Travel Books

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.

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.

I reviewed several other hiking books on the Grand Canyon and read the trail guides for my selected and reserved trail. This book was the best written and most complete. I would generally say that this book might be the best bet for a good hiking volume for the GC.

While writing my book "The Tortoise Diet - Win The Race To Lose!", an account of my 120 pound weight loss, I bought this book an became interested in hiking in the canyon as a fitness goal. This very informative and well written book helped inspire me to hike in 2005 from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch, and back again the next day. This May (2006) my husband and I are hiking from the South Rim to the North Rim. We will be carrying along our copy of the book to help us appreciate the canyon more as we undertake this huge fitness challenge(my husband is 55 and I am 49.)

I have been hiking Grand Canyon since 1977 with over 9,000 miles below the rim and have hiked all the trails in this guide, in most cases multiple times. This guide has the most detailed descriptions of all canyon hiking guides; maps are more than adequate; nearly all information is up to date. Adkison's writing style is very clear. I especially appreciate his information about plant communities along the routes. This second edition is largely the same as the earlier edition. I am glad to see the addition of a section on cairns. How can this book be improved? Add an index. Looking through the guide I only found a few errors --- Western Union is no longer available inside the park and the Tanner Trail one way distance is not 7 miles but more like 10 miles!

I'm planning a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon. I've looked at several guidebooks and I've bought bought this book as well as Hiking Grand Canyon National Park, 2nd (Regional Hiking Series) by John Annerino, and Hiking the Grand Canyon's Geology (Hiking Geology) (HTGCG) by Lon Abbott and Teri Cook.

I liked the straightforward and informative approach that Ron Adkinson takes in this book. The Grand Canyon is a big place with a lot of alternatives for trips. I was able figure out which trails I want to take using this book.

I especially like the capsule summary of each route that have clear ratings for the difficulty, water availability, average hiking times, suggested cache points, and distance.

Compared to this book, I found the HTGCG by Lon Abbott and Teri Cook nearly as good but the focus on the geology in HTGCG makes it harder to pull out the hiking information. Though, once your route is chosen, HTGCG, helps you understand what you see.

I have used the NC version of this book for years and due to metal detecting alot in VA got this version. It works great in laying out back roads and areas I have been looking at on computer based topo maps. Great product.

great product! these maps even show little dirt roads that are on private land! amazing!

This is the best Atlas/Gazetteer I've found around at least for the areas I travel and can vouch for the details. It's a great resource for those times when you need to get off the main roads and see where the back roads take you. This map has a lot of the small details that I was looking for, trail heads, boat ramps, camp grounds, wineries, ferries, waterfalls, etc. The topo lines are pretty easy to read and elevations are well marked for this style of map. It's also pretty easy to cross reference to your GPS unit.

What this map lacks are the details you need for in-town travel, and that includes downtown in the small towns. When the roads get too tight you're gonna need a different map because this one only has one size (1:150k or 1"=2.4miles) I also think they should have included phone/web contact info for their places of interest and a couple of blank pages in the back for notes. (Quick tip: I covered the inside back cover with post-it notes so I can take notes and move them to the page I really need them on.)

Quality of the book is decent and should last long enough. The book is a bit big (15.5"h x 11"w) so don't plan on keeping this one in the glove compartment!

We'll be using this atlas for an RV trip. Although we haven't yet done the trip, the maps look like what we need (detailed, topographic, forest/side roads). I will say that it's missing decent regional and statewide views. The Benchmark California Road & Recreation Atlas, Fifth Edition (Benchmark Road & Recreation Atlas)series does an excellent job of panning the state, and then drilling down. The Gazetteer series just has the drill-down. Makes it tough when you want to get a macro-view of your route.

This Atlas, like all in the DeLorme series of Atlas & Gazetteer references, are wonderful map resources. A wealth of information is included. If anything, the level of detail, coupled with the topographic information, may seem a bit too much at first glace (if you are new to these guides). But if you're willing to spend a bit of time with the maps, you will find these guides to be very useful.

In addition to the maps and the useful indexes and cross-references, these guides include listings or location sources for hiking, camping, fishing, recreation areas, unique natural features (waterfalls, bridges, caverns, natural areas, etc.), bicycle routes, horse trails, etc. And of course, GPS (Lat/Lon) coordinates are printed on each map.

Although the scale of these maps demand it, it would be nice if the guide book dimensions were a bit smaller. At 11" x 15.5", it's a good size book, so it's not quite as easy to stow in the backpack or the motorcycle storage area, etc.

Overall, these are excellent guides for any traveler or outdoor enthusiast.

This is a delightful gem which captures the spiritual inspiration of the pilgrimage both historically and in the modern context. It is a marvelous book for those who intend their journey to be more than just a long cultural hike.

For my recent comiplation of pilgrimage quotations ("Ultreia! Onward! Progress of the Pilgrim") I read all 40 or so contemporary English journal accounts available about the various routes. Rudolph's is clearly within the first grouping of 8 or so best such books (i.e. largely those written by established authors and/or academics). He is able to convey in a fraction of the pages of other volumes many interesting and important aspects of undertaking such a pilgrimage. Though not the most quotable of sources (i.e. 7 such extracted for the review volume Ultreia! Onward!) Rudopplh nevertheless is particularly good at writing about the process of pilgrimage.

The book reads as if you were sitting in an art history lecture -- the author writes using simple, direct, yet descriptive language. While the narrative is framed around the St James trail, it is really a book about inner transformation, not a description of the external world and the landmarks one sees during the pilgrimage. In all, the book has helped me prepare my frame of mind for the bike pilgrimage I am about to embark. The best part -- it's a short and quick read!

Conrad Rudolph, a professor of medieval art,has made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Campostela and knows enough about the history of the pilgrimage and the art and architecture to be seen along the way to write a book that tells not only how to prepare for the long hike and what to take but also what is to be seen and what it all means from a historical perspective.

As I write this review, I'm wearing the boots I plan to use on my own Camino pilgrimage next week. In addition to breaking them in, I've been preparing my body, mind, and heart for the long walk to Santiago. Reading "Pilgrimage to the End of the World" was an enjoyable and necessary part of that process.

Conrad Rudolph's book on the Camino de Santiago has four parts: 1) some historical background, 2) an account of his trek, 3) a series of black-and-white personal photographs with explanations that range from a paragraph to a page or so long, and 4) a practical guide (what to wear, how to pack, etc.). Despite its brevity (only 131 pages), Mr. Rudolph's memoir is packed with useful and interesting information. The surprising revelation that the author is a rationalist only serves to make his tale more compelling, especially considering the profound effect a pilgrimage usually done for spiritual reasons had upon him.

Indeed, the Camino began as an important medieval religious pilgrimage to Santiago, alleged burial place of St. James. But it has grown to accommodate folks on quests of many kinds. What's ironic about Mr. Rudolph's journey is that despite his rationalist mindset, he walked the farthest distance of any pilgrim, faith-based or otherwise, I've read about so far. He began in Le Puy, France, went through Santiago, and concluded in Finisterre - the "End of the World" on the Spanish west coast. That's about double the walking distance from the usual starting point of St. Jean Pied de Port, a French town on the Spanish border. And I thought we religious folk were supposed to be the crazy ones...

Despite his excellent account and helpful information, I part ways with the author in one key area: his firm recommendation of an external-frame pack. He's correct about the increased ventilation it offers, since the external frame holds the pack away from one's back. But according to another pilgrim's memoir, you'll sweat no matter what kind of pack you carry. Also, there are far more sizes and types of internal-frame packs to choose from. At REI I found only one model of external frame pack for sale among the plethora of internal packs - a forlorn Kelty similar to the one the author used. Bottom line, I'd say that an internal-frame pack is a better choice (I'm taking a 4,300 cubic-inch Gregory Baltoro).

At any rate, "Pilgrimage to the End of the World" is a must-read for anyone contemplating, or actually preparing for, the Camino pilgrimage. Other helpful and inspirational books I used to get ready include: "Buen Camino," by Jim & Eleanor Clem, "Camino Chronicle" by Susan Alcorn, and "Fumbling," by Kerry Egan (also, check the Confraternity of St. James' website for lots of good info and up-to-date Camino guidebooks). If you choose to go, let me be the first you wish you a Buen Camino!

UPDATE 9/7/07: On 7/14/07 I stepped off in St. Jean Pied-de-Port (France), and on 8/24/07 I walked into Santiago, Spain. Turned out that the boots I mentioned in the first paragraph were too heavy, so I bought a lighter Spanish pair in Logrono that served me well. My internal-frame pack was the Camino standard (although the model I had was too large and initially weighted down with unnecessary stuff) - out of the hundreds of pilgrims I saw, only a couple had external frame packs. At any rate, I recommend this book as necessary reading for anyone planning to walk the Way.

I bought two of these books for my 9-year old and 12-year old daughters. They kept both of them entertained for two 5 hours rides with more left. My older daughter especially enjoyed searching for different license plates and checking them off in the book. I'd definitely recommend this book for older kids for a road trip.

This book kept my 3 grandkids from quarreling in the back seat of the van! Great entertainment!

This is a great book for long car trips or just to play at home.Some activities include:mini-mysteries, mazes, crossword puzzles, where to find this, coloring pages, car bingo and many, many other fun activities.Rand Mcnally is a great activity book company.I suggest getting this book, and SOON!

This book is full of information to make RVing more convenient and hopefully a little less expensive.

This guide provided me with valuable info from the first use. The campground detail is quite thin, but it gives me a great starting place to locate potential inexpensive camping spots. From there it is usually easy to get more detail using other resources. To be clear, this book is not a good single source but a valuable component and the data is well organized.

We have had Don Wrights Guides to Campgrounds before, this being the newest edition. The Western edition covers all the areas that we are currently interested in with many many listings and choices for people that like to Boondock. A great resource!
The only reason I did not give this a 5 star rating is that it is a little hard to read the numbers on the maps and then relate them to "state" or "county" roads. The maps of each state only show the main roads, not the links from those main roads to the camping areas. You have to refer to an addition map to get more of the location of camping areas.

We never travel without one of these editions.....not only because we find low priced campgrounds, but because we find quiet "out-of-the-way" campgrounds.

See also my review on NW rv destinations. I know the NW pretty well but am always looking for better and cheaper ways to travel around, hide out, and explore. For ecomony camping and rv'ing this is the book. A little cheaply done (newsprint type paper) this 440 pp reference guide is full of all the little hidey holes and cheaper places to hang out. Much more fine detail for this geographical area than say Trailer Life's RV Directory. Has complete information and prices on all the out of the way and mainline economical places to stay. Does not include commercial places like Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel, etc. Very broad coverage (Entire Western US). While on you way to a destination park you can explore these out of the way and local money savers. Such camps usually don't have full hooks ups, but for ~ $12 or less who cares, you can boondock for a a night can't you -- maybe even a whole weekend!

Please clean up after your pets and keep them controlled. An increasing number of camps are not allowing pets due to owners' abuse of this privilege. Its not the dog's fault. Our Miniature Schauzer loves to RV and we love taking him, but are often dismayed by the number of parks that will not allow pets anymore.

#1 goes into breeds, #2 goes into needs, #3 goes into purchasing AND how to CHOOSE healthy animals, #4 how to house and care for them!! Everything! I am sure there is more to each animal, but this is THE best intro book! I am so happy with my nrew load of reading materials!! I cant wait to get this all started!!

In my opinion, this book is not for someone who wishes to homestead either organically or "naturally". Right off the bat, the authors mention GMOs and defend their existence by claiming that man is always going to be looking for better ideas, so there's no point in arguing their merits! They admit that GMOs are not strictly 'cross-breeding', but restructuring DNA at the cellular level (and NO ONE knows what will come of that), but again, simply shrug that off as progress. There are other unfortunate misconceptions in it as well, and not a lot of detailed information regarding the various breeds of animals, nor why you should husband one type over another depending upon your needs. All-in-all, this isn't about sustainable homesteading, more like how to create a smaller home version of modern factory farming techniques. Not what I was looking for, at any rate...

Unfortunate to write a negative review but necessary for would be buyers.
I found this book to be worthless.. It totally lacked the basic info a true beginner would need. I simply wanted more info on how to raise chickens for meat or eggs.. Thankfully, much more useful info can be found on the internet. I don't know of any books that are more informative at this time.

This is by far the best book I have ever read on the subject of raising your own livestock. The author not only put great information into the book, he also wrote it by telling stories that helped me to better understand and retain the information. I bought the book to learn more about raising a few cattle for both milk and beef, but after reading about other livestock, my wife and I are looking forward to raising a few other types. It even tought us how to save money on feed by giving recipes and directions for getting your animals feed from nature. A must have book if you want to raise your own poultry, or livestock.

Anyone who would like to put a few animals in the backyard for eggs or meat or milk or everything altogether, will save hundreds of headaches, and probably hundreds of dollars, by buying this book and taking Steven Thomas's suggestions seriously. There are now dozens of these kinds of books out there, and I own a number of them (including "Barnyard In Your Backyard" which is nowhere near as good as this) but none of them comes close to "Backyard Livestock" for practicality of advice, conciseness of expression, and comprehensiveness. I have sheep, chicken, etc., and this has been far more reliable than any competing manuals that I own or know of. You can't not get it! It's indispensable.