Travel Books

An interesting read for trailer aficionados, novices, RV and even tent camping enthusiasts. Excellent photography, engaging and concise history. I keep a copy in my teardrop to lend to campers who ask for a tour and more information. This book's "tiny trailers" are non-teardrops like Shasta, Serro Scotty and other "canned hams." Good value, great book.

A wonderful book with illustrations and descriptions of modern and historical teardrops. Shows a wide variety of teardrops and tiny trailers. Lots of detailed pictures.

I like the book. I do wish it had more information on building teardrops in it. It does however have some beautiful pictures in it that have given me some ideas when I do start to build mine. Overall it is a good book.

The photographs in this book are incredible! And besides the beautiful photos the text is well written. It also includes sections on Canned Hams and the Silver Sisters.

Another Douglas Keister book full of high quality photography and great reading. For the teardrop purists there may be some trailers covered that you don't like but for everyone else, you'll appreciate the coverage of the smaller canned-ham trailers.

Fun read that has enough adventure to keep you coming back during the cold evenings in winter. I read this and passed it along to my mom who in turn sent it around the world. Each reader found the time to write a comment either about the rum, recipes or pitfalls of sailing down island way. If you ever thought about taking a year or two off you'll definantly want to give it a read. If you just need an escape you won't be sorry. I still pick it up from time to time just to read a chapter before going to sleep (with the hopes a caribbean dream soon to follow). If you only use the recipes it's worth it.

Seems like good information for Cruisers, I enjoyed the reading. Did not try any of the recipes.

If you want a book by and about experts sailing the Caribbean this is not it.

This is the story about a hard working Toronto couple. His dream was taking time off to sail to and around the Caribbean. If she had a dream; long, scary sailing trips were not part of it. Still, shaking in her flip-flops, she helped him pursue this dream and did pretty darn well. They spent several years saving and preparing. Anne was the founder and editor of Cottage Life Magazine. Her husband, Steve, worked for her magazine.

When they finally leave I can feel Anne's fear. Maybe because my husband would like to do the same thing and I haven't ever been on a (moving) sailboat. They were very well prepared and organized, but there were still very scary times.

I liked that they were sincerely interested in getting to know the native people and the islands. They didn't treat the people as though they were there only for their convenience--they wanted to learn from them and build friendships. That is really the heart of the book.

Sprinkled throughout the book are tested recipes that are as authentic as Anne could make them. Quite a bonus.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone whether they dream of sailing or not.

I learned recently that Anne and her husband sailed down to the Caribbean again on their boat. I don't know if another book is coming, but I hope so.

This book is interesting, well written and, according to my cousin Joe, is a 100% accurate description of what it is like sailing in these Carribean waters. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in travelers tales.

Borrowed this book from the library and had to own it! The recipes and stories are amazing! This is a story we would all like to attempt! I would recommend to any island fans!!

for any one, any age who has done a tour in SE Asia. Or not done a tour and wants to.

I bought this to read while in Thailand. I was staying on the beach in Chawaeng, thinking this'd be a great read. The best I can say is that it's an ok holiday read. It seems to take itself a little too seriously - like it's trying to become great literature, but needs just a little more. The dramatic point comes a little too late and is too obvious in coming - so the tension doesn't build as it should. Also, it seems like there was a storyline that got dropped entirely - there was a whole bunch of foreshadowing, but nothing ever came of it. I guess this might have been the authors attempt at a "twist", but it came off feeling more like "oops, forgot that one" :(

Ah well - it's still worth reading once and provided an interesting fictional context to where I was staying. I never got out to the lagoon cos it was raining and high swell - yep, it exists and yep, you can go there on the tour.

Maybe next time will be better. ;)

The Beach is an easy book to read that should leave any traveller nodding their head in recognition, dismay, or both.
While it doesn't explore the complexities of the modern, post-colonial relationship between "east" and "west" to a great extent, it does explore that relationship just enough to keep the book interesting.
It's not really a thriller; it's written in the fast-paced, easy-flowing style of a thriller and it contains a lot of violence, but the narrator's perspective is too focused on the mundane aspects of things for the book to really be called "thrilling."
Richard, the protagonist is not really that "shallow," "immoral," or a "slacker," as people have commented. But he is simple. He's a lonely person who travels and does drugs - two very primitive sources of stimulation, really - because more grounded, consistent ways of life don't seem to work for him. He's not a rebel nor does he have much angst. Like many travellers, he hides from himself by putting himself in unfamiliar surroundings.
Many travellers may complain about the protagonist's "narrow" view of the world, but they are missing the point. Richard reveals a truth about travel that many readers may be afraid to face: no matter how much we talk about "experiencing another culture," and "getting to understand the world," most of travel really consists of hanging out with people like ourselves, and what we ultimately like about travel, more than any kind of deep learning, is excitement and fun.
But, yes, Richard's level of consciousness is ultimately quite shallow (Perhaps Garland's is as well?), and sometimes I, too, found myself disappointed by that fact: sometimes, I wished that the book would offer more insights into the problematic relationship between backpackers and their destinations and the ultimate silliness of the Western desire to find "unspoiled," "natural" places, and I wished for more interesting sentences (I appreciate the simplicity and straight-forwardness of the narration, but there are many simple writers who still manage to create great sentences, and Garland is not one of them, nor do I think he wants to be.)
But I was grateful for the absence of something else from the book: pretentiousness. In recent years, and even moreso in the 1990s, "depth" consisted of vague pop culture references and poetic, ironic, self-congratulatory writing.
Garland's voice, on the other hand, is so modest as to be almost boring, and his pop culture references are done without any irony: he talks about video games merely because they are a big part of his life. He doesn't attempt to comment on the nature of pop culture, he just talks about it a lot. He doesn't say that pop culture has "shaped" our "postmodern" culture, or "replaced" anything "real"; really, video games are just one of the many things that influence his life.
The Beach, for its lack of pretentiousness in dealing with potentially "big" subjects (the relationship of east and west, pop culture, alienation), would almost merit five stars.
It is refreshing that The Beach doesn't seem to be trying to "add up to much," but it is nonetheless frustrating that it doesn't add up to much. When the narrator references Vietnam movies and draws superficial parallels between The Beach and the Vietnam war, the result is just that: superficial. Garland did not develop this motif enough for it to be interesting, nor did he keep it minimal enough for it to not get annoying.
The constant barrage of phrases along the lines of "This is Vietnam, boy!" are neither as silly nor as scary as they should be.
At times, it appears that The Beach will become either an action-packed adventure story or a profoundly developed reflection on the world, but it does not really deliver on either of those levels unless you ignore certain aspects of it or put too much energy into reading between the lines.
In the end, however, The Beach is a satisfying, commendable novel. It is an easy-to-read piece of pseudo-travel lit that, if it does not define a generation, certainly does, to a small extent, define a certain type of traveller that existed in that generation.

Reading this book really made me think. As someone who has suffered from wanderlust my entire life this book hit home. Its a great adventure story but its also about self exploration and friendship. Great Book.

The Beach is about a man named Richard, not Leonardo DiCaprio. Richard is someone who is looking for an interminable paradise. A vacation that never ends. A beach where society isn't waiting for you to get back. He, Etienne, and his girlfriend Franchoise are all in search of a place that isn't just another ordinary vacation. They want to be free, free of society's demands.

This books is our generation's Lord of the Flies. Where the children were exposed to their own evil capabilities, the small village that has developed on The Beach also falls prey to a similar Lord of the Flies. In this case, the evil comes out of what they believe to be self preservation. While the boys fought each other in LotFlies for power and control, the villagers begin to experience evil through their own selfish need of preservation. They never let go of The Beach, and this is what corrupts the very essence of The Beach.

Overall, this book began amazing. It ran about 50-100 pages too long,as the book seemed to lose massive amounts of steam towards the end. I made a friend, who hates books, read this book and he actually did in just a period of 2 days. It is that easy to be consumed by it. He too agreed it lingered on for too long and it lost its amazing feel to it.

I still love this book and will forever keep it close to me for re-reading pleasure. I hope that I am allowed to post an exerpt from the book within here because I find this simple chapter discussing the possibilities of Infinity to be one of the finest written pieces I have ever read. I truly love this chapter and I hope it reveals enough that you too will read this book and forget the failure of a movie.

-------------The Beach-----------------
"Do you want me to tell you something funny?"

"What about?"

"Infinity. But it isn't that complicated. I mean, you don't need a degree in-"
Francoise waved a hand in the air, tracing a red pattern with the tip of her cigarette.

"Is that a yes?" I whispered.

"Yes."

"Okay." I coughed quietly. "If you accept that the universe is infinite, then that means there's an infinite amount of chances for things to happen, right?"
She nodded and sucked on the red coal floating by her fingertips.

"Well, if there's an infinite amount of chances for something to happen, then eventually it will happen - no matter how small the likelihood."

"Ah."

"That means somewhere in space there's another planet that, by an incredible series of coincidences, developed exactly the same way as ours. Right down to the smallest detail."

"Is there?"

"Definitely. And there's another which is exactly the same, except that palm tree over there is two feet to the right. And there's another where the tree is two feet to the left. In fact, there're infinite planets with infinite variations on that tree alone..."

Silence. I wondered if she was asleep. "So how about that?" I prompted.

"Interesting," she whispered. "In these planets, everything that can happen will happen."

"Exactly."

"Then in one planet, maybe I am a movie star."

"There's no maybe about it. You live in Beverly Hills and swept last year's Oscars."

"That's good."

"Yeah, but don't forget, somewhere else your film was a flop."

"Oh?"

"It bombed. The critics turned on you, the studio lost a fortune, and you got into booze and Valium. It was pretty ugly."

Francoise rolled on to her side and looked at me. "Tell me about some other worlds," she whispered. In the moonlight her teeth flashed silver as she smiled.

"Well," I replied. "That's a lot to tell."

Etienne stirred and turned over again.

I leaned over and kissed Francoise. She pulled away, or laughed, or shook her head, or closed her eyes and kissed me back. Etienne woke, clasping his mouth in disbelief. Etienne slept. I slept while Francoise kissed Etienne.

Light-years above our garbage bag beds and the steady rush of the surf, all these things happened.
---------------------------------------------------

This was an amazing book that combined history with fantasy in such a way that baseball fans, history buffs and fantasy lovers would enjoy it.

This book series is perfect for children with a strong interest in baseball. You get a good idea of the hero's personality as well as their sometimes quirky and inspirational methods to become great players.

I've particularly enjoyed the Satchel Paige book with him, because I'm originally from Kansas City and have been to the Negro League Baseball Museum there. Now he's asked to visit, so he'll continue his education about sports heroes and racism.

Dan Gutman has definately written another awesome adventure book. I thought this book had a different twist than the other books, though.

Summary:
Joe Stoshack goes back in time with his friend Flip to see if Satchel Paige was really the fastest pitcher ever. While back in time, they see that life was still hard for Negroes. They befriend Satchel Paige. However, for an adventure novel....Flip finds some romance while back in time....

In the five star story Satch and Me there is a young 12 year old boy named Joe Stoshack. He plays on a little league baseball team coached by an old man named Flip Valentine. While playing one of the games there is a player nicknamed "Mutant Man" who sparked an idea for Joe and Flip to travel back in time to try to find the fastest pitcher in baseball. Flip had already borrowed a time clock from the high school coach so they used Joe's baseball card powers to travel back in time.

On their way they meet a waitress that becomes there very good friend. Also the boys almost get sent to jail for counterfeit money because they have money from the future. But the waitress gives the boys enough money for bus tickets to travel up to were Satch's team is playing. Finally they find out at the end if he is or isn't the fastest pitcher in baseball. They then no the secret of the fastest pitcher in baseball.

Satch and Me is a great sciencefiction book out of Gutman's series of "and me" books. If your child is a sports maniac you should get him or her the series. It was one of the best series I ever read.

About half of this book discusses reasons for weight gain (both physical and psychological) and suggests exercises for working through your own thinking on the subject. The other half is the diet plan, itself, which includes meal plans (suggested, not required) along with some really good recipes. Many of the recipes are more like quick "stir together" ideas, great if you're pressed for time or just not into cooking at times. The one thing that doesn't work well for me is that the meal plans and many of the recipes result in unwieldy leftovers when trying to adapt them for one person (not so much the quantity of leftovers, but the need to use just a small amount of an ingredient that won't keep well until the rest is used up). I'm not downgrading the book for this, because it certainly doesn't claim to be a "diet for one," and the practical, useful information far outweighs this small issue.

I've been following this eating plan for a month now and am having a lot of personal success with it.

I would recommend this book and this diet for anyone who is interested in eating better and losing a few (or a lot) of pounds. As someone who loves to cook and to eat, I need a plan that allows for flexibility and doesn't restrict any foods. The book contains a lot of tips for making life style changes, and contains many healthy and flavorful recipes. My husband and two teenage children have also enjoyed the recipes, and have commented that it does not taste like "diet food."

Good luck!

Excellet tips on eating, cooking, and setting goals. Would definitely recommend it to anyone who does not want to take part in fad diets, but wants to get healthy and lose weight the right way.

The recipes are mostly quick to whip up and enjoyed the outcome. Great for those who prefers to eat at home to control the salt, oil, etc in their food.

I bought this book based on the Eating Well cook books, which are excellent. Every recipe I have tried in both books has been at least an 8 out of 10. They have tasty menus that watch your waistline, which is a good combination. This book addresses changes in how to eat, portion size, and common sense. I am looking forward to applying it to my menus after the holidays!

This is a very well written, organized book for anyone planning to travel to Alaska by cruise ship. It contains very helpful information comparing cruise lines, also. I highly recommend this book.

I bought this book to help me figure out which cruise line to book. It has great detail for that as it describes each line but I wish there was a table that pulls together all that information. I am going to have to make a spread sheet to try to figure out which would be the best price with the amenities I want. This is going to be a big chore as I am not a computer geek. Also, the listing for the hours of daylight for each month is very confusing...I have no clue what 19:30 means and there is no further explanation for that. Other than these criticisms, it's a very helpful planning resource.Frommer's Alaska Cruises & Ports of Call 2008 (Frommer's Cruises)

This is the best, most informative book on this subject I have found, by far. It is a must if you are considering booking an Alaskan cruise. It rates all the ships and companies, large and small and gives great information on all the ports that are visited by these ships. Certainly a great resource to help you book the type of adventure that fits your style!

This book wasn't as thorough as I had anticipated. It was only general info that I could obtain through internet "clicking". I had thought that this would be very in-depth on each port. Purchased two Alaska type books at the same time and this one was used only in a cursory manner.

This is a very helpful guide for those taking an Alaska cruise; it helps you choose the right cruise for your objectives. It reviews the various landtours available but I particularly like the section in each port-of-call that suggests self-conducted tours with detailed maps, costs, and directions. For example, I will be taking a bus available near the pier to see Mendenhall Glacier (near Juneau); I can set my own departure/return time and save 70% of what the cruise ship company wanted to charge me for taking their (the same!) tour.

This series just keeps me amazed!!! I have 9 books of the Eyewitness Travel Guide and it hasn't let me down just yet! This book has everything you need!! It has the maps of the Metros, helpful tips on how to save money, it has guided walks (I took them and they are fabulous!!) It has a very detailed map of the center of Barcelona with Street Finders (VEEERRYYY helpful). It has colorful pictures and the story behind them.

I went to Spain on the Easter Holiday. Spent 4 days in Madrid and 4 days in Barcelona. I had been to Madrid before, but not in Barcelona. I went there with my boyfriend and it was his first time too. With this book we covered everything and didn't leave anything important out!! We didn't need any tour guide, since this book was our savior. I feel like I already know Barcelona like the palm of my hand, thanks to this book.

With this book we found hotels to stay, places to eat, where to shop, how to get to Barcelona, important places to go with their explanation, daily schedules, where to save money, where to drink cocktails, how to go around Barcelona safely, how to use the metro (subway), how to get around Barcelona...in all, EVERYTHING!! The days we spent in Barcelona, we didn't feel like tourists, but like we actually lived there, like part of the crowd. We had a blast!

Its worth the money and it even serves as a great collection. Once you buy an Eyewitness Travel Guide, you won't look at any other Travel Guide again.

For those who already knows Eyewitness Travel Guide, its another great publication and guarantee you won't be sorry!!

Eyewitness Travel guides are always lavishly illustrated, with gorgeous color photos of a city's highlights, cutaways of museums or important buildings, and discussion of an area's culture and historical background. In that way, this volume on Barcelona and the surrounding Spanish province of Catalonia does not disappoint; there is good stuff on road trips to nearby towns of historical or cultural importance; on food and the people of the region. There is also a very good 'survival guide' covering information on travel, the airport, police and emergency services, and a fair general index. Good information and a convenient map for the subway and train system is also included; very helpful!

The heart of the book is in the breakdown of Barcelona into its key areas, Old Town, Eixample, and Montjuic. There are guided walking tours offered, museums and restaurants are pointed out with phone numbers and rough prices, etc. Maps of each area are provided.

The maps are unfortunately the weak part of the book. They do not extend to areas in the far north of the town that a traveler will very likely want to visit; and they do not provide direct information on driving to or from the airport.

The book can be covered and highlighted in a few hours on your flight over to Spain. It is a concise and nicely done introduction to the city and the area, beautifully illustrated, that will make you excited to see the individual attractions. But you will want to invest in a really good city map as well as this pocket guide to fully explore the city.

I have several DK travel books that I have used over the years. dK Barcelona is extremely helpful with its color photos and tips to make my travel to Barcelona a success!

I usually like using Eyewitness Guides when I travel because they are very visual and have good images and cut-away drawings. Unfortunately, their guide for Barcelona is sadly lacking. One clue is that the book is literally quite thin compared to all the things there are to see and do in this city.

They provide 6 pages for maps, going from the eastern side of Montjuic to the Born district, and north but not quite north enough to show where Gaudi's Park Guell is located. Many of the small streets in the Barri Gotic and Born districts are not even labelled. The northwest portion of the city is not shown and neither is the eastern third of the city, and there are many sights beyond the range of these maps that may interest visitors, including several Modernista (Art Nouveau) buildings. Methods of transport into and around the city are vague - there is only a mention about the very convenient aerobus that goes from the airport to the centrally located Placa de Catalunya with no specifics about cost, frequency of trips, and stops along the way. The listings for hotels and restaurants could easily have been double what they show. Information about getting to outerlying sights such as the monastery at Montserrat was cursory, and trip times were not accurate.

By comparison, we supplemented our trip using the Time Out guide for Barcelona. It was much more informative, had more detailed maps and a sizable quantity of hotels, restaurants and shops covered. Cafes and restaurants are also conveniently tagged on the maps so it's easy to find a nearby place to rest and have a drink or some tapas after an afternoon of sightseeing. We ended up relying more on that guide while over there.

Unless the Eyewitness Guide is revised and expanded in the future, I do not recommend this as the only guide to use for Barcelona.

Very useful guidebook. Compact and easy to carry around. Easy to read with great pictures and street maps (includes metro line maps too). Very helpful in deciding which sites are most important to visit. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting an easy guide to travel around Barcelona and Catalonia.

This book has helped me a lot. I did know some things, but it was extremely helpful to me.

I knew a little about football to begin with so the first part of the book was helpful, but the rest of the book got too technical, completely lost me. If you know nothing of the game the first part might even be a challenge.

I love football and i know some things about this sport, but this guide gives you a complete step by step explanation.
Great for all fans

I'm a Chinese girl and never watched any American football games in Hong Kong until I married to an American and moved to United States one and half years ago. He is a football fan and he keeps track his team every day, not to mention especially during the regular season every Sunday.

I started to watch football games with him, and I liked it a lot. Now, I understand why so many American like football. I asked many questions while I was watching the game, because I wanted to understand it more. Therefore, I read this book last year and it gave me a lot of basic information in an easy way. More interesting is the book gives many statistics and facts that I was impressed by the football business. Anyone has no idea about football, this book can help.

Now, my husband was surprised that I knew football so well and we discussed football a lot during the regular season this year. This book helps us to have more conversation topics.

I like the straightforwardness of the writing, and the insight into the appeal of the game. Alas, if you're an outsider hoping to learn the game from scratch, you're going to have a lot of trouble--after teaching you rudimentary terms, the writers start describing the game as if you've been watching it all your life, tossing barely-introduced jargon around all over the place. I was really disappointed that the one aspect of the game I was most interested in (the actual GAME) was so poorly rendered.

Why is it that so many novels, including beach reads, weigh in as heavyweights (even when, in most cases, they are literary lightweights)? So many contemporary works of fiction require speed reading skills or an investment of weeks to complete them. It's as if novels of recent vintage imitated (non-nouveau cuisine) restaurant food portions: more stuff for your money. Of course, more stuff is rarely also better stuff; it's better to finish a book wanting more than to be sated with another 200 pages to go.

What a pleasure, then, to come across a book like Charles Portis's THE DOG OF THE SOUTH, which, at about 250 pages, is a very nice length indeed. It's also--perhaps more importantly, you might add--a very well written book, which is to say it is what some book stores and reviewers like to call "literary fiction." You can read it relatively quickly, and not feel dirty afterwards. Of course, it's a nearly thirty-year old book, so in that sense it is not setting any standards--unfortunately.

The storyline of THE DOG OF THE SOUTH is set-up with its first nine words: "My wife Norma had run off with Guy Dupree...." This first-person narration is that of Ray Midge, a former newspaper copy desk editor who was just then planning a new career as a high school teacher. Much of the book concerns Ray's tracking down Norma and her former husband Guy through Texas and Mexico to British Honduras, ostensibly to retrieve Ray's Ford Torino with which the reunited pair absconded. On the way Ray encounters some unusual characters, including the shyster (an especially apt word, if you are familiar with both the etymology of this scatological insult and the bowel problems of the character) Dr. Symes, who owns a converted schoolbus-made-camper along the side of which is scrawled the eponymous "The Dog of the South."

Portis's writing is taut, and sizzles with droll humor. The story does suffer, however, from having little by way of sympathetic characters. In a way, it's as if they all walked around with capital "L"s on the foreheads. But even if they're losers, you'd still want to have the lovable loser to root for. Ray Midge is a touch too neurotic or obsessive to be even Charlie Brown.

That having been said, it's a strong, character-driven piece of work. The characters, as annoying as they are funny, come alive off the pages. You can imagine good actors really wanting to play these roles. From this perspective especially, the novel is enjoyable. In the end, you've spent only a couple of days with this book, perhaps at the beach, and you feel like you've had a few laughs, hung out with some quirky characters, and read good fiction, and now you deserve to open another Corona.

Do not cheat yourself by not reading "Norwood" by Charles Portis,reclusive Arkansan. Mr. Portis, himself, is such an interesting character...very puzzling to some. A brilliant, quirky writer who shuns publicity, yet is widely published and revered. "Norwood" is a read-twice-in-one-night wonder. (Portis authored "True Grit", lo those many years ago, as most will remember).

This and "Masters of Atlantis" are Portis' funniest books. Sentence by sentence, no one has a drier wit-- you'll find yourself reading lines aloud. The plot wanders like a modern version of "Tristram Shandy" and it's got the same tone as the "Revelations of Ham" blog. A must read.

This book saved me emotionally and spiritually recently. Not only because it's gut-bustingly funny but because it portrays sharply and lovingly the many creative ways there are to be a complete failure but still have lots of wacky adventures along the way. Dr. Reo Symes is to me one of the great literary figures of world fiction. Having said that though this is one of the few books where every single character, no matter how marginal, is distinct and slightly nutty yet very real.

Dog of the South captures throughout, almost as an aside, the cultural dregs of Americana culture and society from the first half of the century washing up on the harsh, lonely shores of the 70's. Think Old Wierd America giving way to the undefinable corporate culture that has grabbed ahold of us to this day.

This was the second time I read Dog of the South and plan on reading it again.

Humour's a funny old thing, innit? Particularly various but generally undeniable. And that's just in real life--introduce a typewriter and watch those options narrow. It seems I think I'm saying that when you advance to humour rendered on the page you've got yourself a rarer tree indeed to bark up. Mysteriously connected I've always thought to how you go about seeing life pass you by. But that may be in fact just me reading into things so let's move on to the next example. Take say Raymond Midge here for instance. First off, Portis's third novel is a dream of strong good laughter is all I'm going to give away right away. But wait, there's more. The rodent-faced dude what spins this yarn? You don't even have to get past page one to fall under the spell of this fastidiously deadpan and goodheartedly exasperating jasper. To paraphrase a phrase, the Midge abides. Got his features all bunched up in the centre of his face is the reason I said that about the rat--says so his own self so he does when the petulant Canadian bunny builder aims a parting barb at him in that hotel over the border there in Mexico. Lots of folks don't seem to see the magic in Midge's stupendously canny delivery but for those of us who do you cannot and will not get a better or funnier or more human narrator. The effete yeoman worrying about hazardous melon juice on the highway! Reo keeps calling him Speed which still cracks me up. He alone sees a flying pelican get struck by lightning. Then there's the good doctor himself--the first time Ray sees Reo the old geezer's got up like a boxing referee. I remember having to actually stand up the first time I read this in order to laugh correctly--Reo Symes in his white shirt and white trousers and black bow tie. Reo's a gem of a character alright--here he's talking to his mother about some of his cronies:

"The kind of people I know now don't have barbecues, Mama. They stand up alone at nights in small rooms and eat cold weenies. My so-called friends are bums. Many of them are nothing but rats. They spread T.B. and use dirty language. Some of them can even move their ears."

There's not one page here that doesn't pay off in stitches. I was just at the bit where Dupree's chow dog is wearing four little plastic bags on his paws down there in British Honduras and really Charles Portis, this godsend from Little Rock, just didn't ever put one foot wrong in the five sublime novels he has written. From Norwood to Gringos, there isn't a word out of line. Sentence after precision sentence, the honed and inimitable style of the guy ought to have you busting wheelies all over the shop--although again, humour pitched at this level won't floor everyone. Or should that be florr everyone? I've read The Dog of the South--as perfect and ecstatic a piece of comic palaver as someone like me could wish for--about a million times now and the farkingly funny road trip keeps unraveling in ever better and deeper byways. Eleven thumbs up in any case, just like I gave Hairway to Steven. Yup, Mister Portis is that bleeding good.

"This is the ONLY book you need to move to Costa Rica. It is jam-packed with practical information. It helped me make the move and find happiness here. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of living or investing in Costa Rica."

I had a hard time reading this book because it needed a lot more proofreading and editing. The information will prove useful, I'm sure, but the organization of the book made it a little difficult for me to follow.

A MUST HAVE BIBLE OF INFORMATION. IT GIVES SPECIFIC DETAILS ON THE TRANSITION PROCESS NEEDED TO SUCCESSFULLY MAKE THE MOVE OF LIVING YOUR DREAM.

I have lived in Costa Rica for over 12 years and have worked extensively in the areas of tourism and real estate. I recommend this book to PEOPLE OF ALL AGES with an interest learning about every possible area of LIVING and INVESTING here. I have read all of the other books about making the move and Mr. Howard seems to have a BETTER FEEL for the country than any of the other authors. Perhaps this is because he is the ONLY one of them who has lived here FULL TIME during the last 27 years. Therefore, it is not surprising that he displays GOOD COMMON SENSE and possesses INCREDIBLE knowledge of how things REALLY WORK here. NOBODY seems to have the network of CONTACTS that Mr. Howard has made over the years.

For example, he has met with Noble Prize winning president of Costa Rica on several occasions to discuss retirement and other important issues. Mr. Howard even has access to the president's private cell phone number and is one of the FEW Americans who can contact the president anytime. This says a lot about Christopher Howard's respectability.
In over a decade, I have seen him work with literally hundreds of people. He has never failed to be fair, honest and sincere. If he is in the least bit unsure of an inquiry, he will verify the answer with several sources. He never quits studying and expanding himself through self education and information that comes through his connections. To keep himself aware and up-to-date is a job he takes seriously, but enjoys doing.

chris howard the author knows costa rica. i am a long time resident of costa rica and you can take my word chris howard tells the truth. his is the best book out on costa rica.