1. ISBN13: 9780767903868
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Review :

Bill Brysons Sunburnt Country

Bill Bryson gave an enlightening history and geography lesson on Australia. My family and I who were born in Australia have seen many of the locations Bill has spoken of. His sense of humor captures the real Australian attitude on life. His presentation on Australian history taught us things we didn't know and certainly were not taught in school. Despite the in depth description of the people, the attitudes, the dangers, the vastness, and the challenges written in his book, the audio version is even funnier and interesting with his feelings demonstrated with humor in his voice. Intoxicated or sober Bill was true to how Australia is and lives...well done.

Rating :

Great before Studying Abroad

I spent last semester studying in Australia. This book gave me a great overview of where I wanted and didn't want to visit in Australia without having to read through a dry tour book.

Rating :

I HAVE TO SAY THAT I ENJOYED EVER WORD OF THIS ONE

There is one thing about Bill Bryson; you either like him or you don't. Just reading the reviews here on Amazon and several other sites prove that. It is not just this work in question though; it is all of his work. I note that drifting from site to site that he, Bryson, has a small cadre of "haters," and all of their reviews sound sort of the same. And this is book after book....same reviewers, different books. You would think that after a few reads, and that if you found you did not like a particular author, then you would simply ignore his work. Not so with this author...go figure. This small group seems to hound his every work. Anyway, I personally like his books. I grant you I like some better than others, but that is only natural to my way of thinking. This work being reviewed here is one of his books that I particularly enjoyed.

To begin with we need to look at what this book is not. First, it is not an anthropological study of the Aborigine tribes of Australia. Yes, he does address them and their historical and tragic plight, but this is hardly the purpose of the book and no, he does not interview any of them. Secondly, this is not an all encompassing travel guide to all of the thousands of places to visit in this wonderful country. That would be an impossible task in a volume of this size. Thirdly, this is not a rough and tumble survivor type of trip (or series of trips, as the case is here) made by an intrepid survival type guy roughing it in the Outback...hey folks, this is Bryson. A cold beer, swimming pool and a good meal are relished by this guy.

What this work is, is a rather amusing and at times downright funny account of the author's trip, or to be precise, "trips" through various parts of the largest island country in the world. His travels, tribulations, adventures and encounters with various individuals are told in his normal understated and humorous style. I think one of the strong points of Bryson's writing is the ability to make fun of himself and to recognize his own short comings as a traveler, and indeed, a human being.

Unlike his work `A Walk in the Woods,' the author has kept his caustic remarks about the people he encounters to a minimum and only dealt out his understated sarcasms when they were richly deserved. The author has the ability to articulate, in a very funny and amusing way, what many of us are actually thinking when we encounter rude hotel staff member, encounter bad meals and or are bored to distraction with a place or area.

The author has filled his work with wonderful bits of trivial and not so trivial history, pieces of information we normally would not be exposed to without a great amount of research, and I must say I picked up a wealth of knowledge of geography, plants, animals, history, fish, snakes, insects, plants, minerals and people through reading this work. Yes, I know that some find his including these bits and pieces of his research into his work annoying and less than honest, but for me this is one of his strengths in presenting a very readable and interesting subject. Of all his works, this one included, I have yet to find an inaccuracy in his reporting, and I can assure you that I have made plenty of spot checks.

For a light read that is bound to entertain you, unless you are in the "I hate Bryson" camp, I cannot think of a better way to spend several evenings. On the other hand, if you have found a number of his books to not be up to your standards, then I suggest you skip this one. I personally eagerly await each and every book the man works on.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks


Rating :

Fantastic - that's all I'm saying...

A fun re-read from one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson. Any book that Bryson pens is sure to lead to uncontrollable laughter, snorts, chortles or gaffaws, so plan your reading time accordingly. Not recommended reading material for mime class, funerals, or anywhere quiet, confined and where you will be surrounded by strangers - trust me on this. Even your own family members (*ehem* teenage daughters) might have a tendency to think you finally, irrevocably lost it and look warily at you as if you have become possessed by demons or body odor.

But I digress. Anyway, Bryson makes the land Down Under come alive to armchair travellers everywhere, and if you're not aching to call your travel agent by the time you finish this book, then I don't think you have an adventurous bone in your body.

Australia is a big country, filled with stranger and larger then life flora and fauna then one can possibly imagine. In Bryson's deft and sarcastic way, he manages to poke fun of and fulsomely praise this place at the same time. This is a land where prime ministers go missing forever and no one else in the world knows it, where deadly critters line up on land and in the sea awaiting the unsuspecting human to stumble upon them, where some Australian cities are often closer to other countries then they are to each other and where you can travel 1,500 miles along a rugged, scenic coast highway and pass only 2 other cars...

Bryson brings this land, its history, its people and its magnificence to vivid life. You'll laugh, you'll gape in wonder, and you'll sigh that you either weren't born there or don't have the money to get there to see for yourself. Count me as both!


Rating :

About a Sunburned Country by Bob G.

Mr Bryson has the unique ability to leave the reader with a desire to experience those places he has been to. His often humorous observations
make for an entertaining read. Sprinkled with history and some of the personalities that make up that history, he covers an amazing amount of
geography on this wonderful and somewhat remote continent. I don't believe anyone would be disappointed with this book and I feel that it is
among those that should be read before a trip to Oz.

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More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9781741791600
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

No one knows Australia like Lonely Planet…remember, we live here! We know where Sydney's best surf beaches are, where to get the best coffee in Melbourne's cobbled lanes, and how to cross the great red plains in a van without getting scorched.

Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.

In This Guide:

Full Coverage. Bustling cities, outback trails and everything in between.
Road Atlas. 16-page color map section, to navigate the country's highways and byways
Unique Green Index to help make your travels as ecofriendly as you wish

Customer Review :

good book - but not the kinldle version!

from what i can tell, it is a good guide book. however it hasnt been indexed this means that you cant type in a word like a park name and go to it directly. instead you must seqentially go through every pqge in a chapter until you find it

Rating :

Good guide

I have been using Lonely Planet guides for all of my overseas trips. I would not think of traveling without one. The guide is shall I say more geared to the adventurer than the high end tourist. It does cover more expensive establishments but only as a part of the whole. I have not personally gone to Australia yet but I did spend a great deal of time planning the trip. Then fuel prices went throught the roof and then the stock market collapsed. Sort of put my trip on hold for a while. When I do go, this will be in my pack.

Rating :

Great Resource

I've traveled to a lot of countries with Lonely Planet guides, and they're always good, but they seem to particularly shine in countries with wide-open spaces, such as Australia. I've got the Mongolia guide, too, and as with Australia, that eye for detail in more remote settings makes a big difference. I've been to Australia several times, and have even written a book about Australia, but even with all I know, I can't keep up to date with new restaurants, changed hours, different owners, or lodging in remote towns, and Lonely Planet is perfect for that -- though it has also often guided me to good places in big cities. It's just a wonderfully detailed resource. I rarely go anywhere remote or exotic without picking up the Lonely Planet book for the destination, and I just got this most recent Australia guide (I have a couple of older ones). I do usually buy more than one guidebook for a destination, at least if I'm going on a longer trip, but if there's an LP guide, that will be one of the ones I get.

I'd say the only slight drawback for the Australia guide is that the type is a little small, especially in the history section and boxed features -- but I don't think they could use larger type unless they broke it into two books, as this volume is already over 1,000 pages. It's probably vastly more information than you need if you're only going for a couple of weeks. But if you've got a lot of time, this is almost as good a resource as having a friend in Australia.

Rating :

Great book with lots of help for the traveler

Australia is a huge country with so much to see and do. This book is a significant help in working out where we can go and should go in a period of time. It is a big book with beautiful photos and substantive info.

Rating :

Thorough, Accurate, Invaluable!

I'd heard from friends that the Lonely Planets guides are spot-on for travel. I bought Australia before I went in Sept. 2008 and we used it at Uluru (formerly Ayres Rock), in Adelaide, and in Sydney. It was EXTREMELY helpful. The listings are informative and we agreed with most evaluations they made. When you go that far for a vacation, you certainly don't want to waste time finding your way around or waste money by going to bad venues. This book will help prevent both. The only negative is that the book is heavy and was a bit of a chore to haul along!

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1. ISBN13: 9780767915304
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

At the age of twenty-six, Maarten Troost—who had been pushing the snooze button on the alarm clock of life by racking up useless graduate degrees and muddling through a series of temp jobs—decided to pack up his flip-flops and move to Tarawa, a remote South Pacific island in the Republic of Kiribati. He was restless and lacked direction, and the idea of dropping everything and moving to the ends of the Earth was irresistibly romantic. He should have known better.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals tells the hilarious story of what happens when Troost discovers that Tarawa is not the island paradise he dreamed of. Falling into one amusing misadventure after another, Troost struggles through relentless, stifling heat, a variety of deadly bacteria, polluted seas, toxic fish, and worst of all, no television or coffee. And that’s just the first day.

Sunburned, emaciated, and stinging with sea lice, Troost spends the next two years battling incompetent government officials, alarmingly large critters, erratic electricity, and a paucity of food options. He contends with a cast of bizarre local characters, including “Half-Dead Fred” and the self-proclaimed Poet Laureate of Tarawa (a British drunkard who’s never written a poem in his life), and eventually settles into the ebb and flow of island life, just before his return to the culture shock of civilization.

With the rollicking wit of Bill Bryson, the brilliant travel exposition of Paul Theroux, and a hipster edge that is entirely Troost’s own, The Sex Lives of Cannibals is the ultimate vicarious adventure. Readers may never long to set foot on Tarawa, but they’ll want to travel with Troost time and time again.

Customer Review :

Painful to read

I have to say that I could not get into this book ... I really tried too. I read about half way through it to ch. 11 and at times just had to skim it because it felt like such a waste of my time but I was reading it for a book club. I did not like the writing style ... that could be part of it. It just had nothing that gave me any incentive to read it...

Rating :

Not a great read!

Although I thoroughly enjoy travel books and humor, I could not ever get into this. I finished it, but felt as though I could have used my reading time much better, but it was a book club choice, so finished it. I shall stick to Bill Bryson for this category! Much better writer.

Rating :

Hilarious travel story

I've been on a Bill Bryson kick and generally adore books about travel, so I was psyched when my friend at work gave me this. I was also sickly enjoying reading about how crappy a beautiful tropical island can be sometimes! With arctic air masses threatening to give us frostbite and keep our cars from starting-- I think I had a bit of schadenfreude as I read about our main character's misadventures. Hey, it might be cold here but there's no sea lice, beer shortage, or sharks. It was a fun and fast past travel story.

Rating :

Don't read this book if you're an optimist

If you're an optimist, you'll quickly be turned off by the continual negativity and complaining about how miserable this island is, the endless self-deprecating humor about how lazy he considers himself, a procrastinator not accomplishing much of anything, while his wife works.

After seeing so many positive reviews, I didn't realize it was going to be such a pessimistic book, but quickly realized that as soon as I started reading. I felt it may eventually turn positive but gave up half-way through when I realized it wasn't going to change.

In short, if you're conscious of what you feed your mind and love a fun upbeat adventure, skip this book. If you love supermarket tabloids or modern television shows with their drama, negativity, and sarcasm, then you'll probably like this book.

On the positive side, I did like the title, the beautiful cover art, and their courage to escape the norm.

Rating :

Laugh Out Loud Funny Wherever You Are

I stumbled on this book while traveling with my husband in Bolivia. Being somewhat limited in what English books we could find at book exchanges, we had gotten used to reading just about anything, as long as it was indeed in English. What a surprise when we ended up with this hilarious travelogue that we just couldn't put down. Although we were in another country halfway across the world from Tarawa, we felt like the situations he was describing happen in many developing nations (corruption, inefficiency, nonexistent sanitation) We read it on a very memorable overnight trip to Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca, Bolivia; and enjoyed every single page. I highly recommend this book to those that like to travel, like to laugh, or like to read about others' travels. You will not regret it!

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1. ISBN13: 9781741048162
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Discover New Zealand

Glimpse Mitre Peak through the mist on majestic Milford Sound
Hold your nose and dip your toes in a Rotorua thermal pool
Shelter from windy Wellington with the arts crowd in a low-lit lounge bar
Enjoy a hangi - but stop short of getting a moko - on a Maori cultural tour

In This Guide:

Food & Drink chapter by Lauraine Jacobs, editor of award-winning Cuisine magazine
You asked, we listened - more budget accommodation
Content updated daily - visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler insights

Customer Review :

Essential for backpackers

If you plan a trip - I would recommend a longer one if you really want to experience the country - this guide is necessary to have, it would give you every essential information you need to know about everything, with appropriate dose of humor and wit. If you are buying this book just for mere dreaming of New Zealand, it will give you pretty good touch of the country, but it doesn't go deep into the material, so don't expect too much - rather buy real travel memoirs. This book is primarily for people who are really going to this country, who need basic information to orient themselves around, and who intend to learn more by themselves on the spot. Just like real backpackers :-)

Rating :

Useless, basically

This Lonely Planet is basically useless for families. The authors are all single, adventure-seekers and have probably never changed a diaper in their lives. So they go on about sky-diving and hiking 75 km trails around Christchurch and grabbing a beer here and there... Not practical for many.

This books also presumes you know WHERE you want to go in New Zealand. There's no explanation about choosing north vs. south island. Instead, it's just an endless mish-mash of "activities" without any real themes to it all except the "maori" and "nature". Unless you read the entire book cover-to-cover, you won't know what to do.

Not recommended unless you have all the time in the world to research the trip. And that's not why one buys a guidebook! Last point -- there's limited visual appeal with almost no color/photos -- the book looks mostly like a newspaper.




Rating :

Good compromise between level of detail and portability

After one week in New Zealand I realized a travel guide was essential to get the best benefits from our journey. So I picked this book in a bookshop in Masterton. It was difficult to pick one, because there were several guides to choose from.
I did not regret my choice! From that day on, I carried it along with me wherever I went and I was always able to find useful information in it. It helped us to find interesting sights and accomodations we would certainly have missed without it.
We did not find any inaccuracy in the factual information. Recomendations are not facts, they are a matter of taste, but most of the time we found things that were listed as "Our pick" at least "pretty good indeed", even though our personal pick might be different.
My only regret is I did not buy the book BEFORE we started our trip. If I had done that, it might have saved me some problems I encountered in the first week, when I did not have it yet.
Now that I have returned home, I know it will be a great help in writing the blog postings about our journey.

Rating :

Lonely Planet NZ is great....and....

I feel that I know NZ really well--I've spent 4 NZ summers and over 270 days camping and exploring the wonders of New Zealand. And, OhMyGod, the natural wonders of NZ blow me away!!

Lonely Planet New Zealand excels at examining and reviewing and lending insight into the places and activities and attractions that have been commercialized. LP knows cities, hotels, motels, backpackers, tours, restaurants, and museums. LP knows tourist attractions, jet boats, bungees, sky-dives, zorbs, helicopter flights, ferries. LP knows tour bus companies, resorts, amusement parks, and wildlife centers. LP knows hours of operation, prices, websites, and phone numbers.

Lonely Planet is filled with helpful info snippets about each town and what to expect from it--whether touristy or rural, or possibly just "don't bother". LP details the history of each town and region and gives you a general sort of "flavor" for each part of NZ.

In essence, if you are traveling to NZ for the first time, I would definitely encourage you to get an LP or one of its brethren (or an older copy). You'll DEFINITELY benefit from all of LP's maps and Auckland info and all the reviews of all the commercialized "tourist" attractions. Choosing which of the mainstream guidebooks is not any easy choice--I've looked at them all and own quite a few and I still can't tell you which one is "best"--they all vary and have their strong points. But you should DEFINITELY get at least one, even if you consider yourself a total seat-of-the-pants traveler (I've met SO many NZ travelers without any guidebooks, typically people on a round-the-world "Big Trip", and I feel that they just cheat themselves because all the "free" info they get from the Info-sites is often crap, and they end up at the touristy spots because they get no "free" info about anything that's not commercialized). Believe me, when you get to NZ you'll soon realize that EVERY commercial attraction or activity will be bombarding you with info and brochures...what you won't find info about is FREE places--the wondrous natural spots without admission prices, hours of operation, or parking lots filled with tourist buses...the "Real" NZ.

My major gripe with LP (and Rough Guide, DK, etc) is that they don't pay their authors enough and give them enough time to actually visit the uncommercialized beaches, forests, hikes, natural hot springs, mtn tops, caves, swimming holes, etc etc. They all expect their authors to spend their time in the towns and cities detailing the commercialized offerings at each locale--the restaurants, hotels, tours, etc.. This info is what these books are about--the "commercialized". Almost all the info about hikes and such in LP is just parroting NZ's "Dept of Conservation" brochures. It's easy to tell, once you've been in NZ a bit, that the authors have not actually walked to the peaks nor swam in the rivers nor soaked in the remote hot springs.

BUT, isn't this what you're going to New Zealand for?? To actually embrace uncommercialized and untouched nature? Aren't you imagining remote beaches, jungly fern forests, sweeping mountain vistas, glaciers descending to the sea, hot spring Shangri-las, crystal clear plunge pools under charging waterfalls, beaches where hot water bubbles thru the sand, beach coves fit to be cathedrals...places where there are no lines of tour buses...places where it's just you and unfettered nature?? Unfortunately, this is where LP lacks, as do the others. You'll want an LP for the extensive commercialized info, but don't think LP/RG/DK will guide you off the beaten path. They won't. They are the beaten path.

I learned from my years in NZ that just because LP/RG doesn't talk about the huge "hidden" waterfalls, hot springs, swimming coves, etc...doesn't mean that they don't exist. The country is FULL of "hidden" spots, most of which are completely overlooked by the major guidebooks. Their authors have no time (or possibly motivation) to find the sweet free spots.

There are plenty of sweet, free, off-the-tourist path spots...they EXIST and they're AMAZING. Don't get an LP and think that just because they haven't told you about any cool natural places between towns A and B, that there are no cool spots --it's just that their authors probably haven't found them in their hurry to get to the next town and get to reviewing the restaurants and hotels and such. What make NZ such an amazing travel destination for an English-speaker is that in NZ getting off-the-path is safe and generally worry-free...unlike in most of the Third World where off-the-path can equate to "take-your-chances". LP and their ilk treat NZ as if it were another Third World "scary" travel location, and only give you info about "safe" places. But NZ isn't like that--it's very safe to go find your own Eden...and wonderfully, there's an Eden at the end of many a road once you get away from the commercialized tourism and know which road to take.
I say GET A LONELY PLANET--you will benefit from it, no doubt. But know that NZ has so much more to offer than the commercial stuff LP presents. Go ahead, scratch the surface...NZ is a safe and wonder-filled country. Bring an LP, but then put it down and find some ADVENTURE!!!!



Rating :

Get Lonely Planet and Nz Frenzy

We just got back from weeks in New Zealand! God it was great when the sun was shining, but the South was a bit wet. Anyhow, we bought a Lonely Planet, were given a Rough Guide, and when we got to Auckland we bought an Nz Frenzy. We liked Lonely planet more than Rough Guide, but they both cover almost exactly the same stuff, and neither gives enough details about trails and directions to beaches and waterfalls. The Nz Frenzy book was definitely our favorite to get us to cool spots on the North Island, but it only covers the North and there is no South one, so that was disappointing. Overall we agree that you should get a Lonely Planet for all the traveler essentials, but definitely get an Nz Frenzy if you have your own car/van on the North. Also you'll need a good map because it's just too hard to use all the little maps in Lonely Planet. Hope you find Kerosene creek and Tongaporutu on the North and Kaikoura's cute seals on the South. Cheers!!

Rating :

More reviews...

1. ISBN13: 9780470482148
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Frommer's Australia is packed with all the facts, tips, and descriptions you need to have perfect vacation:

• Completely updated every year, Frommer’s Australia features gorgeous full-color photos of the Outback vistas, curious wildlife, and white-sand beaches that await you.
• Our authors have lived in and written about Australia for years, so they’re able to provide valuable insights and advice. They’ll steer you away from the touristy and the inauthentic and show you the real heart of the land Down Under. Let them take you to exciting cities, Aboriginal homesteads, Barossa Valley vineyards, and natural wonders, from the Wet Tropics Rainforest to Uluru to the Great Barrier Reef. You’ll travel Australia like a pro using their candid advice and in-depth knowledge of the culture.
• Also included are accurate regional and town maps, up-to-date advice on finding the best package deals, a free color fold-out map, and an online directory that makes trip-planning a snap!

Customer Review :

Definitely came in handy for our recent trip

We used the guide (along with [...]) to help us locate attractions, etc. while in Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne. Although most of the things in the guide can be found on the web, it was a great resource while one the road, public transit, walking downtown, etc.

Rating :

Good Starting Point

This book gave some great ideas for thing to do. I traveled to several cities along the east coast and many of the things I did came from this book. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is some of the prices were outdated and one of the restaurants didn't exist. Overall it was a great book and will use it again next time I go to Australia.

Rating :

G-Day Mate!

I bought this for a friends trip. She loved it! Lots and Lots and Lots of information, review, maps and suggested travel Must sees!

Rating :

good choice for overall info

Went to Australia in August and used this to get my first thoughts about Australia as a country and as a holiday spot. I love books like this b/c i am able to learn some history of Australia and also learn modern places to go and see. I never fully put my trust into these kind of books b/c restaurants and hotel change so frequently, but it is a good starting point. Start with this and make notes to look places up on the web. Hope your Australia trip will be as great as mine was!

Rating :

The book is ok, it is huge.

The book is ok, it is huge. Kind of overwhelming and takes up a lot of space in the carry on and hand bag.

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