Travel Books

This book is amazing. First time using a guidebook and first for the Lonely Planet. Will definitely buy more. Maps wonderful, chinese names for everything and very good restaurant recommendations. Found a tiny restaurant off a back alley and was amazing for a great price. Wonderful spend and would recommend to everyone!!!

This book gives ou a nice overview of the region, and incredible specific tips for visiting Shanghai.

I have read this book cover to cover in anticipation for my trip to Shanghai. I am hoping that it will save me time and money by giving me a view of the city and details that would take many months to aquire. It was an easy read and well organized. I would however recommend that you do a search online for hotel rooms as there are many deals in the hotel market that were not even mentioned in the book. Happy Trials, BB.

As of June 2007, this book has become out of date. Many of the shikumen houses that I went to visit have been torn down in Shanghai in an effort to modernize the city by 2010 for the World Expo. Maps of the metro subways are also out of date. The book currently has partial maps of the 2 lines. There are now 5 different subway lines and still many more to be built. This book is a great introduction to Shanghai, but it is out of date (just like pretty much all the other books on the city).

To sum it up, pretty good book, but just don't count on the book being your only source of information on Shanghai.

I recently returned from a trip to Shanghai and thought this was a great guide to the city. Although I love to explore most places on my own, I found Shanghai to be slightly intimidating (especially with all the ongoing construction), so I was definitely thankful I had this book with me.
Pros:
* Up-to-date information
* Offers a lot of good insight into Shanghai and the Shanghainese. I found the sections like identity, cuisine, economy, and architecture to be quite readable and interesting.
* Good maps
Cons:
* I was surprised by the other reviews, as my edition has Chinese for each address mentioned in the book. I agree that you initially expect the Chinese to be in the text (next to the romanization), but it's actually on the map keys. This is a minor flaw but did not affect me, as I often looked at the maps when I decided where to go. I guess if you never consult this section however, you might not realize that it's there.
Bottom line:
This was the most up-to-date guide I saw, and (as far as I know)is the only one with comprehensive listings in Chinese--they got me where I wanted to go every single time I took a cab. Good job.

This second book is a real charmer. With a little bit of everything, D.J. Machale reaches inside the readers emotionaly. He makes fantasies come to life inside these wondrous pages.

I won't be able to put an in-depth review since I read the book a while back and am on book 7 right now so my head is swimming with information from all the books.

The second book in the Pendragon series throws the reader back into the territories of Halla. As we last read, Bobby had gotten back to Second Earth to realize that his life there was over. When Loor and Press come to drive him away back to another territory, he once again leaves behind Courtney Chetwynde and Mark Dimond, the two who he had been sending the journals to.

This book has an even more enthralling storyline as you meet yet another traveler, Spader, a young guy from a territory completely underwater. You grow to like him and his "people-person" attitude.

This book continues to show Saint Dane's power, and just what happens in the beginning (I don't want to spoil anything, but it has to do with two floating cities) has a very eerie feeling to it.

This is a must have, as it connects the characters further along in the book and helps make way for book three.

I love this book for multiple reasons.
The first, I think, is because of one of the side characters, Spader. He's so dreamy!!! I love him soooo much!
The second is because the plot is just so fascinating. The idea that a world could exist that is completely on water is just so cool.
The third is because of Saint Dane, the evil dude trying to take over Halla(all existence, all times, all places, and all creatures, great or small). He's such an evil person I just could hit him. ARRGGG!
The fourth reason is because of Bobby. I think he's one of the funniest characters I've ever read about(yes, I'm saying he even tops Ron Weasley in Harry Potter!).
I love this second installment so much!
You should definitely surrender to your craving!! Way to go DJ!

I loved this book, it is fun and creative. I didn't want to put it down. This series is fun for all ages.

Before I begin, let me say that I'm an adult (to give this review some context).

I read "The Merchant of Death" (Pendragon #1) a couple of weeks before ordering this book. I enjoyed "Merchant". I thought it was inventive and unusual, and it certainly addresses issues that young adults face. I'm sure kids enjoy reading books where their peers are heroes.

This book is even better. I say that for two reasons. The setting of the first book is quite grim. That was appropriate for the story it told, but it was kind of a downer, reading about those people being exploited. This book's setting is incredible - a world covered entirely by water where humans live on floating, barge-like habitats. I love water, and if I could somehow visit that world, I would do so in a heartbeat.

The other reason I like this book better is that the new Traveler we meet is incredibly endearing. I like Loor. She's a great person to have at your side. However, the Traveler we meet in this story is very funny, and that makes this book a lighter read (in tone) than the first one. He's also flawed, though, which makes things interesting. I relate to him better than I relate to Loor. (Does she have a flaw? I don't think I've spotted it yet.)

Overall, I recommend this book with a big smile on my face. It's a good ride, the characters are endearing, the setting incredible, the themes well developed, and it leaves you wanting more.

See you at Grolo's! Last one there buys the Sniggers!

This book is in desperate need of a careful editor. I greatly enjoyed 'Journeys Out Of The Body' but had to put this one down after a few chapters. I got to a point where you're presented with a dictionary of terms for the next part of the book, terms that have no relevance outside of the Monroe institute. Instead of presenting me with a dictionary, why not just rewrite the section in terminology everyone can understand? Reading should be a joy, not a chore.

This is an absolutely fantastic read. The stories and method of story telling are new and exciting.I'm very excited when a book can have a lasting and important impression upon my consciousness. This should be require reading if you are interested in the subject of OOBE or AP.

If you want an insider's look at the nature of reality, then read all of Robert A. Monroe's books and take his workshops at the Monroe Institute, www.themonroeinstitute.com

He's written three books. It's important to read them in order: Journeys Out of the Body, Far Journeys, Ultimate Journey.

I've read each at least 4 times (and am still reading them)--and I never read anything twice--and am still getting huge insights and understandings about the nature of reality, our purpose here on earth, how it all works and why it is the way it is.

Additionally, Monroe's books have been the only books that have acknowledged the diversity of experiences that I've had, but that no one was/is writing about. Basically the resonance is so strong that I read and I cry.

The best there is.

I've been involved with Out of Body Experiences, Remote Viewing, and such "crazy" ideas for a long time. These books are fantastic. Robert Monroe is a TRUE scientist, as he put EVERYTHING on the line to admit a truth that just couldn't be explained away.

I think it says volumes that the US Army Intel, US Airforce Intel, CIA, NSA, National Security Council, and every government agency in the US sent it's best and brightest officers to train with Robert Monroe. To this day the US Intelligence community continues to use OBE, Remote Viewing, and many of the "nutty" stuff Robert Monroe learned.

It's very sad, that the general public won't understand that the techniques, can exist in everyone and can be taught to everyone. Humanity will always be poorer for it.

RIP Robert, tell Patrick your guide hello.

I really wanted to like this book because I loved Monroe's first book, but this one is just terrrible. I'm sorry, but unless you actually were in these studies at his laboratory decades ago, you probably won't understand what he's talking about throughout the book. I didn't get it at all after 30 or 40 pages into the book. If you're at the bookstore, flip through the book and you'll see what I'm saying. Perhaps if you're an experienced astral traveler you'll dig some of this mumbo jumbo but it's totally untelligible to me.

I am a book lover, and I'll read almost anything. This Book (series really) is one of my favorites. The writing isn't brillant, but sometimes the storyline counts more. Its about a girl who moves from New York to California. All she wants is to start over, but wait... there's a ghost of a 150 year old cowboy in her bedroom. It's funny, but serouse at the same time, sort of like reading a book by Fred and George Weasly. Well that was how the language was anyway.

A great start to an even better series. This book really opened the door up on this series to me. I'm only working on the third book but I know the rest of the books in the Mediator series are going to be just as great.

Suze has to move with her mom to LA with her moms new husband and 3 boys. Her dad died when she was younger and he still hasn't moved on. she meets that best looking ghost shes ever seen. And even if she won't admit it, shes totally in love with him. And he even saves her life when the ghost heather goes crazy because shes mad she killed herself and now shes taking revenge on the reason she killed herself in the first place.
I highly recommend!

This book was awesome. I enjoyed every part of it, and I was interested in the topic about mediators. The only one thing that I do have to criticize about this book is that the main character isn't catholic. I am, so in many ways, I found her beliefs conflicting with my own. It was nothing too extreme, but I wasn't fully comfortable with it.
Although, the fact that the preist was the principal made up for it. The story line is well-written. I found Suze's character perfect in the way that she was realistic and not the type where the author just makes them perfect. If you're looking for something to enjoy, pick this book up. It is finish in a day material.

This was a fantastic book. It had everything a book should have, and is a good read that will leave you wanting more.

Suze Simon is a 16-year-old girl who can see, touch, and talk to ghosts.
The story begins with Suze Simon moving from New York to northern California to live with her mother, stepfather, and three stepbrothers. Suze intends to live a different life from the one she lived while she was in New York-meaning she does not want the company of ghosts but she soon learns that there is no escaping her job as a mediator.

When she arrives at her new home, she discovers that there is a ghost living in her room. Desperate to start a new life that doesn't involve talking to ghosts, Suze pretends to not see ghosts while her mother is around. She learns that the ghost living in her room is a 150-year-old ghost named Jesse who happens to be very attractive.

On her first day of attending her new school, Junipero Serra Catholic Academy, Suze is surprised to see that there are no ghosts around. What with Junipero Serra being a very old school, there should be plenty of ghosts around. Suze then learns that the reason there are no ghosts around is because Father Dominic, the principal of Junipero Serra Catholic Academy, is a mediator himself. Father Dominic had managed to get rid of all the ghosts that were hanging around the academy, that is, except for one.

The ghost of a girl named Heather continues to haunt the school and she proves to be a very powerful ghost who will stop at nothing to get her revenge.

'Shadowland' is an entertaining, suspenseful, and funny thriller that 'pulls' you in right from the beginning and doesn't let go until the last sentence of the book.

I enjoyed the character of Suze and also the funny dialogue. The characters of the book were believable and easy to relate too. This is one of the best books that I've read in a long time.

I love books about travel, esp in Britain, and I love nature. So I thought this book might be the perfect match. I was not disappointed! First, the book is filled with detailed descriptions of what he is seeing, so that you are seeing it too. His writing reminds me much of Chet Raymo's. I was esp fascinated with the map he made of the wild areas he is exploring. Its a map that doesn't look like any you've ever seen. But it connects all of the places he is visiting, and shows how all of these places are indeed connected. The book isn't all nature - he weaves in local history, interesting people, and stories along the way. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the topic. My only complaint is that the book is making me want to return to that land, and thats just not going to happen any time soon! But I took that trip vicariously thanks to his writting.

The first part was great, I loved the idea of Nantucket being tossed back to the Bronze Age. The contacting new cultures abroad aboard the /Eagle/ and dealing with problems back on the Island were the highlights of the whole book for me. Some parts I would've preferred not to have read; the Olmec jaguar scene for one.

Another thing that bothered me was Alice Hong. Pretty much every scene with her freaked me out. Remember: you have been warned.

When the book switched to dealing with Walker, I just got bored with it--I finished it, but it was forced, and I think that the book would've been far better if the author had stuck primarily with the exploration and contacting of the Bronze Age cultures, or at least make Walker a little more than a cruel ambitious empire builder.

All in all _Island in the Sea of Time_ is a wonderful piece of fiction and certainly much better than _1632_, which takes a much too similar premise. I would recommend this book to anyone who could handle the violence.

This book was the first - but not the last - that I ever read by S.M. Stirling. After the first twenty or so pages, I was hooked. Forever.

The premise of the novel is simple: an unexplained electrical storm, of some unknown nature, sends the island of Nantucket back in time more than 3,000 years - to 1,250 B.C., the late Bronze Age. This strands seven thousand or so late 20th-century Americans alone in an ancient world. As the book's jacket blurb asks - "How will they survive?"

Stirling's answers to that question are not only brilliant - they are rich in detail, and they create AN ENTIRE, REALIZED WORLD. Many time-travel or alternative history stories interweave interesting ideas, but don't create a sense of actual, living, breathing reality; as a professional archaeologist, that's frustrating, because such stories are an imaginative way to see what might have been happening.

Not so with Stirling's book. The details about the lives of former Nantucket police chief Jared Cofflin, Coast Guard Captain Marian Alston, professor Ian Arnstein, astronomer Doreen Rosenthal, librarian Martha Stoddard, and renegade William Walker, are set in a complete world - with scenes ranging from Archaic period New England tribesmen, to the ancient Olmec city of San Lorenzo, to Bronze Age England - the "White Isle". And his characters from the past - Swindapa, Earth Folk Spear Chosen; Hardcase, clan leader and Native American entrepeneur; Daurthunnicar, lord of the Iraiina clan of warriors; and Isketerol, merchant lord of Tartessos - are believable, real, and FEEL like real characters with attitudes radically different than modern Americans.

This book is fantastic, fun to read, and very well written. I highly recommend it as a great read!!

Just enough science fiction to set up a very interesting situation---modern man meets ancient man (from 3000 years ago) in both settings. I am halfway through now, and look forward to the adventures in each chapter. If you like this type of thing, this is a good one.

Story premise of a modern American island and naval sailing ship displaced into a pre-historic time, but the same location, was made very real by descriptions of the event itself, it's affects on those carried along on this one-way trip, and their interactions with and reactions to their totally unexpected circumstance and primitive people they encountered. All the major characters were developed enough to have indiviudally unique and interesting personalities, with a real presence. Conjectured cultures for the people of England, Europe, and central America were quite believable in their variety of circumstances, behaviors, and the resulting inter-culture confrontations.

JeezLoueeze, give the homophobia a rest, okay? The sex (of whatever kind) is mostly implied, and there's nothing graphic.

Anyway, if you like history, and always wondered what it would really be like to jump backwards in time, taking little along but your modern sensibilities, then this is the book for you. Stirling pretty much thinks of ALL the details: from the big (what to do about food) to the small (the town librarian prints all the CD-ROMs to hard copy before the power plant runs out of fuel). Amazingly, he really made me feel what it might be like, with all five senses, to actually be in another time period. That's pretty rare. The amount of research he must have had to do is pretty amazing.

The characters are REALLY believable. Nobody's superhuman, they all have strengths and weaknesses, and they all bring something to the plot. I'd happily invite quite a few of the characters over to dinner. The people from ancient times are all normal people - some bad, some good, VERY different viewpoints and perspectives, but they're still believable people. They're just from ancient times. Stirling is never patronizing about the "ancient" characters.

So if you like fiction that also engages your intellect, you're really going to enjoy this. And yes, I've just started the next book in the series.

I was disappointed in this book because the stories are so lifeless. There are a lot of facts about each destination but it falls extremely short of inspiring travel. I think the people who wrote the chapters need a little excitement in their lives...but I'm not sure where they'll get it if Greece, Italy, England and South America don't evoke enough emotion for them. Maybe Cleveland.

I was looking forward to sinking myself into this book and finding myself dying to go to some of the places mentioned in the book. The book did not give me this feeling. Some of the essays were very good at convincing me not to travel to these places, i.e. Pico Iyer's Ethiopia for one. Others were just blah.. Only a few inspired.

The previous two reviewers both gave this two stars only. I think the arrangement of the articles, alphabetically by country, detracts from the power of the best entries here. The magazine obviously can attract top authors to contribute, yet the selections vary widely in length, focus, and inherent interest. While there are eight or ten fine pieces, too many others trudge along dutifully and make you wonder why, except for the commission from their publisher, the author bothered at all.

There's not much in the way of editorial guidance. A skimpy introduction, and while each entry does have appended a relevant supplement that appears to be lifted from what would have accompanied the original article, there's no byline to verify or deny this. These "service addenda" are credited only in a list ending the acknowledgements. So, I'm not sure who wrote each one; only two of the authors appear here in this endnote. These suggested itineraries, reading lists, or travel tips, as with the original entries, veer all over the place in quality. From two decades, if these are the best 21 articles from "eighteen eminent contributors," then I'm glad I did not have to read the rest of the magazine's articles that didn't make the cut.

Gregor von Rezzori floats down the Romanian Danube but fails to make us want to follow; Russell Banks did the same for me in the Everglades. Jan Morris on the Big Island of Hawai'i, Nik Cohn in Savannah, Edna O'Brien at Bath, and Patricia Storace in Provence all provide serviceable reports, but none of these grabbed my interest enough. Nicole Krauss enters Japanese gardens in Kyoto, and she does conjure up if you're curious why they cast their spell. Shirley Hazzard tells where to go on Capri, and again the appeal may lure those so inclined. Robert Hughes on Barcelona-- he wrote a long book on the city-- falls into masses of detail beyond the scope of a short essay. Philip Gourevitch uses his experience as an African reporter well, and if you're more curious about safaris than I am, it's a helpful primer. But, despite the noble attempts at ecological journalism by Suketu Mehta from along the endangered Himalayas, his contribution's tonally out of place among the more personal approach of the other entries. I liked better Edmund White's discussion of Petra's natural beauty and eerie remains. Simon Winchester dares to hike up volcanic Mount Mayon in the Philippines and you feel his pain.

My favorite essays? Pico Iyer's visits to Iceland and Ethiopia both reveal, in a very religious vs. a rather secular locale, a poignant sense of the primeval beauty and terror that seem to have endured before mankind's arrival. Francine Prose in tracing Kafka through Prague certainly follows a well-worn path, but her knack for the uncanny makes her essay succeed: she ends it with a vignette of walking along as the streetlights blink out, rather than timed on, at her approach. William Dalrymple finds along his own pilgrim's trail to Compostella a vigorous counter to the pieties and predictabilities of a familiar traveller's tale. These three writers manage to show us what we may already know, as they do, while keeping an eye out for the happenstance. They mix the historical and the recent well, and do not descend into a potted recital of guidebook lore or hackneyed glimpses of quirky local color.

Patricia Storace shows how invisible the reality of Athens is in its ruins and its legends that persist amidst a gossipy, noisy, and frank exchange of daily routine among its bustling and busybody natives. Similarly, Robert Hughes enters the funereal remnants of ghostly Etruria to plumb sarcophagi where the natural and the man-made appear to have exchanged places, such is their decay into the caves beneath the glare.

Finally a couple of places I had no interest in going to, but whose narratives kept me eager to find out what happens next to the writer. James Truman drolly does this in Iran to elegant effect. John Julius Norwich elbows us through the Vatican; it's accompanied by a very detailed insider's walking tour of how to navigate the labyrinthine museums. Whoever wrote this skillful guide on what to see and what to miss amidst the Roman throngs deserves extra editorial credit.

Sent this to my twin grandsons - haven't seen them with it yet but I hoped it would be good for getting them to focus and concentrate - they are well below the recommended age but I don't see why this should be a problem, and I am told they have certainly enjoyed trying to beat each other to find the figure. Some pages are very difficult but they will keep going back to the book too.

My kids are 3,7,10 and 11. This is one of the few books that I can sit down and have fun with any one of them.

Este es un libro muy bueno para el entretenimiento de todos los ninos de cualquier edad, se los recomiendo.

I first got turned onto Waldo books while in college. I was working at a small bookstore, and spied a paperback of Where's Waldo? in Hollywood. I've had it all these years, but recently brought it out of the basement for my 7 year old son. He was thrilled with that book, so I got him Where's Waldo?: The Wonder Book in hardback for Christmas.

While the Hollywood book is difficult, The Wonder Book also has some difficult scenes! In one, I STILL haven't found Wizard Whitebeard. Arggh!

Martin Handford is the creator of the Where's Waldo? books, which features elaborately detailed scenes, hidden objects, and visual puns. The reclusive, bespectaled author works fervently for EIGHT WEEKS for EACH of the 2-page spreads on these books. This means that the Where's Waldo Wonder Book took him 1.8 years to create! Amazing!

My son and I love to pore over the pages--not only looking for Waldo, Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, Odlaw, and Woof--but also other clues. For example, Wenda always loses a camera, Woof a bone, the Wizard a scroll, and so on. BUT, at the end of the book, there are TWO pages of checklists for other things to find in EACH of the visual puzzles! Some are quite hard to find. For example, a clown follows Waldo and his friends all through the end of the book. One of the challenges is to find the scene in the book where the clown changes the color of his hat band.

The creative scenes you'll find in the Wonder Book include:

*Once Upon a Page
*Clown Town
*The Fantastic Flower Garden
*The Odlaw Swamp
*The Might Fruit Fright
*The Corridors of Time
*The Game of Games
*The Battle of the Bands
*Toys! Toys! Toys!
*Bright Lights and Night Frights
*The Cake Factory
*The Land of Woofs

Odlaw Swamp and Land of Woofs are *especially* tricky, because all the characters look the same...except for one defining element.

As with all the Waldo books, there's also some great visual puns that will tickle adult funny bones. Make no mistake...the Where's Waldo? series isn't just for kids! I love searching for the characters and items as a way of relaxing and enjoying my son's company.

Highly recommended!

This is another excellent Where's Waldo -- almost as sublime as "The Fantastic Journey", a little harder, and just as engaging. As a piece of artwork it's clear that Handford's style is maturing: his lines are more precise, there are more individuals packed into every open space, and there's also a slightly more vibrant color palette. Unlike the other four Waldo books, these twelve scenes are printed digitally. Each miniscule pixelated line edge can be seen upon close inspection, a little disconcerting at first but very crisp and clear -- and probably one reason for Handford's new stylistic developments here.