Reference & Tips Books - Page 10

Rick Steves' London 2009

Rick Steves, Gene Openshaw

Amazon Price: $12.21 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Avalon Travel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $10.78

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Subjects -> Travel -> Europe -> Great Britain -> England -> London
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Subjects -> Travel -> Europe -> Great Britain -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Enough Already 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I've had it with the Rick Steves Groupie crowd. We just came back from a month long trip in Europe and the only people anyone with the Rick Steves guides are meeting are other Americans with the same guidebooks. They all eat in the same restaurants and they all go to the same places. Europe Through the Back Door? Not hardly. It's Europe through the SAME door. Read a guidebook before you go somewhere, but leave it home. Have a small pocket map of some sort along with you and then ASK questions from locals when you get there. The whole idea of travel is to meet new people, enjoy a different culture and have some fun. The purpose is NOT to check things off a "to see" list.

Editorial Review:

With Rick Steves’ London 2009, travelers can visit Westminster Abbey, explore the British Museum, and finish the day off at an Art Nouveau pub. Rick offers expert advice on both the big-name attractions and local favorites of this world-class city, from the London Eye to artisan cheese shops. With detailed walks through London’s famous districts, including Bankside and the West End, and complete tours of the major museums and historical sights, Rick Steves’ London 2009 is a tour guide that fits in your pocket.

Blue Highways: A Journey into America

William Least Heat-Moon

Amazon Price: $10.87 List Price: $15.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Back Bay Books Amazon Marketplace: 61 new & used starting at $4.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 116 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

First published in 1982, William Least Heat-Moon's account of his journey along the back roads of the United States (marked with the color blue on old highway maps) has become something of a classic. When he loses his job and his wife on the same cold February day, he is struck by inspiration: "A man who couldn't make things go right could at least go. He could quit trying to get out of the way of life. Chuck routine. Live the real jeopardy of circumstance. It was a question of dignity."Driving cross-country in a van named Ghost Dancing, Heat-Moon (the name the Sioux give to the moon of midsummer nights) meets up with all manner of folk, from a man in Grayville, Illinois, "whose cap told me what fertilizer he used" to Scott Chisholm, "a Canadian citizen ... [who] had lived in this country longer than in Canada and liked the United States but wouldn't admit it for fear of having to pay off bets he made years earlier when he first 'came over' that the U.S. is a place no Canadian could ever love." Accompanied by his photographs, Heat-Moon's literary portraits of ordinary Americans should not be merely read, but savored.

Rand McNally 2009 Road Atlas & Travel Guide (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas and Travel Guide: United States, Canada, Mexico)

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 9 to 13 days By: Rand McNally & Company Amazon Marketplace: 17 new & used starting at $11.53

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Subjects -> Travel -> Latin America -> Mexico -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great road atlas 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This atlas has nice size easy to read maps, helpful city map inserts, spiral binding for ease of keeping a page open. Recommend it highly.

Touching the Void

Joe Simpson

By: Pan Books Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $1.44

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 155 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Outstanding book - you won't be able to put it down 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Touching the Void is one of the best books I've ever read. Wow. I am still kind of stunned. I started it way too late at night and couldn't put it down. I went to work the next morning with only four hours of sleep.

It's not even that the writing's good, per se. It is - it's VERY good. But the story itself and the way he wrote it is just amazing.

I've read a lot about the high altitude hallucinations people have (conversations with your feet at 27000 ft or people sitting on your ice ledge telling you they have tea set up just around the corner) but his experience was not at all like that. He had what he calls a voice inside that was insistent about keeping to a timetable and doing certain things, especially as he dragged himself off the glacier. It was deeply fascinating and the only thing that made the suspense at all bearable was that I knew he must have lived, since, hello, holding his book in my hands. I could not put it down.

I was also really impressed with the sections written by his climbing partner, Simon Yates. OUCH. Painful and honest but not self-exculpatory or irrational.

Augh. This is the worst review ever. But, jeez. Read it! See for yourself!

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America

Bill Bryson

Amazon Price: $13.18 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Perennial Amazon Marketplace: 179 new & used starting at $2.26

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 288 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Only read this book if you want to develop and intense dislike for the author 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I gave this book one star only because Amazon doesn't allow the option to select zero stars.

My husband and I have read and enjoyed many of Bill Bryson's books. In the past, we considered him one of our favorite writers. After reading this book, it will be a long time before I open another of his works.

Mr Bryson's petty criticisms of the small towns through which he drove and his obvious contempt for all things Southern will leave any American who loves her country feeling a deep disdain for all things Bryson. While reading this book, there were many times my husband and I would look at one another and ask, "What could have happened to him to make a man from the Midwest develop such a negative view of all things American?" and "Do you think this book was REALLY written by 'our' Bill Bryson?" (BTW, we no longer consider him 'our' Bill Bryson.)

I mentioned that Mr Bryson 'drove through' small towns in America because that's exactly what he describes in the book. After a quick, judgmental glimpse of a town, he bypasses it altogether as totally unworthy of his time, money, or attention.

Bryson didn't bother to visit many of the historical attractions along the way. Apparently, he was on a very tight budget. He DID, after all, borrow his mother's old Chevette for the journey. The cost of admission to these sites require him to cut back on his beloved beer and chicken-fried steak.

Last, but definitely not least, Mr Bryson showed himself to be a bigot. His contempt for 'all things white and all things Southern' along with his propensity for revisiting every bit of negative racial history every recorded during his BRIEF drive through the deep South demonstrated just how out of touch he is with the country of his birth and his, obvious, disdain for truth. He chose to ignore any progress made in race relations during the past 40 years. He chose to see, and share, his view that America is, and will always be, the country he would most like to see in 'his rearview mirror'. I, for one, welcome him to return to his country of choice and not bother to darken the doors of the home I love. The last thing the United States of American needs is one more person to describe our country in such negative terms.

Editorial Review:

An unsparing and hilarious account of one man's rediscovery of America and his search for the perfect small town.

Shadow of the Silk Road (P.S.)

Colin Thubron

Amazon Price: $10.85 List Price: $15.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Perennial Amazon Marketplace: 52 new & used starting at $6.74

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Purple Prose and Victorian Nostalgia 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Thubron's prose seems tired compared to some of his earlier writing, almost as if he's forcing himself to write well. On occasion, it results in prose on the darker end of purple, very stilted to a modern ear (or at least to my ear). My larger criticism has to do with the lenses through which he sees the world: the glories of a romanticized past are juxtaposed against a sad, dysfunctional present. The pattern is old hack, and would be harmlessly irritating if Thubron wasn't following the same formula used by 19th century European writers to justify colonialism in places such as Egypt, viz. the natives are too socially and politically inept to govern themselves, and it is up to the Europeans to rescue the past from them, a past that is part of world heritage rather than that of the people who occupy the land about which one is writing. Against a glorious Silk Road of silks and ceramics in a completely fictitious past (as he notes, there was not one Silk Road but a multitude) we have a difficult present in specific rather than imaginary places, which is not recognized as fleeting in historical terms (as all presents tend to be). The author is only happy when he is with misfits, miscreants and the indigent, whose company he can enjoy because they make for his brand of colorful writing and (more importantly) because he is free to leave whenever he wants. If you actually want to get some sense of life in the places in question, look elsewhere. And if you're planning a trip along the Silk Road, do yourself a favor and don't read this book before you go. On the other hand, if you want to be reaffirmed in your belief that the 'natives' only make a mess of things, buy the book!

Editorial Review:

To travel the Silk Road, the greatest land route on earth, is to trace the passage not only of trade and armies but also of ideas, religions, and inventions. Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart, and camel, Colin Thubron covered some seven thousand miles in eight months—out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran into Kurdish Turkey—and explored an ancient world in modern ferment.

Paris (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Alan Tillier

By: Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $0.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 54 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

We LOVED this guidebook. the only disadvantage is that it's a bit heavy. but the coated pages and the fast-read pages made it fa 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

this is a great simple guidebook for a short trip to paris. it's very easy to absorb, but there are deeper sections if you want to know more. perhaps we had the latest edition but we did get a quick overview of the trendiest spots in paris - perfect if you're travelling with a pack of teenage girls...

the only problem is that it's a bit heavy. i'd have carried even more often if it were lighter.

Nicely Arranged Guide 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Purchased the guide as a replacement for a borrowed guide that got wet while we were in Paris. This one came with a wear/water resistant cover and was very nicely arranged for quickly finding the locations and areas of interest.

Absolutely Essential 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is just chock full of fabulous ideas and tips. A great book for people who relate to the visual as well as the written.Paris (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE)

Editorial Review:

Over 1000 photographs, 3D aerial views and cutaways of public buildings are contained in this guide, which provides details of hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars and venues, and the transport systems to get to them.

Istanbul: Memories and the City

Orhan Pamuk

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

neo-nostalgia 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I remember the Boston of my childhood, though I remember Marblehead (a small town to the north) much better because I actually lived there. The two places had certain sights, sounds, smells, and "feelings" that, for the most part, have vanished like a morning fog off the Atlantic. But anchoring all those sensory aspects of the places was history, a giant kaleidescope of shifting people, institutions and events that created the then present, that created the new present, and will create the next present. I can't imagine Boston or Marblehead without that history.

Orhan Pamuk chose to write his great love for his city in a strange form. He weaves himself and his personal history into the picture, but completely avoids any historical details. I wonder whom he wrote for ? If for that "western audience" he refers to so often, there is not enough history to make sense of why Istanbul became such a melancholic, declined, fallen, poor, neglected place (at least he says it was). Fires and accidents, rain and snow, the hiss of tires slipping on old cobblestone alleys in a city that once ruled a big part of the world. If he wrote for a Turkish audience, his style of describing his family and his personal behavior would probably turn them off, along with his emphasis on Turkish cultural poverty. Maybe he wanted to "send a message" to those who insist too much on "Turkishness", by mentioning the now-mostly-disappeared non-Muslim minorities quite often. Maybe, but I conclude that he wrote it for himself---full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes to come. Pamuk writes of western painters and travellers and their views of the city in the 19th century and how they influenced him. He also writes of Turkish authors and how they viewed the city, though I have never seen any of their work in translation (meaning I have no idea how they would resonate with me). I liked this gambit, though I knew nothing about those Turkish writers. What I liked best is how he describes the city itself, how he walked around it as a child and a youth, how he steeped himself in the decay of the old Ottoman heritage before all the old mansions burned, before concrete apartment blocks sprang up like toadstools to sweep away the sad wooden houses that had seen better days. I loved the chapter on smoke from the funnels of steamships in the Bosphorus, and above all I liked the dozens of black and white photos of bygone days that fill the pages. It's a world class essay of nostalgia, but done in a very new way.

It's an interesting way to describe a city and write the first part of an autobiography. It's not a travelogue. There's not a single map---as if all the readers would know the geography of Istanbul. This is not Istanbul for visitors, this is Istanbul for those who loved it (who could AFFORD to love it) back in the Fifties and Sixties, when it had not been inundated in a huge tide of immigrants or refugees from the countryside and abroad, when Turkey was a poor, slow country. I saw it, once, briefly then, when Pamuk was an eleven year old kid. The dynamic, vital, amazing city of 2008 bears little resemblance to that other Istanbul. I understand why he wrote the book; I know a little of what is lost. To know that, you couldn't find a better book than this.

Editorial Review:

A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy–or hüzün– that all Istanbullus share: the sadness that comes of living amid the ruins of a lost empire.

With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk moves from his glamorous, unhappy parents to the gorgeous, decrepit mansions overlooking the Bosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness to the writers and painters–both Turkish and foreign–who would shape his consciousness of his city. Like Joyce’s Dublin and Borges’ Buenos Aires, Pamuk’s Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)

Peter Hessler

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Perennial Amazon Marketplace: 79 new & used starting at $5.38

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 165 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

River Town 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Reading this narrative, one feels a sense of both Mr. Hessler's sense of adverture and his eye for detail in all things. His sense of humor is crisp and dry. Having just returned from China myself, I can vouch for his extraordinarily accurate descriptions,even in spots where the armchair traveller would shake his head in disbelief. And I was immediately transported back to the Yangtze River--I could smell it, see it, and observe the uniquely Chinese character of everything around. His ability to capture the essence of Chinese personality and expression while avoiding stereotype is amazing. When I left, I thought that there was something, well, different about all Chinese, not a racial thing but a cultural and perhaps historical thing. But I could not really say what it was. Fortunately for me and for all readers who enjoy travel and cultural subjects, there is this book.

Editorial Review:

A New York Times Notable Book

Winner of the Kiriyama Book Prize

In the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident. Hessler taught English and American literature at the local college, but it was his students who taught him about the complex processes of understanding that take place when one is immersed in a radically different society.

Poignant, thoughtful, funny, and enormously compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city that is seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.

Material World: A Global Family Portrait

Peter Menzel, Charles C. Mann

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Sierra Club Books Amazon Marketplace: 79 new & used starting at $8.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 55 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A must see! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is absolutely a wake-up call for many people out there who think they don't have enough! Beautifully put together. Outstanding.

this was an eye opener 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I thoroughly have enjoyed this book, looking at the people from around the world and their possessions and realizing how different I live from another. It was amazing to see each family so proud, of either how little they have or how much they have, and to have all that they own on display (from in the dead of winter to floating on a boat!).

Editorial Review:

In an unprecedented effort, sixteen of the world’s foremost photographers traveled to thirty nations around the globe to live for a week with families that were statistically average for that nation. At the end of each visit, photographer and family collaborated on a remarkable portrait of the family members outside their home, surrounded by all of their possessions—a few jars and jugs for some, an explosion of electronic gadgetry for others. Vividly portraying the look and feel of the human condition everywhere on Earth, this internationally acclaimed bestseller puts a human face on the issues of population, environment, social justice, and consumption as it illuminates the crucial question facing our species today: Can all six billion of us have all the things we want?