No cobbled-together overview, this is an impressive, meaty book of great integrity. Care has obviously been taken to do the research & get the facts straight. "Heavy hitters" like John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, the Butterfield Band & the Yardbirds are covered admirably in a way that is both comprehensive & concise. Lesser known artists also appear, & when reading the book one constantly encounter players who would turn up in other places, at other times. The reader feels himself in good, knowledgeable hands from the get-go. (Martin Celmin's introductory essay is worth the price of the book in & of itself.)
It's that rarest of things, a book that is both entertaining & a solid reference work as well. The A-Z approach also makes it, as my friend Chris Darrow calls it, a great "toilet book." Meaning, I hasten to clarify, a book one can dip into whenever or wherever.
It's the first in a series, & I look forward to the future volumes.

This book is fantastic! The only thing that would make it better yet, would be the addition of a few more blues artists that seem to have been left out. (The Animals, Eric Burdon, Spencer Davis,...and WHERE is Led Zeppelin!!!...the greatest Blues rock band ever??) It is still well worth owning, if you can still get one...lots of information, and things even an avid Blues Rock fan probably didn't know. The "Introduction" is one of the best parts, giving you virtually a complete history of how this great music evolved. Gives Blues Music the attention it has deserved for so long, and never got.

The "Blues-Rock Explosion" falls into the "must have" category for all serious music fans and collectors. The book features a great mix of well known and obscure bands and artists and is full of facts and details that even the most ardent fan will not be aware of.

Having been a British Blues fan/collector/writer for 30+ years it's great having detailed information on all of my favorites(Savoy Brown,Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation,etc.)in one place. Great articles,discographies, and photos highlight a book that is hard to put down.

So grab a stack of cds,the "Blues-Rock Explosion" sit back and enjoy!

Jeff Brauer, et al, have given us an insight into the real guts of El Salvador. The detail regarding real people - artisans, shopkeepers, workers and characters - is just what one needs to have a truly great adventure in El Salvador. We were in El Salvador in 1993, travelling on our own. We had some great adventures - but this book would have been an ideal travel companion.

how to avoid breaking my ankle--which I did! The guide, like all Lonely Planet publications I've used to date, is ecellent.

For Alsace wine enthusiasts this is a wonderful read, and has just about all the pertinent facts about the region, among them all the famous and less well known varietals, all the major producers, the villages, the grand cru vinyards complete with maps, technical information about the Vendanges Tardive and Selection de Grains Noble and how they compare to the German QmP designations, extensive tasting notes, and a detailed vintage chart up to 1992. Needless to say a new edition with more recent vintages would be very welcome.There is over 570 pages of detailed information, including a linguistic analysis. The author wears his considerable scholarship lightly and his sense of humor is used judiciously. Recommended with enthusiasm.

Why Spanish wines?
When experimenting with wines that suited my budget (less than ten dollars a bottle), I found that most French wines disappointed, while ALL the Spanish wines were very good.
Hence, Spanish wines.
A quotation from the book supports, at least in part, my observations -
"It is now almost impossible to buy a bad Rioja"

Julian Jeffs book is extremely well written, with thorough discussions of the climate, the soil, the grapes, the wines and the Bodegas of the various regions in Spain. Interspersed are several interesting historical details and cultural and literary references. Wonderful to read in the chapter on Sherry was Falstaff's speech in praise of "sherris-sack" from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2 quoted in full. Even better was to find out that they have a monument to G. K. Chesterton in Sitges, a Catalonian town where he often visited.

Refreshingly, this book does not have any photographs - it is not wine-porn! Instead there are lovely line drawings by Wendy Jones, that blend in well with the text, without distracting from it. Again refreshingly, wines are not classified individually. The book will not drive the potential wine buyer to worrying about the relative worth and merits of an 85 point wine compared to a 90 point wine. The classification is done for each region by rating the vintage years on a scale of 1 (least good) to 7 (best). There are additional comments about individual wines in the discussions of the Bodegas.

The book is useful for the Spanish wine enthusiast, and it is good reading for anyone interested in wine.

I found this book quite helpful. I'm a native from El Salvador who had been out of the country for 20 years. I found it a good supplement to other sources of information (e.g., local phone books in El Salvador, people and friends). Although some of the directory information may be dated, most of the facts and directions still hold. It's best to cross-reference the book with a local phone book for more accuracy. Yet, the book is a great trip planning tool. It allows you to pick and chose places and things to do at a pace that not even locals can keep up. It's clear that a lot of good work went into making the book. The level of detail is beyond what any local can know all by himself (e.g., bus routes, mores, festivals, local rituals, etc.). I found the hand-drawn maps most helpful and the history/background informaiton information least helpful. Advisories should apply to all locations outside the central city or popular foreign tourist attractions. Also, the book does not address which locations are most ideal to visit depending on the small universe weather conditions, e.g., heavy rains or dry, hot to extremely hot temperatures. I recommend this book. I've found no other books as helpful as this one but feel that the book and its contents could be much improved, e.g., day-trips, sports events, local festivity schedules, shopping information, entertainment options, ground and non-ground recreational activities, specific coverage and related-activities regarding aviation, boatin, sailing, surfing, fishing, golf, lakes, rivers and bodies of water, etc. (perhaps on future editions, beyond the 2nd). I currently own both of the first two editions. They're both pretty much worn out and it's because they go with me and take me places each time I visit there. I just wish the book were more expansive and provide material for all the other sites that one encounters while going from place to place, yet this would make it too thick and heavy. Also, if you ever go to El Teleferico, please say Hi to Mr. Moon (a local cartoonist) there for me!

For years I looked for a book that would cover travel to El Salvador. I have been married to a Salvadorena for 16 years and have made five trips to the country since 1991. I love El Salvador, its beauty and its wonderful people. You can't travel there without this book! Buy it today!

I'm Salvadoran and I'm married to a Jewish-American woman. She bought this book for us to take a tour in El Salvador. Let me tell you, this is the best guide book I've ever read. It's so easy to use and it has ALL the information about this little beautiful country that you need. I even used some of the information on my website, of course with the permission from the authors. Thank you Jeff, Julian and Veronica for making this possible.

Zany's NYC Apartment Guide 2000 gives readers a solid grounding in how and where to find an apartment in The City. While the information is in general good and appears accurate, given the time constraints the authors no doubt faced, Zany's suffers from some editorial and content problems.

The beginning section of the book contains brief background information on such general topics as Brokers & Fees, Doormen, Loft Living, and Roommates. While these short explanations are helpful, the writing appears rushed, and does not go into enough detail in most cases.

The intro sections are also not well integrated with the bulk of Zany's, namely its profiles of NYC neighborhoods (emphasis on Manhattan). Each neighborhood profile contains a brief history, rental information, demographic statistics, and so forth. These profiles are quite useful, but lack sufficient differentiation, especially in the "Final Words" section, which makes every Manhattan neighborhood sound prohibitively expensive and not quite what one is looking for.

Everyone already knows that NYC costs a lot and has quirky neighborhoods, but Zany's needs to do a better job than just repeating the obvious. Still, this guide is a helpful reference for NYC apartment hunters.

This is a great place to start your New York apartment search -- especially if you're new to the area and don't know much about the neighborhoods. But be careful, because some of the statistics are inaccurate or outdated. For example, if you can find a 2-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, for anywhere near $875 per month (the average price, according to the guide), you are a far better apartment hunter than I. Also, there are several popular neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens that Zany's leaves out entirely.

This book was instrumental in helping us find a beautiful sublet for the summer. The sections of the book that were of particular interest to my family were the descriptions of how children would fit into the neighborhoods including places to play, parks, and statistics.