Guides and Directories Books

Very broad range of topics. Not too in depth so if that's what you ar looking for you might be disappointed. I was looking for a large overview of nearly everything, and that's what I got.

Glad I bought it!

This is pretty much one-stop shopping for the guitar junkie -- just buy it now and save yourself a lot of money....

This is a great book...voluminous. Easy to follow visuals. Great depth in a variety of styles.

When I got this book I was amazed at how huge it was. It's heavy too. In fact I'm not sure it would be safe to put this on a music stand, it could injure someone. The content is like having a couple years worth of Guitar Player magazine columns in one big book. Covers over a dozen styles in their individual chapters with some representative licks. Also lots of guitar maintenance stuff, tho I just don't see how a book of this bulk could work in a workshop environment.

So the book is pretty great, the only BIG problem I have is that 300 pages of this book is a reprint of Tony's previous book, "Electric Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia". And I had just bought that book 2 weeks before. So if you have THAT book already, then you are getting just 297 pages of new material in a book that's 3x as heavy as that one (this one is hardcover).

If that factoid was mentioned in the review than I guess it's my own fault, but either way it bears repeating. Of course if you don't have the previous book than this is great. The colors are a bit richer than the previous book, too. But I probably would have skipped this if I had known the above.

Like countless others, when I was younger, I fancied myself as a guitarist. So, when I saw this gem a few years ago, I couldn't resist.

There's sections with music o how--or what--to play according to various styles, pieces on instrument maintenance. But frankly what mesmerized me was the whole "catalog," as someone else called it, of electric guitars.

I wondered why I hadn't seen a Mosrite for so long. The book explains why (I won't give anything away.) There's pictures of my old Guild, and my old Epiphone. My God, the book stimulates memories.

Perhaps the highlight of the book is it's illustrations. Like I said, there's pics of countless models...even of some of my favorite Vox guitars (which went out of business in the late 1960s). There's ads from various music magazines promoting such and such a brand with the pic of a celebrity--maybe Jimmy Page, or someone else--playing that instrument. There's a little history of the company.

Since I just finished a book on Eric Clapton, I wanted to look up the Kay which was the guitar that Clapton played just before he hit the big time. Sure enough, there is was.

There's even some descriptions as to how a model got it's model number (e.g., I think CES is cutaway, electric, Spanish, from one brand I'll let you look up yourself.)

Be forewarned, though, the book's subject is ELECTRIC guitars. So if you're after accoustics, you'll have to look elsewhere.

In the meantime, enjoy this one, and wallow in the memories.

I didn't know that if you use quotation marks in most search engines that it'll narrow your Internet search. This is just one of the "tips" that this book has along with 1000 very cool web sites that take you just about anywhere you want to go (this is one big book!). It has definitely made my time on the web a lot more productive.

I didn't know that if you use quotation marks in most search engines that it'll narrow your Internet search. This is just one of the "tips" that this book has along with 1000 very cool web sites that take you just about anywhere you want to go (this is one big book!). It has definitely made my time on the web a lot more productive.

This book is the ultimate reference to Yahoo!. H. P. the III makes you feel like you almost grew up with him. I highly recommend this for any novice to the Internet. Although not as good as his previous publications on the life of guitarists, this almost makes you want to give up life in the clothing business and work in the internet world.

I didn't know that if you use quotation marks in most search engines that it'll narrow your Internet search. This is just one of the "tips" that this book has along with 1000 very cool web sites that take you just about anywhere you want to go (this is one big book!). It has definitely made my time on the web a lot more productive.

Not everyone in the world is "completely wired." I don't get to spend too much time on the web--mostly at nights after work--and it seems like I look around forever just for basic information (mostly personal finance and some rugby sites--my favorite sport).

It wasn't until I read this book that I knew you could search using quotation marks, or the words AND OR NOT NEAR. How come the search engines never told us this stuff? Now I leave this book open right next to my computer every time I surf the web. A great reference.

It's been six years since the last edition of this book. I used it in Paris recently and although one could get a sketchy idea of cheap accoms six years later (probably more like eight years given research and publishing lag), I would really like to see this guide updated more often.

I don't blame Sandra for this, it's probably the publisher being stingy. But the out-of-date book is soiling the reputation of both author and publishers, I'm afraid.

To the reader in Michigan: stop dissing Sandra Gustafson. She's entitled to congratulate herself a little for all her good work!

The title _is_ misleading, but the book is very helpful for anyone looking for a good, reasonably-priced hotel.

The thing about this guide is the quality of the research. General guidebooks don't really devote a great deal of effort to tracking down the best hotel deals, even though accommodation is the largest expense on holiday, while other Paris hotel guides seem to concentrate more on old-world charm than simply finding a nice room at a good price - which is Cheap Sleeps' forte.

The descriptions are very detailed and she finds some wonderful, but heroically obscure, hotel choices. I stayed at one which offered simply fantastic value for money, yet was listed nowhere else. The book more than paid for itself in the first night. If you're going to Paris, you'd be mad not to buy it.

I wanted to buy this on Amazon and was surprised tosee that the edition is from 1998. I checked into Chronicle books, the publisher, and the most recent edition from March, 2004 is available for $14.95. Why isn't Amazon carrying this most recent edition???? It is an excellent book that I have relied on many times on my trips to Paris.

Cheap Sleeps in Paris is wonderful.

When I travel in the states, I usually go away for a long weekend, and I'm able to take advantage of weekend rates at hotel chains I know. It doesn't take much know how to get a good room in a Hilton, for example. We have lots of companies that try to keep up a consistent level of quality, and rooms tend to be pretty much the same in different cities.

But in Paris, that strategy doesn't work. My stays are longer, and I just can't afford to spend 8 nights in the same kind of place I'd choose here in the US. Most of the hotels in Paris are small and ideosyncratic. It's not just that there are differences from hotel to hotel -- there are even differences from room to room within the same place. The quality of your experience depends more upon the individuals running a specific hotel than it does here in the states, where there are companies that try to maintain a culture of quality that you can count on in different cities. In Paris you're often dealing with someone who owns and operates one hotel, and the quality of the place depends a lot on that person's attitude.

I found Gustafson's book to be very helpful. I went to Paris twice last year. The first time I didn't use her book, and I got an awful place in a marginal neighborhood and I wasn't able to dial out with my laptop (which I need to do for work), despite the fact that the hotel's web site said that I could. "Oh, you need an executive suite for that, they cost 3 times as much, and they're all full."

The second time I did use this book, and I got a place in a much nicer neighborhood, for 2/3 the cost, with a very comfortable bed and very nice bath with shower. And I could actually dial out with my laptop. That doesn't sound like much, but I had a very hard time finding a place that would let me do that. Although it's not a focus of Cheap Sleeps, she does mention a few places that are net friendly, and that was important to me. Most people will obviously have other priorities. But I believe this book will help them as well.

I've just requested another reservation at the same place for the fall. I've read some reviews here that complain about the places not being cheap enough. My room will be $68/night, in the 16th (ie., a yuppie neighborhood), on a quiet street, and it comes with a nice bath, shower, and television with cable. Not to mention the all important phone jack. I know the Franc is weak now, but when I compare that to what I pay in New York, San Francisco, London, LA, or what I'd have to pay here in Chicago, it seems pretty cheap to me.

The important thing, though, is that it's not so cheap that you wouldn't want to stay there.

Here's the bottom line: how much are you spending on your trip to Paris? This book is cheap. It will probably make a real difference in the quality of your trip; I know it did for me. If not, what are you out, compared to what you're spending already?

I love Sandra. No one has put in as much legwork as she in finding smaller spots, (perhaps that are marketed mainly to other Europeans) that are in the middle of everything and are reasonably priced. I have used this book twice, and (GASP) I gave it to my mother to use! Everything worked out splendid. If Sandra says a price and location in her book is as good as it gets, believe her. If some decry that her cheap sleeps are not so cheap anymore, this may have to do with the fact that Europe in general is reaching dollar parity with the U.S. Let the reader blame the tanking U.S. dollar for the fact he can't stay in Paris for 22$ a night anymore. I guess I have reached an age where I do not want glitz, or fashionable place anymore. What has become important is little of what the Irish call 'craic' and some measure of authenticity. When Sandra says the owner is delighful, or a quintessential Frenchman, she aint kidding. And believe me, you will remember the little things of your trip, such as what Sandra can lead you to, then the big things. Use her book without reservation!

This has everything I need to know from front to back. I even emailed the author a question and got a reply almost immediately!

Well, I wish I could back this book 100%, but I can't.

I've found the information in it very unreliable. For example, one publisher I contacted turned out to be a vanity press, although Sally Stuart didn't identify them as such. In addition, I found many agents that were listed had either moved or were no longer in business. Perhaps the book needs to be updated more regularly?

I have yet to discover a solid publisher or agent through this book that isn't listed in the Writer's Market.

As a Pastor and a writer, I recommend this book wholeheartidly. This isn't "The Guaranteed to get published Christian Writer's Market Guide" for those of you who are confused. It is a very comprehensive work of suberb, and I would imagine, painstaking detail that Sally has gathered from various Publishing Houses, Periodicals, Writer's groups, Literary Agents and the Likes. It is a much needed resource for any serious Christian Writer. It is a "tool" to help us unlock the doors into the very competitive publishing industry, which changes by the day. Sally even gives updates to the market in her monthly column "Write Markets" found in the "Christian Communicator." This book is essential and is worth every cent. Sometimes just browsing through the pages gives me motivation to keep on writing and see the Gospel proclaimed in as many ways as I can.
Pastor Tom Iannucci
Breath of Life Christian Ministries
Kauai

Sally Stuart continues to provide complete and necessary information for any writer looking to be published in the Christian marketplace. If that's your market, buy this book.

Itemized and thorough, readers of the Writer's Digest writer's markets will not be disappointed. Cross referenced ministry... have a seemingly obscure niche article? She has created a section outlining the niches, listing the publications which serve them.

It is well-edited and cleanly laid out.

Useful would be this book on a searchable CD. The book lacks bigtime here. I want to search all publications publishing poetry, and have the results returned in one area. It takes a long time to thumb through and read each one. I'd like to search all the poetry publishers which pay for the poems... you can see how this would be handy. Maybe next year.

Having held out to buy a new edition, I suffered using a 1999 version. Editors, publications change locations and needs. I acquired far too many rejection slips and returned mail for delaying my purchase of this new edition. Don't make the same mistake!

I fully recommend this book.

Now in a fully updated and expanded sixteenth edition, Sally Stuart's Christian Writers' Market Guide continues to be a complete and accurate reference guide and resource for Christian writers seeking publication. It is the only guide written exclusively for the Christian market and includes websites, publisher email address-es, and guidelines for novice writers seeking to break out into print. The Christian Writers' Market Guide is an indispensable, essential resource for becoming published within the Christian community.

I sent a note about this book two years ago and I'm sending another because I like it more and more. I've taken some golf trips recently and have used the Confidential Guide to point me in the right direction. Through this book, I've "discovered" some superb courses that I would not have found. And, to boot, said courses are quite often completely unhyped, friendly and unsnobby. If you get the chance to travel quite a bit and you like to find those hidden gems, then this is a great place to start.

Tom Doak's book is a total delight. it is a shame it is not better known as any golf connoisseur would cherish its judgements and insights. i have played only a small fraction of the courses he reviews - in the UK and South Africa - but i would generally support his judgements. He is spot on about Dornoch which is a magnificent golf course, and still not that well known. He is too kind to Ballybunnion No 2 which i recollect as a course verging on the laughable - admittedly in tough conditions. it is a shame that he has not played some of the fine courses in spain and portgual - sounds like he needs a collaborator to expand the coverage and get out a second edition! the book is most welcome for its judgements - as he rightly points out, most descriptions of golf courses are just puffery which don't really help the unitiated know whether to play them or not. you also feel that he is unlocking a treasure chest - that a whole lifetime of excitement lies ahead just getting to a fraction of the fine courses he mentions. i agree with the correspondent who says the pictures are too dark. in my edition there is another rather embarrassing error - the text for Durban country club is repeated in total for garden city - perhaps this will make it a valuable collectors item. these are but small quibbles - what would really make my day would be to hear that a second updated edition is in the pipeline, though one would not want a book of this nature to come out too often. well done mr doak!

If you like the field of play as much as you like the game, Tom Doak's seminal work on the great courses of the world is essential.

Once you've browsed through, read cover-to-cover, and pored over the pictures, "Confidential Guide" is a book that you will refer back to every time you travel for golf.

I don't know which is more impressive... that Doak has visited all of these by a young age, or the way his lifetime of impressions from world travel is summarized for the reader.

This book is one of my favorite books relating to golf. Tom Doak's analysis of courses is dead on, unlike what one other reader erroneously mentioned. If you don't like the courses considered great by Tom Doak, you don't like real golf. I have played his recommended courses whenever possible, and have always been thrilled that I did so. Buy this book, and read it!

There will be plenty of readers who will disagree or even take offense at some of Tom Doak's course ratings and observations (for example, he does NOT give Augusta National a perfect score of 10), but that's all the more reason to peruse this wonderful guide.

There are essentially three sections to this book. In the first part, Doak serves up his "Gourmet's Choice," which includes the best work from golf's best architects - Ross's Pinehurst No. 2, Perry Maxwell's Prarie Dunes, C.B. MacDonald's National Golf Links, and nature's own St.Andrew's (Doak, being a course designer of note himself, includes his own High Pointe in this section).

The second part is a regional/world wide breakdown of courses that Doak has either played or visited. What becomes apparent in this section is that 1) Doak favors courses that are both challenging to the expert player and playable for the average guy, 2) he's not above critical observation of his peers, and 3) has an affection for older courses that employed a minimalist approach (i.e.; limited land-moving, no waste areas, etc.).

Finally, "The Gazeteer" offers a number of quirky, humorous lists of hazzards, best and worst holes, courses to be avoided at all costs, and courses that one's spouse would enjoy.

Again, some may accuse Doak of arrogance and self-promotion, but there is no denying the love he displays for his craft, or the passion of his convictions. As with most books dealing with golf architecture, this one contains a lot of great photography. Plus it's interesting to note that Doak has been hired on as a consultant to do restorations on a number of courses that he panned in this book, including two Seth Raynor designs (Blue Mound, in Milwaukee WI, and Yeomans Hall, in the Charleston, SC area) that had been either "over beautified" or neglected through the years.

I have the 2000 edition of "Interstate Exit Authority" and found it very helpful during my Summer of 2000 road trip to and from California. The book is detailed yet easy to read and use- it covers every exit on every interstate and major highway. Before the road trip, the book saved me time and resources during the planning stages. During the road trip, looking up information was fast and easy. The book was a huge 600+ pages, yet easy to carry and handle, and overall very durable. I'd like to see it back on the market, with new editions every 12 months.

We travel often during the year to NASCAR races and pull a 24ft trailer. The eXitSource is a MUST to find stores, gas stations, RV parts stores and ESPECIALLY where the to dump the bathroom and water tanks. There are many states where the dump stations are not provided so to find one ahead of time is important in the planning. We have used the Exit books for years and would not be without it.

Have found alot of missing businesses, book needs updating. Is there a 2005 coming?

I had previously posted a review and provided incorrect information concerning the listing RV dump stations in the eXit Source, they are in fact listed in the Trailer Life Directory which is another must for any travelers with RV's. Trailer Life is great for looking for Camp Sites ahead of travelling.

We have traveled to Florida and to Yellowstone this year. The Exit Authority was the most helpful book for traveling I have ever used. We were able to plan all our stops, get gas, find a restaurant, pick a campsite, you name it Exit Authority has it listed. I wouldn't go on any trip without it. Only one problem and it isn't with the book, I live in Pa and we still don't have the correct numbers on our exits. We had the most trouble right in our own state. Otherwise, buy it and enjoy your trip!

This was supposed to be used a coffee table book, but there are barely any pictures to along with the lame descriptions. Some of the courses listed are super private...guess i will die unfulfilled.

I bought this book as a gift for my boyfriend and he loves it. We have chosen one of the golf courses to visit on our honeymoon--Teeth of the Dog in the D.R. If you know someone who enjoys golf and likes to travel, buy them this book.

I don't care for golf too much, but I gave this as a gift. This is the perfect gift for an avid golfer.

The photo's and the script makes me want to visit every place. Very relaxing and something to look forward to.

My brother is an avid golfer so he really enjoys the history and little known facts about the "best" courses.

This book has been extremely helpful for my fiance and me as we look for a location for a wedding in N. California. Some of the locations we visited were a little bit disappointing, but overall the people at these locations were helpful and informative and the descriptions from the book accurate.

This guide has a TON of ideas for weddings in the CA Bay Area/wine country, but VERY slim on any other places in Northern California. Great if you are a SF Bride, but bad if you are above Napa.

I was given this book as a gift soon after my engagement. At the time, I hadn't given much thought to where I wanted to hold the event. This book was a great help in finding several locations that were ideal. As the wedding market in Northern CA is rather busy, it was very nice to have several choices so that we could find a venue that was availible on our desired date.

This book contains accurate descriptions of venues, with information pertianing to the size, cost, and other key factors. It also contains less important but still useful information on catering options at each venue, music limitations, and other factors which can help a bride and groom say yea or nea to a location that is still site unseen.

I called over 20 phone numbers in this book and all were up to date and correct. I also found the pricing information almost dead on. The black and white pictures also gave an accurate impression of the venues.

This book was essential to my planning of a wine country wedding and I highly recommend it to anyone that is arranging a wedding in the bay area.

I just pinned down a wedding venue, and I found this book helpful, with a few caveats. Firstly, brides-to-be should know that every venue in the book must pay "Here Comes the Guide" to be included. This engenders a lack of objectivity for the writers judging these locations. I am a travel writer myself so I felt a litle cheated by not having access to a trustworthy critical eye in the site reviews. Secondly, I was frustrated with the lack of photographs and felt the "Here Comes the Guide" website was much more helpful in this regard. All the locations in the book are online, and it's free there.

I actually found a gorgeous venue in Mendocino that wasn't included in the book or website. Just remember while "Here Comes the Guide" is a good place to start, you can find rare gems and less-travelled venues that aren't in the book. Talk to friends and experts who have gone to a lot of weddings. Another good place to look is the Chamber of Commerce website of the city in which you're planning to get married.

I absolutely dreaded planning my wedding and this book was the only thing that saved my fiance and I from spiraling into madness. We are both from the East Coast, relatively new to the Bay area, and had no family here to help us. Neither one of us had ever been married before or helped plan a wedding. Here Comes the Guide was the single most useful tool for planning our wedding, and is reliable enough that we didn't feel the need to interview a ridiculous number of vendors for each service before choosing one. If a vendor we liked was recommended by the book then we knew they had to be good. Here Comes the Guide is concise, recommends cool traditional and non-traditional reception sites, and provides all of the information you need to plan your own wedding without the help of a wedding planner. The only area which was lacking was limousines and transportation. Pretty much everything else, including bands, calligraphy, invitations, cakes, vendors, tuxedos, reception sites, and florists, was there in abundance.

If you like hot springs, this is the book for you! The most information in the easiest format to follow. The directions are better than most other books like it, Really I haven't found a hot spring book that compares, this one has been around a long time and it's still the best. Also has been revised so its up to date.

I got into hiking and discovered hotsprings a few years ago. This book is a great guide and map to many great springs all over the South west and more.
Def. reccomend it for the adventurer

By using the GPS coordinate, we had a lot of fun searching the hot springs in the Mammoth Lakes area. The only reason I give it 4 stars is there is a wrong GPS coordinate (reading the direction eventually got me there). Great book.

This is probably the best hot spring book in existence for the southwestern U.S.. It is great, it has everything you need. Beyond the locations themselves, the book lists temperature of the pools, driving direcetions, driving conditions, exact GPS coordinates, accessability and a great description of the springs along with some black and white pictures. It has all of the major hot springs in it (I am sure there are still some minor ones on private property). I have been to a couple of the sites in the book and it was easy to find them. I would highly recommend this book.

I gave this four stars because most of the book is awesome and we've good experiences with the other additions. My wife and I love to travel to natural hot springs and we bought this after visiting most of the springs in the Northwest US.
We bought this edition just to get some idea of the springs in Texas. There is only one listed though which is pretty inaccurate. Nothing in the Austin area is included but the stuff in Hawaii was right on!

This pocket wine book reviews wines that are not readily available in the Midwest. If you live in California or New York, it may be a better option for you.

At its price and size, unequalled, year after year. I only wish the sections on states such as New York, Virginia, and North Carolina were more extensive, but one can only pack can so much information into a book of this size.

I have been buying this book for many years and I am always impressed with how much information is in such a small book.

As a book, Hugh Johnson's annual Pocket Wine Book is a model of clarity. Wine buffs will find a long list of short but distinct entries, organized geographically and alphabetically within a country. There are also many tips on which wine goes with which food, the different ways to serve different wines, and descriptions of under appreciated and under publicized wines such as port and sherry.

Wine lovers know of the rivalry between wine critics Robert Parker and Hugh Johnson, and Johnson fans the flames with two pages poking fun at Parker's 100 point scale. To be frank it is hard not to agree that Johnson's system is better. A simple four star system to rate quality coupled with a highlight to show his own preferences. This strikes me as the correct level of precision for the topic.

However, this trivial dispute about how to rate wine overshadows the real disagreement between the two men, which is about how to make wine. Johnson believes in terroir (geography) and technology while Parker believes in traditional manufacture and grape varieties. Unfortunately, Johnson hardly ever acknowledges that particular dispute with Parker and completely lacks generosity to opposite viewpoints on these two issues. That I tend to see things Johnson's way does not make it less of a pity to me. The last failing costs the book one star. Or perhaps I should give it 96.5 points.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo

Last weekend my wife asked that I clear some of the debris out of the bookshelves in the library, and as I made my way through my wine books I found an edition of Hugh Johnson's 1990 Pocket Encyclopedia of Wine. Now this isn't exactly equivalent to stumbling on a first edition of Paradise Lost, but it's what passes for palpable excitement in my house. Just as I was sitting down to write a review of the 2006 Pocket Wine Book, this veritable antique magically appeared.

So I naturally set out to see what had changed in the past 16 years. The book is almost exactly the same dimensions-I guess pockets haven't changed much. It will still slip into an interior coat pocket, though it would probably feel somewhat unwieldy there given its 8" length.

How to contrast the two editions? I thought it might be fun to pick a Bordeaux chateau and see what HJ has to say 16 years apart. Let's do one that has no small amount of controversy around it these days, say Chateau Pavie.

1990. Splendidly sited first-growth of 100 acres on the slope of the Cotes. Typically rich and tasty St. E, particularly since 1982.

2006. Splendidly sited first-growth; 37 hectares of mid-slope on the Cotes. Great track record...this is new wave St. Emilion: thick, intense, sweet, mid-Atlantic and the subject of heated debate.

Plus ca change? Hardly. Other than the fact I have no idea what he means by mid-Atlantic (good with crab cakes?), this is what you can expect from the 2006 Pocket Book of Wine. It reminds me of the genie's description of his state in Disney's Alladin-"incredible cosmic power, itty-bitty living space." Translation for this guide: incredible density of information in a tiny package. Also not so sure about the conversion to the metric system, but maybe I wasn't paying attention when the Brits switched over to the dark side.

Let's just pick one more comparison of '90 and '06 at random before we move on. I opened the '06 Guide about 2/3 of the way through and landed on Croatia. There I found a page-and-a-half of definitions and producer descriptions for a region from which it may well be another 16 years before I actually get to try a wine-or want to. HJ has been there and done that. By way of contrast, the 1990 Guide has but two pages dedicated to all of Yugoslavia, including Croatia. There's no separate heading for Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro or Macedonia like you'll find in `06. Now that's progress.

1990. Dingac. Heavy sweetish red from local Plavic (grape), specialty of the mid-Dalmatian coast.

2006. Dingac. Vineyard designation on Peljesac's steep southern slope. Made from partially dried Plavic Mali, producing a full-bodied jammy red but emerging as a robust and dry red that supports oak and bottle aging. Highly esteemed and expensive. Look for Bura, Kiridzija, Matusko, Milicic, Skaramuca..

So what have we learned? A bunch. Much has changed (understatement of the year) in Croatia, and HJ has chronicled it with both great precision and concision. You get the geography, the grape variety, the nature of the wine and notable producers in a couple of terse phrases. That's hard to do.

What's the secret to this book? It's just crammed with facts, like force-feeding a goose to get foie gras. Here's a partial inventory of what's contained in this diminutive Dionysian dynamo (I must be getting tired):

Vintage reports on 2004 and 2003. Summaries of grape varieties both great and obscure. Wine and food suggestions including a section on cheeses. Suggested wines to drink in 2006. Sections on what must be every wine-growing region in the world, including high-level maps, regional designations, vintage charts, producer profiles, appellation and vineyard descriptions, and terminology definitions. For every standalone producer (eg Antinori): star rating from 1-4; concise color commentary calling out any particularly fine/consistent wines. For a single site, eg Bordeaux chateau: commune, star rating, recent good vintages, vintages for current drinking, brief comments, second wines. A quick reference vintage chart across regions; a small glossary of technical terms; serving temperature recommendations; and an explanation of Hugh Johnson's idiosyncratic scoring system (best score=the whole vineyard, i.e. it's so good I'd just buy the whole damn thing) and more.

If I continue with this review it will soon be longer than the book itself. No doubt: it delivers on what it advertises. Sure it misses some ultra-fine details, but it would be a fantastic reference for someone who doesn't mind carrying it around, an ideal use case, for example, being one of those times you're stuck in an unfamiliar store and just want to find something that won't be awful. Or if you're not that knowledgeable about wine and are willing to suffer the ignominy of pulling out a relatively small and inconspicuous book while you peruse a restaurant wine list. Or if you have no freakin' idea what Ukrainian wine to drink while you're making pysanky, this is the book for you.