Ned Friary

I found a printed version of my Amazon dot com book review, dated August 4, 1998, folded into a small square inside my book. It is more of a review for the Lonely Planet series of guidebooks... Anyway, it reads as follows:

Mountainsmith@WebTV from somewhere between Guam and NJ all the time.

THE ONLY NAME IN TRAVEL GUIDES!.

As a merchant mariner, travel guides come with the job. I have long been a collector of maps and travel guides, always searching for items that are the most friendly & seemingly written for my budget, not one of the Rockefellers. I will tip my hat to Lonely Planet here. They accomplish the impossible with every book. Never did I expect to find myself so mesmerized by what was written. Their guides are not the commonly found or should I say "forced" stay at the $$$$ hotel, eat at the $$$$ restaurant"... They give you such a wide, realistic range of places to go, visit, stay & enjoy, that they change you from the prospective dreamer ho-hummingly flipping pages in a book to the traveler that sees his/her goals come to pass. After all, isn't that what we really want out of travel?

As for this particular guidebook... I have been in Guam 4 months on and 4 months off since February of 1996, visiting Saipan as part of work and Rota and Tinian on my own time... I have used and abuse this book (cover still intact) & I have had many co-workers borrow it, with everyone coming away a satisfied reader. So, whether it be Guam, Saipan or any part of Micronesia, this is one guidebook that I strongly recommend & if you are doing an around the world trip with Japan as your next stop... Do the right thing... Get the Japan guidebook but, aslo shell out a few extra dollars and purchase the Japanese Audio Pack, It is, hands down, the easiest (& one of the most economical) basic language teachers out there & it even comes with a phrasebook!

My current Lonely Planet Guide library includes: Micronesia, Japan (book and audio pack), Korea, Singapore-Brunei-Malaysia, Tonga, Southwest USA (Arizona-New Mexico-Utah), & Maldives & Islands of the East Indian Ocean. I look to expand my library, as I am planning an upcoming trip Argentina's Andes in 2000. A satisfied (!) customer I shall remain.

I hope you, the reader of my review, read this and come to realize what a wonderful publications Lonely Planet offers us. If you do step back and use AMAZON.COm for all your travel needs. You will be glad you listened.

(You know I always thought these reviews were written by paid personnel somewhere. Trust me this isn't the case at all. Customer satisfaction is my reward!)

Happy travels to all.

SADLY THIS WAS NO LONGER ON-LINE AS A REVIEW
So, I copied it off my print out.… (más)

This guidebook details the sixteen “best” (see below) USA National Parks and provides quick mentions of an additional eight. For each, there are suggested itineraries of the best to see and do (emphasizing hiking/biking/kayaking), plus food and lodging (emphasizing campgrounds). The book is well organized and the text is pleasantly laid out and complemented by beautiful, well-captioned color photos.

So that’s 24 parks (not “27” as noted on the cover), with “best” stated as “most iconic” and (unstated) as having the most activities and visitor services. Yet it’s only half of all USA National Parks -- a glaring omission of wonders like the Badlands or Petrified Forest, and Carlsbad Caverns or Mammoth Caves, and without even a list of the remaining parks. But my biggest frustration is this guide’s lack of context -- not enough background to know what’s iconic about some parks and not enough landmarks to orient myself in some maps and even some text, for example the two-page mention of Capitol Reef National Park never identifies its state or a recognizable city.

I recommend this guide only as a secondary reference -- after you’ve decided what park you want to visit, use it to peruse its listings and compare its ratings/recommendations with those of other guidebooks.

(Review based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.)… (más)