DC Washington Books

This is my second water-resistant Lonely Planet map, and I'm very disappointed with it. The color contrast is too pale, and the printing is too small. I won't use it for my trip, opting instead for a free map from AAA which is very good. Don't waste your money on this one.

This was the only map I took on my last trip to Washington, and it was all I needed. It was most helpful simply because it showed where all of the major sites are, and it had a separate map which focused on and around the Mall. Unlike most maps this one is durable and waterproof (luckily because it happened to rain one of the days I was there). This map was extremely helpful in every way. All I can possibly tell any prospective buyers is BUY IT! (And it's so inexpensive, too!)

The book seems to have little source's cited...the story of the German spy was first reported in the InTowner newspaper in the Historic Scenes column, but the author gave no mention of that, for example

I wanted a quick and easy book to read and this is it. It is loaded with terrific pictures with nariatives below each picture. It really tells the story of the Mayflower Hotel with outstanding photographs and comments.

its too bad so much of this book covers only black visitors to DC, and not DC residents of note. Who cares who attended to multiple year Black Caucus Dinners? A picture of Condi Rice in the Middle east? Arcadia editors should have insisted that the contents matched the title: Washington, DC.

As the co-author and primary photojournalist of "Washington, D.C. 1963-2006", I am particulary humbled by the great support this book of positive images has received. This book is also a look into the life of a native Washingtonian whose self image was shaped by family but also by the work of photojournalists like Jet Magazine's Maurice Sorrell, the legendary James Van Derzee and Gordon Parks, Sr. The book also confirms the talents and commitment of it's co-author Tracey Gold Bennett who is committed to our children and the positive history they need to know about. It's history worth embracing. Thank you!
Ronald G. Baker

This book could be 100 times better if there was half of the info and better organization. You buy this book to tell you "what are some good trips around the DC area" but it doesn't tell you that at all. YOU have to figure out where you want to go then this book gives you some basic info about every city or attraction in neighboring states. But I could get all that information from the internet! What I want is information organized by length (short trips, long trips), types of attraction, and "reviews" -- i.e., good or bad. There is almost none of that. It is just a catalog of every city in 7 states that has some tourist activities. No what is good or what is bad. What is good with kids? What about day trips? Or afternoon trips? Or trips with your dog? Nada. Kind of useless book, which is sad because a usefull book that was well organized would be great.

This guide is a great companion for anyone seeking unique and clever discoveries in the mid-atlantic region. The book dives into nature, history, unique facts and unknown charms that most travel guides hardly touch.

I didn't particularly like or dislike this book. It wasn't as informative and detailed as Vaultreports.com, but it did have a wide variety of companies.

I lived in DC for 21 years so I'm familiar with most of the entries in this book. The editor does a fair but not especially lively job of describing where to eat, drink, walk and gawk in DC.

This book came out about a year after Roberto Clemente's death in a plane crash. The author mixes narrative and interviews with Clemente's family and friends. It's nice reading for those of us who loved watching number 21 throw strikes from the right field fence and hit line drives with his unorthodox batting style. It's good reading also for those who only know Clemente from ESPN footage.

Spanning much of western Virginia, the combined George Washington and Jefferson National Forests provide some of the best and most abundant hiking in Virginia. Being an avid hiker and planning to spend a few months in central Virginia, I chose to purchase this guide to give me some hiking ideas. Unfortunately, I was not particularly happy with what I got.

This guide describes trails from 10 selected areas in the national forests. While the selected areas range geographically from Big Schloss in the north to Mount Rogers in the south, all of the areas selected are remote wilderness areas. Many excellent dayhiking trails (such as the Cascades Trail near Blacksburg) are left out. While some people enjoy long wilderness dayhikes or backpacking trips, many hikers (such as myself) prefer more manageable dayhikes. Due to the areas selected for description, very few hikes in this book fit into that category. While it would be impossible to describe all of the national forest trails in 193 pocket-sized pages, more variety would allow this book to be used by a wider audience.

Normally in my reviews I give a description of what is included with each hike. With this guide, that is somewhat difficult because Karin doesn't really describe hikes. Instead, she simply describes each trail in the selected area, usually giving no indication as to how they might be put together to get a nice loop (or other) hike. The problem with this method is that the author ends up merely recounting facts about the trail rather than describing a hiking experience. As such, while the descriptions contain some good information, it is hard to get a feel for what hiking this trail in person would be like. Also, while each selected area comes with an area map (with contour lines!) and an area overview, you have to be careful relying on her maps: quite a few details are omitted, and frequently the maps have been rotated on the page so as to best fit the shape of the region (so north is not necessarily "up"). Thus, in addition to leaving a lot of hikes out, the descriptions that do appear in this book leave somewhat to be desired.

In conclusion, if you are looking for some detailed information on the wilderness areas in George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, perhaps for a backpacking trip, this guide might be of interest to you. For the rest of us, this guide will be too narrow in focus and too hard to use. Most people should consider one of the 50-hikes books instead of this guide.

I bought this because I was new to the DC area and I've had great experiences with other Knopf mapguides. However, I was disappointed to learn that the DC version really only covers the NW portion of the city. The large NE and SE areas aren't even drawn on the general map in the front of the book, let alone in the detailed fold out sections.

I suppose this guide will work well for a tourist who plans to spend a limited amount of time in DC and will only be going to the major museums and memorials. The stardard of the maps as well as the dining/activity recommendations are still all high quality and neatly packaged. However, if you're looking for a comprehensive guide that covers the whole city, this isn't the map for you.

Just so no one else gets confused...this is a city guide of Washington DC, not a 'traditonal' Lonely Planet guide book. That having been said, I do love the small size of the book makes it a lot more handy to carry around. The content however is a little more heavy on the history of the town and little usless tidbits then on the what to do & where to go. Single paragraph discriptions of the various museums & attractions are good for an on the fly type book, but not so much for doing resarch on planning a trip.

Of course there is so much in DC that I can understand the smallish descriptions, all in all, good to keep in the pocket when in town. 3 stars for not identifing it's self as a City Guide other then in the picture.