to him most of his life loses his job and has to learn the value of hard labor. Along the way he learns that he has been prejudiced and unfair in his perceptions of others.

As great as the premise was, the resulting book was just slightly short of terrible. Gill does not have a talent for writing (to say the least) and the whole memoir sounds like a long conversation. He dips into his past on almost every page and often for no reason, and has no connections that make the memoir an interconnected piece, instead of a jumbled collection of memories.

I appreciate his struggles and his attempts to make the best out of a bad situation, but the reality is, stories like his happen every day. There are plenty of displaced executives working as waiters, and doctors from other countries who are reduced to cashiering jobs at a local pharmacy (I've worked with many of them). While it's great that Gill wanted to bring light to his experience, he should have done justice to himself and others in his shoes and written a more coherent book.

If you are one of those people who sees everyone by location, race, politics or economic status, this travel through America will let you see the great people of this country as they really are: Americans.

The author doesn't walk across America. He starts his journey in NY and ends up in Louisiana.

I expected more camping-type outdoorsy adventures and hikes through mountains and valleys (as the title and the book's front cover suggests). Instead I got a four-month stay in a crowded house trailer owned by a black southern family, and his extended stay at the commune with the hippies. The author's brief visit with the mountain man was interesting.

The book leans heavily on other people, their activities and events. Little emotional insight is ever revealed about the author. The man and his dog are seldom alone, beating the path on foot or fending for themselves. The book reads like a teenager's "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" school report.

Younger people might like this book. Older adults may find it boring and lacking in luster and adventure.

I read Jenkins' book 20+ ears ago. I also had the chance to meet him. I can, honestly say that this book changed my life. He made me so curious about places I'd never seen that my native Ohio seemed pretty small. I worked toward an international career and ended up living in Europe for six years and traveling all over Asia. This is a pretty wonderful world with a lot of wonderful people. Thanks to this book, I got off my butt and went out to see it for myself. Thanks Peter!

When I was 21, I didn't have the nerve to just pick up and drive across America like some friends from college did. I wish I did. So now, even as a mom and a wife, my husband and I plan trips across the country to see what it is like and what we can share with our boys.

I picked this book up at my church library and it's a wonderful book ~~ so what if the grammar and writing style are awkward? It's wonderful. I am literally jealous because he experienced some things that I wish I did. He got on the road and traveled to see America with his very best friend, Cooper. Did I mention that Cooper is his dog? (As a dog owner, I totally relate to Jenkins' view that Cooper is his best friend.) So Jenkins decided to figure out if America is really a beautiful country ~~ disillusioned with the Vietnam War, politics, the "American Way" and with people. He decided that the only way he can ever know what he thinks or believes in is to hike across America. Apparently, this is the first book of that journey where he walks with Cooper, whom he lost due to an accident in Tennessee on The Farm. But all ends well in New Orleans.

Along the way, he meets a lonely mountain man and learned about the life on the mountains. He meets strangers who aren't friendly. He meets strangers that knew about him by word of mouth. He meets Governor Wallace in Alabama. He gets adopted by a family in the Carolinas, where he stopped for several months to work and earn money. He almost gets killed by a drunken posse who decided that he was alright after all ~~ without laying a finger on him. The man came back the next day and apologized for scaring him. He gets kicked out of a small community because he was a "hippie" with a beard and long hair. He communes on The Farm where everyone worked together and raised vegetables/fruits, children together. He traveled long and hard before reaching the Gulf. And his stories are just fascinating.

If you like travel stories, this is definitely a good one to pick up. If you want to hear about a man's viewpoint about different parts of the country ~~ this is a good choice. It's clean, refreshing and stark. It's not the best writing in the world, but he was 22 when he did that and he wasn't trained to be a writer. But he did something that a lot of people wish that they could do (including me).

8-31-07

To me, Peter Jenkins comes across as a very selfish, self-centered person. At the beginning, he abandoned his young wife for no apparent reason (he does not really explain what happened except by saying things got unbearable between them), in the end, he dragged another girl to walk across the country with him, even though he realized that this would totally disrupt her career. Even his treatment of his dog shows that he is obsessed with himself -- he thought his dog could think like a human (actually, like him) and he used plural to describe what he and his dog think (we remembered, we liked or did not like this place, etc.), which is completely ridiculous, mildly irritating and totally laughable. I guess that what long, lonely walks do to people, and if you get stranded on an island, you may also talk to a volleyball.

Even though he tried to distance himself from the hippies, he really is just another hippie who cares only about himself and his "spiritual journey" rather than the people who care about him. How his whole walk started is still not very clear to me, he said it was because he hated his country and wanted to see it for himself, but from the book I did not get a strong impression of this. Instead, I got the impression that it was just another excuse for him to walk away from responsibility.

But, I guess we shouldn't be too harsh on the author. Despite the somewhat juvenile writing style, irksome overuse of exclamation marks, the absurdity of using plural to describe himself and his dog, the trite story of how he found god in some southern evangelical congregations, and the adolescent and melodramatic love affair at the end, walking and working his way from upper state New York to New Orleans is no small feat, neither is writing a book about it. Overall, it was an easy, mostly enjoyable (though occasionally irritating) read.

The parts about the mountain hermit and when he lived with a black family are the highlights of the book. I also think the author did an adequate, if not excellent, job of recording the conversations of people with different background and origins. The part about "The Farm" (a place where a group of hippie cult people lived) is kind of confusing. Why did he go back and in the process got his dog killed? Why didn't he just walk away?

I also found some of his self-confessed "preconceptions" about southerners are so stereotypical that they do not appear very believable anymore; they sound more like what he made up afterwards to build a contrast between his preconceptions and reality in order to tell the story ("I thought they were just undereducated rednecks, but wait, they are actually nice folks"). More importantly, The religious undertone almost got out of hand at the end and was in danger of ruining the book. Had it happened earlier in the book, it must have made it intolerable. Fortunately that was not the case.

I wavered between giving it a 3 or 4 stars (truthfully I would give it a 3.5 stars), but considering he walked the walk and wrote the book, both are no small feats, I will give it 4 stars.

Good read - lots of useful suggestions. Very good on the barrios or neighborhoods.
Somewhat out of date - e.g. the Sydney Opera House style nightclub referenced in the section on the docks has apparently been burned out for several years.

Despite what others said about this book containing lots of ads, it's compact (easy to carry along) and very useful. A good buy.

All the information you need to know.......where to go, what to see and how to do it.......The small, compact size made the guide easy to carry and go with at all times.

After searching through many guidebooks, I settled for TimeOut, and let me tell you, I am glad that I did.

This book gave me everything I needed to know about beautiful Buenos Aires. The places that my Argentine friend recommended to me were all listed in this book, so that shows you how good it is!

Definitely must buy this before going to Buenos Aires, or Argentina itself. Great read, great pictures, great food in Argentina! :)

To start off, I have to say that I usually do not write any reviews for items purchased on Amazon, but for the Time Out Buenos Aires Guide I really have to make an exception.
This Book is just fantastic. I moved to Buenos Aires for the summer and I had never been nor had any idea of what the city would be like. With this Guide book I have been to the most amazing and most interesting places. Putting the sightseeing apart this book is so up-to-date on the restaurant, bar and nightlife scene that I have never been out of place. I have met so many interesting people in only 2 weeks because of this book. It just makes a huge difference having an idea of where to go and what to do at any certain day. So if you are planning on going to Buenos Aires for whatever reason, do yourself and your experience a favor and buy this book.
It's an overall well-rounded guide, that gives you Buenos Aires on paper.

A little over twenty-five years ago William Trogden, who took the name of his Native American ancestors and called himself William Least Heat Moon, set out on a journey across America in what was basically the ancestor of the modern SUV, a small truck which he named Ghost Dancing.

Initially he did this because he had lost his job and his wife in the space of a month, but his journey turned into much more than just an attempt to forget. It became a classic search for and journey into the heart of the country.

This is not a trip into the weirdness of America, although Least Heat Moon encounters plenty of strange sites and people on his journey. It is more of a trip into the heart and soul of the country - figuratively as well as literally. There have been many books written over the years about people leaving home to find America, but even after twenty-five years this is still one of the best such books ever written.

My only complaint is that he quotes Walt Whitman a little too much. I can understand his references to Black Elk, given his background and ancestry, but his overuse of Whitman is a bit jarring at times. But if you work around the Whitman quotes you will love your journey across America's blue highways with William Least Heat Moon.

Took a tour of America with a chip on his shoulder. Guess it gives you a different perspective.

I have written many reviews for Amazon.com. Blue Highways is the only book to which I've given five stars. I would recommend it to anyone.

Blue Highways is William Least Heat-Moon's account of his 1978 low-budget car ride across America. Heat-Moon's reporting reminds me a lot of Charles Kuralt's On the Road reports for CBS News. Heat-Moon has a talent for engaging strangers on the road and bringing out the best in them.

What separates Blue Highways from so many other travel books? There are a variety of factors. Heat-Moon is a good writer. He understands pacing - and does not allow the story to bog down. He is, overwhelmingly, positive about the people and places that he encounters. Heat-Moon took pictures of many of the people he met and I think that those pictures add much to the book.

More so than the above factors, however, I think that Heat-Moon's philsophical bent adds a lot to the book. Blue Highways is not just an account of a trip; in meeting these people and engaging them, Heat-Moon wants to help answer some of the big questions about why we are here and what it means to live a good life. While no one can answer those questions once and for all, Heat-Moon provides some great food for thought.

As several reviewers have pointed out, Heat-Moon's 1978 descriptions of the USA are now poignant due to the changes in our society. Sadly, many of the older people he encountered must now be dead. Many of Heat-Moon's other observations are just as valid today as they were in 1978. Specifically, he laments the increasingly-homogeneous American culture, materialism, careerism, and many other problems.

I first read Blue Highways in 1993. I reread it this summer (2008). It lost nothing on the second reading. If you like travel writing and are at all philosophical, this book will "speak" to you on so many different levels. Don't pass this one up; it's that rare, wonderful book that makes reading all of the mediocre books worthwhile.

I bought this book over 25 years ago. I picked it up by random because the the book's cover synopsis was intriguing. This book has been one of those books that I come back to over and over again. I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who seeks a soul-searching adventure. You will feel like you are travelling right along with the author; experiencing his adventures and depth of self-discovery,,, first-hand.

Buy this book and it will be a treasured book that you too, will come back to again, over and over throughout the years.

If you stop to think about it, this book and those like it really aren't about anything - just a person driving around the country because his relationship wasn't going well and he didn't have anything else to do. But for those of us who love to travel, doing it in person or vicariously through the words of a good travel writer is equally enjoyable, and Moon's anecdotes and experiences - the take he has on humanity - is ample reward for accompanying him on his wanderings.

i was travelling alone in Lhasa, Tibet and found this book in Makye Ame restaurant. i started reading and couldn't put it down. it gave me true enjoyable solitude on my lonely journey. loved it. i spent the last two days reading it in that restaurant. ordered a copy from Amazon last week and i can't wait to finish it.
my heartfelt thanks to Mr Pham!

This book embraces so many themes, so delicately, wrenchingly and compassionately. The center plot is a return to Vietnam by a young Vietnamese American which his family fled years ago to live in the United States. However, it is far beyond cross-cultural travelogue; it inhabits the American as well as the Asian psyche with such scary acuity, and takes us into an inner landscape where few can go....without this author as guide. The prose is elegant and luminous; the situations tragic, comic, ludicrous; terrifying. The tone I felt was one of battle fatigue but transcended by unrelenting steel: this one was meant to survive and to tell it all.....

This book is about a Vietnamese-American man looking for his identity in his homeland. Like many Vietnamese who were children when South Viet Nam fell to the communist in 1975, Mr. Pham's family fled to America where he grew up straddling two cultures. While his writing about biking though Viet-Nam is witty, observational, and realistic, I somehow felt sadden for him because of his Viet-kieu's experience, a terminology used for expats. Over all his story made many generalizations about a very complex and exciting country. I am too a Viet-kieu. What I found is a country full of eager young optimistic people wanting a better life for themselves, their families, sometimes - for better or worse - at any price. Yes, there are poverty and corruption, but there also exist the dignity and quiet grace of a peasant woman who gets up at crack of dawn, earning a meager wage for the day to feed her family because it's her duty. Mr. Pham chose to go back to America with his ''privileges'' and his ''opportunity'' still at a lost for his identity. Readers should not accept Mr. Pham's experience as those of the other Viet-kieu's in Viet Nam.

M. Vo

`I am a mover of betweens' writes Andrew X.Pham. . . `I slip among classifications, like water in cupped palms.' And in his award winning Catfish and Mandala he takes his readers into those `betweens' with him Viet-kieu, `foreign' Vietnamese, Pham sets out from San Francisco on his rickety 18 speed bicycle riding the Pacific Rim, first up the coast to Seattle, then through Japan, and finally arriving in Ho Chi Minh City from where he begins his odyssey through Vietnam, seeking to understand his relationship to the country of his birth, and the people, and his culture.

The ride he takes us on becomes, for the reader, as spiritual as it is physical. We feel every bump in the road, we push up the hills, we are cold, wet, hungry, ambivalent at times, and we suffer from chronic dysentery. Pham meets people who reject him, who taunt him, and those who, often after initial distrust, befriend him for part of the journey. While he is `pedaling and pushing' alone to Hanoi and back , on a journey everyone advises him is too dangerous, the narrative ebbs and flows through his childhood, through the escape on the boat, through the struggles of his family.

Pham moves comfortably from the specific, the particular, like his recollections of Scarface, Bugsy, Redeye, or Bagman and Mechanic, or the roasting ears of corn dripping with pork fat and scallions, to the philosophic - and then the poetic. It is little surprise he has been linked to writers like Thoreau, Kerouac, Steinback.. . I might add William Carlos Williams,T.S.Eliot or Carl Sandburg. He speaks at once of Vietnam and of his uncertain place there and of the US- and in so doing speaks to all of us who now count among the millions who have left homelands and no longer fully understand what home is, and who `move between.'

By the end of Pham's journey we begin to understand what that is, and value it.

Andrew X. Pham's other works and notables:

* Pham, Andrew X. The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars. This title will be released on June 3, 2008.. ISBN 030738120X.

As translator:

* ng Thùy Trâm. Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram. ISBN 0307347370.

Notables: Kiriyama Prize, Whiting Writer Award, QPB Nonfiction Prize, Guardian Shortlist Finalist, NY Times Notable Book of the Year, Oregon Literature Prize.

Andrew X. Pham's website is at www.andrewxpham.com

This book is all good so far. Looking at different types of itineries across the whole of SE Asia is very helpful, and the prices seem pretty up to date at the mo (aug 08). Have had some good tips on getting the best for our money and the 'our picks' in each section have made the places full of like minded people! Top tip for such a thick book -when you get into a city/town/place cut out the pages with a penknife so you only have to take the relevant info & maps out and about with you. If you are travelling for a long while, the book (with remaining places you havent been to) can be passed on or thrown away.

I travel on a very tight budget and this book totally helped me out with hostels,restaurants, transportation to surrounding countries. Asia has to be one of the cheapest places to travel.

This is another one of the awesome books by Lonely Planet. Easy to navigate by the various countries. And it has allowed me to calculate what an average evening in Indonesia can cost $[...] USDS. Can it get better than that?

My husband and I leave on 09-30-08 to backpack various countries and explore the world. We plan on spending lots of time in Southeast Asia, especially since this book has proved how affordable it will be.

We can't wait! Feel free to follow us around the world, we will even review various hotels and places to eat in Southeast Asia, as we travel and read the book. www.nomadbackpackers.com

4.0 out of 5 stars VERY concise backpacker's guide, August 10, 2008

I used Lonely Planet's "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" guide exclusively on my last trip to SE Asia. I visited Singapore and parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. Just like every other Lonely Planet Shoestring Guide, it was pretty amazing. However, this guide was much more concise than other shoestring guides I've used, probably because of how many places are being crammed into one book. Yes, it does a great job of covering a wide range of places in Southeast Asia. It just sacrifices detailed info and maps of many of those places to do so. This book generally sticks to times, costs, and locations, plus a very brief description of many of the places it covers. If you think you'll want more than that, you might consider the individual country guides instead. All that being said, the book does a great job of living up to it's motto: "Big Trips on Small Budgets." The info it provides was all very accurate and very useful. Recommended.

LONELY PLANET IS THE IDEAL RESOURCE FOR PEOPLE LIKE US...BARGAIN-HEADING BACKPACKERS!THIS ONE WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING DURING OUR DAYS IN THA SE ASIA!RECOMENDED!!!

My 6 year old boy initial reaction to going to Disney World was not as enthusiastic as one would expect. being a Disney fan myself i was highly disappointed until I realized that his reaction was due to the fact that he had a blurred idea of what there is in this World. i purchased this book and read a few pages everyday to explain what he is going to see and ride. The way it is set up is very understandable to kids. Now he cannot wait to go!!!!

My wife and I are planning a trip to DW with our 2 kids, her sister, brother-in-law and 2 nieces. As a gift, we bought 2 copies of this book for the kids. One for their family and one for ours. Both families really like the book and find the information helpful, but not enough pictures of everything spoken about for the kids to get really excited about.

I bought this book for a Christmas present for my then 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 daughters to get them ready for our trip to Disney World. They really enjoyed having me read them this book cover to cover. They still look at this book now. While I know it's geared towards the older crowd (8+), the younger ones can still enjoy it but with adult interaction.

Birnbaum Guides "Walt Disney World For Kids" should be your #1 book at Disney.
I went to Walt Disney World with my three grandchildren and two books. Fodor's "Walt Disney World With Kids" was the other book.Birnbaum's was by far the better one.It was more concise, had better tips, it was easy to carry and refer to.
I bought Birnbaum's book for the grandchildren and ended up using it myself.

Very enjoyable book for my son. We read a little each night so that when we go on our trip to Disney, he will know what to expect. Also, there is a ton of pages in the back for Autograph's with a place to put a picture next to it.

I was afraid this book would lack detail since it depicted events 500 years ago, but there was a passenger who, fortunately, became a primary source, and kept the narrative interesting. The opening scene of the book, with the ghostly ship arriving back in Spain, grabs the reader's attention, then there is a long discussion of Magellan's efforts to get the expedition funded and underway. After wading through this moderately interesting segment, the story really picks up once the armada sails. From then on, I was totally hooked and couldn't wait to see what would happen next. I highly recommend this book. It is not a dry tome, as I suspected at first, but a highly readable account of one of the most amazing voyages of all time.

A truly terrifying and detailed eyewitness account of Magellan's voyage westward around the world by sea. It is not hard to get sucked in by Magellan's political persistence, and his entire crew's efforts at survival as they stepped off land they knew to a waterworld larger, deeper, and yet more inhabited than anyone knew. No modern reader can understand what it meant in the 16th century to board a ship to a world where entire continents and oceans were unknown, and longitude was uncalculatable. It was far more daring than the oft-compared space travel, where all the "heavenly" bodies are well-known, and location is calculated down to the last centimeter. At the same time, I found the story equally frightening for describing what still exists in large measure: leaders of countries competing brutally for money, luxury, and indulgences, exploiting the bravery and suffering of loyal common men, poisoning the natural curiosity between cultures. And through it all, women figuring prominently ... as sexual chattel. What we now know is that the world is round, most of it navigable waters. But the lands are populated with scientifically advanced savages. Magellan's story may not make you seasick, but it will surely make you dizzy.

This is a fascinating read, full of details (politics of the time, how ships operate, torture, sexual mores of various tribes around the world, etc.). The story of the first voyage around the world is so amazingly dramatic one would say "too far fetched" if it were fiction. Every page is so rich with detail that you want to just slow down as you read. The only slight flaw is that the characters do not come quite as alive as I would have liked. But everything else about this book is so good, it's well worth reading.

this is one of the most exciting adventure/discovery books i've ever read. it was a page-turner from beginning to end.

I'm on an explorer kick these days, so I've read a lot of bios of them. (Check my list, "Books About Explorers," for more recommendations.) This is (narrowly) my favorite of the lot. Bergreen's a terrific writer, and Magellan's voyage never lacked for drama. It's carefully researched and fun to read.

This book: part humor, part travelogue, narrates Bryson's road trip across the United States and back again. Bryson travels without strict itinerary, and with frequent stops in small towns across the country. The narrative is written in classic Bryson style, with frequent diversions to explain the origin of many of life's oddities, and with constant sideline commentary. As is usually the case with Bryson, the narrative is illuminating, amusing, and shows Bryson's sense of adventure. It was a pleasure to read. Yes, Bryson is frequently critical, but it's important to note that he's an equal-opportunity offender. Wherever he goes he brings his decidedly sarcastic wit, but he also balances criticism with admiration. This is not a book with a weighty message about humanity or morality, but it is a fun read to pick up and put down at leisure. And the ability to dive in and out is one of the beautiful things about this book; one can enjoy it and put it aside at will, and it takes little time to become reengaged in Bryson's prose.

This is my first Bill Bryson book, so I can't compare this book to his others. But I can say that I really enjoyed the sarcastic humor at the expense of middle America. Many authors try and fail to bring the same amount of wit to their books as Bill Bryson.

Bryson's journey took place in 1988, which makes the book a little dated. But you have to wonder how much less fun the trip would be with a cell phone, email, GPS and Yelp. It's a little depressing to read about how much had changed in this country in 1988, and realize that was 20 years ago.

I gave this book one star only because Amazon doesn't allow the option to select zero stars.

My husband and I have read and enjoyed many of Bill Bryson's books. In the past, we considered him one of our favorite writers. After reading this book, it will be a long time before I open another of his works.

Mr Bryson's petty criticisms of the small towns through which he drove and his obvious contempt for all things Southern will leave any American who loves her country feeling a deep disdain for all things Bryson. While reading this book, there were many times my husband and I would look at one another and ask, "What could have happened to him to make a man from the Midwest develop such a negative view of all things American?" and "Do you think this book was REALLY written by 'our' Bill Bryson?" (BTW, we no longer consider him 'our' Bill Bryson.)

I mentioned that Mr Bryson 'drove through' small towns in America because that's exactly what he describes in the book. After a quick, judgmental glimpse of a town, he bypasses it altogether as totally unworthy of his time, money, or attention.

Bryson didn't bother to visit many of the historical attractions along the way. Apparently, he was on a very tight budget. He DID, after all, borrow his mother's old Chevette for the journey. The cost of admission to these sites require him to cut back on his beloved beer and chicken-fried steak.

Last, but definitely not least, Mr Bryson showed himself to be a bigot. His contempt for 'all things white and all things Southern' along with his propensity for revisiting every bit of negative racial history every recorded during his BRIEF drive through the deep South demonstrated just how out of touch he is with the country of his birth and his, obvious, disdain for truth. He chose to ignore any progress made in race relations during the past 40 years. He chose to see, and share, his view that America is, and will always be, the country he would most like to see in 'his rearview mirror'. I, for one, welcome him to return to his country of choice and not bother to darken the doors of the home I love. The last thing the United States of American needs is one more person to describe our country in such negative terms.

Notice how many one and two star ratings this book has. That alone should warn you of how bad this book is. You can read the other one star ratings, my review would be similar to most of them, so I'll keep mine short.

I bought this because I like Bill Bryson's other books and I figured I couldn't go wrong with small town journeys by a writer I enjoy. Boy, was I wrong, I did not enjoy Bryson in this book at all. I find small towns to be rather endearing and love their charm and individuality, Bryson didn't pick up on the charm that I see in them and instead had mean things to say about mostly every place he went. I found this book to be as boring as he found the towns to be, but it's all a matter of opinion, isn't it?

This book was not my first read by Bill Bryson and I will move on to other authors after this read. As I was reading this book I wondered why I had read as much of this author as I have.
Bryson tends to look down his nose at people and things that do not meet his obviously cultured standards. His anger whether displayed or passive aggressive has gotten old.
An example of my disappointment in this book is the author's report of New York City. Bryson couldn't find anything interesting within the 5 boroughs of the city.
His politically correct self contentment is no longer of interest to me.

OK, OK, some people love this book, others hate it. You know what? Books don't raise kids, people do, and every child is different. I have read a wide range of parenting books, running the gamut from the "tough" approach to the "gentle." I won't waste my time with anything that advocates corporal punishment, but what I will do is consider the wide range of opinions and approaches. Then I will apply what I think will work for my child. That's my job as a parent - not just read a single book and do everything it says. Also, don't forget, this book is really aimed at families that are already in deep and need to dig back out. Much of it is common sense and affirms what we are already doing. Some of it included practical tips we can use if we need to. In the meantime, we have a thriving, independent, anything-but-shy child who we aim to keep that way through freedom with boundaries, guidance when needed, and time-outs (and beyond) when required.

This book is for crackpots who want to have "power" over the children. This book is not founded in any research, studies, hell is there even a parent survey to see if the ladder works? Can we get one APA reference? Be careful. There is nothing Montessori about this book. What about the free will of the child? Read this if you want to be attacked as a parent and create a little drone that only says yes. Come on parents, your children are humans, free thinkers and have spirits of their own.

Beyond Time-Out: From Chaos to Calm
This is an excellent book for anyone wanting parenting techniques that are effective with children to establish order and joy in child rearing. Simple steps to put into practical use!

This book is a must have reference for parents. Whether you have 1, 2 or 5 kids, finally a book that gives you the language you need to get your children to be better listeners, better sleepers, better behaved all around. This book teaches you to stop the empty threats; advises you to stop the constant reasoning and explaining to your kids; lets you know what type of parent you are and how to change bad habits; and most importantly teaches you step by step what words to use for effective parenting. The results are AMAZING. You will become a calm, matter of fact parent instead of an out of control frustrated parent. Stop the madness and teach and lead your kids by example into respectful, self controlled and happy behavior.

As a grandparent I could only wish I had this book when I was parenting. My kids will all get copies because this smart book is the most sensible, clear and effective exposition about how our current generation of children have gotten out of control and what can be done about it. I taught parenting courses on the University level in the 70's and 80's. All that advice about listening to kids, building self esteem, empathizing with children's feelings, and creating democratic families has become distorted to the point where we've gone overboard as a culture in letting our kids take the reins in family affairs. My own grandchild, age 7, recently said that when it comes to family problems, "I can't fix things. That's for the adults to do. I am only a kid." This book puts things back into perspective and gets right to the point of how to save these little people from being victims of having too much power to make decisions and choices that are way beyond their developmental abilities and experience. The PLAN OF ACTION outlined here, makes the parents responsible for guiding children who need to know that someone with wisdom and experience is in charge of their welfare. This is a "must" for anyone who takes their job of parenting seriously.