Austria Books

Apologies first! Although I have not yet read Dimond's latest work I really would like to express my appreciation for his "Music made simple", now regrettably out of print. This book was an absolute inspiration to me when I first read it a while back. In it Dimond's excitement, thorough knowledge and -dare I say it - 'passion' for the composers he discusses is all too obvious. The book was evidently a labour of love and was a joy to read. Read it and be glued, avidly, to each page. Additionally, it includes concisely explained passages on music theory. With this book in your hands you will sail through G.C.S.E music. But just read it as a beautifully written book primarily on the lives and music of the great composers from the past. I wish I had Dimond's email to thank him myself!

There are errors appearing in this book from page 23 on (Va del furor portata instead of Va dal furor portata). Index of persons is very weak and inaccurate. I really wonder who did the recensy of this book? (Shame...)

If you are going to Europe hoping to find that Germany consists of Neuschwanstein, oompah bands, and wurst, Switzerland is all Heidi, cheese, and chocolate, and Austria the Sound of Music personified, you might find this guide useful. I have found that there are a lot of American travelers who take this approach to international travel, and the book will definitely guide you toward these experiences. On my fifth visit to the region, however, I wanted to appreciate the variety of these countries, and I was struck by the limitations of Steves' approach.

I will admit that my budget was what originally motivated me to buy the book, but I found that I got more bang for my buck by asking locals where to stay or eat - although I have to admit that since I couldn't try out every place listed, I may have simply chosen the wrong options. I also quickly realized that many of the towns in which I decided to stay (I made very few advance reservations, preferring to leave my options open) were not included in the book.

What disturbed me far more was the number of times, while trying to telephone places listed in the book, I was told that I had a wrong number. After this happened repeatedly, I threw the book out halfway through my trip.

Although I agree with a previous reviewer that the book was pleasantly written, I found Steves very dismissive of some cities, without recognition that people's tastes vary. In Heidelberg, for example, I have experienced wonderful walks along the Philosophenweg, terrific concerts in the churches, and generally great hospitality. Yes, there are American military bases nearby which mean that a lot of English is spoken, but that hasn't ruined the town for me. In Rothenburg, on the other hand, which Steves loves (and I have to agree that it is physically a charming town), I found everyone so geared up for tourists this summer that I had a hard time practicing my German, and there was a general surliness in the atmosphere which made for a less-than-enjoyable experience. Steves just doesn't include a town if he doesn't personally like it, leaving a traveler who either wants to or needs to stay there stranded.

Overall, I have to conclude that I wouldn't use this guidebook again. I haven't given it the lowest rating because I was not very pleased with any of the options available this year - my advice, if you don't need to make plans in advance and can wait until you get to Germany, is to buy a guidebook there. Both the German guides (in German) and the British ones (in English) available there were far more interesting and accurate.

Rick Steves' Germany, Austria & Switzerland guide is a laid-back tour of all the "undiscovered nooks and crannies" of the region. Like all of his guides, this one is enjoyable just to read. His guide is personalized, definitely written by a real person with a sense of humor.

If you plan to do more than just read Rick Steves' Germany, Austria & Switzerland, you have chosen THE BEST guide possible if you enjoy meeting locals, learning about cultures, and traveling off the beaten path. I have found that in many of the places Steves' writes about, the only other English-speakers you will meet will be Steves' followers. He also includes names and descriptions of restaurant, pension, hostel, hotel, and shop proprietors so that you can go in and say "hi!" Steves' constantly updates his books and you can be sure that the person behind the counter is the one described in his book. You will be greeted enthusiastically by these people because Rick is a well-known nice guy to them. In some cases you will receive discounts with these proprietors (I received a free town map from a shopkeep in Rothenburg o.b. because I carried Steves' book with me).

If this is your first trip to Europe and you are interested in seeing the most popular tourist attractions, or if you feel more comfortable in a tourist situation, take along a mainstream guide like "Let's Go" to use in conjunction with Steves' guide. His off-the-beaten path approach is great for students, families, solo-women travelers, groups, and senior citizens. I have seen all of these types with his book.

Rick Steves' Germany, Austria & Switzerland is the best guide you can get. The experiences you will have will leave you longing to return to his "undiscovered nooks and crannies."

O'Doherty has researched his Viennese courts well, and his Mozart and Ben Franklin; the descriptions of Anton Mesmer seem so real, I'm pretty sure I've read them before. Not that it's a criticism to say he cribbed from contemporaneous descriptions; the blending of borrowed reportage with fictional text is actually done pretty well.

However, O'Doherty waxes much too purple for my taste when he lapses into streams of consciousness that seem to turn into whirlpools from which he cannot extricate himself. More unfortunately, while he has done tons of research on the details of say, seventeenth century Viennese table legs, he hasn't read too many diaries from the time. His prose seems awfully Victorian to me. Or pseudo-Victorian. Actually, there were times when it reminded me for all the world of Elinor Glyn.

His problem is that the novel isn't a seventeenth century form, and stream of consciousness, moreover, is a twentieth century construction. Still more incongruously, O'Doherty appears to have his eye on eighteenth century fictive diary prose such as Charlotte Bronte writes in Jane Eyre. However, he can't even separate the first person narrative of early novels from the stream of consciousness that readers today are familiar with. In addition, he uses three-point narration (Mlle. P., her father, and Anton Mesmer) and seems to be trying to do something along the lines of The Moonstone, yet another form that didn't exist in the seventeenth century. O'Doherty has set himself up for massive leaps of invention. Sadly, he never quite does what he sets out to do, and the thing shrivels in the bud.

I'm just addressing his prose style, though. If you can stomach it, then you have the pleasure of the devices he uses to work Mesmer, Mozart, Benjamin Franklin, Empress Maria Theresa, and most of the rest of the Hapsburg court, plus the French Revolution into 240 pages. They are actually pretty artful. So if you like that kind of stuff, and aren't fussy about the mode of communication, this might the book for you.

On top of that, there's sex, lots of it, and a blind girl Mesmer is trying to cure, and some neat messages about talent vs. function.

However, if you read for style and rhythm of language as much as plot, this will set your teeth on edge.

This novel may be technically out of print, but you can still buy it in many bookstores...There are probably lots of warehoused copies. Since it's on the Booker shortlist, there's a good chance it'll come back into print. Nonetheless, if you're interested, you ought to grab it while you can.

This is an absorbing little tale of an unorthodox doctor treating a blind, aristocratic young lady who possesses considerable musical talents. It takes place in the Austrian royal court at the time of Mozart's own prodigious childhood.

While there are horrific moments highlighting the destructive effects of ill-conceived parental control, O'Doherty sheds light on the mysterious penchant talented people have for falling into the hands of suppressive creeps. The doctor seems sincere enough, but even he cannot keep his hands off the lovely musician.

Chapters told by different characters, the story is a fine exercise in viewpoint and voice. O'Doherty sets his scenes with amazing conservation of adjectives. The language and syntax alone paints vivid pictures of court settings. This reader really got the impression O'Doherty did his research meticulously.

Now that the author's shortlisted for the Booker, we have good reason to snap up this out-of-print novel!

Really a great price guide as long as you don't have any recent pieces. The name says retired, so don't go looking for current pieces prices.

This is a beautifully produced book in full color. Describes all the retired pieces as of 2000, but not those still in production so avid collectors will still need the book by Warner. This book like that of Warner lacks an index by product number. Missing more than a few pictures (an empty box has been left in the text), which hopefully the author will include in a later edition. There is no space left on the page for the collector to write any notes.

This book was filled with wonderful photos of the period but is essentially a pretty to look at coffee table book. It is not comprehensive in it's exploration of the style and does not have many examples of furniture to study. For the price l paid it is a disappointing resource to me as a furniture designer.

This is a bautifully done presentation of the Art of Biederrmeier. The book is fine quality and the printing work is beyond compare. You'll not be disappointed with this.

After 120 pages of drivel that should have taken no more than 20 pages, I gave up. Fact: Alec Donzi can't write and would have failed a creative writing course offered in high school. He seemed most interested in filling pages than in building a plot. One chapter seemed entirely devoted to the virtues of Austrian pumpkin seed oil (I couldn't have made this up). Another to what laptop he needed to buy to write the tripe that he managed to get published. On that point and that only he gives us all hope that we too can be in print.

Sadly I will have to agree with the other reviewers on the editing. In the beginning I thought it wasn't so bad, but then it really got deplorable. I really really wanted to like the book. It started off well, and the premise and story was original. As was, the style. But in the end it fell flat and I rushed myself just to finish the book (I skipped and skimmed pages). It felt rushed.

The idea of North Korea was intriguing considering the current situation, and there was a some good elements to the book.

In the end, I think the writer has potential. But obviously going from journalism to fiction writing is not a simple step.

And a real need for a real editor would help.

One thing is for sure, you either love this book or you hate it. I love it because of its unique insight. I know it's supposed to be a novel, but this book reads more like an investigative report, although the author borrows heavily from the fiction genre. What's amazing to me is the fact that this book was published in late 2000 and the author probably conceived the idea and wrote the book a few years earlier, and the results would normally qualify as a prophecy as Donzi wrote history before it actually happened. Right now we're seeing much of the content or at least the general premise and various situations fulfilled before our eyes. Nevertheless, Donzi's style is predominantly one of an investigative journalist and that takes time to get used to, but it's a work of suspense and a very interesting subject matter. I'm looking forward to the movie release, if that is in the works as the storyline in The Consultant is great film material; it would make a great action thriller.

There aren't too many novels or books for this matter that deal with the very serious and realistic danger of the nuclear threat from North Korea. But THE CONSULTANT by Donzi does and amazingly he puts hard facts into this fast-paced fictionalized account. At the same time we learn about the ethics of corporate America where undeniably greed is the dominating factor. This novel is an exciting read and is full of exotic locales (from Naples, Florida to the Far East, to Europe incl. Paris, France and through Bermuda). And the action never stops.

I devoured my copy of the "The Consultant" within 48 hours. Every decade or so, there comes along a book that you just have to read as it introduces us to a new era of storytelling. I still remember Grisham's "The Firm" back in '91 which was such a memorable book, and now there's Alec Donzi's "The Consultant." This novel is everything a new-millennium thriller is supposed to be and more. Aside from the action and the twists and turns, Donzi communicates valuable information about the reality of the nuclear threat in the Far East, and this authenticates the book. As a former investigative journalist, Donzi has researched his subject well and it shows. I also found the characterizations very well done. The story about a wealthy corporate consultant who gets involved in his last big deal moves like a hurricane through 76 chapters. Along the way, Jerome Birchner, the consultant, encounters high-level terrorists, a renegade CIA agent and a seductive female executive. Readers get a behind-the-scenes look of how Corporate America really works and how shaky world peace really is--it's scary to say the least. The settings of this novel include Naples, South Florida, Dallas, North Korea and Europe (Vienna, Zurich and Paris), as well as Washington. Fact is, I'll take my time to read this book next weekend again. "The Consultant" is a rich and engaging story and I know it is one of these rare books most avid readers will truly enjoy.

Unlike most histories of the Austian-Spanish-Burgundian-Low Country-Holy Roman Emporers, who were the Habsburgs, this is the story of how they saw themselves (as working for their people at the behest of a Catholic God). Much is made as to how they viewed themselves and how they wanted to be viewed by posterity. In many ways they continued to 'right write' their history in the same manner that the Soviet Union did. It's not always what you put in a story that's important, it's how you present the information in the story that remains.

Beginning with the small castle in Switzerland, the Habsbierge (hawk's mountain), they ruled over parts of Austria (originally Styria) for over 700 years. In between the scrupulously married and made dynastic mergers that would place them on the thrones of Spain (and most of the Western Hemisphere, parts of Africa and India),Portugal,Burgundy (parts of Belgium and the Netherlands), the Palatinate, Tuscany, Venice, Two Sicilies, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia-Moravia, Slovakia,half of Rumania(Transylvania) and most of future-once-Yugoslavia. In addition they married into every royal family in Europe.

In fact, until the Napoleonic Era they never even used a title that refered to Austria, and only began because of the rise of nationalism and the growth of ethnicity. They were always trained to be a caretaker and to present the most benevolent face to their people, 'Empire and Father' was the byword. In the end they were outdone by the multi-ethnic problems of their empire and the changes wrought by the 'Great War'.

Agree with reviews that the book is challenging in the way it's organized: around the figures rather than a chronological series of events. This can be confusing, and the family tree is very helpful in sorting out all the Rudolfs, Ferdinands, and Francis'. But I've always found history more interesting this way. Wheatcroft more or less achieves an overall character of the house of Hapsburg, a family that has lasted for the good part of the last millenium, never wavering in the assurance that its members are ordained by God to rule and to serve the people with their best interests. it is the blend of divine right and self-sacrifice that lends the Hapburgs their unique character. The opening of the book reads almost like historical fiction, but this narrative technique never reappears. And because of the scope of the subject, opportunities to delve into any one figure, no matter how important, are rare. But I found the portrayal of the family as a whole satisfactory, and the book can be read as an introduction to any figure interesting enough to warrant further research, such as the ill-fated Don Carlos.

This book gives a reasonably coherent overview of a dynasty that was eminent and influential in European politics from the 13th to the early 20th centuries. The author maintains a more or less chronological order of who followed whom and presents a concise history of the events that occurred during their reign. He also presents some insights and facts about the personal characteristics and traits of the more noteworthy Hapsburg (or Habsburg, if you like) rulers. At appropriate places in the text he inserts applicabnle commentary and quotes by contemporary observers. The book also includes numerous paintings as figures throughout the book.

The book is not as bad as some reviewers would lead you to believe. What I liked about it is that (to me, at least) it didn't get bogged down in tedious detail of each Hapsburg generation but gave the major facts and figures in an informative manner. Given that the Hapsburgs wielded power in Spain and Austria at the same time, I thought his treatment was informative without being boring. It would be nice if the author had inserted the applicable figure number for a view of the subject as he presented him (or her) but this is a personal preference.

I wanted to read this book as i am getting ready to visit Vienna in April. The book by Mr Wheatcroft is good because his account touches on several things that were really interesting.For example, the author explains the different personalities of the Holy Roman Emperors and Emperors of Austria.He also does a good job in explaining the times in which this emperors reigned which gives you a very good view of the circunstamces at that time. I also enjoyed the motivation behind important buildings for the Habsburgs like El Escorial in Spain and the Catacombs in St Stephen Church in Vienna.For someone who wants an introduction to the Habsburgs is a good books altough it has several flaws. One is that the author " jumps" from one event to another or from one emperor to the other.For example,he'll be talking about Charles V and all of the sudden he starts talking about his sons or future emperors without letting you know about it.I found myself going back several paragraphs to understand why he was doing that.Second, he doesnt really explain how the Holy Roman Empire gets started.He just mentions Charlemagne several times and the reader has to imagine the rest.His account sometimes is fast and sometimes is detailed which forced me to use other books with genealogies to help me understand which emperor is which and where does he come from.The other problem with this book is that it looks like the author thinks that the reader knows a lot of things so he doesnt describe or gives definition to events,people and places that i didnt know.For example, Metternich is mentioned really fast and just by his last name, so if you dont knoe who Metternich is, you'll have to look for him in another book to know who he is.Besides it's flaws, is a good book to get you started.

Those who are seeking an magisterial overview of how one dynasty came to control both Spain and parts of German-speaking Europe will be sadly disappointed. There is little analysis that adds any fresh insights.

The writing style does not achieve the easy grace of Alison Weir, Diane Preston or David McCullough. Indeed, the sentence structured is tortured. Look up the genesis of the First World War, and this is what you get: "Although the line of succession had been assured, first to his nephew Franz Ferdinand (although that was to be overturned by the archduke's murder in Sarajevo) and then to his great-nephew, Karl, and eventually Karl's son Otto, Franz Joseph had come to see himself as standing at the end of the line."

This is an unreadable book that should be avoided.

On the positive side, this book contains a lot of interesting information about Jung especially from a personal point of view. Contemporary accounts are presented and where there are conflicting stories the author at least mentioned all the possibilities. Almost the entire first half of the book deals with Jung's interaction with Freud. It is clear that the author prefers Freud. This is also the section of the book were the author allows himself to subjectively dismiss Jungian ideas. The rest of the book is more neutral in analysis though the picture painted is not an attractive one. But Jung may not have been the most likable person. To me the greatest flaw of the work was that I still did not have an appreciation of what made Jung as popular as he was and still is? The book is readable with some interesting information and views but it cannot be the only biography of Jung you read.

This book is an in-depth biography of Carl Gustav Jung, encompassing his private life as well as his scholarly work. It begins with the Jung's ancestors on both his father's and mother's sides, and continues through Jung's death in 1961. McLynn describes Jung's elementary school years, high school, university, and post-graduate training at the Burghoeltzli Mental Hospital. His relationships are treated in great detail, including those with his wife and mistresses, as well as with Freud and other colleagues. Each of his scholarly works is also treated to summary and analysis as it falls into the chronological record of Jung's life. Jung and his contacts left much material behind from which to draw details and anecdotes for this biography, everything from Jung's personal dreams to reactions of notables such as Freud to comments made at dinner parties.

I had very little knowledge of Jung (or Freud) before reading this book, but I feel the book has given me a basic familiarity with the man, and with some of his work. McLynn does a decent job of explaining the complex ideas presented in Jung's scholarly works in a manner that is mostly accessible to those with no training in the field. Nevertheless, he does use some terminology (Jung's?) such as "number one" and "number two" when referring to parts of a single person's personality which remain completely unclear to me.

This is certainly the least sympathetic biography of any person I have ever read. From McLynn's descriptions, Jung was a self-centered bully and polygamist, to just begin a list of his character flaws. From McLynn's account, I thought these aspects of his character were well-known, but when I tried discussing them with psychologist friends, they were disturbed by my repeating such terms, found frequently in the book. Is it because McLynn overplays negative aspects of Jung's personality, or because there are certain generations of American psychologists who continue to deny that Jung was not an unpleasant man? With nothing else to go on besides this book, I have no way to judge the veracity of the claims myself. But to the uninformed reader, the book seems extremely well-researched, and will give an in-depth introduction into the life of one of the most important academic figures of the Twentieth Century.

Exhibits little, if any, understanding of the immensity of Jung's work. Try Wehr's biography instead.

Wanting an introductory overview to C. G. Jung and his work, and reading the editorial reviews that Mr. McLynn has presented an objective and clear account of them, I eagerly picked up this biography, but was disappointed to find it a tendentious polemic relentlessly and repetitively attacking Jung (and, by the way, I am not a "Jungian"), dwelling at unnecessary length on the Freud-Jung relationship and insufficiently on Jung's influence as an original thinker of the XXc, and most signally, failing to present any sort of precis of Jung's seminal ideas that would be helpful to the general reader. Don't bother with this one: wait for a better biography, something on the lines of Peter Gay's Freud: a Life for Our Time.

McLynn doesn't like Jung ideas. Not a problem, really, but then why write a book about him? So the book crawls slowly, unhappily amassing all negative gossip about Jung, leaving the reader ( as probably also it did to the writer), miserable, exhausted, untill, at last the book ends, and a sigh of relief is impossible to avoid. Was this really necessary? Was this a paid, imposed job? This is really a pathography, a subgenre of our sick postmodern times, and I hope that these kind of people never go so far as the write a new life of Christ.

The "Eminent Lives" series has some great writing and equally good research into some of the most significant people to walk the Earth (with the exception of Armstrong's book on Mohammed).
Kramer does a good job of taking Freud off the pedestal that many have used to create an altar for an atheist. But by showing Freud to be a mere human, he goes out of his way to point out his opinion that Freud, with all his faults, was "The Inventor of the Modern Mind."

While I don't personally agree with Kramer's evaluation of Freud any more than I did with a lot of his opinions in his "Listening to Prozac" book, this is a book worth reading to get a far better balanced view of a man who was responsible for much of our modern day vocabulary in dealing with our fellow humans.

Freud had a lot of dumb ideas, was a shameless self-promoter, ignored his own research, invented and lied about the complex nature of some of his patients, but at the end of the day, as Kramer points out, was one of the humans to leave the Earth with a net plus on his life ledger. Unfortunately some of his patients paid the price of his opinions with their lives in ruins, but it will be up to your own value system to determine whether this was worth it. After all, many Clinton supporters agree with his view that the lives of a million Tutsi were not worth the life of a single American as he allowed the most intense genocide in the history of mankind in the modern era to occur on his watch. His approval ratings must make him "right."

If you don't want to buy this book and see it in a bookstore, just take five minutes to read the last chapter to see that Kramer holds Freud in high regard using this measuring stick.

This is not a "five-star" book, but i gave it that rating to balance the superficial reviews by Freud groupies who read this book with blinders on, if they read it at all.

Kramer's lucid writing style is refreshing.This small volume will give the reader a critical review of Freud's major writings. Highlights of Freud's biography add spice to the narrative. Kramer uses our contemporary knowledge in psychiatry to rediagnose some of Freud's patients.I got a deeper understanding of some of the famous cases like Anna O,Dora, the Wolf Man the Rat Man. Like many, Kramer agrees that Freuds impact on the development of the field of psychotherapy and psychological thinking have been hugh. Freud was not perfect.This book help highlight the imperfections. More than that,it helps clarify in a short space, work that took Freud years and years to develop and 23 volumes of the Standard edition to Express.Like Freud,Kramer is a very talented writer as this and his other four volumes show.

Kramer purports to be an admirer of Freud, but this is a wholesale dismissal of his work, citing a number of misdiagnosed cases in Freud's later years. Writing in the name of clinical science, Kramer tells us that Freud is in need of radical re-evalutation, since he was unscientific in his approach to human behavior. This is the worst kind of reductionism, ignoring Freud's enormous contribution to the humanities. Modern literary criticism (e.g. the new critics) and poetry, not to mention sociology and anthropology, would be impossible today had not Freud written "The Interpretation of Dreams." Freud is to modern literary and social analysis what Darwin is to biological science. Poets like William Blake and Yeats would be incomprehensible without the analytic techniques and tools provided by Freud, and the great thinker and media analyst, Marshall McLuhan, to name but one distinguished disciple among many, was Freudian through and through.

This is an excellent, objective, and readable evaluation of the work and legacy of Sigmund Freud. Those who put this in the "Freud bashing" category appear not to desire an objective evaluation of Freud as a clinician nor as a scientist: Kramer presents the reader with such in a lively and precise way. He also presents the impact that Freud's ideas had on Western culture, and it is here where the impact of Freud is beyond question. Whether this impact has been for ill or good is open to question, speaking generally or more specifically in psychiatric and psychological science.

No, he wasn't. But he was much more an imaginative investigator, something of a literary and romantic writer more than a scientist, not at all what people imagine. Like Marx before him, many of his theories can be refuted but his influence and insight remain valuable. Marx and Freud will remain important critics of traditional society and of the bourgeois order which poorly replaced it. The truths they taught were less literally true than insightfully stimlulating for all time.

Peter Kramer is at once an admirer and a critic of Freud who has, however, a perfect right to be both, but he fails to write a really persuasive apercu of Freud. Kramer knows his Freud and his psychology but he is not firm in historical knowledge. The book does not impress.

I bought this book for a trip I'm planning to Budapest, and unfortunately, while advertised as being a part of the book, my copy does not have the information on Budapest. I'll add it to my library of travel guides, as I will probably visit Austria and/or Switzerland at some point and the information will be useful. Also, I am a big fan of Let's Go guidebooks anyway, as the writing style and wealth of contact information make travel planning easy. I just wish the Budapest, Prague and Munich info had been included.

"You can't judge a book by its cover." Truer words have not been written when it comes to "Let's Go Austria & Switzerland - including Prague, Budapest, Munich 2000".

A lot of info on Austria and Switzerland but Prague, Budapest and Munich aren't to be found in this guide!

Yes, the editors made a serious mistake when they forgot to include Prague, Budapest, and Munich and yet advertised it on the cover. Those were only bonuses, not the focus of the book. I bought the book for my year abroad in Austria and found it extremely helpful. For the time I had it I did not get lost following the maps and the information was accurate. Unfortunately the book is now in a river in Luzern. Ran after it for a long time with no luck. I replaced it with the 2001 edition and was disappointed to find that they cut out a city that I was planning to go to (Cesky Krumlov). I thought the 2000 version was good. If you want the three cities they missed, copy the pages from a book in the library.

I've spent months in Austria and Switzerland, using a variety of travel books, and Let's Go is the best, bar none. They have excellent coverage of the outdoors, witty writing, and they find cheap, cheap, cheap places that nevertheless manage to be great finds. The maps have improved over previous years, but they could stand an extra one or two. Fortunately, the rest of the information is up to date, as it is the most-recently updated book (so far as I've seen).

The other books, I'm sorry, .... Lonely Planet books are updated every eon, and they've got the prose style of a VCR instruction manual. Rough Guides, while quite literate, lack the phone numbers, dates, and times that are the bread and butter of budget travel guides. The Frommer's and Fodor's guides to Austria are a joke: they have few listings outside of 4 star hotels, and could have been written by the tourist offices! The point of Aus/Switz is its natural beauty, and appreciating that is facilitated by good info, not by spending cash.

One note: the focus here is for the budget traveler. Those with money will benefit from this, as many of the most friendly places in Austria are cheap (like Privatzimmer and family-run Pensionen). However, the other, mostly older travelers who want to stay in posh hotels and would rather take a cable car than go hiking might want to get a book like Frommer's, or just do whatever the local tourist office tells you to do.

I browsed through this book looking for the Prague section mentioned on the cover. I looked through another copy to make sure I wasn't wrong. I read the contents, read the index. Prague, Munich, & Budapest are NOT discussed in this book. Spend your money elsewhere if you want to see the area.