Travel Books

Wherever I go I use Fodors guides. I just got back from Europe and Fodors found unique places, great restaurants and comfortable hotels all at reasonable (for Europe) prices. Follow the orange or black stars, you can't go wrong.

This is, without doubt, THE must-have guide to the Angkor area. Dawn Rooney writes with clarity, thoroughness and a balanced view of the monuments without talking down to (or over the head of) the reader. Some books on this area read like travel brochures, others like snobby scholarly textbooks. Ms. Rooney's book strikes the perfect balance between the two.

I'm a research-aholic about my travel, and collect guide books by the dozens. This is one of the best I've read anywhere, about any area.

This revised edition features tons of full-color photographs, good maps and many, many touring tips. I especially liked the fact that she talks about when to visit certain areas, where the best photography opportunities are, along with what makes each temple/monument unique.

The first portion of this book gives a "just-the-right-depth" overview of the history of the area, plus overviews of the artistic styles, royal lineages, construction methods, restoration efforts, etc. Then the second portion goes into detail about each monument - grouped into logical touring sequences.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you've been searching for a guide book to the Angkor area - end your search now. This is the one.

After 6 days in Siem Reap with a licensed guide, this book is 'Cliff Notes' to what the guide tells you. I don't recommend touring the temples without a licensed guide, unless you want a quick, superficial tour. The only book that contains info on the temple Koh Ker (3 hours from Siem Reap, built in 900 AD) & the Preak Toal Bird Sanctuary (2.5 hours by boat across Tonle Sap Lake). If you want to truly enjoy & understand the carvings, the history (Buddhist & Hindu) & culture of what you seeing, read this book before you depart (it's too heavy to take), hire a licensed guide (not a driver who cannot legally take you inside the temples) who is trained to explain how the temples were built (different materials & methods) & what the carvings depict (Hindu mythology, Buddhist kings). Then when you return, reread the sections on the temples you visited... and it will bring back a flood of images & memories. Floor plans are confusing, pictures scant, but her historical descriptions & distances are accurate, lesser known, less touristy temples are included for the adventurous or art lover.

Excellent, up-to-date info. on all sites; very detailed and accurate text on history and culture. Very informative for architects, historians, and other people interested in more profund knowledge/ facts. Far better than the other guides I've read!

One of the best guides that I have read. Very good background, history, religion,and description of the sites. In short, a great book.

This book is an absolute necessity for visiting Angkor, at least if one has an interest in archaeology. In fact, knowing what I know now, I would have skipped hiring a guide and just rented a bicycle with this book as my guide. It is comprehensive, well-illustrated (although the illustrations are not always tied to the adjacent text--my most serious complaint about the book), and has the right balance between academic and popular interest. It is well-worth the extra weight involved in taking it along to Asia (I wish they had used cheaper paper and binding to make it lighter, but then the pictures wouldn't have been so inviting). Maps and organization make it easy to use, although the index sometimes is off by a page or two--perhaps they didn't update it all from the 4th ed. At any rate, it is far superior to all other guides I found on the subject.

I was recently the navigator on a 10 day California coast road trip. I ordered the Delorme Atlas to serve as a back-up to my Nuvi GPS. The map is certainly is the better way for looking ahead for rest areas. Half way through the trip, the binding cracked and pages began to fall out. Not good when driving in a convertible with the top down! So I stopped at a Kinko's Copy Center and they replaced the binding with a spiral binding. Now it went from a good atlas to a great atlas! I'm certainly going to do this to any other Delorme atlas I use in the future.

I'm a big fan of the time traveling books. I love Diana Gabaldon's books as well as the Highlander books from Moning so I'm always on the lookout for a new one. I had high hopes for this book because it sounded like it had some humor, some romance, pirates and time travel and how can that go wrong?
The plot is confusing at times and the idea of a writer that falls into her own unwritten story and therefore can't control it is just a bad idea. She supposedly created the characters but yet she hasn't, the main character is a guy from work that she's attracted to and the bad guy is her boss that she hates and the plot revolves around some documents that no one can find because the woman that "wrote" the story doesn't know anything about them. That isn't much of a story, even an unwritten one.
I feel like this book was published in the idea stage instead of waiting until it was completely formed.

While I love time travel stories this one is real confusing....one minute she is buying shoes the next she is back in 1706. One of the main characters Drumm is aware who she is....yet she doesn't have a clue who he is or why she is there when she is the one that created him or so they would have you believe...If you don't have alot of patience don't bother reading this book. I know some reviewers loved this book but for the life of me I can't figure out why or how come they kept reading it. I personally stopped because it has started to give me a headache.

Seph Pyle is at the Pittsburgh airport with co-worker Tom Fraser when a killer pair of pink stilettos catch her eye in a store window. What better way to fill time while waiting for their flight to be called. The fit, color, feel has never been better. She plunks down her credit card, snaps the last strap in place, and finds herself on board a ship in 1706. The captain is quick to explain her arrival. After all, this is Seph's doing. He is merely a character in her book and he wants spoilers.

I have to tell you, I loved this book. Yes, there are a few bumps but nothing unforgivable. The characters were likable, fun, and real. When I read the back cover and saw two love interests, I knew whose side I was on. Umm, no. Tom won me over. I loved that he didn't spend all of his time not believing her story. And his little test to see if she had traveled, this is a guy you want to have around.

The idea that an author ends up in her own unwritten story was a great hook, and I wished this could have been expanded on a little more. With that said, the book did not lack plot.

Can we talk cover art for a minute? I am not a fan of typical romance covers, but I like this one. I think it is because the artist got it right. The cover depicts the story. Even the shoe's details are there.

This is not a by-the-book romance or time travel story. YES! (Sorry. Reviewer commentary.) I enjoy both of these genres, but this book had me turning the page because I didn't know what to expect next. My fingers so itched to flip to the last few pages before I was finished. I resisted. :)

TUMBLING THROUGH TIME is a definite keeper and Gwyn Cready is an 'auto-buy' author.

CarolASpradling.com author

Gwyn Cready has created a remarkable story. I don't read romances a lot. In fact, I hardly read them ever. But this book isn't what I expected a romance to be like. It's very funny, for example. Like Bridget Jones's Diary or Janet Evanovich, maybe. The latter comparison is quite apt, actually, as the heroine, Seph, flips back and forth between two great guys, a la Ranger and Joe. I was surprised as I was reading that I didn't know which guy she would end up with. Made a page-turning read for me.

In addition, the plot is really unique. Seph is transported back in time to a setting that she has in mind for a book she'd like to write someday. And Drum, the privateer she meets, is supposed to be the hero of her story, but he isn't anything like she imagined.

I would recommend this book to romance and non-romance readers alike. It's funny and sexy and romantic and just a great story all around.

And I can't wait for her next book, Seducing Mr. Darcy, to come out. I'm a huge Mr. Darcy/Colin Firth fan. From the description, this is one I and about a million other women have been waiting for a long, long time!

Quite honestly, I was expecting more from this book considering the interesting synopsis I had read. It was enjoyable, yes, but the plot became too convoluted with all the intrigue and shifting between centuries. The descriptions of the tricks Tom and Drum just didn't make sense to me, someone who knows nothing about naval maneuvers. I loved Seph Pyle, but the relationships she had with both Tom and Drum seemed odd and there was a lot of emphasis on characters who really had no role in furthering the storyline. I guess some people would be happy that the ending wasn't tied in a neat little bow, but it left me saying, "Huh?" The whole mystery of the missing papers left me confused, having Seph be the author but completely lacking control of any of the occurances was weird, and while admittedly funny, I was left feeling unsatisfied. Overall it was enjoyable (well...the parts I understood) and I am hoping the author will redeem herself with Seducing Mr. Darcy later this year...she seems to have potential minus a few glitches.

I bought this book for the Olympics and was disappointed. It didn't have the full subway maps updated and the Olympics section was sparse. It needs an update as Beijing is changing rapidly

Compared to the other travel guides (I have them all - Frommer's, Time Out, Fodors, HoodHot), this one has good maps, conveniently located in the back of the book (you'll need em! and quick! to try and figure out how to tell the driver where you want to go) and a great index where you can look up venues that you wanted to go to etc. Great for finding good places to go in Beijing, and better when I used it with my iPhone (downloaded the HoodHot Beijing Taxi Guide app from the app store, which translates English venue names to Chinese and gives Chinese addresses), so I didn't have to bring the clunky book around!

The quality of the book does not compare with many others available. Very few pictures let alone even fewer color pictures. Information is pretty helpful. However nothing really stands out.

Comprehensive, concise and well-organized. A great resource and a true bargain. The fact that this series proudly features long-time local residents in their guides says a lot about their commitment and values. I also appreciate that they inspire enthusiasm and exploration in the reader almost from the first page. Also note this is hot off the presses in August 2007. Unless they somehow got everything totally wrong (I'll know when I visit over New Year's) this is 5 stars easily.

I saw this book in a book store the other day and sat down to take a peek through it. Two hours later and I realized that, well, it was two hours later. This is a very good guide, but for a city as culturally interesting as Beijing, one wouldn't really expect anything less. Beijing is easy to get around (it's essentially a giant grid enveloped by a handful of ring roads) and the transportation system is a breeze, if not a little dingy. Also, there are plenty of engaging sites and areas to take in (the hutong are fascinating) and it is quite obvious which places you should see and which you may want to forego. The Lonely Planet doesn't always come through in the way you expect it to, but it does here. Moreover, it doesn't prattle on in flowery, over-generous language like it does it some volumes. I give this book a bouyant four stars.

I gave this as a college graduation gift to an individual that was moving to chicago. They love it!

received item in a timely fashion in proper shipping. Thought it would be a book but was a laminated pamphlet. That could be my own fault though. Thanks!

I hate maps but they are a necessary evil. This is the prince of maps. When I was apartment hunting I had everyone looking at this thing before days end ;) Its great and really easy to use. I love th4e index and the color coding. This is one map you will actually get your money's worth out of.

We referred to the map and found our way around the downtown area! Very useful!

Not as detailed as the other Streetwise maps I have purchased at Barnes and Noble. I wasn't aware there were too standards.

Taylor is a high spirited and strong willed girl whose whole life has been lead in Kentucky. Taylor had three goals in her life: not to get pregnant, to leave Pittman County, and to change her name. She ended up buying a '55 Volkswagen bug and leaving Pittman County behind. She ends up with the name Taylor which she got from the first town she stopped in. While on the desolate plains of Oklahoma she has a two year old Cherokee child placed into her care. Later on Taylor finds out the girl was physically abused and named the child Turtle after the way she clings on to everything like a snapping turtle. Taylor ends up in Tucson, Arizona where she meets up with a tough strange lady named Mattie who deals with illegal immigrants, a paranoid and self conscious mother Lou Ann who thinks there is nothing safe in the world, and Esparza and Esperanza, a Guatemalan couple, that help Taylor find out who she really is. Taylor is lead through the hardships and wonders of life with her friends. They help her through life in the way that the rhizobia help the bean trees through life.

In this wonderful book of growth and maturity, many characters are challenged to make choices they would not have made in the beginning of the novel: Lou Ann kicking Angel out for good, Taylor driving Estefan and Esperanza to a safe house, and even Turtle when she talks again after almost being kidnapped. Throughout the book the characters growth and "burials" allows for newer and better things to grow. This is an excellent book that is definitely recommended to other high school girls.

Barbara Kingsolver has stimulated the minds of readers through her book THE BEAN TREES. In the novel, 22 year old Taylor Greer, a young woman searching for a different path in life, abandons her home town in Kentucky and travels down to the sunny state of Arizona. On her way to her new adventure Taylor is given a 3 year old child, who she names Turtle, and has no other option but including her into her life. This heartfelt novel tells the story of Taylor and Turtle as they grow and evolve their lives over time in a tire shop located in Tuscon, Arizona. Reading this book made me both tear and smile from its unexpected turns and captivating adventures. As piece of literature for all age groups to relate to, it is impossible to put it down. I recommend this novel to anyone in search of an entertaining story.

This book is twenty years old. This book is supposed to be good. Somehow it's a bestseller? This book is terrible! It does not have good descriptions, it conveys things poorly and over all a quarter of the story is driving! Do not read unless you like bad literature, enjoy. o_o

Have you ironicaly ever been handed something that you were trying to avoid? In this book, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, "Taylor Greer" or Missie runs or drives from her towns frequent young pregnancy histroy. On her journey to become something better than everybody back home, her fate brings her a child. We experience, as readers, the tradegy going through Taylor's mind as she deals with this new life put before her. Taylors from the small town and now living in Arizona she is eye opened with the racist acts more common in that part of the country. Taylor and the child, Turtle, meet many people who change their life and take small things that seem worthless and turn them into something beautiful. I would deffinately reccomend this book to every young teenage girl or mother. It givs great advice how to deal with different obstacles and many new realizations of our world that are put before the reader. Looking for a book that makes you appreciate yourself and others more? Pick up The Bean Trees and get yourself thrown into the fast moving life of Taylor Greer.

Review from Ryan Brenizer's Amazon Blog

America at Home
8:45 AM PDT, June 16, 2008, updated at 8:47 AM PDT, June 16, 2008
If millions of photographers around the world have a collective bias, it's this: The more interesting the better. Generally, that's a good thing -- the last thing the world needs are thousands of photo documentaries on "Things I Found in My Belly-Button." But if you're trying to document the way we live, it can be dangerously deceptive. Someone hundreds of years from now looking only at the professional photography of the era might assume we spent most of our time getting married and killing each other, but never went to the store or drove to work.

Photojournalist Rick Smolan tries to ameliorate this with "America at Home." Documenting as broad an idea as American domestic life is a daunting task, but Rick handles it adeptly, with a number of clever flourishes. His curating of the collection is very well-handled. It's unselfish, with his own work playing roles only where it fits best (and one of my favorite photos in the book, of a girl resting on the couch in the dramatic shadows of twilight, is his). With few exceptions, the photos that look best large are given the space to shine, and the photos that can convey messages in smaller sizes are paired up on a page, maximizing visual impact. The work itself tends to be both brilliant and familiar, trending toward subtle compositions that tell a story without being garish, appropriate for the topic.

Where it starts to get clever is in how the book is arranged. There are essays by writers such as Amy Tan and Terry Teachout breaking the book into chapters, but the photos are arranged around prominently displayed salient facts about American life, such as how much TV we watch a day or that the average American woman has one hour less free time per day than the average American man (I tried to hide that page from my wife).

It's a book that's supposed to teach us about us, and Rick wants readers to make it their own -- literally. The book has a companion Web site, MyAmericaAtHome.com, where you can order the book with your own photo as a customized cover. Since this is all about domestic life, I tried it out with a photo of my nephew at the ice cream shop instead of my professional work:

As you can see, the process is well-designed and easy to understand, showing how the final product will look with the headline and logo, as well as whether your photo will have enough resolution to make a good cover print. It's not only an easy process, but a bit addictive, so be careful lest you order 20 different copies of the same book.

This book represents an important topic well-handed, and a copy will be sure to grace my coffee table.
[...]

I have spent hours of enjoyment with this book....losing myself in faces and places unknown to me, yet at the same time hauntingly familiar. Rick Smolan has captured America at the very time when so many of us feel we are losing a connection to the vitality and promise of our country. But in every page and every essay, there are precious reminders of where our strength for the future lies...in America's people and in our homes an communities. Thank you, Rick Smolan.....

I have followed Rick Smolan's books for many years. This book touched me as few others have done. My Czech wife often seems to miss the diversity of the true America. I think all of us that have suffered these past 8 years where we might not have felt proud of our country can find something to feel proud of in this book. Here one can see so clearly and beautifully the diversity, the imagination, the love of family and friends that we who have grown up in America hold to be the true America. I shared this book with my wife who I think was quite surprised to see how many America's there are and to see what the true fabric of our society looks like beyond the slick magazines and endless TV glitz.

This is a book that you can give to someone who wants to see and better understand what America is truly about.

A beautiful and elegant celebration of american life at home.
The authors also offer a great way to personalize the outer cover of the book with your own pictures. Very cool!! Customizing the cover makes a great conversation piece for your home as well as a great gift for friends and family.

I love the warmth of this book. I travel the world and am disturbed by the misconceptions many foreigners have of us here at home. (I can't say I blame them with the present administration having devastated our reputation and the relentless negative news reports.)
I would love to share this book with everyone abroad. It paints honest, touching, personal, everyman images of true Americans in all sorts of everyday activities in their homes.
Whether as a gift to people abroad or enjoyed with friends and family, this beautiful book presents who we are as everyday people. Honest, simple, good, loving Americans.
Thanks to Rick and Jennifer.