Attractions Books

The [...] message boards can be very helpful in planning a trip so I hate to nix this travel guide but travelers with Lonely Planet consistently had better information than I had.

For example, after arriving by bus in Flores/Santa Elena they knew to walk behind the other side of the bus station to get a bus or van to Tikal. I was fending off an aggressive man who was trying to bargain me into paying a lot more money (consistent with the suggestion in the Frommers Guide) for a taxi. Not pleasant. Rescued by info from a Lonely Planet tourist.

In the same section the guide briefly mentions Remate as a place to stay but it's not on their map so I wasn't sure whether to get on the collectivo that was leaving right away or not. Remate was along the way to Tikal but, as happened way too often, the Frommers guide didn't have ready access to the needed info.

The guide did get me to a Q70 a night "hammock" at the Jaguar Inn in Tikal. The hammock was a tent adjacent (as in sides touching) to three other tents meaning I could not only hear every snore, I could hear anyone roll over, and that was with earplugs. The guide was just published but how long ago did they gather the info? No fact checking?

There was consistently incorrect bus info as to which company would go where and when the bus would leave. The guide got me to a nice (expensive, $[...] for the room and ride from the airport, but they considered it inexpensive) hotel by the bus stations so I could run from station to station rolling suitcase on cobblestones, finding out for myself.

The listed Languin hotel phone number was incorrect or maybe the pay phone did it wrong. Sounds like a delightful location but no one wants to go that far from Coban to find out if a room is available.

I have a bone to pick about La Panza Verde restaurant description in the Antiqua section. Izqierdo from Buena Vista Social Club is a part owner and plays there multiple times a week. Knowing that would have determined the splurge meal. A guide isn't going to have everything, but come on. Other tourists knew...

Hacienda Tijax in Frontera/Rio Dulce was a terrific recommendation but the guide doesn't tell you that the mob at the bus station is lying when they say it is closed and suggest other jungle lodges. You can call for the boat shuttle at Bruno's restaurant. It took me a hot, dusty hour to find the correct information.

The last night at Hotel Dos Lunas by the airport was really unfair advice. At the end of a trip most of us are trying to be almost out of Quetzales. Twenty left in pocket for departure tax. La Senora wants to be paid in cash, either Quetzales or dollars. To pay by credit card she demands a $[...] surcharge on a $[...] room, claiming taxes of 22% and high Visa charges. Wait. The tax is already in the $[...] and Visa charges 5%. Needed to know that since, like most tourists, I have a silly little aversion to lies and being ripped off. That's why we buy guides.

I like books that blend in the local customs.This is a good read and very uderstandable.

While this book touches on a lot of the sights worth seeing, the rest was lacking. The restaurant and hotel prices list were substantially lower than actual costs. The restaurants felt like total tourist traps- overpriced, mediocre to terrible food, and bad service. I was better off looking for restaurants on my own.

Given that this book was published so recently, I figured it would be the best buy for my May 2007 trip to Guatemala. My trip involved Antigua, Lake Atitlan, Tikal, and Guatemala City, so I had a good chance to use several sections of the book. Unfortunately, the book disappointed in many areas. For one thing, the book caters mainly to the very affluent tourist looking for comfort. (As a disclaimer, I should explain that I'm a young budget-traveling student.) The book features only the most gringo-rific hotels and restaurants (which happen to be the most expensive), and their "budget" options are not nearly the most budget-friendly options available. Their recommended tourist agencies are mainly Western-owned companies that charge Western prices, while locally owned travel agencies charge a fraction of the price for reasonable service. (e.g. US $30-50 for a trip to climb Volcan Pacaya from Atitlan vs. $5 from one of the many reasonable agencies near the main tourist area.) In the end, I ended up relying much more on word of mouth from friends in the area (and their guide books) for advice on lodging, dining, and transportation rather than the Frommer's Guide.

The Tikal section was another disappointment. The "suggested tour" covers only a fraction of the sites available there, and the map is so poorly labeled that it is impossible to do the tour without a guide. The night before I explored the ruins at Tikal (which are fantastic!), I was reading my guide at my hotel restaurant. A woman sitting at a nearby table asked me what I thought of it. When I told her I had found it very disappointing, she nodded in agreement. "Good luck finding your way inside with that book," she told me, shaking her head. She ended up being right -- had I not met a group of travelers with a better map, there is no way I could have navigated the park with that guide.

These are just a few of the problems with the book I had I can think of off the top of my head. Bottom line, this book is so superficial that it is much more of a brochure than a travel guide. It also caters mainly toward affluent travelers looking for luxury. Buy another guidebook that might not be as pretty, but makes up for it with content.

I thought the product was a very helpfull tool for the few bucks i paid. it gives good advice + you realize that it's true that sexy is always a plus. You know it, but you don't do it, that is were this comes in, it tells you that you HAVE to do it in order to feel emotionally and physically healthy everyday.

I purchased these tapes expecting some thoughtful advice on how to transform my image. Instead, I was treated to a string of the worst teeny bopper magazine cliches and a good deal of "purple prose", all delivered in a desperately overwrought manner by the reader. The prose was startling in its incorrect use of the English language, at points. What positive advice it might have had to offer, i.e. sexiness isn't about whether you look like Cindy Crawford, or not, was immediately contradicted by a long treatise on how much more sexy you are if you're lean and muscular.

I found this audio series somewhat difficult to listen to because of the unvarying tone of the reader and difficult to understand because of sentence structure. But all-&-all worth listening to and studying.

There have been huge licenses taken with the original book. Laying the two side by side, you can see that very little of the original has been retained. While the message is similar, it is really a rip-off of the original.

The author was very detailed in her writing which worked for the book but you had to get to the second half and then put everything together. All in all it was good because you did learn exactly how she used The Secret to attract someone to love who loves her and is a good person.

The book was nothing at all like I thought it would be. I was expecting a book about spiritual principals and applying them. By the time the book finally began to discuss the subject matter - somewhere around page 200, when she began her online dating encounters, I had lost all respect for the author and wasn't sure I could buy anything she had to say anymore. The first 200 pages of the book was devoted to the bitter account of the author's divorce and custody battle. The point of the book seemed to be little more than revenge on her ex-husband and his attorney because the courts awarded him custody of their children. I kept wondering when the laws of attraction would show up, as the author continuously attracted the exact opposite of everything she ever wanted - and the more the story progressed, the harder I found it to sympathize with her. The book gives a graphic, uncomfortably detailed, blow by blow description of an incredibly messy divorce and custody battle right down to the verbiage in the court papers. It is so detailed the reader feels like a voyeur watching a private family drama that they have no business seeing. (Sadly, that voyeuristic feeling only intensifies when she shares all of her private email correspondence with the man who became her second husband.) I was left with the belief that the only way her first marriage would have survived was if her husband had agreed with every decision she made about how to raise their children, never offered a differing opinion, and never questioned her choices - no matter how detrimental to the children he believed they were. Yet she tells the whole story from the point of view of a martyred mother wronged by her ex-husband, the courts, attorneys, and society at large. The entire first half of the book offers not one word about the laws of attraction, any spiritual message, or even an uplifting sentence. If you are looking for spiritual guidance, stick with Deepak Chopra - Cheryl Steinberg still has a lot of evolving to do.

I thought this book would give you insight on how to acquire property as Dan Barton says he did, the author, it did not. I can sum the booklet in a few short phrases, which are basically taken from M. Losier's Book "The Law of Attraction".
0. Change your old ways of thinking (think ONLY positive)
1. Desire something
2. Have faith: visualize it happening
3. Go for it (desire and faith alone will not bring riches, you have to put you self in action)

P.S. There is a work-book at the end of the 28 page booklet to write down your desires and how you plan to execute them for 90 days- this is the only thing that I see as a positive. And may I say very positive, but you don't need to spend $36 on this book when you can buy one that gives you more insight and goes in depth such as "Think and grow rich" by Napoleon Hill. Though I do see that Dan Barton provides a 800 number to call his company when in need to ask him or his associates about this book or situation.

As stated on the back of the book, it is written for children 12-15 yrs old. Large print, 104 pages with many drawings of child-like animals and people. Not for children who are truly troubled and disturbed, young adolescents might enjoy this book for a short time. I read the whole book in about 30 minutes. It does have a positive message: You have to like yourself and project a positive image before others will like you.

Overall, this book is likely to be a habndy reference for its numerous tables. However, the entries are very repetetive; several varieties of minerals such as agate and quartz appear individually, although the author does indicate which are valid mineral species as opposed to varieties and trade names.

Most of the text is similar to what may be found in Michael gienger's book (Crystal healing, Crystal Power), though the author's take does deviate in his own original ideas.

The crystal systems and mineral groups are each given their own nicknames, which makes it easier for the non-scientifically minded healr to look up, though it makes it cumbersome and childish to learn extra nomenclature.

the photographs included are sparse, and may not be the best representation of what is pictured. There are not too many, and they only appear in one of the appendices.

For anyone comparing crystal systems or chemical groupings of minerals, I do reccomend this book. Otherwise, many crystal enthusiasts may not have much interest.

This is the same crap that I had to deal with my parents about when Pokemon and Harry Potter were around and popular, this Phil guy is way out of line and is morbidly retarded, and if you agree with this, "WOOT WOOT, here comes the Clue Train, last stop YOU!" Pokemon and Harry Potter are both completely HARMLESS!

Uhhhhh.....sure.....pick on Pokemon and Harry Potter when there are worse things out there - Grand Theft Auto, gangsta- and hustler-rap music videos, Girls Gone Wild, to say nothing about the images on the news these days. This guy has FAR too much free time on his hands if he's finding something like a connection to Satanism in the midst of two things which - compared to the rest of the things we are surrounded by in this post-9/11 era - are totally harmless. To find something like Satanism in Pokemon and Harry Potter is preposterous. I don't have this book, but if I did, I'd use it for house-breaking a puppy or lining a birdcage or something like that.

Please, true, born-again Christians and also those who think they are Christians, do not underestimate your worst enemy, fallen angel Lucifer, also called Satan in the Bible. He is a real and dangerous entity in the spirit world. The Word of God refers to him as an 'angel of light' (2 Corinthians 11:14). He masquerades as good when his objective is to deceive and lead people away from the true and living God of the Bible and into bondage to himself and his evil including lying, perversion of sex, killing, and death, just to name a few of his sinful and destructive vices.

People, do you not see how he has manipulated the minds and deceived so many in the world leading them into evil darkness? Only a true, obedient believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has any true peace, joy, security, or contentment in this world. God's laws are meant to guide us in right thinking and living, so that we can have a taste of heaven right here on earth.

I appreciate Phil Arms concerns and defend this serious and helpful expose of how the enemy of our souls works his wiles in unsuspecting minds. The Holy Bible is very forthright in warning and forbidding people to have any part in occultic and witchcraft practices. We are gradually being 'dumbed-down' by people who do not take the Word of God seriously. Fears are good, because they can protect us from real dangers. I believe with all my heart that there is real danger ahead for those who open their minds and absorb these deceptive teachings and practices. It can and often does become a 'fatal attraction'. Give Satan an inch and he will take a mile. And he will not let go of you without the power that is in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, coming against him.

My prayer is that those who have negatively criticized this book will search the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit of God to show them the truth. I am really concerned that Satan is deceiving Christian adults as well as their children. It is truly sad and disturbing. I consider myself a mature but still growing-in-wisdom Christian, who has dealt with deception. Thankfully I searched the Scriptures for Truth, and God showed me not to believe all the spirits trying to influence my thinking. The Truths in the Scriptures are the infallible Word of God and if heeded will protect us from deception.

It does make Christians and are concern for many things in contempory society look stupid. The concerns he raises does need to be looked at by parents. For a few children these items may be a gateway to other problems. But a good watchful parent would see that. I certainly wish this book had not been published.

Wow! Poeple who use other poeple's successful writings to put money in their own wallets by writing a load of crap is actually pretty funny. Poeple who think they're good Christians should be out trying to do good for the world and not sit around trying to make a big deel out of a childerens book. Poeple who acuse harry potter of being evil must have missed all the christ like morals that it teaches or just be to dim to stand up straight.

I recently saw a number of quotes in the paper from his book, and felt the need to respond. I bought this book some time ago and was very disappointed. I am in complete agreement with the other reviewer of this book. I reluctantly give this book 2 stars. This work does not cut any new ground at all. The book takes a well known set of observations no where. A few good lines here and there, for soundbites on TV or quotes in the paper, but not much else with any real depth that is new, beyond that which we all knew in second grade. The author writes in such a way as to hold himself as an "expert" in this area, but his analysis and observations are so obvious that they are meaningless to the thoughful reader. Clearly a book for those people raised by the television and looking for a 15 second sound bite. I definitely would not recommend this book. The writer comes across as self absorbed and pompous.

Amazing that this work was even published. A tribute to all that is wrong with so-called "research" by professors in America at our universities. Phenomenon? The conclusions of the book are at the same time both obvious and irrelevant. Clearly a book not worth a re-print.

The author purports to be a master of a topic that does not excite the reader nor does it break any new ground. Pompous but not profound.

The write up hype about the book was better than the book, which was disjointed and confusing and somewhat dark.

This book was such a turn off that I could only finish it half way through. Too much story line devoted to a dominant woman who likes to force other women to please her sexually against their will. The rape scenes end with the dominant woman urinating in her victim's mouths. Very gross. Couldn't finish it.