Reference & Tips Books - Page 3

Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook (2000 Edition)

Andrew Doughty, Harriett Friedman

List Price: $14.95 By: Wizard Publications Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $0.01

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Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Guidebooks

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 332 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Maui Guide Book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a great Maui guide. I had previously used the 1st Edition and will be needing the 4th Edition updates for my upcoming trip. Having traveled to Maui several times--this guide book is right on--from accomadation to dining. I always have this guide book with me when I travel and use as a reference. Very useful for driving around Maui.

Outstanding Guidebook 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The most redeeming quality of this book is its brutal honesty in the information it provides and recommendations it makes. When something sucks, the book says it sucks and to avoid it. That's the kind of information I want when I know my time and money are at stake on a vacation.

Web reviews of hotels and condos are free on their website and they are short, candid and informative (if a place is bad, they say it's bad). They also provide an aerial photograph of the property that really lets you know what you're getting--which is worth the price of the book itself.

Road maps are outstanding and directions are good for the most part. Occasionally directions are a bit vague, but it's still better than any map you will find anywhere else. The real value comes from the stuff that you won't find in other guidebooks like backwoods hiking trails, little known spots off the main path and insights that come from the fact that the authors actually live in Hawaii. The chapters are well organized and information is easily found thanks to a detailed table of contents, color-coded chapters (tabs would have been better, but probably more expensive) and index. Related info is cross-referenced throughout the book, which is also helpful. Best of all, the book is small and easily carried wherever you decide to go.

Perhaps the only negative aspect of the book is that the authors do tend to get lost in their narrative at times--mixing collateral trivia with the guide information. It's a nice story, but at times I could have done without the extra stuff.

This book is truly and outstanding guidebook for all types of tourists, but is especially valuable for those kind of people that hate guided tours and prepackaged vacation experiences. It adds a sense of adventure to your trip and a satisfying feeling when you realize that your time and money were spent on your own terms.

Editorial Review:

Finally, there's a guide to Maui that covers the island right. The authors are residents who personally and anonymously review every facet of the island. From restaurants to helicopter companies to scuba diving to beaches to trails--they see it all and show visitors the best Maui has to offer. Photos.

The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook

Andrew Doughty, Harriett Friedman

List Price: $12.95 By: Wizard Pubns Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 429 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Time-saving book made our short vacation packed with the best things to do! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I want to qualify my opinion to say this book worked best for us and our idea of what a vacation on Kauai is....outdoors-y, hiking, beaches, kayaking, biking, scuba/snorkeling, etc. AND NOT resort life, spa sessions and 5-star dining. The author shares his first hand experiences with each helicopter tour, scuba shop, trail, restaurant or not-to-miss sights so you don't waste your precious vacation time sorting through the endless brouchures and ads.

What made this better than the others is the first-hand descriptions of the locations, great maps, and advice on what to do and where. Then it is separated by localized areas...helpful when you want to stay local to avoid driving/Kauai Traffic or to plan where to stay.

Beaches: Some hard to find and not to miss so this guide was invaluable in suggesting parking and how to find the hidden access trail. Also traveling with kids...it laid out what was safe and what to expect. Not all beaches have "facilities" and can involve a neck-breaking tumble or two to get there. The back of the book has a pull-out photo listing of the best beaches in the North East of the island.

Trails: He lists his favorite trails, what to expect and what to bring/wear. Follow his advice and you will be rewarded!!

Food: We ate in most of the time but his suggestions on local hamburger joints and shave ice where right on the money. Advised where to shop and about the Farmer's Markets. Yes, Costco was the best deal on Hawaiian gift products. No, we didn't eat at a luau.

Sight-Seeing: We saved all the plantation and Botanical garden tours for next time but the suggestions and descriptions helped us decide what our group was most up to do for the one-week time span we had on the island.

Sporting Activities: Helped us plan which Kayak place to use and to skip the 'Tubing down canal' activity. Also gave excellent suggestions on what to see along-side most of the activities. BTW-Dude is Funny! His comments and writing style is fun to read in layman's descriptions. It felt like he was our personal tour guide.

Accomodations: Again, not for the resort-minded individual...geared towards condo rentals. We skipped this part of the book as we already had a place to stay.

Maps: One reviewer said that it was difficult to have area maps located in different parts of the book. I would agree but it's not bad as the front folds out to give an overview map of the island and the page locations to the area maps.

Like I mentioned before, the author is a hoot and makes this book entertaining to read...far from dry. The cover seams a little dull but you know what they say about judging books. I usually like Eyewitness and Fodor guides but this one was FAR superior to anything I've read before.

Editorial Review:

This new third edition has more useful information, up-to-date maps, and scores of hidden gems listed nowhere else. This book and a rental car are all you need to discover what makes the Garden Island so special. "An excellent book . . . strongly recommended".--"Conde Nast Traveler".

Zagat 2009 New York City Restaurants (Zagatsurvey: New York City Restaurants)

Amazon Price: $10.85 List Price: $15.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Zagat Survey Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $6.99

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Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Food & Lodging -> Dining

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

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

The Zagat guide is as important as a map in New York City, where there is a restaurant in almost every storefront or building (and it includes a very nice map as well although I could not get it to tear out). The information is very accurate and up to date, although I did find there were some errors in credit card acceptance. The food quality and price ratings are very helpful. I usually look for around a 20 in food and a less than 40 in food, and figure that is a pretty good combination for me. Some of the great features are the organization by neighborhood, most popular, and highest ratings. I find the most popular more helpful than the highest ratings, because i cannot afford the highest ratings every night.

Editorial Review:

The surveyors are 54% women and 46% men. 52% are in their 20s and 30s and 48% are 40 and over. No matter the economic climate, New York's appetite for lively dining destinations continues unabated, inspiring ever bolder ventures. For every notable closing, there's another restaurateur waiting in the wings, often joined by an expensive team of architects and designers, and ZAGAT is always there to note the changes.

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Candice Millard

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Broadway Amazon Marketplace: 81 new & used starting at $4.00

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Presidents & Heads of State
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> People, A-Z -> ( R ) -> Roosevelt, Theodore
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> South America -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 210 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.

The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron.

After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.

Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.

From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, here is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut.

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar

Paul Theroux

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Subjects -> Travel -> Asia -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Thirty years after the epic journey chronicled in his classic work The Great Railway Bazaar, the world's most acclaimed travel writer re-creates his 25,000-mile journey through eastern Europe, central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, and Siberia.

Half a lifetime ago, Paul Theroux virtually invented the modern travel narrative by recounting his grand tour by train through Asia. In the three decades since, the world he recorded in that book has undergone phenomenal change. The Soviet Union has collapsed and China has risen; India booms while Burma smothers under dictatorship; Vietnam flourishes in the aftermath of the havoc America was unleashing on it the last time Theroux passed through. And no one is better able to capture the texture, sights, smells, and sounds of that changing landscape than Theroux.
Theroux's odyssey takes him from eastern Europe, still hung-over from communism, through tense but thriving Turkey into the Caucasus, where Georgia limps back toward feudalism while its neighbor Azerbaijan revels in oil-fueled capitalism. Theroux is firsthand witness to it all, traveling as the locals do—by stifling train, rattletrap bus, illicit taxi, and mud-caked foot—encountering adventures only he could have: from the literary (sparring with the incisive Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) to the dissolute (surviving a week-long bender on the Trans-Siberian Railroad). And wherever he goes, his omnivorous curiosity and unerring eye for detail never fail to inspire, enlighten, inform, and entertain.

PAUL THEROUX was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1941 and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. His fiction includes The Mosquito Coast, My Secret History, My Other Life, Kowloon Tong, Blinding Light, and most recently, The Elephanta Suite. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, Fresh Air Fiend, and Dark Star Safari. He has been the guest editor of The Best American Travel Writing and is a frequent contributor to various magazines, including The New Yorker. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.

In a Sunburned Country

Bill Bryson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 409 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, the country that doubles as a continent, and a place with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. The result is a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiousity.

Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. Wherever he goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging, and these beaming products of land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine fill the pages of this wonderful book. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.

Hawaii The Big Island Revealed; The Ultimate Guidebook

Andrew Doughty, Harriett Friedman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 244 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

This is simply the best guidebook available! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I compared it with three other guidebooks, and this one is hands down by far the best. I also like his sense of humor, and his ability to give us foreigners a realistic taste of the local culture. It is down to earth, not superficial, and it must have been a lot of work to write this guide! The first thing I did when I arrived in Oahu for the second segment of my trip was to go to the bookstore at the airport and buy his book for Oahu.

Just Get It 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you are planning a trip to The Big Island you need to buy this book. We got 5 books from the library before purchasing this book, and this is the one we kept ging back to. Just get it.

Editorial Review:

Most travel titles are put together in a few weeks by visiting travel writers. Wizard guidebooks take over a year to compile and the writers are residents who personally and anonymously review every facet of the island. Their maps are the best you'll find. From restaurants to helicopter companies to scuba to beaches to trails. They see it all and show you the best the island has to offer. They also reveal who's the worst and who to stay away from. All told in a frank, humorous way that keeps the reading fun.

Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart

Tim Butcher

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Published to rave reviews in the United Kingdom and named a Richard & Judy Book Club selection—the only work of nonfiction on the 2008 list—Blood River is the harrowing and audacious story of Tim Butcher's journey in the Congo and his retracing of renowned explorer H. M. Stanley's famous 1874 expedition in which he mapped the Congo River. When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to Africa in 2000 he quickly became obsessed with the legendary Congo River and the idea of re-creating Stanley's legendary journey along the three-thousand-mile waterway. Despite warnings that his plan was suicidal, Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. Making his way in an assortment of vehicles, including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a pygmy-rights advocate, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers. An utterly absorbing narrative that chronicles Tim Butcher's forty-four-day journey along the Congo River, Blood River is an unforgettable story of exploration and survival.

Three Weeks with My Brother

Nicholas Sparks, Micah Sparks

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 181 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

For those with siblings...a must read. I loved it! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

After having 4 kids, most books would put me a sleep. I could not put this book down. What a great true life story about this fantastic author.

Just alright 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I just finished this book this morning and I have to say it was just average. Having just come back from a trip with my own brother and being of similar age to the Sparks brothers, I connected with this book on some level, but not completly. For instance, they refer to each other as "Brother" or " Little Brother". I have never really heard brothers regularly refer to each other in that way. I also never realy connected with the family as a whole, so I wasn't vested in the loss of his father or mother as there was a sense of detachement for both throughout the book. His sister's struggle and ultimate death was hard to read due to my own relationship with my younger sister, so the last third of the book gripped me more than the first 2/3s.



All in all, it is an average book. If I were to rate it, "Tuesday's with Morrie" was a 10 on a 10 point scale, the "Tender Bar" was a 9 while this book was an even 6.

Editorial Review:

In January 2003, Nicholas Sparks and his brother Micah set off on a three-week trip around the world. It was to mark a milestone in their lives, for at 37 and 38 respectively, they were now the only surviving members of their family. As Nicholas and Micah travel the globe, the intimate story of their family unfolds in the details of the untimely deaths of their parents and only sister. Against the backdrop of the wonders of the world, the Sparks brothers band together to heal, to remember, and to learn to live life to the fullest.

The Americans

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Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Photo Essays
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Photographers, A-Z -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In 1958, the first edition of Robert Frank's The Americans was published in Paris. Les Americains contained Frank's 83 photographs in the same sequence as all subsequent editions, with the image on the right hand page, but juxtaposed with historical texts about American society and politics, gathered by Alain Bosquet. The following year, in the first American edition, the French texts were removed and an introduction by Jack Kerouac was added. Over the subsequent 50 years, The Americans has been republished in many editions, in numerous languages, with a variety of cover designs and even in a range of sizes. It is the most famous photography book ever published, and it changed the face of the medium forever.
Robert Frank discussed with his publisher, Gerhard Steidl, the idea of producing a new edition using modern scanning and the finest tritone printing. The starting point was to bring original prints from New York to Gottingen, Germany, where Steidl is based.
In July 2007, Frank visited Gottingen. A new format for the book was worked out and new typography selected. A new cover was designed and Frank chose the book cloth, foil for embossing and the endpaper. Most significantly, as he has done for every edition of The Americans, Frank changed the cropping of many of the photographs, usually including more information. Two images were changed completely from the original 1958 and 1959 editions.