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Travel Bookshelf |
New travel book reviews every month from Midwest Book Review
THE TRAVEL SHELF
The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia
Margarete Hurn
Modra Publishing
9334 Shawn Avenue, San Diego, CA 92123
9780979030031, $16.95 www.modra-publishing.com
Written by Margarete Hurn, an American who has lived and worked in Slovakia for more than five years, The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia is a straightforward guide for travelers visiting this European nation for a few weeks or a few years. Chapters offer a brief overview of the Slovak people and their culture, legal matters such as applying for a visa or extended-stay permit, social and business customs, basics in adjusting to the local food and public transportation, recreational activities available, Slovak etiquette in both business and social circles, and much more. An absolute "must-have" for anyone preparing to visit Slovakia.
Drive I-95
Stan Posner & Sandra Phillips-Posner
Travel Smart
c/o KSB Promotions
55 Honey Creek, NE, Ada, MI 49301
9781894979887, $23.95 www.drivei95.com
Now in a fully updated fourth edition, "Drive I-95" continues to be the premier guidebook for the more than 42,500,000 people who drive to Florida every year down Interstate 95. It accurately charts all 552 exits on I-95 from Boston to Miami. It is also a wealth of information about food options, motels, radar traps, radio stations, 24-hour mechanics (a unique feature not found in other travel guides) ATM machines, shopping recommendations, and even some of the best golf courses to be found along the route. With anecdotal stories such as the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carolina having been started with a kiss, to a listing of motel chain 800 numbers, to so much more, "Drive I-95" continues to be the premier and confidently recommended travel guide for anyone driving up or down I-95!
Midwest: Getaway Guide
Rand McNally
Rand McNally & Company
8255 North Central Park, Skokie, IL 60076
9780528939600, $14.95 www.randmcnally.com 1-800-678-7263
Profusely illustrated throughout with full color photography of the people and places highlighted, Rand McNally's "Midwest: Getaway Guide" is the perfect planning guide to what the American Midwest has to offer the traveler, whether the itinerary is for a day-trip, a weekend, or an extended vacation. Embellished with maps enhancing an informed and informative text, "Midwest: Getaway Guide" also features a wealth of festival information for communities in Illinois, Indiana; Iowa, Kentucky; Michigan, Minnesota; Ohio; and Wisconsin. With its detailed articles about exciting destination choices, advice for shopping and dinning; and Rand McNally quality maps, "Midwest: Getaway Guide" is thoroughly 'user friendly' and enthusiastically recommended for personal, family, and community library Travel Resource collections.
Here Be Yaks
Manosi Lahiri
The Intrepid Traveler
PO Box 531, Branford, CT 06405
9781887140720, $17.95 www.intrepidtraveler.com
Her Be Yaks: Travels in Far West Tibet is a travelogue chronicling a group of ordinary people who embarked upon an extraordinary journey to Tibet's Mount Kailash, a peak revered by four faiths. They battled physical exhaustion and altitude sickness on their arduous journey, all to perform the sacred kora (circumambulation) of Mount Kalish and seek religious inspiration. Author Manosi Lahiri was one of this group, searching for consolation after the loss of her ancestors; in the course of journey, she solved a geographic mystery concerning the source of the river Sutlej, a matter that had been contended for centuries. Part adventure, part scholarly narrative, Here Be Yaks is an amazing look at Tibet through a visitor's eyes, and highly recommended.
101 Reasons To Visit Israel
Estie Solomon & Dovid Solomon
Artsy
c/o Stuart Schnee PR
10 Haportzim Street, Jerusalem, Israel
9781934440025, $12.95 stu@stuartschnee.com
A superbly composed collection of photographs which offers a full color panorama of Israel, "101 Reasons To Visit Israel" showcases the beauty of daily life in Israel. Replete with examples of how children live in Israel, how Shabbat and other holidays are celebrated in Israel, the natural landscape and resources of Israel, as well as Israeli cuisine, culture, institutions, and spiritual pursuits, "101 Reasons To Visit Israel" is an ideal and very highly recommended guide for armchair travelers and on-site visitors alike.
The Little Black Book Of Walt Disney World
Rona Gindin
Peter Pauper Press, Inc.
202 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY 10601
9781593598921, $12.95 www.peterpauper.com
Resturant critic and travel writer Rona Gindin's "The Little Black Book Of Walt Disney World" is a pocket-sized, 248-page guide to the many features and aspects of Florida's famous Walt Disney World theme park. Enhanced with illustrations by Kerren Barbas Steckler and the cartography of David Lindroth, "The Little Black Book Of Walt Disney World" includes seven fold-out maps and a wealth of color coded 'insider info' that will prove invaluable for Walt Disney World visitors. In addition to spotlighting landmarks and attractions, local writer Rona Gindin offers practical tips on restaurants, nightlife, shops and hotels throughout Walt Disney World including the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studies, the Animal Kingdom, and Downtown Disney. Of special note are the 'Top Picks' directing visitors to a variety of 'not-to-be-missed' experiences. The inclusion of 'Notes' pages allows for the recording of personal impressions. Portable, informative, superbly organized, and thoroughly 'user friendly', "The Little Black Book Of Walt Disney World" is the perfect itinerary planning guide for anyone preparing for a trip to Walt Disney World!
Utah: The Complete Ski & Snowboard Guide
Michael R. Fine
The Countryman Press
PO Box 478, Woodstock, VT 05091
9780881507423, $19.95 www.countrymanpress.com 1-800-245-4151
A superbly organized and profusely illustrated to Alpine, Nordic, and Telemark skiing, along with several other increasingly winter sports such as snowboarding, "Utah: The Complete Ski & Snowboard Guide" by skiing and winter sports enthusiast Michael Fine provides the reader with all the information necessary to enjoy memorable winter athletic activities whether as a recreational weekend or part of an extended winter vacation in the mountains and high valleys of Utah. Accessible organized to be thoroughly 'user friendly', aspiring skiers and winter sports recreationists will learn of each major Utah resorts' terrain type, as well as such amenities as restaurants, rentals, transport, and more. Thirteen Utah destination resorts are showcased and range from the Alta Mountain Resort to the Wolf Mountain Resort. "Utah: The Complete Ski & Snowboard Guide" will prove an invaluable, essential itinerary planning resource for enjoying Utah's winter sports resources and opportunities.
Moon: Walt Disney World & Orlando
Laura Reiley
Moon Handbooks
c/o Avalon Travel Publishing
1400 - 65th Street, Suite 250, Emeryville, CA 94608
9781598800012, $17.95 www.moon.com
Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is some 47 square miles in size. About 30,000 acres (about one-fourth of the property) has been developed, and another quarter designated as a wilderness preserve. It is justifiably considered to be the world's premier theme park. Disney enthusiast and Florida resident Laura Reiley has presented a compact, informationally enriched, and thoroughly 'user friendly' "Walt Disney World & Orlando" guidebook to all of the Disney attractions in all of the Disney 'worlds' (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studies, Disney's Animal Kingdom), as well as two other major recreations in Orland, Florida -- Universal Studios Resort and SeaWorld Orlando. She even includes such lesser known vacation resources as Gatorland and Cypress Gardens Adventure Park. Of special note is the wealth of practical advice, suggestions, and recommendations relevant to planning a trip that is customized to the reader's particular interests, budget, and available time. Enhanced with thirty detailed maps, this newest addition to the impressive Moon Handbooks travel guide series, "Walt Disney World & Orlando" should be considered a 'must' for planning a visit to these popular attractions whether it is as a day trip, a week end, or an extended vacation.
Touring The East Tennessee Backroads
Carolyn Sakowski
John F. Blair, Publisher
1406 Plaza Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27103
9780895873507, $20.95 www.blairpub.com 1-800-222-9796
Now in a newly revised and expanded second edition, "Touring The East Tennessee Backroads" by travel writer and historian Carolyn Sakowski is an illustrated compilation of driving tours through the scenic and historic landscapes comprising the eastern Tennessee country. There are twelve distinctive 'user friendly' tours laid out, ranging from 'The First Frontier' that includes the Sycamore Shoals, Elizabethton, Wilbur Lake, Watauga Dam, Siam, Gap Creek Road, happy Valley, Milligan, and Johnson City; to 'The Trail of Tears Tour' that includes the Red Clay State Historical Area, Benton, Charleston, Cleveland, Blythe Ferry, Dayton, Pikeville, Fall Creek Fals State Resort Park, Dunlap, Signal Mountain, Jasper, and Lookout Mountain. Enhanced with an appendix, a select bibliography, and an index, "Touring The East Tennessee Backroads" is especially recommended for anyone planning a visit to the East Tennessee country -- and is perfect for the armchair traveler who would like to!
Ancient Greece: An Explorer's Guide
Robert Emmet Meagher & Elizabeth Parker Neave
Interlink Publishing Group
46 Crosby Street, Northampton, MA 01060-1804
9781566566827, $24.00 www.interlinkbooks.com
"Ancient Greece: An Explorer's Guide" is the collaborative work of Robert Emmet Meagher (Professor of Humanities at Hampshire College) and Elizabeth Parker Neave (a travel writer and expert on the Greek islands). Impressively enhanced throughout with a profusion of photographs, maps, site plans, "Ancient Greece: An Explorer's Guide" is the ideal travel planning guide for visiting the sites, and surveying the beauty, and appreciating the history of Greece. Superbly organized, "Ancient Greece: An Explorer's Guide" begins with informative chapters on 'Envisioning and Planning Your Trip';'A Walk through Ancient Greece'; and 'Getting Acquainted with Greece'. Then follows four itineraries that are roughly chronological in history: Minoan Civilization: Crete 1900-1400 B.C.E.; Mycenaean Civilization: The Peloponnese 1500-1100 B.C.E.; Classical Civilization: Athens and Attika 480-336 B.C.E.; and Aegean Civilization: The Cyclades 30000-336 B.C.E. "Ancient Greece: An Explorer's Guide" is an impressive addition for any personal or community library travel guide reference collection, and (being perfect for the 'armchair traveler') is especially recommended for non-specialist general reader contemplating trip to Greece for business or pleasure.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.
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Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to MWBOOKREVW@aol.com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 10-digit ISBN number, and price).
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
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