This book was absolutely amazing! i'm going to go try all the techniques on all my friends now! thanks alot tony!

- Dr. Amanda

Having recently returned from the Cook Islands, I cannot highly recommend this book. While the history and culture sections are interesting, the lodging and shopping/restaurants sections leave a lot to be desired. Most of the businesses mentioned have either gone out of business or changed hands. This is especially true on Aitutaki, where only one of the businesses recommended was still in its present form! As another reader recommended, the book does not sufficiently cover home rentals which are a great way to stay on these islands for a reasonable amount (and most can be viewed and reserved on the internet!). David Stanley's Moon Handbooks South Pacific guide is a much better choice--it is more up to date and covers all the major South Pacific islands for almost the same amount of money.

For the first timer, this guide is a great introduction to the Rarotonga and the Cook Islands. It is very thorough and has details about shopping, places to visit, popular tours, places to stay, and eat. Not only does the guide provide information about the main island of Rarotonga, but also include bits on the outer islands, which are very popular to visit. I really enjoyed reading up on Rarotonga and felt this book provided a good orientation of Rarotonga and things to see and do. However, some of the information is outdated. It was published in 1996. Because Rarotonga is such a popular tourists destination things are constantly changing, for example taking the boat (ferry) to Aitutaki was quoted as an inexpensive way to visit this tourist hot spot. However, this service is no longer provided. Many of the shops noted in the book, were no longer open or a detailed description of how to find them was not provided. Locals were very helpful in providing the most recent information. There was not a lot of detail about accomodations in summer homes. This proved to be a very economic way of staying inthe Cooks. it could be improved with more thorough contact information. Overall for the first time visitor,this guide was very useful as far as getting an overall "feeling" or what Rarotonga is like.

I became interested in the Cook Islands after recently readingTom Neale's book: An Island to Myself (also published as An Island to Oneself), in which he describes his solitary life on the tiny island of Suvarov (Suwarrow) in the South Pacific Cook Islands. More inspiritation came from Florence Frisbie's book, Miss Ulysses of Puka Puka, written about 1947 about her life in these islands. These books enchanted me and made me start considering a possible trip to the Cook Islands, so I picked up "Rarotonga & the Cook Islands". It's a very slender book, but has all the information I was looking for, in particular regarding lodging. Maps and descriptions of the different areas of Rarotonga are helpful in deciding what side of the island appeals to one's taste in beaches, privacy, and comfort. Rarotonga is the most featured island, with the most facilities for tourists. The other islands are more difficult to reach, but the book explains ways to get to the other islands, if so desired.

There doesn't seem to be a lot to do on these small islands other than biking, swimming, hiking, and eating, and this may be exactly what appeals to some. I wasn't convinced to go though, because I can do these same things more cheaply in lovely parts of Mexico; yet I would go if I could, if only to meet Florence (Johnnie) Frisbie, who I understand still lives there.

I was attracted by the book's cover title, and also by the fact that Tony Buzan had a part in it.

Although it was refreshing to follow the author's career path and some of his strategic decision-making processes, using a host of tools including mind-mapping and de Bono's stuff, I end up quite disappointed with the book. In fairness to the author, there are some small parts I really enjoyed.

Let me start with the good points:

The use of a "natural landscape" by the author to put de Bono's Six Thinking Hats in a total perspective is a very innovative and visually appealing approach. For example, this is how he illustrates de Bono's concept:

Sun, to represent 'Yellow Hat' - for positives; Open Field to represent 'Green Hat' - for creative ideas; Blue Sky, to represent 'Blue Hat" - for overview; White Clouds, to represent 'White Hat" - for facts; Black Clouds, to represent 'Black Hat' - for negatives; Earth Fire, to represent 'Red Hat' - for fee!lings & emotions;


This reinforces the argument that man has a natural proclivity towards visual metaphors. Kudos to the author!

On page 115 of the book, the author shows a flow chart of how to use a combination of his own favourite thinking tools - mind-mapping, forced field analysis, cluster, brainstorming, 6 Thinking Hats - to solve a problem. The surrounding pages describe the step-by-step process in detail. Another kudos!

Now, the not-so-good points:

The 'leadership and change management' part in the book lacks strategic depth. The author was too perfunctory in these important aspects. A bit more research by the author would have made it more palatable for serious readers.

It was good that the author lists out a good number of other thinking tools under the Appendix to Chapter 7. Unfortunately, I feel he does not do justice to those tools by adding sweeping personal statements of one or two-liners to each tool. Worst of all, he even a!dds that mind-mapping does it better, without a proper explanation (or compare & contrast). This to me reflects the author's vague understanding of the tools. e.g. cognitive mapping, flow chart and rich pictures. Even his one or two-liner description of 'scenario planning' is somewhat faulty.

A quick browse of the author's scanty bibliography tells me that the author has not done enough homework and research.

There were a lot of glaring mistakes in the book, Let me highlight a few.

On page 80, under 'Some Facts about the brain' which reads 'The brain contains approx. 1 billion cells i.e. equivalent to 150 times the population of the planet.'

Any 7-year-old internet-savvy kid can easily tell you that the numbers don't match!!!

Also, on page 207 to 208, under 'Final review by Tony Buzan:

'Leif Edmunsen' is a wrong name. The correct name is 'Leif Edvinsson,' who at one time was the Chief Intellectual Officer of Skandia, mentioned in t!he paragraph.

The Prime Minister of Singapore is not Mr Ton. He is Mr Goh Chok Tong.

Such silly mistakes reflect very poor editing work on the part of the author and the publishers.

On the whole, I can only sum up that this book is still useful to any first-time manager, looking for a systematic approach to organisational decision making, with a hands-on feel.

This book reminds me of another book, John O'Keeffe's Business Beyond the Box: Applying Your Mind for Breakthrough Results, from which I can draw a parallel here. In quite a similar vein, the author had built a successful career path through Procter & Gamble in Europe when he wrote the book. Likewise, the book offers a field-proven set of 8 thinking strategies, including mind-mapping.

For serious readers, looking for solid leadership and change management strategies with an entrepreneurial perspective, it will be worthwhile for them to pursue 'The Individualised Corporation' by Sumantra! Ghosal & Chris Bartlett as well as 'First, Break All the Rules' by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman.

As all of Lonely Planet's guidebooks, this is of course an excellent travel tool, and truly "sets the standard". Any traveler is surely better off to the South Pacific with, rather than without, this densely written and wonderfully filled book (even though, for this particular destination, the Moon Handbook for the South Pacific would also be a very good choice). However, two things should be said about this particular LP guidebook. First, its coverage is hampered by the region's magnitude and diversity. The effort to cover so many different islands, with their own realities, their own peoples and cultures, is surely a noble endeavour. Yet, it resulted in lack of clarity, and data which is vague or uncomplete, especially on some countries (such as those of Micronesia) more than others. Getting separate LP guidebooks for individual countries or sub-regions (Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Rarotonga & Cook Islands, Tahiti & French Polynesia, etc) would be a much better choice for the discerning traveler - even though it may involve carrying a bit of extra weight around the beautiful seas and skyes of the South Pacific. Second, this guidebook suffers from an evident's "author's bias" in favour of the region. It is quite natural and inevitable, and also very positive, for authors to feel that their region is the best and nicest on our planet, home to the finest wonders of this world (to have the opposite, namely authors who are biased against their own regions, would be horrible). Yet, not all regions of the world can be great and perfect, and their peoples the finest and most friendly. Unknowing travelers should not be led to believe this. The South Pacific can indeed be a very tough place: not all islands and places are as great and beautiful as they may appear from this guidebook, getting around and having a nice time is not always easy (in fact, the region can be horribly frustrating), and the people are not always as pleasant as one might wish. By following indications for visa requirements for the Republic of Kiribati ("British citizens do not require visas"), I found myself pushed back on the aircraft, having to force my way in order to remain on the ground, and avoiding one nigt in a cell only thanks to the intervention of HM High Commissioner. Likewise, in Nauru it is not true that "you'll get a visa on arrival, provided the hotels have rooms". The Otintaai Hotel in Kiribati (allegedly the best in the country) does not have hot water as is claimed in the guidebook, and the Waterfront Villa Hotel in Palau (allegedly "the best deal around") is apparently so simply because the owners are extremely rude and prone to cheating, able to make your stay in beautiful Palau a real hell. Altogether, many countries which may sound like earthly paradises, are simply not so. The people, who are made seem friendly almost without exception, can be extremely obnoxious and difficult, not always happy to receive foreigners - especially in Micronesia and to a lesser extent in Melanesia, yet not so much in Polynesia. The advice contained in this guidebook should be taken with great care. Yet, in the end this remains a truly valuable tool, in a region so hard to get to know, where getting around and finally managing to enjoying one's trip - for those who do decide to go - can be truly hard. The sections on culture, wildlife, etc., despite their being rather summary, are extremely valuable and provide enjoyable reading. This book may not be up to the Lonely Planet standard (we should also consider that this is only the guidebook's first edition); but, considered LP's already high standards, it is not bad at all.