Europe Books

As an avid reader of historical fiction, histories, and such I have grown to rely on this book as a companion. Most helpful are the flowcharts that accompany each new dynasty - too often I find myself forgetting who was married to whom...no more!
However, for those of you interested in more than just a quick thumbprint of the Kings & Queens, this book will not fit the bill.

I bought this book a couple of years ago. I read it and found it quite easy and enjoyable to read. Now I use it mainly for quick reference and usually find myself spending more time just browsing through its pages and enjoying it over and over. It has a lot of interesting historical facts! I wish there were similar books on other europpean royal houses!

This book is a handy review of the highlights of the British and Scottish monarchies. The illustrations are of good quality, and the family trees are helpful. This book is nice to have on the shelf as a quick reference guide for those moments you are trying to keep your Henrys and Edwards straight.

This book is invaluable for anyone researching royal genealogies and history students. Highly recommend, along with the "Mammoth Book of Kings and Queens"

This is a neat, fun, informative book for everyone, young and old alike. Facts, information, interesting anecdotes, and superb pictures and graphics. The handy size makes it perfect for kids working on reports for school as well. A super book for a number of reasons, and a great one to have on your shelf, especially if you have kids in school or simply want to know more about British Royalty.

The updated, expanded edition of The Last Album: Eyes From The Ashes Of Auschwitz- Birkenau is out, and no less hard-hitting than the original. These black and white photos were not supposed to reach the world: the Nazi order to destroy all personal photos brought to each concentration camp was meant to destroy memories as much as evidence. Despite this mandate, author Weiss uncovered an archive of over 2,400 photos brought to Auschwitz by Jewish deportees across Europe - photos hidden and saved, at great risk to their owners. These photos accompany a traveling exhibition which is making its way around the world, presenting over 400 of these photos and how the deportees arrived at Auschwitz - and how Weiss came to discover them and to research their roots. A 'must' for any serious Jewish history collection - and many a general interest holding, as well.

"The last Album" by Ann Weiss is well organized and well written. It contains 400 remarkable
photographs that were brought to Auschwitz-Birkenau by victims in 1943. These photographs were taken
prior to the Holocaust and depict people bursting with life. This is an extremely unique book, and contains material that was lovingly researched for a period of 15 years. The beauty of this book is that the
photographs and the research accomplished brings to life people that were lost during the dreadful time of
the Holocaust. The book like the author is soft, sweet, articulate and brilliant

I read this book by chance, yesterday, Memorial Day 2003.
Been crying.
It's like Schindler's List or Sophie's choice.
How could they do it?
How can we let them continue doing it?
The animals still are around us, although using another names, another symbols, another motivations.
I kept reading, hoping to find some of the people to be safe at the end, but almost everybody was killed.
Binim, Rozak, Mayer, Bronka, so many of you.
I miss you, my friends.

After reading this book, I feel this should be in every house in every country. You hear so much about the people and the numbers killed that sometimes it doesn't seem real but this book makes it very real. The pictures are so powerful and at the same time so ordinary - they could be pictures of anyone's parents or grandparents. The most haunting pictures are those of the children - you have to wonder how many survived. The stories of the survivors bring it all home - "There's the aunt of the little girl I used to babysit", etc. I found it amazing that these pictures did survive 40, 50 years before being discovered again. Anyone who denies the Holocaust happened should read this book and then try to still say it never happened. Thank you Ann Weiss for bringing these pictures and the stores behind them out of the darkness.

This book is an amazing piece of history. The fact that so many photos brought into Auschwitz have survived is phenomenol as all personal effects were automotically burned by the Nazis murderers. When viewing the photos in this book, which were brought in by those of the Sosnowiec-Bendzin transport, it would also be advisable to read Tadeusz Borokowski's book "This way to the gas ladies & gentleman' as this book covers the particular Sosnowiec-Bendzin transport and outlines in gruesome and terrifying detail what became of many of those on this transport. The photographs bring back to life many who are gone and also tells you those who survived, which is a relief to realise that some of those from the Polish ghettos made it. These photos bring back a lost world that will never return and along with Roman Vishniac's collection of photographs are a piece of history that is very much worth investing in.

Lord Chesterfield's writings are by far the best guidelines for an up-and-coming, savvy gentleman to learn the ways of the society. Stanhope's many gems of advice are learned painfully by most through experience, or sometimes not at all. This book is truly a classic and one I will insist my future sons read before making their way in the world.

Lord Chesterfield is the 18th-century English father I never had. In these letters to his son, he gives stern but fair lessons in how to conduct oneself as a gentleman in society. Chesterfield, with his classical learning and lifelong service to the monarchy, is superbly qualified to give such social advice. His dry wit, strong-mindedness, and discerning eye make him entertaining to read, and, though repetitive ("the graces, boy, remember the graces!"), much of his advice is still very apt today. Taking us through the prime of his career to the twilight of his life, these letters show Chesterfield as the ultimate politician--keenly aware of humanity's selfishness, and always ready to use that selfishness to his own benefit. There is something endearing in this open devilishness.

The following, and my favorite, quote will no doubt provide a quick and definitive answer to the ageless question: are you upper class?

Dear Boy,
Having mentioned laughing, I must particularly warn you against it: and I could heartily wish that you may often be seen to smile, but never heard to laugh while you live. ... A man's going to sit down, in the supposition that he has a chair behind him, and falling down upon his breech for want of one, sets a whole company a laughing, when all the wit in the world would not do it; a plain proof, in my mind, how low and unbecoming a thing laughing is: not to mention the disagreeable noise that it makes, and the shocking distortion of the face that it occasions. Laughter is easily restrained by a very little reflection; but as it is generally connected with the idea of gaiety, people do not enough attend to its absurdity. I am neither of a melancholy nor a cynical disposition, and am as willing and as apt to be pleased as anybody; but I am sure that since I have had the full use of my reason, nobody has ever heard me laugh.

"All you learn, and all you can read, will be of little use, if you don't think and reason upon it yourself". This is merely one of the advices Lord Chesterfield gave to his natural son, Philip, in the many letters he wrote to him from 1737 onwards, and that this book compiles.

Chesterfield was an important stateman, who wrote these letters only for the eyes of his son, not for the general public, so he did express in stark terms what he truly thought about many controversial themes. It is, in my opinion, very interesting to read what he considered to be general truths, and to get to know his conception of life, society and politics. Whether you agree or not with his opinions, you cannot remain indifferent to this controversial book.

Lord Chesterfield places great value on appearances. He tells Philip that "If your air and address are vulgar, awkward, and gauche, you may be esteemed indeed, if you have great intrinsic merit; but you will never please; and without pleasing you will rise but heavily". The author is, evidently, a cynic who doesn't believe that the world can be improved. He points out that "The world is taken by the outside of things, and we must take the world as it is". Chesterfields profession is fairly evident at all times, for example when he advises his son "...to be upon your own guard, and yet, by a seeming natural openness, to put people off theirs".

"Lord Chesterfield's Letters" has been considered a noteworthy classic by many, but it has also been strongly criticized. For example, Samuel Johnson said that it taught "the morals of a whore and the manners of a dancing-master". I really don't agree with Johnson: I happen to like this book, and a lot. It is not only very easy to read, but also informative. The reader feels as if he were talking with an old but very experienced person, who played an active part in an enormous number of significant events, and who wants to transmit his knowledge not only on diplomatic affairs, but also about life and education. He often displays great insight, for example when he says that "You must look into people, as well as at them. Almost all people are born with all the passions, to a certain degree; but almost every man has a prevailing one, to which the others are subordinate".

All in all, I strongly recommend this book. It includes a high number of subjects, and I think you are highly likely to find it very appealing. If more is needed to convince you, I'll just leave you with one of the phrases written by the author, and I'll let its excellence to speak for itself: "Mind, not only what people say, but how they say it; and, if you have any sagacity, you may discover more truth by your eyes than by your ears. People can say what they will, but they cannot look just as they will; and their looks frequently discover, what their words are calculated to conceal". What else can I say?... Enjoy this book!.

Belen Alcat

Lord Chesterfield was an influential politician, diplomat and cabinet minister during the reigns of George I and II, and this book is a collection of letters of advice, counsel, and sometimes genuine wisdom, written by Chesterfield, over many years, to his son, Philip Stanhope, for whom Chesterfield had the highest hopes of success in the world. What you may get out of this book depends on who you are as a reader: casual readers would do better to stay with mysteries and thrillers; inebriate undergraduates would do better to skip it altogether; but ambitous men and women, actually working in the real world, will find so much here to consider and reflect upon, that it will take several close readings to absorb all that may apply to your career. That one's knowlege of the World must be learned by experience in the World, not in an ivory tower; that one's skills and virtues are of little practical value, unless carefully presented in a pleasing and artful Image; that multitasking destroys all hope of success; these are a few of the ideas which Chesterfield presents in elegant and polished prose. But Chesterfield's personal life, as it unfolds through his letters to its tragic and sorrowful conclusion, presents the most powerful lesson of all about ambition, life, and failure, for those readers who can read beyond what is merely written.

The Italians Newby depicts in this memoir (and also in his "A Small Place in Italy") are often funny, but never buffoonish. Newby's warm admiration for country folk is always evident, as in this passage where a retired stonemason helps remove an enormous boulder from the hideout the locals are making for him:

"He went over it with his hands, very slowly, almost lovingly. It must have weighed half a ton. Then, when he had finished caressing it, he called for a sledgehammer and hit it deliberately but not particularly hard and it broke into two almost equal halves. It was like magic and I would not have been surprised if a toad had emerged from it and turned into a princess who had been asleep for a million years."

Readers familiar with Newby's travel writing will find all his strengths here: his eye for detail, his warmth of character, his humor (mostly self-deprecating). They will also find a love story -- one made all the more poignant by Newby's craftsmanlike selection of few but telling scenes.

During World War II, the rural citizens of northern Italy vowed to assist Allied soldiers on the run in their mountainous region. They were operating on an informed heart, on the Golden Rule, wanting to give aid to those who opposed the hated Fascists and Nazis as they would hope someone would help their own sons. And while the Allies were protected by the Geneva Convention should they be captured, the citizens were not and they were subject to less humane punishment, sometimes torture and death, if their actions were found out. But they did it anyway. It is these people, who otherwise lived a pastoral, ancient way of life, whom travel writer extraordinaire Eric Newby profiles in his memoir, LOVE AND WAR IN THE APENNINES.

Those familiar with Newby's other books will find his signature wit, self-deprecating humor and descriptive powers at work here, but his curiosity and appreciation of other people and cultures is in highest gear. He comes to meet the peasantry of northern Italy after fleeing a prison during the chaos following the ouster of Mussolini in September 1943. He is helped by a succession of individuals and families, including the woman who would become his wife and companion in later adventures, the estimable Wanda. The book ends with his unfortunate recapture by the Germans and in an epilogue he revisits the people who took him in ten years after.

Newby is a hugely gifted writer, his sentences are knowing and clear as a bell. He orders information rhythmically, always knows when less is more and more is more. He never bows to sentimentality, never sells anyone out. He does a remarkable job of expressing the fear and dispiritedness that politics and war heave on a people, at the same time revealing their resilience. There is much to admire in this book.

Eric Newby knows how to tell a story. This is one of the few books that I started over again immediately after finishing it the first time. The insight into the minds of these extraordinary Italian farmers who hid prisoners of war without thought to their own lives and safety is one of the great adventure reads to come out of World War II. Having passed through this countryside so many times traveling between Milan and Florence, I know first hand how rugged it is. Just to get through these mountains by train is an adventure, as there are dozens of tunnels to pass through after one leaves Bologna. Newby brings the setting to life for the reader, and we walk in his footsteps as he falls upon adverture after another. There is almost an unreal quality to this story, expecially his meeting the wonderful mountain men who live in the most remote parts of these mountains. If you want a really good read, grab a copy of this book. You will not be disappointed.

The Italians Newby depicts in this memoir (and also in his "A Small Place in Italy") are often funny, but never buffoonish. Newby's warm admiration for country folk is always evident, as in this passage where a retired stonemason helps remove an enormous boulder from the hideout the locals are making for him:

"He went over it with his hands, very slowly, almost lovingly. It must have weighed half a ton. Then, when he had finished caressing it, he called for a sledgehammer and hit it deliberately but not particularly hard and it broke into two almost equal halves. It was like magic and I would not have been surprised if a toad had emerged from it and turned into a princess who had been asleep for a million years."

Readers familiar with Newby's travel writing will find all his strengths here: his eye for detail, his warmth of character, his humor (mostly self-deprecating). They will also find a love story -- one made all the more poignant by Newby's craftsmanlike selection of few but telling scenes.

Newby's writing can be rather dry, but in this recounting of his escape from the Germans in WWII Italy, he strikes a fine balance between mawkish sentimentalism and tough-guy posturing. An engrossing narration about the extraordinary measures ordinary people can and will resort to, to stay alive and to do what they think is right. Encouraging, inspiring, and highly recommended.

I enjoyed the cross section pictures and thought that the text was interesting. There is lots of fine detail, I see something different everytime I flip through it. Be sure to watch the movie "Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World". The movie director did an excellent job portraying life aboard the Man-of-War. In my opinion, the movie is the book put in motion. The movie and book captures what life could have been like aboard the Man-of-War.

This is a great book for getting an overview of the pieces of a first-rate ship of the line. In this case, the British first-rate, triple-(gun)-decker, 104 gun HMS Victory. The Victory was launched in 1765 and commissioned in 1778, but is best known as Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship in the victorious Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 (in which Nelson was killed by an enemy sharpshooter while standing on the quarterdeck).

The amount of detail packed into this book's 25 or so very large pages is mind-boggling. In fact, the book's so large that you may have trouble finding a place to shelve it. Although it took less than an hour to read all the text, I'm still finding new things in the pictures. It provides a great sense of just how crowded these ships were. The illustrations are in the very clear line-and-watercolor style of the rest of Biesty's "cross-section" books.

There is a lot of information on day-to-day life and practice in a ship, detailing foodstuffs (including weevils and bargemen), officer's roles, disease, the working of the guns, the cooking of food in the galley, the use of the heads, floggings, scurvy, etc.

Oddly, the book only concentrates on illustrating the decks; there is almost nothing said about the sails or rigging, which is a real disappointment. I found it very hard to get a sense of the fore-to-aft arrangement, with each cross-section being so narrow.

I wish I had found this book before reading about a dozen series of nautical fiction (Aubrey, Hornblower, Ramage, Kydd, Lewrie, etc. etc.). After all that background, I actually didn't learn anything reading this book I didn't know from reading the fiction and other supporting materials. For depth, you'll need "The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor" written by Darcy Lever in the early 1800s, and comprehensive on everything from rigging to stepping masts to club-hauling off a lee shore. And its images are both beautiful and a complete contrast to the ones in this book, being early 19th century etchings.

Though some of the photos are a bit funny and maybe a little "crud", but it's a neat book anyway.

Also try another DK ship book called the Visual Dictionary of Ships if you can find it (it's out of print).

Dorling Kindersley has in the past twenty years quickly established itself as an outstanding publisher of niche books--children's reference books, travel guides, atlases, and the such. What I find so remarkable about a number of their children's books is how enormously satisfying they are for adults as well, even adults who are fairly familiar with the subject matter. One of the better series of books in their impressive list are the Cross-Sections books by Stephen Biesty. As someone who is interested both in the history of ships and the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian, I find this one even more interesting than most.

Two things stand out about this book: its remarkably detailed drawings and the enormous amount of information that gets stuffed into the book's relatively short length. This book provides a pictorial rendering of one of the great ships of the line of the Napoleonic navy, similar to H.M.S. Victory. Virtually nothing gets left out, and the book can actually serve as a surprisingly comprehensive introduction to the Royal British Navy during the time of Nelson and Napoleon. It is somewhat misleading in that the ship depicted was the exception and not the norm, the British navy possessing only a handful of ships this size. Apart from that the book has no serious flaws, except for the unaffordable one in a visual guide that it is sometimes hard to locate information in its closely packed pages.

I would also recommend another Dorling Kindersley book, also unfortunately out of print, THE VISUAL DICTIONARY OF SHIPS AND SAILING. It does a bit better job than this one of defining many nautical terms. Each represents a marvelous addition to personal library of books on the age of the sailing ship.

you should definitely try to get this book. I am a landlubber, who has just discovered the pleasures of Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin (via Austen's Persuasion). Along with a number of more serious naval non-fiction reference works, notably THE WOODEN WORLD by N.A.M. Rodger (ISBN 0393314693; ASIN 0393314693)I found a copy of this wonderful book first at my public library and then in a sale at my local store.

This is an oversized book, thin but full of detailed information. A man-of-war, one of the mainstays of the Georgian fleet during the wars of the 1700s and early 1800s, is "cut away" section by section and deck by deck to illustrate life on board as well as the structure of the ship. The first works better than the latter, although I got a very good idea of how the ship's anchor works as well as how the ship crew handled guns and gunpowder (as well as the dangers of a loose gun). I wished that the authors had provided a bird-eye view of the ship from the top of the masts, and showed sailors working the sails. Apart from this and other minor quibbles, I think I learned more from this book faster than I had expected.

Yes, this is a children's book, but it is highly recommended by sites specializing in naval fiction of the Georgian and Regency era (think Napoleonic Wars, Revolutionary Wars, as well as sites devoted to O'Brian and Forester). Children will be delighted by various grosser aspects of life abroad (the very basic toilet and bathing facilities, the surgeon in action during battle, and of course the maggot-filled biscuits), not to mention trying to find a certain stowaway. Adults will revel in little details that explain things that have puzzled them.

I started out not knowing port from starboard, and very little else. By the end of this book, while I cannot claim to be proficient, I certainly understand that a ship has three masts in several sections, that it has several decks, and that life at sea was more complicated than is sometimes depicted in fiction.

You might also want to try "The Visual Dictionary of Ships and Sailing" (ISBN 1879431203; ASIN 1879431203) which apparently discusses different types of ships, the sails and ropes, and so forth. I have not seen this book yet, but it looks interesting.

On the whole, I found this book to quite informative with many detailed descriptions of medieval European castles and cities. On some specific castles the data can be fairly general. I found this to be most obvious on castles that I have been fortunate enough to visit in the past and purchase a guide brochure or booklet from which I naturally compared the data.
I found the section on eastern European fortifications and their developement over the centuries to be very interesting as this was a subject I previously knew very little about.
But I do have one major 'gripe' or dissatisfaction with the book. The detailed and extensive floor plans provided throughout the book all suffer from some serious 'under labelling'. For example, a specific castle floor plan might have 20 itemised (numbered) points or features of interest on it. But when one refers to the "legend' or 'key' to find out what a certain feature is, it becomes painfully obvious that not all 20 features are actually clarified or described in the key. This is a fault that is not isolated and is unfortunately prevalent on the vast majority of floor plans in the book.
I'm not sure whether this problem is peculiar to the published edition I purchased or is in fact inherent throughout the whole published run. In any case it appears to be a large oversite in the 'quality control' department of the book's publication process. Other than these faults, I thought this book to be a good 'read'.

If you've been looking for a complete book on medieval castles, you have found the book for you. Although it touches lightly on such on such areas as medieval food, hygene, and battles, the bulk of this book is an in-depth study of castles. The writing is a bit dry, but very informative, covering fortresses from England, France, Itally, and even eastern Europe. I doubt there is much about castles unsaid in this book.

This incredibly detailed book shows you every type of castle made. From ancient times to concentric castles. It also describes how castles were defended and how they built the different types of bridges, walls, gatehouses and moats, defenses, drawbridges. The Illustrator is incredible and brings to life very clear depictions of the subject matter. This book is a must have for historians and fantasy writers and artists. This was well worth 20.00 I paid for it. I wish I would have bought the hardback.

This book starts from the first few pages with an in depth study of the fortified positions of the middle ages - i.e. castles, keeps, etc. Despite a level of detail that may be too in depth for a beginner, the book itself provides a very readable style and is absolutely full of useful information (krunchy bits) for authors or others wishing to make an in depth study of medieval fortifications (ATTENTION GAMERS!). It has hundreds of high quality, albeit sometimes confusing, line art portraits that show each and every aspect of castle or its related cousins (where is #67 again - its sometimes like Where is Waldo finding the numbers referenced in the subtext). The book also has a great deal of information regarding siege techniques and the weapons used therein - and this information is fantastic in its level of detail and the included line art! The included photos are all in B&W, and some are rather grainy, but by far, they all serve the purpose they were intended to - they show the true grandeur of the castle as it was.

Within the text, the authors do have a habit of referencing other authors, which, if your looking for more on the subject, is good. However, by page 80, they have referenced at least 30 other authors and works (is that not what the bibliography is for).

Outside of this one complaint, the book is absolutely invaluable to anyone interested in the subject!

NOTE: This review references the soft-cover red front edition of the book, which I could not find the link for on Amazon (it may be an out of print edition or not, I am not sure - however, the TOC of the this edition appears identical to mine, so I am assuming that the contents have only been repackaged for the HB binding).

This is an excellent work. It would be perfect for a student
project with a focus on Middle Ages building designs. The author
provides detailed engineering specifications for castles, forts,
a motte and rising towers. The engineering statics implications
are explained in the detailed design process. The work covers
action implementalities; such as, the ram, siege and cannon.
The author spends a portion of the book explaining how
war objects were constructed during the Middle Age period.

In addition, he concludes that an increase in wall size
necessarily means weakening the overall superstructure.
Some time is spent explaining the model diet for the period
which consisted of wheat, barley, oats and fish. This work
will help readers understand the building requirements
for structures created during the Middle Ages. The book would
be valuable for historians, art buffs, architects, engineers
and a wide constituency of other readers.

My grandparents got this for me before I left to study abroad in Paris for a few months. It didn't take me long to realize how useful it is. I literally didn't leave home without it! It had everything I needed and was small enough to fit in a purse, but not so small that it was difficult to read. The metro map in particular was accessible and very, very helpful. Highly recommended to anyone going to Paris, whether it's for a few days or a few years.

This book (mine is spiral bound, but the one here does not look it) is very useful to the traveler. The maps are very clear, in full color, and easy to understand. My only complaint is that when you are looking at a page, if you want to view the continuation of that page, there is no reference to what page to view next. There is a small diagram showing what section the page highlights, but I do not find that quite as clear. But overall, a good, portable map of Paris for visitors.

I spent the fall semester of 2003 studying in Paris. I'm a type A so I was really prepared before leaving -- I'd done a ton of research and I couldn't imagine arriving in Paris without a map. So I headed down to my local bookstore to buy one. I happened to come accross this Michelin map and it was perfect!!

It has ring binding so it's really easy to keep open without creasing the pages. It's also broken down by arrondissement and in the back is a road index. All of the metro stops and even taxi stops (a God send at times) are marked down!! And in the inside cover you find a map of the Paris Metro system. It's also really really thin and can easily be taken wherever you go.

I really couldn't have down without this Paris Pocket Atlas!

My friends all purchased their maps in Paris (Paris Pratique). Trust me though this one is far better and more convenient!!!

I loved it!!

I bought this map for my trip to Paris. It is such a great map. Very readable and so well organized. Having a map in a booklet format like this is indispensable.

This pocket Atlas of Paris is a book/map that truly amazes me. I bought it based on the reviews here, and I am still awed by it. The navigation of the pages is well-done and user-friendly. You can quickly lookup and flip to the right neighborhood you need. The level of detail is amazing. Even pedestrian-only shopping arcades are there. The metro stations are easy to find and use. With this spiral atlas and a mini-compass velcro-strapped to your watchband, you will never be lost in the maze of Paris. Key sights and monuments are labeled and drawn in brown (with the correct building geometries!). Wanna change plans on the fly and zip from one neighborhood to another? no problem. You will spend less time looking for sights and more time touring. We even used the one-way street detail of the atlas to pre-plan our drive thru the hustle of Paris traffic; Zipping around the Place de Madeline and Champs Elysees was a real rush and treasured memory. The whizzing by of passing scooters made me feel like I was an X-wing in a Tie-fighter dogfight. I wish I could have a guide like this for every city we tour.

"The bible" of touring Western Europe, by motorcycle, pedal bike or auto. Mr. Hermann has produced " a must own" publication if one is planning a trip through Western Europe and wishes to be part of the history and scenic beauty that captures the essence and beauty that this region has to offer.

This is an outstanding guide to the best riding roads in the world. I recently took an organized motorcycle tour of the Alps. Good thing I took this book with me, as it quickly became my guide. Others on the tour were wondering how I found all the great roads!! If you are going to tour the Alps, buy this book now! Rates all the passes, with a short recap on each one.

I use to go on travel with my motorcycle just one or two times a year. I'm really busy and I haven't too much time to plan these travels so I bought this book thinking it could help me to plan a travel by the Alps. But it was a surprise!!! All the travel was perfectly planned in this book! Hotels, Restaurants, special places, roads, etc. Just a little deception: the pictures are black and white!

I took a packaged tour of the Alps in 2002. Thank goodness I took this book with me. This book had so much more quality information than the touring company, it was unbelievable! Each night, we would return from some awsome ride (not on the base or recommended route). It became a nightly ritual to review where we went. People, including the tour guide, wanted to know how I knew of these roads, I showed them the book.

Next time, I will just take this book and go, no tour company! I am a heavy rider, 30K miles per year, close to 400K miles ridden.

I took John's first edition of this book and a map and rode the Alps and the Dolemites for ten days. We reviewed the routes and stops each morning and evening. This is a great resource if you are traveling in the area. I brought three other books on this topic and left them behind at hotels as the trip progressed, as I realized I did not need any other resources. Use this and an internet translator site (like Babelfish)and you can make your reservations in some of the same hotels that Edelweiss and other formal tour groups use.This new edition expands on the first by adding Corsica and updating the Alps/Dolemite section. It is a great read. John is the recognized authority on this area for those of us that don't speak other languages well, and don't live there.He is also correct in stating that the riding in this region is addictive.

What a great addition to any St. Patrick's Day arsenal! A great cliff-hanger-type folk tale, complete with kings, sea monsters, vindictive witches, and a heroine who gives a whole new meaning to "riding off in the sunset"! The illustrations are superbe! My kinders raved about this book, even though I feared it would be a bit above them. We read it in sections, stopping at the brink of each near-certain disaster, so that it was just the right amount of listening for my many wiggily boys!! It fits in so well with our current fairy tale theme, that I would include in this genre, as well. This is a not-to-miss adventure, complete with classic twists and turns, and a few new ones!

I bought this book for my nephew but decided to wait to give it to him for several reasons. The main one being that I absolutely LOVE the book myself! LOL! However, while the story is good and I know he'll enjoy it, he's still a bit young (not even 2); it seems more appropiate for 4 years old or older.

In the story, Young Kate uses her wits to save her family and her village with an ending I never saw coming -- not your typical 'Fairy Tale Ending' but an excellent one nonetheless especially for our modern times. I fell in love with the illustration's ton of detail that kept me looking at each page long after the reading was over.

My one complaint is that, while the book itself is good sized so you can see the pictures, the paperback edition seems a bit flimsy. If this story is to be loved (and thus read) as much as I think it will then I may have to order another copy or two to last through the years. Perhaps the school binding edition is more sturdy?

Both girls and boys will enjoy this story and I think you grown ups will, too.

"O'Sullivan Stew" is a rollicking book with a truly heroic female protagonist. The pictures are both lovely and funny--if you pay special attention to facial expressions I guarantee you'll be laughing out loud. Kate, the heroine, spins yarns with a skill beyond her years, painting pictures with her inventive tales. Her speech is like music--you can practically hear her brogue while you're reading. And if her storytelling doesn't convince you that she's painting pictures with her words, then the illustrations will. They vary from dreamy pastels to muted and murky to bold and bright depending on the nature of the tale she's telling. And when she stops, the world turns black and white.

Not only does this book contain excellent illustrations, a strong, believable heroine, and a captivating story line, but there are several surprises and an unexpected ending. I hope you'll read it... it would be a shame to miss out on such a marvelously fun book!

The Irish have long memories, and even longer tales to reflect that. This book is a wonderful way to get children caught up in the excitement and tension of a classical tale, while also giving them a resourceful and modern heroine to admire. The book is everything a children's story should be: it's funny, the languish reads well and beautifully, and the illustrations are well done. This is a must-have.

This is probably my favorite story for a St. Patrick's Day read aloud. The village of Crookhaven is cursed when the local witch's horse is stolen by the king. Kate O'Sullivan and her father and brothers try to steal the horse back but are captured. It is up to Kate to weave a series of tales to get them all off the hook by describing other "true" stories where her family was in a "worse spot" than this one. The King is amused and enthralled by Kate's tales until the last one and all her work is about to be undone until an astonishing secret is revealed.

Hudson Talbott's illustrations are a riot of color and action. The expressions of the characters are so evocative you will laugh out loud.

Grab some Irish music to play in the background and share the story with everyone. The story will compell you to read with an Irish brogue even if you never have before.

Hudson Talbott books are like having a storyteller sitting at your elbow. The pacing of the story as it interplays with the illustrations is perfect.

This well-researched and (necessarily) somewhat-speculative work covers the sustainment of Freemasonry in Scotland in the time just before Masonry went public in 1717. The title is less accurate than the subtitle, however, for it creates more questions than it answers. For convincing speculation on the actual origins of Freemasonry (and one that fits well before this book if one will take William Schaw as patron and not creator of the Craft), read "Born in Blood" by John J. Robinson.

Prof. Stevenson, a non-mason, has stumbled upon freemasonry while specialising in the history of the Scottish covenanters. He adds academic structure and his formidable historic knowledge to the unwritten part of Scottish masonry, - an oral tradition of memorized texts and a rich variety of lodge rituals, -way before George I's (a Hanoverian who spoke no English) attempt in 1717 to create a system of control by establishing the Grand Lodge of England. Mr. Stevenson may be forgiven for not understanding masonic imagery, however he has given us a well presented insight into Scottish masonry. His impressive work sets new standards in masonic history, based on verifiable and reproducable evidence rather than on wishful thinking. A highly recommendable book.

Outstanding scholarly work. Not an easy read, but full of the details and exacting research one expects from an academic of Stevenson's stature. I am on my second time through this book.
Any Brother who considers himself a Masonic scholar should be in possession of this book.

Though sometimes the reading is a little dry, this book is full of great history. Origins of some aspects of masonry few have heard of. Any Mason who loves history, will find it interesting.

There are about as many explanations of Freemasonry's origins as there are explainers. From Freemasonry's own dramatic and fascinating legends to paranoid conspiracy theories, along with overly fanciful New Age yarns, unsupported armchair guesswork, bestselling thrillers, and careful historical investigations. This book is an exemplary model of the latter. David Stevenson has brought his scholarly acumen and disciplined historical expertise to bear on a much muddled subject, arriving at conclusions as plausible and modest as they are interesting and original--not to mention refreshingly clear.

The first seventy pages or so are extremely dry, and after a while started to wear on my patience. My advice: bear with Stevenson as he lays out the facts here, grounding Freemasonry's murky prehistory firmly in the socioeconomic facts of Medieval Scotland. From this he can demonstrate convincingly how Renaissance elements of Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, the Art of Memory, and Vitruvian valorizations of architecture came to inform the self-characterizations and common practices of these prior craft guilds, gradually transforming the latter in the process. He sticks closely to previously unconsidered primary sources of the time in question rather than later reconstructions so as to uncover the unfolding of this complicated process, mining fragmentary manuscripts, local records, and other such often overlooked sources tucked away in the shadowy corners of old archives for what they have to tell us--cautiously and painstakingly distinguishing certain fact from plausible but ultimately unverified speculation based on those facts as he goes along. In the bargain he makes a strong case for his rather original thesis that much of early Freemasonry as we know it today developed in Scotland and only then spread to England (and from there to the rest of the world), substantially altering our picture of this intriguingly complex process thereby.

And it's rather amusing to think that it all started with a stray reference the author came across in the midst of pretty much unrelated historical research, one he decided to follow up on for the heck of it and maybe write a little article--an article that grew into two whole books, this one and the more locally detailed The First Freemasons: Scotlands Early Lodges and Their Members. Stevenson's extensive consideration of the Scottish proto-Freemason Robert Moray--crucial in accounting for the evolution of Freemasonry's symbolism, social values, and ethical orientation--has apparently also blossomed recently into his editing of Letters of Sir Robert Moray to the Earl of Kincardine, 1657-73. So what started out as a lark has grown into a sustained scholarly pursuit, of which "The Origins of Freemasonry" here is a key work and perhaps the most accessible for the generalist. Indeed, if you are looking for a sober, reliable book on this topic, this one fits the bill nicely.