Travel Books

this is one of the best travel books and series of travel books. it is complete and offers all the detail the savvy traveler could want.

Love these Eyewitness Guides and received the item in perfect condition, just in time for the weekend, a fire in the fireplace, a warm blanket, a cup of hot chocolate, and away I went to Thailand! Thanks for making an Ohio winter almost bearable!

This is a good quality book, something you could open and open again.
Highly recommended!

I found Eyewitness Travel Guide for Thailand very informative, and easy to read. It had tons of pictures, facts, FYIs, and did I mention pictures? Like Eyewitness I agree that a picture is worth a thousand words. I also bought Lonely Planet's Travel Guide for Thailand, but liked Eyewitness' much better. Lonely Planet's Travel Guide had a more standard layout for the abundant amount of facts, but was limited on the pictures. The phrase at the bottom of Eyewitness' book holds true, "The Guides That Show You What Others Only Tell You."

This is a great book with beautiful pictures, maps and nice glossy color pages. The only problem being that it is out of date! Having said that, I would not recommend it for your guide book if travelling to Thailand. Wait for an updated issue.
I am well travelled in Thailand and some of the descriptions in the book make me feel like I was travelling in Thailand 20 years ago! Hope this helps...

I loved how easy this book was to read. Conely is great at setting examples and painting pictures with his words. I would recommend the book if you are interested in Maslow's theories or if you don't even know who Maslow is, because he makes a great point in how to create a successful business enviroment.

Chip Conley's philosophy of business is also a practical guide to success. He shows you how to find self-actualization through helping others - in this case, by providing your employees, customers and investors with what he calls peak experiences. He uses an unusual framework for his recommendations about workplace culture: psychologist Abraham Maslow's well-known "hierarchy of needs," with self-actualization at the highest level. The book is nicely organized, with "peak prescriptions" and reading lists at the end of each chapter. getAbstract recommends it to managers and workers who need a boost.

As Chip Conley explains in the Preface, "This book is about the miracle of human potential: employees living up to their full potential in the workplace, customers feeling the potential bliss associated with having their unrecognized needs met, and investors feeling fulfilled by seeing the potential of their capital leveraged." I agree with him that all great leaders know how to tap into this "potential" and actualize it into reality." Moreover, I also agree with Conley that great leadership can - and should - be found at all levels and in all areas of an organization. So, what motivations do people need to achieve peak performance, especially in collaboration with others? In this volume, Conley responds to that question, suggesting that there are many valuable lessons to be learned from Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs." For present purposes, it can be abbreviated as follows:

Survival
Security
Self-Actualization

With regard to the first two, I am reminded of a time when Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered a lecture on transcendentalism in Concord (MA) and then agreed to answer questions. A farmer stood up: "Mr. Emerson, how do you transcend an empty stomach?"

Maslow believed that the hierarchy of human needs is best understood when viewed as a triangle, with basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, etc.) at the base. As those needs are at least partially fulfilled, we ascend the pyramid to higher needs (e.g. security, stability, social connections, affiliations), fulfilling them along the way. As Conley explains, "At the top of the pyramid is self-actualization, a place where people have transient moments called `peak experiences'...A peak experience -- comparable to being `in the zone' or in the `flow' - is when ought to be just is." Or as Maslow himself suggests, "They are moments of ecstasy which cannot be bought, cannot be guaranteed, cannot even be sought...but one can set up the conditions so that peak experiences are more likely, or one can perversely set up the conditions so that they are less likely." However, as the Concord farmer reminds us, basic needs must first be filled. That is as true of individuals (who fear being terminated) as it is of a company's owners (who may have no choice but to file for Chapter 7).

In this volume, Conley offers a step-by-step process by which to build a great company. After acknowledging Maslow's influence on his thinking (and in process explaining Mallow's core concepts) in Part One (Chapters 1-3), he examines three "relationship truths." In Chapters 4-6, he explains how to create base motivation, loyalty, and trust for employees. In Chapters 7-9, he explains how to create satisfaction, commitment, and "evangelistic" fervor for customers. And then in Chapters 10-12, he explains how to create trust, confidence, and pride of ownership for investors. In Part Five (Chapters 13 and 14), Conley explains how to coordinate the three separate but interrelated "relationship truths" to create a "self-actualized life" for each of those involved. Although that may prove to be an unrealistic goal, it is worthy of pursuit nonetheless. Whereas a mountain has a finite height, Maslow's pyramid does not. No individual and no organization can ever become fully actualized. There will always be room for improvement because achieving one goal creates opportunities to achieve others. Revealingly, Conley describes himself as a Himalayan Sherpa who guides his reader to up to the summits of Nepal or Tibet. What he implies is that his role has another, in my view more important function: To guide his readers to insights that will enable her or him to chart a proper course when embarked on a never-ending journey from one peak performance to the next.

This is also true of a company whose culture that must constantly adjust to both internal changes (e.g. its workforce) and external changes (e.g. in its competitive marketplace) while in pursuit of greatness. Consider these comments John Kotter and James Heskett share in Corporate Culture and Performance that suggest a causal relationship between a strong culture and peak performance: "Corporate culture can have a significant impact on a firm's long-term economic performance. We found that firms with cultures that emphasized all the key managerial constituencies (customers, stockholders, and employees) and leadership from managers at all levels outperformed firms that did not have those cultural traits by a huge margin. Over an eleven-year period, the former increased revenues by an average of 682 percent versus 166 percent for the latter, expanded their work forces by 282 percent versus 36 percent, grew their stock prices by 901 percent versus 74 percent, and improved their net incomes by 756 percent versus 1 percent." My guess (only a guess) is that in all of the peak performance companies, the words "culture" and "character" are synonymous.

It is no coincidence that, year after year, many of the same companies on Fortune magazine's list of those that are "Most Highly Admired" are also among those most profitable. However, as we all soon learn once embarked on a business career, there is a "bottom line" to an individual's personal character as well as to an organization's financial performance. Maslow suggests that when reaching the summit of self-actualization, there is a recognition that "this is the real me." Bill George calls this one's "True North," "the internal compass that guides you as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orienting point - your fixed point in a spinning world - that helps you stay on track as a leader. Your True North is based on what is most important to you, your most cherished values, your passions and motivations, the sources of satisfaction in your life. Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls you toward the purpose of your leadership."

Self-actualization awaits each person who reads this book. Let the journey begin. Bon voyage!

Chip needs to talk to my boss and your boss ... our company culture is soo lacking and if we followed Chips methods I know the culture could be great. That would make our customers, employees and investers happy too.

Instead of "the beatings will continue until morale improves" why not take the team to the beach and throw around some ideas!

Great read for executives, managers and people in startups. Buy this book help spread the happiness ;)

Bill

Loved it. I can't wait to read it again. I bought a second copy and gave it to my CEO.

What is so wonderful about this book is that its lessons can be applied to anyone with passion for making things better. While I may or may not be an executive one day myself, the concepts of self actualization resonate in sales and pretty much all areas in business.
A must read for anyone serious about business and how the human element is motivated for success.

Easy to to read and plan your route but, I wish it covered all of Poland.

Nice durable planning map. So far it's been very handy and was priced right. Bien Viaje!

Although I haven't traveled with it yet, this map is very lightweight, moisture resistant and folds nicely to tuck away in my backpack. Looking forward to putting it to the test in Italy & Switzerland.

This map is OK, not what I was really looking for. This map is best utilized as a general European map to help you plan for your trip. In terms of having enough detail to be incredibly useful, you would be better off with a map that was more country or region specific. It is just a little to general to be of any substantial benefit while travelling.

I got this thinking it would get me started on planning my trip to Europe. I had a list of things I wanted to see. When I got the map I was so happy to see that all the tourist attractions were ALREADY MARKED on the map! They were clearly labeled and easy to locate and read. Great product...well worth the money!

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.
---------------------------------------------------

Just returned from 2 weeks in South Africa on a hybrid business/pleasure trip, where I went on Safari in Kruger, visited Soweto, Newtown, Sandton and Benoni in Johannesburg for work, went to Port Elizabeth, and then to Durban (Scottburgh, Amanzimtoti, Umhlanga and Shaka Zulu), and finally back to Pretoria for work. I took two books with me: this "Eyewitness Travel Guide" and the Frommers' South Africa book. I really found the "Eyewitness" to be more along the lines of something you might read BEFORE you go. There are beautiful pictures and descriptions of things, but it doesn't tell you how to get there, who to contact, where to stay (in an easy way) that's close by, etc. It's more of a teaser, really. When I unpacked my suitcase, it was clear that the Frommers book is much better - it was well worn by the time I got back, with highlights and notes and dog-eared pages. For my money, I'd get Frommers to keep with you while you are in WILD South Africa. If you want to see beautiful photos, get "The Eyewitness Guide." Just my opinion. Have a wonderful trip - it is an intense and beautiful country.

This was one of several books we bought for a trip to South Africa. The book itself is beautiful-good photos, concise descriptions, good background and is itself a keepsake of the trip. It provided some good background and historical information about the different areas of the country and what to expect, but it is not the kind of book that will tell you all you need to know about where to stay, what time the trains run, etc. It is a great start to get excited about where you're going, but should only be considered as an adjunct to another book (like Frommers or Lonely Planet) that provides all the nuts and bolts information you actually need to travel there. If you have both, you're in great shape, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it ahead of time.

Basically this is a useless book. It gives a broad overview of very basic things. It is in NO WAY a travel guide. It does, however, have nice pictures! I returned to book!

I think these DK guides are fantastic, they not only make nice travel guides, but are good to have whether you plan to travel to that particular destination or not. Frankly, the reviewer who stated he returned this book and gave it one star is an idiot of the first order. South Africa is an amazing country with very distinct parts, this book does a fine job of breaking the country up and giving the history and the highlights of each region. If you have any interest in South Africa or just like travel guides, then pick this up you wont be disappointed. As for South Africa itself, lord let's hope they dont elect another neianderthal to run the country, but from what ive heard the ANC has nominated another corrupt pol to be the next president..for what is considered the most forward country in Africa..ill grant you that is not saying much, just look at Zimbabwe..South Africa seems to be going backward..how sad.

ANOTHER HIT FOR THE DK SERIES, THEY HAVE BECOME MY GO TO BOOK FOR TRAVEL THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. GREAT PHOTOS AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND. SUGGESTIONS FOR ALL PRICE RANGES.
THANKS

The book was new as stated in description. Well packaged and shipped very quickly.

Thank you

I am a professional event manager and bought this book to help teach an event management class at a business school. It was the best decision i ever made. Extremely comprehensive and very well written. Covers all aspects of event management

It's all here. For the person just starting out, this book is a must have. For those who have been in the business for a long time, the book is still a great resource.

I have always been a disciple of Julia Silvers' work. This book will serve in 2008 as the textbook for my new class entitled "Everything about Events". I am delighted with the robust information available throughout this book.

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 novel, the third novel in Stirling's Nantucket trilogy, depicts the climatic conflict between the Republic of Nantucket, the free, democratic (in the literal sense of the term) society created by the Nantucket Islanders after being sent three thousand years into the past by a mysterious Event, and the despotic empire founded by the renegade Coast Guard officer and warlord William Walker.

From the epic battle scenes, to the pictures of individual life in the year 10 A.E. (After the Event; 1240 B.C. in our dating), this book is a wonderful finish to a great series. The characters are strongly drawn - in the most detail of any of the books in the series - and Stirling is equally skilled at his depictions of Big, Epic Events and detailed pictures of the lives of families, communities and individuals within the Republic of Nantucket, within Walker's empire, and in the many cultures worldwide encountered by both. However, despite its strengths, a couple of bobbles affect this book, as with its predecessors.

First: two of the biggest battle scenes in the novel are lifted bodily from elsewhere. The conflict at "O' Rourke's Ford" is, action for action, the movie "Zulu" set 3,000 years in the past; and the conflict between the forces of the Republic and the Tartessians at Gibraltar is the Battle of Trafalgar yet again. Stirling is a marvelous writer, but these two scenes should at least have been acknowledged in the preface, even though the exchange between O'Rourke and Kenneth Hollard at the end of the former slyly acknowledges it.

Second, given the smallpox epidemic and the measures which had to be taken to contain it at the close of the former novel, I'd have expected the Babylonians to be weaker than they are depicted, and Justin Clemens to have more difficulty than he encountered, in the third book. While the book is still plausible, a bit more acknowledgement of what took place in Babylon in the recent past would have been more convincing.

However, these are relatively minor quibbles with what is otherwise a fantastic book. I look forward eagerly to Stirling's next entry in this series!

Why is it when lead characters are strong women with both light and dark shades.....it's feminism and when (in the majority of such books) male lead characters are fleshed out with traits that may not be mainstream.....there's no hue and cry of chauvinism? Women can be just as strong, just as weak, just as bad and certainly just as sexual as any man. Some of the greatest conquerers and warriors of the ages were into male bonding of the very intimate kind, ie; Alexander the Great, ancient Sparta and there was a very definite sexual component in the relationships of the gladiators in ancient Rome. There are a myriad of very good studies that discuss the sexual component of the traditional "male bonding" related to testosterone laden sporting events. It's the height of arrogance and male egocentricity to play the "feminism card" as I've read in some comments. It does a disservice to a fine series with extremely interesting characters....both male and female. The author's less than inspired and disjointed storyline and treatment of some of the characters in the 3rd book are the fault of the author and not the characters. You want traditional "strong males", pick up some of the usual hackneyed "adventure" paperbacks at Walmart. There are of enough of them. Ad nauseum.

This book is a pageturner. There's plot in abundance, and plenty of action.

Unfortunately, this book suffers from being overly simplistic and idealistic. Most of it is war and fighting, with the Nantucket islanders either being superhumanly competent "good people" vs. evil sociopaths, sadists and neo-nazis. The supreme military commander always ends up on the front lines or the behind the scenes elite missions. The guy out for a trek through America can organize raiding parties with the natives in a couple of days and appear silently behind scouts to snap their necks with his bare hands. The leadership is brilliant, and none of the main characters suffers any serious loss or makes critical errors of judgment.

The first book in this series started out with an interesting premise, but at this point it's about as realistic and surprising as a Tom Clancy novel.

Ok, Mr. Stirling, we get it! After 1,800 pages or so we're quite aware that when someone dies, they crap their pants. In the future, please limit yourself to no more than two descriptions of this fact per book. I'll allow up to one other indirect reference to the fecal stench of battle. But for the love of God, you need let people die once in awhile without feeling compelled to describe the postmortem action of their bowels!

I liked the series overall but I had a problem with a few things. The transcontinental Ranger expedition didnt seem to advance the plot. The ending seemed rushed and yet dragged on. I was looking forward to big Waterloo/Gettsburg style battle and instead Walker is poisoned, boring. Mr. Stirling seems to prefer endings where everyone ends up friends, in this series, in the Warlord series which is awesome by the way, and in the Dies the Fire trilogy. Throughout the series I trouble getting over the fact that that there were women in the military forces. I know that sentance seems bad, and Stirling is broad minded and liberal which is great. However in battles of the sort described in this series men have a great advantage over women, men are simply stronger. This counts for a lot in hand to hand combat, or carrying a sixty lb pack which is a lot easier when you weight 180 lbs instead of 135 lbs, and when crewing a Civil War type cannon. I apoligize if I sound like a male chauvinist and I guess it makes sense that if the Islanders' didnt use women they simply wouldnt have enough forces to fight Walker.

Slowly, I'm working my way through Peter Mayle's books though these books could more rightly be described as his love letters to Provence.

Toujours Provence begins where his first book A Year In Provence ended. Now a seasoned resident of this region of France, he broadens his view to give us an affectionate portrait of the French in all their regional peculiarities.

At once amusing and educational, this book gives the reader the sense of what it would be like to see France as a resident, not a tourist.

I know I've entertained daydreams of living in France of Italy, at least for a summer. Mayle's books make me want to act upon that fantasy.

This book is my perfect choice for bedtime reading. Not because it's boring and makes me sleepy. Not because it's easy to put down when sleep calls. Reading this book is a calm interlude in my busy life. Mayle has a droll humor and a flair for understatement of the incongruous situations that develop. I find myself smiling, and I can feel the stress melting away.

Toujours Provence, like its predecessor A Year In Provence, is the perfect armchair vacation.

Having survived French bureaucracy, endless home improvement, goat races, hunters, Massot's dogs, summer visitors, and other hazards during A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle brings us more of the same in Toujours Provence.

This time Mayle takes a more illustrative approach. Beginning with a pharmaceuticals marketing brochure that depicts a snail whose "horns drooped" and whose "eye was lackluster," Mayle educates us about health concerns and approaches in Provence--including house calls. Anecdotes relate Mayle's love of picnicking Provence style (with chef, wait staff, and linens); his quest for singing toads, truffles, and napoléons (the coins); his pursuit of Pavarotti and pastis; and, of course, his passion for the region's fresh foods and fine vintages.

With a few exceptions, such as the history of pastis and the more sobering story of summer drought and forest fires, much of Toujours Provence will seem familiar territory to readers of the first book. For the most part, Mayle is in fine form, writing that Bennett, "looking like the reconnaissance scout from a Long Range Desert Group . . . had crossed enemy lines on the main N100 road, successfully invaded Ménerbes, and was now ready for the final push into the mountains." Some anecdotes, like "No Spitting in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape," end brilliantly, while others, such as "Napoléons at the Bottom of the Garden," fall a little flat.

Judith Clancy's delightful artwork is back, but what is missing from Toujours Provence are the quirky characters we came to love or at least wonder about. Most are mentioned or make a brief appearance, but mainly they are relegated to the background. Even Mayle's neighbor Massot (". . . it would be difficult to imagine a more untrustworthy old rogue this side of the bars of Marseille prison"), to whom half a chapter is devoted, is here more caricature than character. We know no more about him, or Faustin and Henriette or Monsieur Menicucci, than we did at the end of the first book. By now, Mayle's circle has expanded , but no one he meets, from the toad choir director to the flic, is nearly as interesting as his neighbors or his builders from the first book.

Like an adequate movie sequel, Toujours Provence carries on in the same vein as its predecessor, with a slightly different or reduced cast and a little less originality and wit. Perhaps more appropriately, I should say it's like a wine slightly past its peak--still worth drinking, but somehow not quite as enjoyable.

Peter Mayle is a great writer in his descriptions and the way he makes you a part of his life in Provence, specially if you don't understand the language or the habits of the «Natives»!
The best book I ever read!
Doris Veillette Hamel, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada

Mayle's style is light and breezy; he does the joie de vivre thing as in his first Provence book. This book is really an elaboration of the episodes in A Year in Provence. Mayle does insert new characters and gustatory adventures that keep the reading lively however.

There are many charming anecdotes in this book. Mayle is a first-class storyteller who drops alot of French words throughout his narrative in English. This, along with his modest humour, really make this a decent read.

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

I enjoyed Mayle's first book A Year in Provence a lot better than this book. If you want to learn about French food and meals then this book will help you. But it is not as funny as his first book.