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As of June 2007, this book has become out of date.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 Maps of the metro subways are also out of date.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 This book is a great introduction to Shanghai, but it is out of date (just like pretty much all the other books on the city).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.

I feel this book offers a lot of great tips and it's definitely a big help for new event planners and serves as a refresher for veteran event planners.

While a bulk of the book is filled with helpful (if not common sense) tips on planning an event... the truly important section, the resources section, is horribly out of date.

Many of the publication, speaking society, portal, and technology company links are not functional.

I've never tried to plan an event without having resources. If you don't want to be in that situation either, I'd suggest skipping this book.

Meeting and Event Planning for Dummies provides detailed instructions and lists and made organizing an event simple and successful. Do not be without this incredible resource.

This book is perfect for the meeting planner who is just starting in the field. It's filled with helpful hints and lists valuable web sites.

I use this guide for a 4 days Madrid visit. Ive found it most useful in preparation of what to visit and what to eat once I get there. It also give me a lot of background in terms of what to expect for the dining hour, culture, and how to spend my evening.

What I really like about this guide is the map (both the city map and street by street map) attached. I also like how the guide divided Madrid into 4 major areas and how it pinpointed major attraction which ease your pressure if you have little time in your hand (2-2 days). The guide also covers the most basic historical background and interesting fact that you need to know as a tourist.

The guide is without its flaws however. First disturbing flaw is that - it happen that the a restaurant I want to pay a visit has been renamed and that the Metro network map isnt updated so It puzzles me a little bit.

More disturbing part is that -- the guide for out of town place like El Escorial, Segovia and Toledo is very lacking. By lacking, I mean, if you do not do your research in advance I can assure you 100% that you will get lost. The map is so much incomplete that if regardless if you travel by train or bus -- you will not see yourself anywhere within the Map (lesson learned, research where the station is located and research by what mean of transport you can get there).

The restaurant listing is also subpar at best. It failed to mention even the existence of Botin restaurant which is the oldest restaurant recognized in the world by Guinness world record. In the end I was being generous and tried two of the restaurants recommended. I was dissapointed by one of them. My hotel which I think was an awesome find isnt also listed there. Lesson learned, do your own research for restaurant and hotel

Overall, would I recommend this guide? of course but a forewarning that you need to do your homework too. :) These days its so easy for you to do more an indepth research online as a supplement to your guide. I saved many pages I found online in my cellphone

I enjoy Rick Steves' guides, but often I want to know more, both in-depth and in-breadth about a destination. This is a typical Eyewitness Travel Guide, almost a small encyclopedia about one place, its history, and its many attractions. I enjoy buying such books months in advance of a trip, reading & re-reading it, hoping that when I arrive at the destination it will seem familiar. I would heartily recommend any Eyewitness Guide to anyone who similarly want to know more. This little volume on Madrid packs a lot of information into one book.

This was a nice guide for a 2 day trip to madrid -- the monument descriptions & photos were enjoyable & the walking tours were fun. It was very nice to have pictures of each key sight next to it's description so we could be sure were were looking at the right place.
However, we also used this book to navigate to our hotel. Big, big mistake. In this guide, hotels are not marked on the map, they are located by quadrant (e.g. Map5 D-3). But our hotel was very far from where the book said it was; it was 3-4 map-quadrants away, which we found only by using the address & after a 30 minute walk with our luggage. FYI: unlike in the US, addresses do not go up by 100 per block. Going from 85 Gran Via in the old quarter to 15 Gran Via is about a 2 mile walk.

Not as good as some of the other guides I used. The page numbers mentioned next to sights in the intro sections are often incorrect. Lots of pretty pictures though.

I like these Eyewittness Travel Gides and byu them when I plan to travel. However this time the delivery was delayed.

My wife and I earned a compostela walking a portion of the Camino Frances in May of 2004. Since then I've read many books on pilgrimage, including several accounts of other pilgrims' journeys on the same road we traveled. Many are what another reviewer describes: diaries of the interior lives of the author, focusing mainly on their hardships and triumphs, as if to point out how they changed the camino, rather than how they were changed by it. If I felt that this were all to this book, I wouldn't recommend it. Instead, I think this book provides a wonderful balance between soulful reflection and the pragmatism of the all-too-physical journey. Walking the camino does appear to have all the ingredients necessary for earning a 'spiritual experience merit badge', and some seem to walk it just to earn pilgrimage street cred. Even were that Rupp's intention, and I doubt very much that is the case, she's provided a great perspective for potential pilgrims and useful material to aid past walkers. It's true that she does not shy away from describing unpleasantries of the road: dirty accommodations, illness, rude pilgrims, bad food, and bad weather. These are very real likelihoods, and she discusses them very frankly; pilgrims do not float along the road, barely touching the earth, and any idyllic expectations soon come face-to-face with harsh reality. Rupp does not bring up these issues merely to complain, however; the benefit of this book is how she treats these subjects as well as her prayerful introspection as equally engaging points of reflection and provides a useful perspective on integrating even these issues into a larger pilgrimage experience. The subtitle of the book, however, is "Life Lessons from the Camino", and that's the true value of these observations: her effort in showing that much of our day-to-day life is filled with just these sort of experiences and just this sort of potential for reflection, appreciation, and understanding.

this book was great, talked me out of going, realize that all that heat and dirt was not for me, will go trekking in nepal instead, much cooler temps, author did this to add to her spiritual credentials,alll about herself and her inner thoughts, suspect she had not been out of the USA before.

cheers

Back in the summer of 2003, I visited a former seminary roommate in Leon, Spain. I showed up a couple of days before his wedding after backpacking through Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Madrid. While strolling together through Leon, my Spanish friend remarked that people thought I was a "Pilgrim" because of my clothing and backpack. I asked him to clarify, and he replied that Leon was on the path of the Camino Pilgrimage. Thus began my interest in the topic.

"Walk in a Relaxed Manner" was the first book I read about the Camino. It's newly published, written by a 60-year-old nun who walked the Pilgrimage around the time I was in Leon. She hit the trail with a retired priest, and this book was born from that experience. The subtitle and theme is "Life Lessons From the Camino," and each chapter is based on a way she grew due to the Pilgrimage. For example, the book's title is shared with a chapter where Sr. Rupp describes how she learned to walk slowly and thoughtfully instead of quickly and competitively. Other chapter titles include "Savor Solitude," "Deal with Disappointments," and "Live in the Now." Such topics may strike some as trite. But I found it impressive that more often than not, it was the walk's difficulties that enabled her to internalize these truths.

The author writes in a clear and readable manner. She rejoices in the high points of the Pilgrimage, and is honest about the lows as well. Each lesson is presented in a thoughtful manner, and all are applicable to everyday life. However, like many spiritual insights perhaps some sort of defining experience is required to truly own them. But reading about these truths may be a way to prepare the heart for their eventual actualization. Although a Catholic nun in the Servite Community, Sr. Rupp keeps things fairly ecumenical throughout her tale. In addition, practical advice about the Pilgrimage is sprinkled throughout the book, and a list of helpful Camino resources is included at the end. There's even an authorized website based on Joyce Rupp's name if you want more info about her.

Someday I'd like to do the El Camino Pilgrimage. I hope I don't have to wait until my sixties, but sometimes you have to let things happen in their time. If I do walk it, I'll be glad if I learn and grow half as much as Sr. Rupp did. Recommended for all travelers and pilgrims.

UPDATE 9/7/07: Well, I only had to wait until I was forty to do the Camino. On 7/14/07 I stepped off in St. Jean Pied-de-Port (France), and on 8/24/07 I walked into Santiago, Spain. After returning home to the US, I went through this book again. It was nice reading about familiar places on the Way, and also to identify with the lessons Ms. Rupp writes about. Recommended even more now that I've actually done the trek.

Reflections of this Catholic sister, as she walks the Camino with the semi retired priest of her parish.

This journey of two people of faith met with all the challenges the Camino can offer. Joyce started out as what I call an overachiever, and Tom as a steadying influence.

A couple concepts stuck in my brain from chapters of this book. Enjoy existential friendships. Return a positive for a negative. Negative things do happen, but Joyce would make a determined effort to see the positive - a concept I accept, but sometimes have difficulty applying.

I enjoyed this thoughtful book.

This is an amazing book about an amazing experience--walking across Spain--and well after midlife. We share the hardships and blessings of this journey and are able to walk, talk and think in a relaxed manner while reading it. There are lessons subtly given that everyone can shsare.

We are great fans of the Eyewitness travel guides, and if the release date is within the past year, we would go with Eyewitness. This volume is up to Eyewitness's usual high standards. As usual, the great illustrations give the book a tremendous advantage over its competitors. Over the centuries, Slavs, Croats, Dalmatians, Slavonians, Serbs, Jews, Italians and others have left their imprint on the country. The illustrations help us keep our bearings.

Other advantages: all three major regions are covered, the food, hotel and entertainment sections are up to date, and the cultural and wildlife sections are particularly well done.

One surprising omission: Eyewitness usually provides an excellent list of books for further reading. That section is missing in this volume, and we bought a The Rough Guide to Croatia 4 with its list of books and literature to fill the gap.

Neither guidebook is particularly strong on the history of Croatia, the result perhaps of the extremely complex nature of Croatia's history. Luckily, Croatia Through History by Branka Magas has just been released and provides an excellent detailed account of that history.

It's best to do your homework before you leave home, of course; who wants to spend time reading history on the ground? As usual, Eyewitness's "Croatia" is the perfect guidebook for our taste.

Robert C. Ross 2008

Love those DK guides. Got the book in plenty of time for my trip.
Thanks

When planning a trip, I go straight to the Eyewitness Travel Guides. They are well laid out by geographic area, informative, visually appealing and just the rigtht size to tuck into a travel bag. I hope to collect many more!

This guide is great for getting started in your trip planning. It also includes information on eastern and central Croatia in addition to the coast. Some guides ignore the east. The pictures in the guide are wonderful and give you glimpses of what to expect. There are many helpful general travel insights that you need like information on changing money, use of credit cards, tipping, local customs, etc. We don't plan to stay and eat in the major tourist cities so the food and lodging info isn't that helpful to us. But overall, this guide was worth the money for when I can't be on the web getting info. The book has a British slant since it's from a British publisher but if you don't need all the references to be in dollars that won't be a problem.

I am a big fan of the Eyewitness series from DK and own about a dozen of them. I have usually used Eyewitness on many of my trips and used other guides for supplemental information, if at all. I usually walk around with just my camera and the Eyewitness guide.

However, I have just returned from 3+ weeks traveling with another couple through Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Slovenia and found this guide to be pretty useless. It soon went into my suitcase and stayed there for the rest of the trip. I write this review in the hope that DK will redo this guide, as they are my favorite guidebook series.

My first criticism is that this book is confined solely to Croatia. I didn't expect is to cover neighboring countries in depth, but expected it to at least cover trips to the "highlights" of the neighboring countries: Kotor, and perhaps Budva in Montenegro; Mostar in Bosnia. These are both days trips from Dobrovnik and are included in many packaged tours. Anyone who goes to Dubrovnik and fails to also visit Kotor and Mostar is making a mistake.

Of somewhat lesser importance, I would have liked to see Lake Bled and Ljubljana in neighboring Slovenia also included. While I did not go on a tour, I did check to see where tours go and these are popular destinations on trips to the region and should, in my opinion, be included. Were they, the book would be much more useful to both tour participants and those traveling the region on their own. Including all of the places I have mentioned would add, I would think, at most 50 additional pages to the book.

The second area where this guidebook falls greviously short is restaurant and hotel recommendations. If using this book while on a tour, these are probably not important. DK has a habit of listing all restaurants in one section and all hotels in another for the entire country. I find this very awkward to use, as when in Dubrovnik, I want to find everything in the section for that city, not have to flip between different sections, and then search for Dubrovnik restaurants among listings for all areas and cities.

But fundamentally this guidebook does not adequately cover the rich choice of hotels and restauants available throughout Croatia and it's neighbors. Only a few restaurants and hotels are mentioned for most towns. If you eliminate the budget choice and the luxury choice, you are left with only one or two choices, which is just inadequate.

We used Fodor and Frommer's guidebooks to select hotels prior to the trip and to pick restaurants while we were there. The number of choices in each of these was double or triple the choices offered by Eyewitness. Two to three pages listing restaurants for Dubrovnik does not seem excessive; Eight listings for all of Dubrovnik is unquestionably inadequate.

Croatia and the surrounding Balkan areas are a wonderful place to visit. I would hope that DK would re-evaluate their approach to "Country" (as opposed to City)guides and this one in particular. As for the available choices, Rick Steves is not bad; Frommer's covers restaurants and hotels well, but is also confined to just Croatia. Fodor's may be the best overall guide at the moment.

Loved this book. Used it in July '08 and it reflected the French passion for food. The restaurants reviewed were accurately portrayed. Their particular specialties were listed as well as the prix fixe & a la carte costs, etc. In short, you have all the info you could possibly want about restaurants...locations, hours, phone & fax numbers. I would definitely use it again for my next trip to Paris. Buy it, you'll really like it.

The book arrived on time and in perfect condition.

However, Rough Guides make it a little difficult to find basic details. I prefer Lonely Planet's style but it's way too overused!

During a recent visit to Morocco, hitchhiking across the whole of the country from north to south, I used the 8th edition of THE ROUGH GUIDE TO MOROCCO (published October 2007) and its main competitor, the 2007 edition of Lonely Planet Morocco.

For the independent traveler who wants to explore Morocco in depth, the Rough Guide is clearly the best option among current guidebooks. It is much more detailed than the Lonely Planet, covering charming smaller towns left out of the LP and other guidebooks. If you are planning to go from Morocco to Mauritania overland, the Rough Guide is extremely helpful. While Lonely Planet didn't even update their Western Sahara cover in the latest edition, Rough Guide gives information on the new opportunities for those without their own vehicle. (Be aware, however, that the Mauritanian visa must now be requested in Rabat, not in Casablanca as RG advises.) Unlike Lonely Planet, which is now abandoning its traditional demographic of backpackers on a budget, the Rough Guide has as much guidance for shoestring travelers as for people with money to spend.

If you are curious about Morrocan history and culture, the Rough Guide makes other guidebooks look like they were meant for rude and insensitive package tourists. It contains a hundred-page supplement which not only explains the whole of Moroccan history and its prominent writers and artists, but it even gives some short pieces by Morrocan traditional storytellers. The Rough Guide does a good job throughout of trying to put tourists in contact with the locals. The hammams (Turkish-style baths) listed in the book are those frequented by ordinary Moroccans, not expensive spa-type locations as in other guidebooks. I was unhappy, however, with the Rough Guide's mention of hitchhiking. While it does mention it as an option, and doesn't try to scare people away from it, it suggests that it is difficult and requires payment. That's odd indeed, since hitchhikers consider Morroco one of the easiest countries on Earth, and my usual waiting type was just a couple of minutes, and I didn't have to pay a dime.

If you are an independent traveler, the Rough Guide is probably the only book you need. Lonely Planet does have a whole section dedicated to trekking, but even for those keen on trekking this may not be worth it. All in all it's funny how the Rough Guides, held in scorn for so long because they contain ads and are published by a major corporation (Penguin), now seem the best guidebooks for solo shoestring travelers.

Pretty good info on the cities I went to, and pretty good maps, BUT horrible connection and transportation information -if you don't want to get ripped off in Morocco it is essential, for example to have some idea of the prices for taxis from, say the rail station to the medina - and this guide does not give those as Lonely Planet does. Also was quite vague about connection information between cities. Overall, I was disappointed with this guide and found it wasn't terribly practical for use 'in the field'.

If you like local history or just want to read about some oddities the weird series does not disappoint.

Its a great book for that on the go explorer in all of us. Gives you a chance to really get to know the state you live in.

My 28 yr old daughter wnted this for xmas and she
and her 22 yr old sister were reading and in awe
of alot of things in this book.Now she just needs
someone to go see some of these who isn't scared!

If you live in or been to the Keystone state than you must own this book. After read this book I did not there were so many abandon insane asylums outside of Philly. There are many interesting stories that are must read for anyone who likes weird and the unusual. If you read it you will like it !!!!

This is a well written and interesting book, but severely ignores the western part of the state. It seemed as though every page was Bucks, Chester, or Delaware counties and Philadelphia. With very few stories west of Harrisburg/State College, and ONLY ONE story highlighting Pittsburgh, this book does not deserve the title Weird Pennsylvania... the publisher should call it what it is, Weird Philadelphia and its Countryside.

Interesting? Yes, but still a huge disappointment.

I travel to San Francisco once or twice a year to get away from LA. Saw the book on Amazon and figured it would probably be a humorous read but didn't really expect any practical advice. To my surprise it was actually both. It's a smart funny read but it also REALLY DOES have the low down on free food, fun, and frolicking. My boyfriend and I went up a few weeks ago and planned the whole weekend using the book. Found plenty of art, parks, and music to keep us busy and hit some cheap and/or free happy hours and food joints. Probably the most fun I've had in the City and definitely the least expensive weekend ever! Thanks for the tips. Much appreciated!!

This book is packed with great facts and activity suggestions for both locals and tourists, and for those, like me, who go to SF often as a day trip.

It covers pretty much every interest a visitor might have. Plus it's a slim volume, reasonable to stick in your backpack.

The book contains a number of
cheap/free ideas for those visiting
the city, including terrific suggestions
for shopping. Definitely recommended
for both parents and singles.

An essential read for cheapskates and big spenders alike. Written with a knowledgeable and detail oriented style. Even if you have never set foot in SF, it is an entertaining study of the city's culture.

Being the gourmand that I am, I especially liked the section on eating for cheap, and sometimes for free. Good cheap tips and witty banter make for an amusing read.

Now I need to find a book like this for London.

A treasure! I absolutely love this book about my parents' home. Anyone interested in history and legends should get this book.

I bought this book for a student of mine with Puerto Rican heritage. He loved having Spanish on one side and English on the other. He was not an avid reader, but he loved this book so much that he read it in a week or so.

This was a present for my friend whos is Puerto Rician he loved the book.

This is the second "Side-by-Side" book I have read.
I prefer the first, "Stories from Latin America,"
because the editors of that volume better understood
their purpose -- which is to present side-by-side versions
of the same story, such that a reader conversant in one
language but not the other, may learn new vocabulary, verify
verb tense, etc. If one looks at the back cover of "Stories
from Puerto Rico," one sees that it says there that "we've
placed the Spanish and English stories side by side -- lado a
lado -- so you can practice and improve your reading skills in your
new language while enjoying the support of your native language.
That way, you'll avoid the inconvenience of constantly having to
look up unfamiliar words and expressions in a dictionary."
Well, you had better have a dictionary handy if you plan to
learn from this book. I have been exasperated time and again by
English translations that are too loose to be useful. If one is
translating for the purpose of conveying the sense and spirit of
a story, then a precise word-for-word translation is unnecessary.
However, this book is designed for language students who are trying
to learn a foreign language. A precise translation is just what's
needed, and I think it's what was promised on that back cover. Yet,
this is not what the book delivers. Let me give an example. There
are many to choose from. This one appears on page 117. Here's the
Spanish version:

"No sabemos si existió, ni dónde, ni cuándo, pero sus desventuras
han hecho reír a generaciones de puertoriquenos. A continuación
encontrará una versión de una historia de Juan Bobo." [I've omitted
the diacritical mark on the "n" in puertoriquenos, but it's there in
the text.]

Now here's the English version of the same sentences:

"We don't know if he really existed, or where, or when, but his
misadventures have entertained generations of Puerto Ricans. The
following is one version of a story about Foolish Jack."

Here now is my problem with the English translation. First, the
word "entertained." The Spanish word translated is "reír." The
Spanish word means "to laugh." Why didn't the translator give us
the precise translation? The clause should read, "his adventures have made generations of
Puerto Ricans laugh." What's wrong with this more precise translation?
Had I not recognized that the Spanish verb is similar to the French
for "laugh" (which I know already), then I might not have bothered
to look the word up. I might have assumed that "reír" means "to
entertain." It does not. My second problem with the English translation
has to do with the last sentence. The Spanish verb "encontrará" is
simply not translated. As though that weren't bad enough, the tense
has been changed from future to present. As a person trying to learn
Spanish (that's why I bought this book), I want to know the meaning and
tense of "encontrará." The Spanish sentence should have been translated
as follows: "Following, you will find a version of one story about Juan
Bobo." Is that so hard? What did the translator think he was doing?
What did he think his purpose was?

This book still has value, and that's why I give it three stars. The
English translation helps convey the general sense of a sentence, and
that is usually enough to help the reader fill in the gaps. However,
a dictionary is still required -- especially since some of the Spanish
vocabulary in not included in the glossary.

A very sloppy job of editing. "Stories from Latin America" is better
done.

I recommend this book to all people, especially the Puerto Ricans, because it talks about our roots, our culture and our different ethnic origins. After you read this book you will understand our Spanish people more, know about our needs and be more understandable of Puerto Rican people.

My best regards to Robert L. Muckley and Adela Martínez-Santiago for their great job in this wonderful book.