Tours and Travel Books

This book provides excellent information on the sites, restaurants, accomodations, and history of South Carolina. I enjoyed reading it immensely because not only was it was humorous and well written, but it has a lot of interesting historical details and unique suggestions for things to see and do.

So far, I had never bought a tourist guide. Maybe it's because I never traveled before just for the pleasure of traveling, for the excitement associated to discovering new people, new places, new cultures. When I decided to spend my week of vacation last August in Charleston, South Carolina, I supposed that, to make the most of it, I should get a guide. After taking a look at the different guides of South Carolina and Charleston in my local bookstore, reading the online reviews at Amazon.com, and listening to the advices of Dary, a good friend and a seasoned traveler, I decided for Moon's South Carolina. And I wasn't disappointed. The book provided me with an excellent background on history, culture and geography. Also, as some people already pointed out in other reviews, the author is funny, so the reading is most pleasant. But what really caught me was the feeling that he was talking directly to me, that he was by my side. While I was enjoying a peaceful walk in the old streets of Charleston, the book helped me to understand better and, as a consequence, to experience more deeply the beauty of the Old South. But I'm digressing. If you are looking for a guide to South Carolina, this one definitely will work. Accurate information, plenty of details, many places to visit. In summary, a good investment. I think that my visit would had been much poorer without the help of Sigalas's book.

If you're touring South Carolina, Sigalas knows it's probably for one of the following reasons:

Myrtle Beach
Historic plantations and houses
Small town getaways
Food

That's what you get here. It's very well done and irreverent, sometimes humorously so. There's enough sophistication to this guide to keep amateur historians and architects happy, but it is by no means a complete catalog of historic landmarks and locations. Rather, we're really talking about the highlights. The thing I like most about this guide is its attention to small towns off the beaten path which make for pleasant discoveries. It encourages you to find the time for places like York, Georgetown and Camden, for example. The thing I like least about it is its very summary coverage of the State's greatest place, Charleston. While Sigalas does a lovely spread of Columbia, he concentrates his attention on the far south-eastern tip of the peninsula in Charleston. Forgivable, I'd say, since there are many, many resources that cover Charleston more thoroughly.

A lot of fun to read. I've just finished the first chapter and I already feel like an expert on the state.

I'd definitely recommend this book for anyone wanting to know more about South Carolina. It's got all the information you could want, lots of interesting background, and on top of that, it's a joy to read. Sigalas cracks me up all through this book. Seriously, my wife came in a half-a-dozen times while I was reading to ask me why I was laughing so hard; she couldn't believe I was reading a travel book. A good read even if you're not going to S.C., and a great book to bring along if you are. It's like traveling with a friend who knows all the spots and has a good sense of humor.

Born in San Francisco and still live nearby. Have found this a useful book for friends and travelers looking for a compact map of the city and reliable info on places to go, where to stay or places to eat. Like the format with a map of the neighborhoods, which makes the book very convenient when walking or driving and trying to find where to go. Descriptions are short accurate and helpful. I like the size and the format for oraganizing information that is used, and the typeface in the book makes it very readable. I carry one in my car for times when visit the city.

I have to say that this book is just cool. I just got back from my first visit to San Francisco, and I am so glad I had this guide with me. The fold out maps are very clear and helpful. Even though the book is small, it hits all the highlights. I visited several shops and restaurants listed in the back, and I was never disappointed.

I've lived in San Francisco for five years, but I still get lost when exploring a new neighborhood. The comprehensive pull-out maps found in Moon Metro are so detailed, that they even include those hard-to-find alleyways and cul-de-sacs. I had friends in from out of town last weekend, and I let them use my copy. They loved it! I definitely recommend this series.

I agree that what makes them cool is the foldout maps. The book is also pretty small. I've lived in the Bay Area all my life but still manage sometimes to get lost while hanging out in the city. I can put this in my coat pocket before I step out and not worry about looking clueless in front of my out-of-town friends. For people who are just visiting, I liked their selection of shops and places to eat. They didn't just list the usual tourist traps. And the color photos inside were pretty nifty, they could be postcards!

If only this book had been around when I moved to San Francisco two years ago! It's awesome. I got it as a gift and figured I knew my way around well enough that I would never use it, but I took it out one night and it's been in my purse ever since. I had out of town guests recently and they took it with them one day while I was at work. They came back raving about how easy it was to get around the city with the guide and how many great shops they found with it. Now every time I go out, I check the book first to pick a restaurant or bar.

I've used just about every guidebook for Rt. 66 and this may be the best. Excellent photography, detailed text, recommendations for casual drives as well as rough, 4wd only trails. And best of all, half the book is laid out for traveling east, and half of the book laid out for traveling west.

It's a few years old now, but still entirely useful! Highly recommended!

"Route 66 Across Arizona" is a must guide for those traveling across northern Arizona - especially users of I-40, which largely parallels the old Route 66.

As a regular traveler in that area who has already undertaken a fair amount of research and exploration on Route 66, I can personally attest for its general accuracy (not 100% though - time changes most everything) and usefulness. The most substantive update I would offer is to definitely stop at Two Guns - it is no longer fenced, readily accessible, full of history, and quite interesting. The second suggestion is that Route 66 Padre Canyon Bridge (circa 1914) is much more easily accessed by parking off I-40 at the West side of the I-40 bridge, and walking North - don't take too long, though, or the Highway Patrol will tow your vehicle. (Similarly, the Painted Desert Trading Post is more easily visited by parking off I-40 just East of Dead River, and hiking North for about one-half mile.)

Again, great material for both the novice Route 66 traveler, or one who has "been there before."

Best of the best ! If you plan on traveling Route 66 in Arizona...this is a no brainer. Great photos, easy to follow directions...both East to West and West to East, color coded. From folks that live in and know AZ....not just passing thru.

I was fortunate enough to buy this book just before my family's summer drive on 66. I'm definitely glad I did! This book made my family's drive along Route 66 in Arizona into a real adventure road trip.
I have read most of the national and state guides for the Mother Road, but this is definitely one of the very best. The Mangums have included all the alignments of the old Road, have them color coded and dated, and even include journeys for 4WD vehicles and bicycles on Route 66. I never would have found some of these alignments with the standard maps and guides.
One particular favorite was the old 1930s alignment between the Monte Carlo exit on I-40 (149) and the Welch exit (151) farther east. It was potholed and torn up, but I really felt like I was experiencing the real Route 66.
The book's recommendations for hotels, cafes, and attractions were extremely helpful. Also, unlike most Route 66 guides, this book describes the trip going in both directions!

The Mangums have another hit. This is exactly the sort of book Route 66 travellers have been waiting for. "Route 66 Across Arizona" is a very user friendly guide book that gives accurate, detailed directions to the existing sections of Route 66 across Arizona. I have tried several of their tours, and found them to be exactly as described. There are good maps, some history and local color, and perhaps best, recommended stops along the way. "Route 66 Across Arizona" beautifully updates Jack Rittenhouse's 1946 "Guide Book to Highway 66" and provides a practical foundation for many other books about Route 66.

I was looking for a book to go through all aspects of nature sketching and journaling. This is the book! I have lended the book out to other sketch artists and they found it very useful as well. Lots of pointers on different types of sketching and FANTASTIC illustrations. It it worth purchasing just for the illustrations alone. I would recommend this book to ANYONE who is interested in sketching nature.

This book provides a tremendous amount of information on sketching in nature but don't let the title fool you- this is a terrific general sketching and drawing book. Johnson covers topics that are rarely covered in other books. The use of pens, watercolors, pencils and colored pencils (both water soluble and not) are covered. This is an invaluable book and is an asset to both the beginner and more advanced student. I'm on Amazon right now trying to find other books by Cathy Johnson- I'm that impressed.

This is a very refreshing book. Cathy Johnson not only makes it look easy to draw and paint loose, yet accurate, watercolor sketches outdoors, but she tells you everything you need to know. This book will actually teach you how to draw and paint what you see, without making things overly complicated. Best of all, her supply list is well within the means of most people. I really enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal from it. This summer, I caught Lyme disease. It's nasty. For months, I could hardly walk, let alone hike and garden and do stuff I used to love. But Cathy's book has helped draw me back outside, and I'm learning to love nature all over again, one leaf, flower, and bug at a time. This book would make a great gift.

I loved this book. I am a beginner and it was an excellent resource.

I am a novice artist and need all the tips and help I can get. This book is a big help and I refer to it frequently.

Sleeping with the Toucans proved to be the perfect companion for our 1 month trip to Costa Rica in February. Travelling with two 6 year old children can be a bit of a challenge - but this book took the guessing out of what to see and where to stay for our family. This is not just a book filled with lodging ideas - as each section begins with very detailed information about the area, towns and sights. I love the descriptions of all the geographical areas and made several changes in our route based on reading such clear and personal descriptions. The lodging sections have great places to stay on any budget - and calls attention to different lodging categories and amentities - honeymoon, get away, kid friendly, wildlife viewing etc... I am so pleased to find this book and hope that travelers following the authors suggestions are as excited as we are to visit beautiful Costa Rica.

This is a fabulous book that explores the tiny, eclectic, out of the way lodgings that aren't included in other guide books. The authors provide a snapshot of each place with a substantial description to give you a good idea of what kind of atmosphere each one evokes. Definately a good choice if you're planning that trip to Costa Rica!

Its nice to read a guide book by people who have actually been there and write it as they see it - nice comfortable writing about where and what - and a big help in finding the places you want to stay in

Read this wonderful book before you visit Costa Rica; more importantly, carry it while you're in country. Costa Rica residents and world travelers, Chris and Alison bring a unique and entertaining perspective to the art of getting off the "Hilton circuit" and onto the trail of the "real" Costa Rica. Sleeping with the Toucans offers a trove of crisply written, beautifully photographed options for comfortable accommodations, tasty dining and more. Whether you're seeking a massage, world class birding, boating or beachcombing or butterfly watching, or simply a good night's rest - Sleeping with the Toucans has it all. And if you can't visit Costa Rica, read this book; it's the next best thing to being there!

We have traveled to Costa Rica many times since 1993. A guide book like 'Sleeping with the Toucans' is the 'missing link' we could have used while planning our trips. The places in this book are exactly the kinds of places we searched for during our many vacations in Costa Rica. With each visit our love of the people, the land and the culture grew. In 2006 we left our life in the USA, packed our bags and opened Leaves and Lizards Arenal Volcano Cabin Retreat. We are featured in this wonderfully descriptive, well researched and up to date guidebook. Chris and Alison have compiled a list of small hotels and inns that anyone traveling to Costa Rica will find invaluable. This book thrown in your back pack as a companion to a guidebook with - what to do- and - where to hike- will assure a memorable and authentic trip to Costa Rica.

What a tangled web indeed! Beres' novel is an amazing and poetic journey through the modern day music industry. With his easy prose Beres weaves a great story tinged with the mythos of today's music scene. Reading the book is like being on tour yourself, experiencing the blown tires, ridiculous schedules and money grubbing a**holes who inhabit this world. A great read, it could be titled "Fear and Loathing in the Latin Music World". Buy it.

If it's news to you that the music business is full of corruption and greed, you probably also still believe that [...] had WMDs. What's so enthralling about 'Tangled Web' is not only that we experience the day by day play by play of how a promising contemporary Latin music tour imploded from day one and went downhill from there, but how Beres' account tells us so much about the state of the arts in this country: how little culture means to so many and how we are all guilty of allowing this [...] to take place. Just as the doomed Musica Fresca tour should have been a huge hit that would have introduced so many to some great music that gets a fraction of the exposure it deserves, 'Tangled Web' should be required reading for everyone in what's left of the music biz, particularly those who have no understanding of why music IS more than just a biz. Take this journey.

Beres has delivered once again! Tangled Web is a masterful blend of behind-the-scenes narratives, combined with authoritative commentary. He makes a scathing, no-nonsense call for industry reform in a way that will make you unable to put this book down. No need to be up on the heartbeat of the music scene to enjoy this one: Beres speaks to anyone who has ever wanted to blow that whistle.

This book is a very easy read, Derek takes you on the journey, not only through the tour, but gives you insight to all parties involved in this project as people. Anyone trying to put together a tour for any artist should read this book before they spend on dime. Thank you Derek for making this real!

it's no surprise that the high levels of corruption and greed in the world affects our most earnest efforts of art and expression, and as Beres writes of often in Tangled Web, the human connection.
A timely and important piece of work reminding us about what truly matters in our personal and professional endeavors. Beres writes with grace and poetry as he documents the fascinating twists and turns of the modern music industry's challenges.

If Mark Twain comes back from the dead to write a guidebook of the state where he was conceived (in Jamestown, as Bradley explains on p. 196), then buy that. But old Sam Clemens would be wasting his time, because in Moon Handbooks: Tennessee, Bradley's already written the "Life on the Mississippi" of Tennessee travel guides.

Like "Mississippi," Bradley's "Tennessee" is so fascinating in in its details and anecdotes that I kept finding myself reading far more than I "needed" to for the travel at hand. And like Clemens, who clearly wrote from a genuine love of the river and the bygone steamboat days that he wanted to capture on paper, all of Bradley's local lore and country cookery reviews and sidebars on everything from roots musicians to the development of the the atom bomb in Oak Ridge...well, these all swirl together to create a sort of love song to the author's native state.

Bradley isn't afraid to criticize where criticism is due--look at his coverage of the outlandish developments near the Smokies. But even then, it's clear his concerns are not based on some disaffected political agenda, but from a genuine, familial concern for a cousin who has lost his way. Consequently, Gatlinburg doesn't "outrage" Bradley, it breaks his heart because of its failed potential. And even then, Bradley doesn't just sneer and proceed into the pristine National Park, shaking Galinburg's dust from his feet. Just as any good family member will make a point of telling you that old yellow-eyed aunt Ruth used to knock 'em dead at the USO dances and can still cook a mean casserole and belt out a showtune, Bradley lingers and explores Gatlinburg on its own terms. He points out its cherished place in many Volunteer hearts (including his own) as a childhood wonderland, and shows that he's not above enjoying the small simple pleasures of a candy shop, or even the more garish wonders of Ripley's aquarium.
If you don't know Tennessee, you won't find a more comprehensive introduction to the entire state. And if you already love Tennessee...you'll find all of the states most endearing qualities captured between the covers--and in the spirit--of this book.

I have the first edition of this book, and I've raved about it to my circle of friends. I heard this third edition was vastly improved, and I doubted this, but figured I couold always give it as a gift.
This book is going nowhere but to a choice space in my book shelf!
It covers more material, has a format which invites digging deeper into a topic at hand, highlights special topics, has a clearer type face, and is simply loaded with URL's for further cyber digging. I got out my Tennessee Atlas and Gazetteer by Delorme mapping, a topo coverage of Tennesee, my state, and put a "mark" by all the towns and villages Mr. Bradley covered. Not a page without copious markings. What a living history exprience.

He begins in the East as our state did, moves west, and brings out information about people, about the locale, gives historic facts and loads of human interest materal. He covers the Civil War as it progresses in various locations and is in fact more historical than a course or two I've had in Higher Eduction. And READABLE!! His wry, delightful humor graces most every entry. And as you follow this through the topo maps you SEE how history unfolds. Now I know where the Cumberland Gap is, I know where the mysterious Melungeons 'are', I've followed the tragic trail of tears, I know where to find barbeque all across Tennessee etc etc. I know where that terrific meteorite hit Tennessee, where biggie dinosaur fossils are found etc. .
What a book! What a marvelous travel companion, what a history of my state. And I have a store house of "stories and tales" I'll make good use of.
If you have an interest in Tennessee and can get only one book: THIS is it! Hands down. I'm grateful to Mr Bradley for doing it.
Hap Eliason

You don't have to be planning a trip to Tennessee to appreciate Jeff Bradley's book. If you are, don't leave home without it. Bradley not only tells you what you must see if you have the time, but he frankly tells you what might not be worth a visit, or at least what to be prepared for that you might not expect, such as the bumper-to-bumper, big-city-like traffic in the Smokies, especially in the fall when the leaves begin to change. He also provides interesting facts and historical details you won't find in other travel books. I grew up about 50 miles from Bean Station in East Tennessee but didn't know until reading Bradley's book that a tavern there was the best place between Baltimore and New Orleans to get a bottle of wine back in the stagecoach days. Almost every page is enriched with little-known facts, insights and advice, and the book is organized in a way that takes the frustration out of trying to find what you're looking for.

I once had a job that took me to every one of Tennessee's 95 counties, but I moved away several years ago and my children, unfortunately, know little about this beautiful state that is as geographically and culturally diverse as any in the union. I brought the fourth edition of Bradley's book when I began planning a cross-Tennessee-and-back trip my 22-year-old son and I decided to take this summer in a rented convertible. Taking Bradley's advice, we chose many roads now less traveled (since the interstates were built), visiting places like Jonesborough (Tennessee's oldest town, first capital and home of the National Stortelling Festival) in East Tennessee, Lynchburg (exactly like the Jack Daniels' ads portray it, except for the abundance of shops on the town square selling things Gentleman Jack would never have imagined, as Bradley points out) in Middle Tennessee, and Grinders Switch between Nashville and Memphis, which I had always thought was a figment of Minnie Pearl's imagination. Our trip, thanks largely to Bradley's book, was as much one of discovery for me, a native, as it was for my son, who grew up in the Northeast.

You will enjoy Bradley's book not just for its contents but also for his writing style. As the "About the Author" page notes, this Tennessee boy has been a stringer for The New York Times and taught writing at Harvard, so he knows a thing or two about sringing words together. He writes from personal knowledge of the place with respect but also with wit, honesty and a good measure of irreverence whenever he feel so moved, which is often.

Buy the book or you'll never know how far in advance you need to make reservations for lunch at Miss Bobo's Boarding House in Lynchburg, how to get to the Lovelace Motel Cafe outside of Nashville for the best country ham and biscuits, where to find worldclass white water and bluegrass music in East Tennessee, or that the Talbot Heirs Guesthouse is one of the best and funkiest places to stay in the funkiest part of Memphis, a stone's throw from Beale Street, darn good barbecue and sweet potato pancakes you'll never forget.

We recently completed a trip to Eastern Tennessee and brought along several guidebooks. After a few days, it became apparent that one guidebook was head and shoulders above the others: Moon Handbooks Tennessee by Jeff Bradley. It is both comprehensive and concise. It contains lots of local color without drowning in it. And it is spot on in its evaluation of sights. (We didn't have any occasion to use it for lodging or food.)

Full credit to Jeff Bradley for a writing syle that is one of the best in the business. He keeps things lively without neglecting the basic facts that need to be conveyed. In almost every instance his entries were more interesting and more complete than other guidebooks, while being about the same total number of words. He seems to know just when to insert a clever turn of phrase or an offbeat tidbit while still writing in a very direct style.

The book covers all of Tennessee. It starts with general information about the state's natural history, settlement history, and culture. It then covers each region of the state. He does a good job of conveying which sights are most worth seeing in each area without neglecting second tier sights. He weaves together a complete tapestry that puts everything in the larger context of the region and the state. Throughout, there is a pervasive sense of the joy of travel in this interesting state. This guidebook is the real McCoy!

I'm a lifetime Tennesseean, and I couldn't put Mr. Bradley's book down. I know Middle Tennessee and the Smokies fairly well, but as I got into his marvelous book I couldn't believe one author could capture and capsulate so much in such limited space. I've garnered information about my State- so much new to me- that it just blew me away--some info right at my doorstep, so to speak. About locales I know fairly well his presentation is right on target. I especially value the boxes about history, personalities, buildings etc. Don't hesitate. Buy the book!

A great source of information for the true Francophile who loves Paris and like a great love wants to know her better !!

This is an excellent guide for the independent traveller. Its best use is for details on neighborhoods. I often "study" it before taking off for the day and get a much better feel for the neighborhood I am visiting. I also "study" it after spending time out for the day and clarify or confirm what I have seen. Used it for years.

I own Access Guides to San Francisco and Wine Country and found them to be very reliable sources of information on eating and shopping, so when I was planning a 5-week stay in Paris I purchased this guidebook. Overall, I'm quite pleased.

Access Paris is an excellent guide targeted at a cultured reader that prefers to consider him or herself a visitor to Paris rather than a tourist. The organization emphasizes neighborhoods rather than monuments, and offers excellent information on cafés, restaurants, bars, shops, and other neighborhood attractions. Restaurant listings include a range of prices for each district, though there are fewer budget options than, say, in the Time Out, Let's Go, and Lonely Planet guides. I've gone to a number of the listed restaurants, mostly those in St. Germain and the Bastille with one $ in the listing, and found them to be of high quality, though I was unable to find one or two. And I appreciate the memorable descriptions this book gives--one restaurant is characterized as right out of a Jean Rhys novel, for example--and the frankness of its evaluation of certain restaurants as overrated and overpriced traps for the well-read visitor.

The book's organization, with neighborhood maps followed by entries on each number that appears on the map, is very easy to use while wandering. The neighborhood maps omit metro stops, however, making it difficult to coordinate one's immediate location with the map of the metro that appears at the back of the guide. Also, the local maps don't indicate arrondissements, which makes the guide difficult to use in tandem with a more detailed map book.

This book covers the islands, the Latin Quarter, St-Germain, Eiffel Tower/Invalides, The Louvre and the Champs-Elysées, St-Honoré, Les Halles, the Marais, the Bastille, and Montmartre. These are all well-established eating and shopping districts in the arrodissements that are at the center of the city. There's also a brief section at the end with select attractions in other neighborhoods, as well as sidebars that discuss specific themes or types of sites (Paris in film, representations of Americans in Paris, flea markets, etc.). If you're mainly going to be in the central arrondissements, you'll probably be very happy with this guide. But if you're staying in an outlying arrondissement, or looking for information on offbeat neighborhoods, this may not be the guide for you--as it also may not be if it's your first time in Paris and you want a guidebook that emphasizes a tour of the monuments. I myself have already done the monuments and was looking for what this book has to offer, so I'm very pleased.

The author of the ninth edition offers more Paris travel tips at www.parisland.com

I must say, I am a big fan of all the ACCESS guides, and the one on Paris was no exception. I'm always disappointed when I go somewhere and there is no ACCESS guide for that city! One of the best things about the guides, Paris included, is that it allows you to break your trip down by neighborhood. While in Paris, we spent one day (or more) in each of the neighborhoods highlighted in the color code system. We had a great time, and the ACCESS guide played a big part in it (as it did in San Francisco and Montreal!). Highly recommended!

Review published in Library Journal, April 15, 1999. "This new series, focusing on France is a 'unique travel guide and handbook on contemporary art and architecture.' Stich, an art historian and curator, has brought together under one cover a complete, user-friendly guide to the French art world. She provides detailed descriptions of galleries, museums, film and video centers, public artworks, art bookstores, sculpture parks, and even a parking garage, sites that are not mentioned in other guidebooks. The main focus of the book is Paris, but there are chapters on day trips and excursions to other French provinces. Each chapter is organized by neighorhood and region and contains a map with numbers and site icons that are easy to distinguish. Stich's knowledge of and joy in the art world is evident throughout the book; a great addition to any travel collection."

Review published by NY art critic Walter Robinson in ArtNet "News", April 9, 1999: "Art lovers en route to France this summer will want to pick up a copy of Art-SITES FRANCE by curator and avid art traveler Sidra Stich. The $19.95 paperback blurbs all the important museums, art centers, galleries and public art works, famous and little known."

art-SITES, founded by art historian and museum curator Sidra Stich, is launching art-SITES FRANCE thic month and expects to release art-SITES GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND early next year. A travel guide and handbook on contemporary art and architecture, art-SITES FRANCE provides maps and commentary on vanguard buildings, art fairs, film centers, even a patisserie with superbly designed cakes. "It's museums, but not just museums, and we provide text that's a very readable course on art at the same time," said Stich.

"Forget the Louvre's Renaissance masterpieces. This guide focuses its attention on the great museum's I.M. Pei-designed glass pyramid renovation. And in its pages Roy Lichtenstein trumps Toulouse-Lautrec. A San Francisco-based art historian, Stich casts a wide research net over this art-appreciative nation and offers a well-organized, well-written take on where to encounter the best painting, sculpture, architecture and film of the last few decades."

Sun. July 11, SF Examiner-Chronicle, Linda Watanabe McFerrin,(travel editor)wrote: "This is the inaugural book in an ambitious new series covering the world's contemporary art and architecture. Innovative, intriguing and refreshingly intellectual, it provides well-researched, well-informed guidance to the museums, art and film centers, galleries, bookstores, public art and notable buildings in France. Details about recent exhibitions and artists further familiarize readers with the often mystifying world of the avant-garde. Serious students of contemporary art will find it a satisfyingly comprehensive guidebook."

A work of art! You don't need a plane ticket to see what's inside some Italy's great churches and museums. Chock full of interesting details and artifacts, I was given a wonderful tour of Italy's "hidden treasures,'' many off the beaten path. As one who once lived in Italy, I would say this book is an essential guide for anyone who plans to visit one of the world's most beautiful countries.

Artful Italy is a wonderful book. I checked out Florence and Venice first because those are the cities that I really know. I was daring Artful Italy to come up with something I didn't know. And it did.. The Stibbert Museum which sounds like a delight I missed entirely. But the thing I really regret is not knowing about the Bomarzo Gardens, a bit of a trip from Florence; as a teen I was always after the odd, hidden statuary that you turned a corner and came suddenly upon.. Both sound like winners and make me eager to return to a place I thought I knew well.
Artful Italy's prose hits just the right tone, conversational without being condescending, funny without that guidebook jokiness that can be so off-putting. And it sometimes can take your breath away. When the 17th century architect , Borromini is compared to an origami master, suddenly we see again how Mannerist architects have turned stone into paper - to give just one example. And you have a nice discursive air that proves always to have a real point to it. The book is unique and a pleasure. It will make those who know Italy start looking for cheap air fares, and even those making a first trip to Italy will find the book valuable.

This book is for all visitors to Italy-even the jaded few who feel they have seen it all. Ann Brandon has covered
so much art that most of us have neither seen nor heard of. I was totally captivated by just reading the book, Ms. Brandon has great writing style and wonderful detail covering all of the pieces. What I found most exciting was visiting sites that I hadnt been to before-expanding upon the content. This book isnt just about museums!!-

I am recently back from a visit to Venice, where I used this outstanding new guide. I found it the ideal guidebook: highly readable, gets you off the beaten path to a combination of less mobbed attractions and some quirky fun places, and (my favorite) includes lots of fascinating historical and personal backgrouind on the sites and artists. This book is sure to enrich greatly your visit to Italy's major art destinations. And it's fun to read even if you are just dreaming about visiting Italy.

Even if one never travels to Italy, there'd be no harm in reading this book. It is well-written, entertaining, and loaded with fun and interesting facts. I disagree with the notion that this is a tour or travel guide; what it is in fact is a semi-scholarly appreciation of Italy off the beaten path. (It is meticulously researched and documented, to boot.)

Ann Brandon must be a kick at a cocktail party. Historical examples trip off her tongue and add just the right humor, import, and context for each bit of art appreciation. Reading this book is not a necessity for travel planning; the volume is a standalone orchestration of Ms. Brandon's love affair with Italy.

I have a few qualms with the book, but they are merely intellectual disagreements with some of its premises. First, I would not focus so much on art, but on the whole invisible lifestyle of the Italians, the life that "turisti" probably never see. I would also go beyond visual arts, and talk about music, as well as the culinary and design arts. Even in the visual arts there is so much architecture that one could find off the main trails. But Brandon promises more books in this vein, and will no doubt address these topics.

Second, I do not feel that the Parco dei Mostri qualifies as a hidden treasure. I consider it an excellent yet run-of-the-mill tourist attraction. A lot of people go there.

Finally, I disagree with the glowing assessment that Vasari's "Lives of the Artists." I have always considered this book at best uneven. It apparently draws its inspiration from Diogenes Laertius' "Lives of the Philosophers," which suffers from a similar spottiness in insight and accuracy. If I had to recommend a book that does what Brandon purports Vasari's does, it would be Burkhardt's "Civilization of the Renaissance."

All these quibbles aside, anyone who wants to learn about Italy should buy and read this book. It does not disappoint. I learned so much from this book, and it was as if Ann Brandon was telling me what I learned in a personal conversation. So warm is her style of writing that it just makes for a quick and delightful read!