Travel Books

This book is awesome. I am so in love with men who really, really love their children! Love them enough to go through time to find them.

This book is s touching, you'd have to be dead not to feel the anguish from the hero and the heroine. It's at least a 3 tissue book.

Sandra Hills name should be synonymous with wild, beleivable story telling. Her Vikings are not only gorgeous and smart beyond their time but so much fun to see get into the trouble they bring on themselves. At times you want to slap them up the side of their head if you could reach that far, although there are more pleasant things to do if you get that close. These books are the best to take to the beach on a lazy summer afternoon, but not if you are watching small children, as you might tend to forget where you are.

I, who have become a fan of Sandra Hill's viking series books, could not wait for this book to come out. I read the beginning of it at the end of Down and Dirty and got really excited. I read it the first day it came out and....ended up really disappointed. The book starts out with a really hot sex scene...and the rest of them are really good too. The plot, however, was hokey. Sandra Hill just expects the reader to just accept she could fall in love with such a stupid, unfunny, guy. Seriously, the reader can't even fall in love with him. It's completly unbelievable. I think Sandra Hill has strayed away from her original intent with the series.

Sandra Hill is Back! Her past couple of books have been soso but Viking Unchained was great! Finn was hilarious especially when he takes Torolf's advice.I read this book in one day an I cant wait till the next book.

Thorfinn, a Viking warrior, is grieving for his lost son, Miklof. Thorfinn is sent forward in time one thousand years where he meets Lydia. Lydia is mourning the loss of her Navy SEAL husband and raising her son, Mike by herself.

Perhaps fate has brought Thorfinn and Lydia together?

I have read every book in Sandra Hill's Viking series. I have loved them all. Viking Unchained is my favorite. At books end you will have sobbed, laughed hysterically and loved with all your heart. Thorfinn and Lydia are not to be missed!

Sandra Hill's books are romantic, funny and sinfully delicious.

Annmarie
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I enjoyed Ewan and Charley's first trip, and was excited to see that they were on another adventure. Having been to Africa myself, I was especially interested to see how the boys fared. I was very disappointed in the amount of time that the boys and the crew spent bickering with each other. Here are these two rich guys, on the trip of a lifetime, and they are complaining constantly! While their side trips to introduce us to various charities were moving, the amount of time spent complaining about the roads (did you think the roads in Africa would be pristine?), the amount of time on the bikes (should have planned better!) each day and about each other (this isn't your first trip, so you should know about everyone's little quirks) made the book a bit unenjoyable. I would have loved to read more about the places visited, the people met along the way and the sights, smells, sounds and tastes. Get over yourselves and RIDE!

Great book that should be a companion to the DVD set. I do recommend that instead of this book you buy the illustrated edition. MOre pictures and the same verbage. But, buy at least one of them.

I only watched one episode of the TV series as it was yet another "adventure TV" with full supporting cast. Spotted the book in local library so decided to give it a go, BIG MISTAKE. Why oh why are not books clasified for content as are movies? Where do these two apparently well educated authers get off with their constant use of four letter expletives? They will no doubt say it is a reflection of the real world, I find it insulting and uncalled for. I gave up half way through what was in fact a good read as I could not put up with the filth that they presumably believe to be clever.

Roger
Spokane, Washington

This was an amazing book. Both men tell compelling stories and convey their sense of wonder about what they see and hear.

One of the great things about the best travel writing is that it not only makes you want to travel, you actually want to be there with the author.

Not only did I not want to travel after this book, I have decided to avoid Ewan and Charley and give most of Asia a wide berth. They are miserable characters and you actually wish something bad would happen to them.

Not everyone is longing to build the Great Wall of China out of cereal boxes, but Stink and his buddies, Sophie and Webster, decide to give it a try. Their efforts are hampered by extremely sticky duct tape --- so sticky that the three friends end up taped together. When they manage to pull away from each other, they notice that the Great Wall is moving and making a "wee, wee, wee" sound. Hmm...peculiar. Upon investigation, they discover three furry little guinea pigs hiding in the boxes. Stink is quite smitten with the guinea pig he found, naming it "Astro."

Stink and the gang take the animals to Mrs. Birdwistle's Fur & Fangs pet shop, where they find a mob of guinea pigs running amok. The kids help capture them, as Mrs. Birdwistle explains that she rescued them from a lab --- and that there are 101 guinea pigs in all, including the three that escaped to tour the Great Wall of China. Mrs. Birdwistle wants to save the little rodents from the animal shelter where, if they're not adopted immediately, they'll be put to sleep. But now she has no idea how she will ever find homes for that many guinea pigs, so Stink and his friends offer to help. They start out by going door-to-door, asking Webster's neighbors to adopt new pets. However, the only interest they get is from Sam the Snake Man, who is probably looking for meals for his slithery serpents. Ewww. Needless to say, that is not an option.

Rather than feeling depressed, though, Stink feels challenged. He comes up with a plan for Operation Guinea Pig, which begins with turning an old camper into the Piggymobile, a kind of guinea pig pet store on wheels. As the kids work together, they learn some fascinating facts about guinea pigs (for example, these animals see in color --- and their favorite color is green). They also crack some amusing jokes (Sophie's family calls duct tape "goose tape"). Of course, Stink is losing his heart to Astro, even while he knows that he can't keep a rodent as a pet in a house with a cat.

STINK AND THE GREAT GUINEA PIG EXPRESS is another triumphant collaboration between writer Megan McDonald and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. The plot is exciting, funny, heartwarming and subtly educational while the illustrations (including full-page cartoon panels) are hilariously expressive. Stink's quest will appeal mightily to both early readers and to young listeners during read-aloud story time.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

My six year old son and I have been friends with Stink Moody from the beginning with Stink: The Incredible, Shrinking Kid. My son relates so well to Stink's emotions, schemes, and imaginition. Since he and Stink also share the honor of having a sometimes moody, older sister, my son knows Stink's life is not so different from his own. We are both eagerly awaiting Stink's next adventure!

These books are marvelous for getting your grandbabies to read ...I pretend I don't have a clue about STINK and they also EXPLAIN to their less than with it Grandma WHAT the book is about ...I'm a firm believer in READING and these help me create an atmosphere of pleasure while reading for my girls.

My 8 year old daughter devours the Judy Moody and Stink books. Megan MacDonald cannot write them fast enough. These are excellent readers for those who are reading independently but may be hindered by smaller typeface. The books read quickly ( good for kids bad for moms who have to wait for the next book to come out). My daughter also thinks the books are hysterical. I always catch her laughing out loud in her room. Mrs. MacDonald has captured the attention of the younger reader with exciting and humorous text that kids can identify with while maintaining the the innocence of this age group! Two thumbs up! Highly reccomended.

This book was a much needed wakeup call with respect to the realities of software engineering and the international market for those skills. We all understand that international competition is driving businesses to reduce costs by outsourcing software engineering projects, but few U.S. software engineers have a plan for countering the effects of this outsourcing. Chad Fowler's first hand experience managing outsourcing teams in India allows him to provide a unique cultural and professional perspective with the survival techniques needed by U.S. software engineers. From the content of this book, it is apparent that Chad Fowler is experienced, current and knowledgeable in the magical and demanding art of software engineering management. This book provides 52 bullets of behaviors/practices for evolving into the "best of the best" in order to insulate yourself from the impacts of outsourcing - and he justifies each of these with real world examples. This book is a great companion to the masterpiece book "Pragmatic Programmer" by Hunt and Thomas, which addresses the craft of software engineering with equally convincing justifications and examples.

I just graduated from college and started working as a developer for a software company. Life in college is very different from professional life. I felt a little lost and wasn't sure how to manage my time at work and outside of work. I wasn't sure about how the world works outside of college. This book gave me some good advice and guidance. It is also a fun read and contains some useful facts and moral lessons.

Wonderful, easy to read, and well written to boot.

I was impressed with how well he walked the line regarding outsourcing - neither demonizing/denigrating the offshore programmer nor doing a Chicken Little impression of the "sky is falling". This is by far one of the most balanced treatises on offshoring that I've read.

His assessment of the state of the industry, as well as the strengths/weaknesses of the offshore competition for an IT job is generally spot on.

E.g., he notes that an offshore "specialist" is simply someone who has never worked on anything else (say 5 years doing nothing but Java), and does not indicate how well that individual knows the subject matter; and that paradoxically offshoring actually ends up creating a lot more jobs onshore - esp. for a "higher bracket of developers". He also notes the inability of most offshore developers to say "no" - the dreaded "just one more day" syndrome. Then there's the small matter of time lost due to communication issues between geographically distributed teams. And, I've been asked to sit in as an "English-to-English" translator on numerous occasions.

In short, the phenomena he notes are all ones that I've observed in the past few years.

Not that I agree completely with his cultural understanding of India though. Its difficult to see a culture that's literally thousands of years old and get a grasp of its underlying complexity in 18 months spent working primarily with IT workers. The professionals he works with are a product of a complex culture and its difficult to generalize based on such a specialized sample.

For instance, in the chapter on Mentoring he states that in the West "Everything is competition". However, in his Introduction he talks about having to hire 25 people out of 30,000 applicants in India. Yes, you read that last number right. I'm not sure how he reconciles these two facts in his own mind - but let me assure you that there's nothing quite like competing academically/professionally in India. (I'm constantly dismayed by the focus in our public schools here, on fostering a "everybody's a winner" attitude in schools).

However, to his credit his missteps are rare.

Read as a workbook on how American developers should optimize their interactions with offshore teams, this book deserves 5 stars.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

This book's other objective - on keeping your toolset sharp and ready does not fare quite so well.

My biggest issue is that there is not much by way of new advice. And unless you're asleep at your career's wheel, you're already doing much of what he suggests. Don't get me wrong - its not bad advice per se - though I did not agree with all the recommendations.

For e.g., he derides people from calling themselves specialists because they don't understand how to make a JVM say uncle. But then he recommends that you don't specialize in a technology stack such as J2EE, because it is not platform neutral. Specifically vis a vis J2EE and .NET, he says "master one and get good at the other". Spoken like a true "manager".

If you sit and think about the variety of software that comprises the J2EE pantheon in all its glory - I'd argue that you would find it difficult to be a specialist in every one of its areas, never mind also being "good at" the Microsoft stack. Not if you want to go home at the end of the day and have a life, that is.

I think I am pretty passionate about my career - but it does not define me, and it would be a great loss to me, if it did.

There are a few gems in here - like the Mind Reader chapter which talks about picking up 'water cooler conversational cues' from your coworkers about potential improvements and then making them happen in your down time, to seem like a miracle worker.

For the most part, the ideas end up being pretty much recycled from the grand old classic that is the "Pragmatic Programmer" by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas. That book is a must read - even though it is a bit dated in places today. In other words, this book is largely a retelling of that earlier work in a newer context.

This part of the book rated 3 stars.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The reason I highly recommend it, is that love it, hate it, or /dis/agree with it, you'll come away the richer for forming your own opinions. These are a practitioner's thoughts rather than a theoretical dissertation - and that is worth its weight in gold.

As a North American software developer, I definitely got a lot out of this book. I don't really fear my job being outsourced to India but I wanted to understand what the issues were with outsourcing and can IT shops in India deliver the same value at North American ones.
Outsourcing to India is just a part of this book and the general theme is how to stay more relevant to your organization when technology is constantly changing. There is a lot of useful advice about how to make yourself more valuable to your organization (and deliver more value to your organization).
[...]

This book has changed the way I look at my business. There is not much to say about this book. It is short enough to read it in one weekend a I would strongly advise you to do so.

As other DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, this one is an excellent tool for travellers going to Peru,As usual , this issue is rich in photos and useful information

It's tough to pick the "best" guidebook for a particular destination, and the proliferation of free travel information on the web makes choosing "the one" even tougher. My wife and I always start with a copy of an EyeWitness guide for the destination: there are pictures on every page, and we find the images help us plan our trip: the guides are particularly good for architecture and art. The practical guides in the back provide a useful overview of currency, hotels and restaurants.

This guide to Peru is a particularly good example of the DK offerings: the images, paper, text, all are up to the high standards of other guides in the series. We returned from our trip to Peru two days after the Eyewitness guide arrived in the mail, so that we used two other guides during our trip. Reading EyeWitness at home reinforced our belief that the Eyewitness series is the best starting point for us.

Peru is a very complicated country, and Eyewitness does a superb job of describing that complexity in words and in pictures. Its treatment of Lima was particularly good -- we were lost in the details of the city as they appeared in the two other books we used on the trip, but Lima came to life clearly in the Eyewitness guide. (We thought that Peru Insight Guide (Insight Guides) was a very good guide for the reasons indicated in my review of that guide.)

Of course, you'll need more specific and detailed guides to many of the attractions: the Inca Trail if you choose to hike it, or Machu Picchu if you visit. But for a comprehensive and visually appealing overview, Eyewitness can't be beat.

Having written that, there is really only one page that usually matters in deciding whether to buy a guide book: the newer the guide the better. This book appeared in a fully revised American edition in May, 2008. That makes this guide very hard to beat for two or three years in our experience.

Note: DK maintains an excellent website at TravelDK , with updates on many of its guidebooks.


Robert C. Ross 2008

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 like pictures. I understand a place I am visiting when I see it and not just have it described in words. This series of books are idea for those of us who want to know the history and context of what we're seeing. More than a Lonely Planet Guide to the best hostels in the world, this series provides a comprehensive guide to what to see and why.

If you like the ancient and modern Turkey, this book is for you. Beautiful descriptions and useful maps. It makes your trip to my country very pleasant.

Turkey (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
My husband and I love to travel. We like to take at least two long trips per year. From all different travel guides we like the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides best.

This book looks nice, feels nice, and I suppose might taste nice. However, after living in Turkey for a year I found this book to be lacking in practical information. Eyewitness guides seemed to be geared more towards the tourist-on-a-tour rather than a person trying to make it on their own. There are three reasons I say this:
1) The hotel information is mainly for nicer establishments and there are not many listed.
2) The pictures are really nice, but there is not a lot of cultural, historical, or instructional information.
3) The book is really heavy making it a pain to carry around.

I also owned the Lonely Planet Turkey book and loved it, I would recommend it over the Eyewitness Guide. It got me to where I wanted to go and I found most of the information to be accurate. People I worked with also liked the Rough Guide of Turkey.

One other suggestion, if you are just headed to Istanbul, or plan to be in the country for a long period of time I would purchase both a Turkey guide and an Istanbul guide in order to save having to carry around a huge guidebook to the entire country.

The guide has beautiful pictures, but I found it a little lacking in content, especially for the Ephesus area. If you are going on a cruise and stopping in Kusadasi as we did, we wanted information on the Kusadasi and Ephesus areas, including how to navigate ourselves through town, what the highlights are (where to focus our time) and how to get there, as well as some historical and background information. The little information this book did provide on Ephesus was something any taxi driver could have told us.

I've been consistently impressed by the Lonely Planet series. These books allow you to navigate a new country and culture like a pro, and find all the hidden spots that a tour guide probably wouldn't take you to. Worth every penny!

Initially, I took three guides with me on my 5-week journey through Brazil: Footprint, Frommer's and Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet gets the nod.

No other guide except Footprints (see my review) comes close to the covering all of Brazil. Lonely Planet is the best guide to have if you are backpacking and/or thinking of crossing into other countries at remote border crossing.

Lonely Planet has EXCELLENT sections on Brazil's history, economy and culture. Lonely Planet segregates Brazil into five geographical areas and introduces each city or region by explaining the history and climate. KUDOS! The descriptions of the towns and cities are top rate. There are many maps, easy to use and well defined.

Sadly, unlike other L.P. guides, this guide has few sidebars or text boxes that give you interesting tidbits about the country. Lonely Planet gives you enough restaurant and accommodation recommendations, but most all have terse descriptions that leave you wishing for more, i.e., "menu is low-key, most pizza and standard rice-beans-meat dishes."

Though this is the 2008 edition (I also reviewed the 2005 edition earlier), I found (too often) places that were recommended but were closed or had moved. Thus, the editors did not `due diligence' and send the writers of this edition back to the places that the 2005 guide raved about and lists. Rather, they just transferred them over. NOT GOOD. Beware. This was especially prevalent in Manaus. Best to call first before you spend the taxi money.

Speaking of money... If you are from the European Union, sing praises for the Euro. If you're from the USA, weep. The fall of the dollar's value is very evident in Brazil. Reality check: Rio, a decent hotel (not great a hotel, just decent) is at least $100 and up. A good, not great, meal is at least $20 to $30. I traveled during the "Low Season" and I found that I needed $100-$150 a day to travel at a 3-4 star level and eat OK (not including my airfares). You should add at least 20-30% in high season and at least 60% at Carnival. Backpackers can do it for less, but not near what the guide quotes. Be Aware - Be Prepared for money shock.

Lonely Planet is my first choice, but I have it on good authority (Amazon.com) that Footprint Brazil 2009 will be out this December. IF you are going to Carnival 2009 then get Footprint over Lonely Planet, it does a much better job of guiding you through this huge event. Also, I highly recommend Culture Shock! Brazil 2007 for anyone wanting to know more about the ethos and customs of the diverse, colorful country. Happy travels.

Travel the US with Doreen and her hubby plus pets in this great adventure. There is never a dull moment and "The Princess from the Island of Long's" interaction with nature proves to keep you on the edge of your bus seat waiting for the next anecdote! One of my favorites is exploring the Alaskan wilderness sans potty but waiting 7 hours for real accommodations--no roughing it for this gal! The best travel book I've read in a long, long time!

How do you make a book better?!?! Include martini recipes--and this book did just that:) A funny and entertaining book that makes you want to get outside and start traveling! Great book!

I think the best thing about this book was that I heard my voice as well as my friends voices in this so-called Princess. Her charm and honest wit were fantastic. I envy her this trip! Now I've got the travel jones somethin' FIERCE!

Every time I think abut this book I grin. The author writes the way I think, or the way I think I think anyway, witty, self-deprecating in just the right way, cynical but open at the same time. The very thought of being cooped up in that small space for months at a time with someone else, ANYONE else, horrifies me, and yet I could see myself having a good time with the author, her husband, and their animals on this trip. The interesting part of a memoir is always how the writer changes from beginning to end, and this can often feel forced or false, but I never felt that way with Orion. Her self-examination and oft times slightly harsh evaluation of her life before the bus felt genuine and touching. A great book club book, highly recommended.

Tim had a wonderful idea. Take a year off from his private psychiatry practice to travel around the country in a converted bus. Now all he had to do was convince his wife...

And so begins Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle a Husband and a Bus with a Will of Its Own. Written by the Tim's wife Doreen (a self proclaimed Long Island Princess and fellow psychiatrist) Queen of the Road is the story of Tim and Doreen's adventures on the open highway. At first Doreen is pretty much appalled by the idea (mostly due to the fact that there is no way she can fit all two hundred pairs of shoes on a bus) but is convinced by Tim to give it a try. Soon enough they are off, with a standard poodle and two cats in tow, on an adventure like no other.

Similar to a travelogue ala Bill Bryson (but written by a feisty, swearing psychiatrist) Queen of the Road is a very humorous, entertaining book about leaving everything behind and trying something new. The fact that the author didn't really WANT to try something new gives this book a little twist throughout. It's pleasant enough to read a book about someones travels, but when that person would rather be sitting in front of the tv in her own home than be on the open road makes for a pretty funny book.

I found that I have very little in common with the author (except for the fact that we both love Buffy the Vampire Slayer) but that didn't deter from my overall enjoyment of Queen of the Road. Sure, I can't really sympathize with a women who would rather be shopping for the newest trend is shoe-wear, but her tell-it-like-it-is style is kind of refreshing. There is nothing fake about the author's writing and even if you don't necessarily agree with her way of life, you can't help but enjoy the book.

Some of my favorite passages:

Myrtle Beach also astounded us by the plethora of swimsuit shops on almost every block. How many people, after all, decide to vacation in a beach community but forget to bring their swimsuits? Evidently, nearly everyone. And, as Time observed, judging from the number of topless bars, apparently a lot of them are men who forgot to bring their wives, as well.

Funny, right? Or how about this one:

We're really not Disney people. I mean, Disney people don't see the Guest Relations kiosk and wonder, "Ya think they sell condoms?" Disney people don't purposely make outlandish faces on the roller coasters, just as the camera snaps a pictures (my favorite: pretending to stick a finger down my throat to gag). Disney people don't scream, "Look! It's a dwarf!"every chance they get, just for the satisfaction of knowing they're in the only place on the planet they can do so and not get dirty looks. (Although Tim did insist on adding, in his best politically correct tone, "They're called little people, sweetie.")

So if you are looking for a laugh-out-loud book to read, check out Queen of the Road.

I am writing this review after visiting Peru, and using this book as a guide.

The book is very thick, but actually contains very little useful information. Most pages are simply full with senselessly long lists of restaurants, hotels, and other contact information. Such things are better found on the internet, or by simply walking around the city. Moreover, a lot of that information was already out of date a little more than 1 year after publication. So, about two thirds of the book is immediately utterly useless weight.

Instead, a good guide book,
1) would have a lot of pictures. There are none in this book!
2) would have a lot of maps. A few are available in this book, but are not sufficiently detailed, not well-prepared, not well-explained.
3) would talk about interesting things to do in A LOT more detail. Such information in this book is extremely limited, sometimes barely a sentence or two, and a short search on the internet would produce a lot more useful and insightful information. This leads me to question whether the writers even visited the places they are talking about. Given the recent news about how BBC's Lonely Planet Guides are being prepared, I'm going to have to say probably not..
4) would have the following important information: the flag of the country would be nice; the inflation and GDP per capita in the country in addition to money exchange rates, and estimates of average transportation, hotel and restaurant prices; the altitude, average temperatures and precipitation of each city (for instance, for Cusco some of these are quite important!). The climate of the country could be entirely discussed in one page in a few simple maps showing altitude, precipitation, and temperature; also population density.
5) would give prices in local money, instead of dollars. Just after a few months, all prices listed are already out of date, not just because of local inflation, but also because of the devaluation of the dollar.
6) would do a lot more justice to the history of the countries, and put the interesting things to see in a context.
7) would have some color. None in here, except the covers and a couple of pages. In other words, the guide should be more visual, and writing should be avoided when it can be. One picture is worth a thousand words or more..

Having said all this, I am not aware of a better guide book. So, I can only suggest to compare guides for yourself and then pick one, or just use information off the internet.

In short: out of the 120 or so pages on Peru, the useful information fills in about a third, and the rest is either out of date, useless, unrelated, or otherwise non-essential.

So: publishers, pay me half the money you paid these writers, and I will give you a guide that is 10 times better than this.

Lonely planet is a great travelling guide - it gives you just enough information to get you by when you're in need, and leaves enough blanks for inspiration of your own.

I was very, very disappointed in this book and would have returned it but I had highlighted one article before looking at the book completely. This is probably a good book for a college student who will stay in hostels but as for a book to help find hotels and sightseeing places, it missed the mark completely.

Used this book for a three month trip through Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. A friend who travelled with me had Footprint's guide to South America. While Lonely Planet had far and away the better maps, everything else about the Footprint book was better -- more information, more current information, and most importantly, broader coverage! There were many small towns that were not even included in the LP book. Even in the major cities, Footprint covered more sights and did so with more detail. If you are picking up a second book for a trip, by all means get the LP. But if you are only buying one, go with Footprint until LP seriously expands this edition.

This is a useful if flawed guide for backpackers and other budget travelers. This thick book (1,150 Pages) covers lodging, conditions, airports, regulations, and other vital information for 13 countries. The information is practical, useful, and substantial, and one can travel South America with this guide. But in trying to cover 13 countries the book is unavoidably limited on information for any one nation, city, or place, and the maps are at times less than adequate. There is also some out-of-date information (Argentina's Peso is NOT equal to one U.S. dollar) so travelers are advised to check other sources.

If you will be traveling to only a couple nations in South America you would be better advised to buy a travel guide for each country. However, if you will traverse through many countries in this fascinating continent, this book is still a valuable reference tool.

Having just returned from a visit to the Low Countries, we found this guide to be very helpful. Though it does not go off the beaten path, concentrating instead on the major cities, it does cover those cities well, with transportation information as well as hotel and restaurant recommendations which we found reliable. Maps show the metro stops, which is handy, and the book includes walking tours of the cities and some museums. Recommended.

An excellent travel guide that is easy to read and filled with low cost alternatives from hotels and pensions to wonderful restaurants and tour options. This was my second trip to Amsterdam and the second time staying in the same hotel that Rick had recommended. One year while in Paris, standing in line at the Eiffel Tower I had noticed that there were several people reading Rick Steves Paris Guide. It was a great conversation starter. My last trip this past October, while touring Germany, the guide said to mention Rick's name while checking into a very comfortable pension and the owner would give a discount. It worked! Thanks Rick!

Rick led us to some of the nicest places in Brugge. I didn't get to experience Amsterdam (which claims about half the pages in the book), but the information on Belgium and Brugge was great. He has some really excellent B&B recommendations. If you end up in Brugge, definitely go see Scottish Maggie :)

as usual, rick steves' does the best job. having lived in europe for 13 months, his way is my favorite way to travel. i won't allow myself travelling 'looking like the usual tourist' and doing the usual tourist thing. his suggestions allow you to get to know the heart of the people and culture.

We recetnly traveled to Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp. We used Rick's book to select the hotels and the areas to visit versus the bigger name publisher review books (like Let's Go and Formers, etc.). We picked three hotels from his book. Two of the three hotels were great, while one was a bit noisy. Even the hotel that was a bit noisy was a clean, smart hotel in the St. Caterhine neighboorhod section of Brussels. We found his book and recommmedations to be well written, clear and true to form. We also used Fromers guidelbook, in campanion to Rick's, but did not find it to be local enought to our needs. We ate almost exclusively at the restaurants is his book, traveled to the sights, used the train systems and used the maps in his book for our trip. Sometimes when you use a book like this you get one or two great places to stay or to eat, but, with his, it was truely a satisfying experience to go to his book's places and come away satisfied.

We saw other travelers in the regions we visited using his book as well.

We will definitely recommmend this book to novice travelers as well as repeat travelers, and defintely buy one of his books again.