Fodor's New England, 28th Edition (Travel Guide) Review

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Fodor's New England, 28th Edition (Travel Guide) ReviewI took this 28th Edition with me on my August 10-day tour through Boston, New Hampshire & Maine. I also had with me: Frommer'sVermont, New Hampshire and Maine, However, hands down, Fodor's is the better of the two.
Do note, that both Fodor's and Frommer's target those who have some jingle in their pockets. Thus, if you are a student/backpacker/struggling worker/stock trader who specialized in Bear Stearns, you might want to consider getting Lonely Planet 2008. In Fodor's you will find very few restaurants (under $20) and fewer accommodations (under $80).
This guide starts out with Boston, the jewel of New England's cities. There is an ample seventy plus pages to get you around this great city. As the guide states, "bring your walking shoes," for much of Boston exists to be explored by foot. Throughout Fodor's when you see a "Fodor's Choice" next to a restaurant, hotel or site, do yourself a favor and take time to imbibe.I found Fodor's recommendations in New Hampshire and Maine to be "right on" and the writing was as informative as it was engaging.

Where this guide falters is with its maps (or lack of). There are no city maps for many of the most important cities. In fact outside of the four cities of Boston, Concord, Providence, Newport and Portland, there are no other city maps. This means you are on your own, and most of the time it is not easy find where the restaurants, hotels and sites are. It baffles me why would a quality guide skimp on something as important as maps? Duh.
Wait, the worse blunder is the total absence of anything that can help you understand the culture, customs, the people and politics of New England. AND, there is NO mention of history! I mean, New England does have a serious history, right Fodor's?I mean, does the birthplace of the nation ring a bell?
Wow this could have been a five star guide if they (editors/writer) coulda/woulda done it right. But, even with these significant shortcomings Fodor's still is a useful and reliable guide. Strongly recommendedFodor's New England, 28th Edition (Travel Guide) Overview

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Lonely Planet New England (Regional Guide) Review

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Lonely Planet New England (Regional Guide) ReviewI have the 2008 edition of this guide book. As a lonely planet guidebook, it is not very good. As a guidebook in general, it is not the worst.
I have frequently used lonely planet guides in the past when traveling and have generally liked them but this one is lacking. As several other reviewers have mentioned, the hotels, places and even towns mentioned are predictable. Also, unlike most lonely planet guides, this one is not geared to the budget traveler or backpacker at all unless you consider a hotel around $150 to be "budget". Certainly, the writers could have done more research to seek out unique places to stay. If I wanted a travel book written for my parents, I would buy Frommers. This is practically the same thing. This book is good if you are driving through somewhere for a few hours and need a place (restaurant/pub) to stop and don't know the town at all. For instance, it pointed us to an excellent pub with lots of microbreweries in Portland, Maine that we otherwise would not have found since we were just passing through. But any guide should be able to do the same thing. Overall, the writing does not add much general insight to the regions being reviewed nor does it point out many unusual finds or destinations. You don't get the sense that the writer really explored the region.Lonely Planet New England (Regional Guide) Overview

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The Maine Woods (Penguin Nature Library) Review

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The Maine Woods (Penguin Nature Library) Review"The Maine Woods" relates three separate trips Henry Thoreau made to the Mount Katahdin and Allagash Wilderness Waterway region of Maine At 29 years old in 1846, at 36 years old in 1853, and at 40 years old in 1857. In each of the stories he travels with a friend by rail, steamboat, and coach to the starting point, hires a guide, and embarks on his adventure. Even for a reader familiar with the region, it is essential to keep a map handy to follow the author in his travels. In the first trip he hires a local outfitter as a guide, and poles up the West Branch of the Penobscot River, across lakes and up streams, as close to Mt. Katahdin as he can get, then climbs to the summit of what the Indians called Ktaadn, or "highest land," and now called Mt. Katahdin. His route up the mountain approximated what we now know as the Abol trail, though with no trail to follow, his experience was very different from today's Abol daypacker. He summited on a cloudy day, and missed out on the breathtaking views, though he did get infected with the spiritual bug, and he waxes philosophical as he makes his way back down. Thoreau's enduring memory of the region is "the continuousness of the forest." Thanks to the generous 209,501 acre gift of one of Maine's Governors, Percival Baxter, that memory of Thoreau's is also likely to be yours.
By contrast, the second story is less adventurous, being a canoe-camping trip on Chesuncook and surrounding lakes. Thoreau ends the story reflecting on man's vulnerability in the wilderness, and prays that man will not become "civilized off the face of the earth." I take this trip to be fundamentally a reconnaissance for the third and most ambitious of his trips, titled "The Allagash and East Branch." He went to Maine this time intending to make the standard Allagash Wilderness Waterway trip that many of us plan and few ever make. He lets himself get talked out of it and into a considerably more difficult trip. He starts as with the Chesuncook trip, but carries on northward into Chamberlain, Eagle, Telos, and Webster Lakes, and through Webster Stream to Second Lake and Great Lake Matagamon. From there it's flat water down the East Branch of the Penobscot. The Webster Stream segment was basically a ten mile portage. Fortunately he had hired a most remarkable Indian Guide, Joe Polis. Polis took his homemade birch bark canoe down through the Webster Stream rapids alone, and Thoreau and his companion (whom he unaccountably never names), fought their way through the thick underbrush and the jumble of trees along the riverbank. In summary, he takes the West Branch upstream as far as it goes, traverses the high elevation lakes over to the headwaters of the East Branch, and completely circles the Katahdin massif in the process.
Thoreau does not consistently delight the reader with is craft; his creative spirit is intermittent. But when inspired, he rises to the task:
Referring to the logs which get hung up along the shore, waiting for a freshet to carry them down to the sawmill, he writes, "Methinks that must be where all my property lies, cast up on the rocks along some distant and unexplored stream, and waiting for an unheard of freshet to fetch it down."
And about the noises he hears at night, "When camping in such a wilderness as this, you are prepared to hear sounds from some of its inhabitants which give voice to its wildness."
And his boatmen: "...so cool, so collected, so fertile in resources are they."
And anyone who has trod through the dark, damp woods between those lakes will recognize this: "It was impossible for us to discern the Indian's trail in the elastic moss, which like a thick carpet, covered every rock and fallen tree, as well as the earth.
And while experiencing one of the Allagash's classic thunderstorms: "I thought it must be a place where the thunder loved, where the lightning practiced to keep its hand in, and it would do no harm to shatter a few pines.
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60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Cleveland: Including Akron and Canton Review

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60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Cleveland: Including Akron and Canton ReviewWhat botanical wonder diapered Native American babies and served as an emergency field dressing in WWI? Give up? Sphagnum moss! Facts like these are plentiful in Diane Stresing's excellent hiking guidebook.
Trails are rated by difficulty and include easy-to-follow maps, drive-to directions, terrain types, distances, hiking times and nearest restrooms. Detailed descriptions discuss unique flora, fauna and interesting local and geological histories.
This book will fire up even the most timid explorer. Light and compact, it slips into a backpack for thumbing on the trail.60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Cleveland: Including Akron and Canton Overview

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Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America Review

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Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America ReviewAttention, all North American birders. The ultimate field guide has arrived--Ken Kaufman's new Focus Guide to the Birds of North America! Not since Roger Tory Peterson's landmark guides has one book combined all the essential elements a birder needs to quickly and accurately make field identifications.
Previous guides have used either artists' color plates or photographs; each has its pros and cons. But the Kaufman Guide's use of computer-enhanced and edited photographs gives us the best of both worlds and works marvelously, now that the technology makes it possible.
The ranges maps, in addition to providing the usual winter and breeding distribution, distinguish between areas where species are common and rare. They also include migration ranges, which are rarely pictured in other field guides.
Best of all, Mr. Kaufman has put all the essential facts and photos into a compact 384-page paperback that will easily fit in a coat or pants pocket. While no one book can possibly provide everything a birder might want, this one, for its size, gives one the most important info. For birds that are usually seen in flight, like pelagics, raptors and waterfowl, there are additional poses. And for those especially nasty challenges, such as juvenile gulls, fall warblers, and immature sparrows, there are also extra photos.
If you can only afford one bird book or don't care to carry a liibrary everytime you go out in the field, this is the book for you! I've been birding for nearly half a century, and this is now the one I'll take everytime!Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America Overview

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Follow the Blue Blazes: A Guide To Hiking Ohio's Buckeye Trail (Ohio Bicentennial) Review

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Follow the Blue Blazes: A Guide To Hiking Ohio's Buckeye Trail (Ohio Bicentennial) ReviewMr. Pond's work consists of dayhikes (mostly loops) that utilize portions of the Buckeye Trail or are hikes located near the BT. There are 33 hikes listed within 11 chapters, covering the varions sections of Ohio that the BT runs through. Each hike is detailed with maps and the author offers tidbits of historical or natural highlights along the way. Most hikes are in the 4-6 mile range, although there are a few longer ones as well for the more serious dayhiker. If you are wanting to discover Ohio with your feet, this is the book to start with.Follow the Blue Blazes: A Guide To Hiking Ohio's Buckeye Trail (Ohio Bicentennial) Overview

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American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico, Second Edition Review

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American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico, Second Edition ReviewAs a naturalist and amateur entomologist, I found the first edition of this book especially useful for looking up unfamiliar genera and species of insects, to find out where they fit in the scheme of insect taxonomy.
Unfortunately, CRC Press, the publisher of the second edition, has cut corners by reducing the size of the index from 128 pages for 714 pages of text in the first edition to 57 pages for 931 pages of text in the second edition. This was accomplished by eliminating all but the major genera from the index. In my opinion, this seriously diminishes the value of the book. The best information in the world is useless if you can't access it efficiently. A book like this lives or dies by the quality of its index.
After purchasing the book in early January, 2001 and quickly discovering the problem, I wrote to the publisher to complain and to ask that they make available a complete index as a supplement. I have yet to receive a response from them. The book's author, Ross Arnett, was upset when the publisher of the first edition inadvertently left out the photo captions in proof and wouldn't restore them. I have to think he is spinning in his grave over the gutting of the index in the second edition, a much more serious affair.
I'd love to be able to recommend the second edition of this book. However, unless the publisher remedies the index problem, I can't. Unless you want it primarily for the keys, I suggest looking for a used copy of the first edition.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico, Second Edition Overview

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