1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List by Patricia Schultz
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.39 You Save: $12.56 (63%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.24 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List
Book Review: A cornucopia of amazing places
Summary: 5 Stars
This a fun book. You could make up your own trivial pursuit games from its 894 pages. Where is...? What is...? and so forth. You can pick this book up anytime you have a few minutes to spare, and put it down without worrying about how the plot turns out.
It is a big world out there with many places that this retired history and government teacher is embarrassed to admit that he's never heard about before--let alone been able to notch the passport when ticking one more off the list.
I don't find that a one line citation for a restaurant or hotel is too much--often just one or two per place. That information gives another dimension to the historic and cultural description. It's also OK for me that the author tends to note the high end. Across the world Five Star is more standard than One Star, and besides I wouldn't use this one book to decide where to stay or eat.
Anyway, even if I don't go there, at least I've now heard about it.
Book Review: eh, more like, 4897 Hotels to Stay In Before You Die
Summary: 2 Stars
Yes, I get it, you've stayed in all the five-star, treats-you-like-a-Royalty, $400-per-night Grand Hotel suites all throughout the World, and you liked their banquet dinners with their fancy hors d'oveurs while enoying the view of their pretty, "sprawling gardens". You also should have mentioned your 24k-golden toilets and those diamond-embedded pillows you rested your head upon after a tiresome day of the luxurious tours.
Come on, I was looking for a general Tour Guide, not an All-Around-The-World Hotel Yellowpage! The compact size of the book was favorable, but I didn't know that would mean it also had compact, 20-second guides per city. When it actually started to get interesting, it went onto other popular, well-known cities, and then finally onto her excellent selection of hotels and cabins and the like. The author should also have put into consideration the fact that most people who ARE considering a grand, World-scaled Tour, or even a brief vacation somewhere exotic, either can NOT afford such excessive luxuries on a daily basis, or they will not be WILLING to; I'm sure many people consider abroad tours just for the heck of it, i.e. backpacking--like myself. Hotels are nice, banquets are nice and the pretty sights are all nice, but I wanted more information on cost-efficient lodgings and fun, adventurous, & foreign Farmer's Market brunches, and most importantly, more tour sites. What meager sites that were mentioned, were told of by other numerous tour books thousand times over and more.
Other than these grievances, it was a moderate tour book with portable size and portable, brief info.
At least you could have printed the pictures COLORED!!
Book Review: a book about hotels
Summary: 2 Stars
I have to reinforce what others have said. This books tends to stress 5 star hotels and fancy restaurants. One of the entries for Dublin is to go to a fancy french restaurant. I can see having a pint in a Dublin pub as a thing to do, and she has recommendations for that. But for fancy french food, I think I would go to France.Book Review: 1000 places that PAID to be listed?!?!?!
Summary: 1 Stars
Expensive hotels and spas...and more hotels! Did high end hotels pay to be included in this book? I certainly find it hard to believe that with all the amazing things to see in the world, the author thinks the lobbys of non-historic hotels and other expensive (but otherwise boring) retail businesses should be on anyone's Top 1000 list. I guess the author would suggest I skip the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids in Egypt (or in the Americas) and, instead, sit in some expensive hotel room in the middle of nowhere? Can you imagine the thrilling vacation pictures I could take of the mint on the pillow or the new tile in a hotel hallway? Ooo..sooo exciting!
I think this book was designed to make money, not be useful. Perhaps it could come in handy for wealthy travelers whose idea of seeing a foreign country is to stay at a fancy Americanized hotel and only venture outside long enough to take a limo ride to the local Starbucks and/or McDonalds outlets.
I'll be returning this book.
Book Review: A Marvelous Resource
Summary: 4 Stars
What a wonderful way to discover travel possibilities! Patricia Schultz has gifted us with the opportunity to find unique experiences throughout the world. She does seem to cite an awful lot of high priced hotels as travel destination in themselves, and very few (not surprisingly) are in the third world, but if you don't like some of her selections, just skip them. With 1000 entries that still leaves enough natural wonders and "real" experiences to keep most people busy for a lifetime of travel.
For the most part I greatly enjoyed her selections, as well as her lively writing style. Of course, I may be biased because she included my town in her list of "must sees." Some call Roswell the world's number one crackpot travel destination, but Ms Schultz has rightly recognized The UFO Capital of the World, in all its tacky splendor, as one of the 1000 places to see before you die!
-Lynn Michelsohn, author of Roswell, Your Travel Guide to the UFO Capital of the World!