This is a beautiful book, as it should be, given its price. The cultural and historical narratives and pictures are excellent. However, the lack of practical detail is appalling. There is no useful map of Tangier, for instance, and the "useful addresses" section for Tangier lists only two hotels and two restaurants, with only one of each actually in the city. A similar dearth of information fails to cover other regions. The "Food" section consists of two pages on how to prepare Tanjine of Mutton. There is no list of useful phrases in French or Arabic, and under "Finding Your Way Around," the book advises you to hire a guide or to ask the staff at your hotel. This book was probably written for the tourist being escorted in a group where all details of the trip are taken care of by the tour operator. By that standard, this book provides hours of reading to fill the time which would otherwise be spent on navigating, planning, finding accommodations and meals. If you are planning to visit Morocco on a tour, buy this book to read on the bus between scheduled stops on the itinerary. If you're going to Morocco unescorted, you will need something like Lonely Planet or The Rough Guide to help you get around. Morocco is an interesting country, but unless you are an experienced adventure traveler, it is not the type of place you want to visit without a practical travel guide.

excellent and insightful guide , with amazing history. Morocco touched by European culture.I recommend this book to everyone

When I moved to Morocco, I bought many books to learn about the country. This was and is the best. The most helpful feature is the many pictures of things that are virtually unknown outside of North Africa. Also useful are the thumbnail histories. It is short on restaurant recommendations because outside of the major tourist destinations, Morocco is short on restaurants. The recommendations that are in the book can be trusted.

This book is either Anti-Israeli or is still following the Arab boycott of Israel. This book makes almost no mention of the country of Israel except in the fine print where the information is essential such as arrival information at Ben Gurion Airport in the back of the book. None of the maps mention Israel although Epypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are labeled. I could never trust such a biased book. Admittedly the book is very well illustrated like all the Knopf travel books. I found Frommer's "Israel 2nd Edition" to be more informative, trustworthy, objective and helpful. It is the Frommer's book that I am purchasing from Amazon and taking on my upcoming trip to Israel. The Knopf book I am returning to the library.

This guide is beautiful, complete, and truly in-depth. For example, there is a fold out section showing the route Jesus followed carrying his cross. It notes all of the details including where he fell, where certain icons are -- everything you could want to know. The Knopf Guide also will make a great souvenir of your trip.

Contrary to what another writer has said here, this book certainly recognizes Israel. As the Lonely Planet guide points out, there is much in dispute about this area, and it's easy to offend one group or the other. Any attempt to present a balanced view of history and of the three religions which center their faith here must tread carefully with names and facts. The Knopf Guide excels in this area.

I'd recommend picking up the Lonely Planet guide for details of accomodation and travel facts, but for the history, architecture, birds, animals, fish, sacredness, and gradeur of the area, this is definitely the book to get!

This book is so good that when it was taken away from me at the Syrian border (for having Hebrew in it) I ordered another copy. The Holy Land is a wonderfully literate and detailed little book that could form the basis of a course at Oxford.

You might also want to bring another guide that deals more with pedestrian, but very important, things like where to eat, shop and stay. The Knopf guide is what you want when you go to the Dome of the Rock.

When in Jerusalem I recommend the American Colony Hotel (an Oasis).

I state in the reviews of the Knopf City guides that I prefer this set of books for how it deals with Cities, particulary Paris, Rome, and Venice, however, as I always begin my trip preparations by buying the Knopf guide, I started with this book.

The problem, I think, with this book in general, is that is tries to cover Provence and the Cote D'Azure. It should be difficult to say those two place names in the same breath because of the sheer size of the region, but also the sheer diversity of activities and sites, but this book tries to handle them both and I think it 'covers' both scantilly, although I am a 'buff' of this area and this may be my own personal bias.

While Provence and Cote D'Azure cover much of the same geographic area, due to summer traffic, when you plan your trip, plan it so that you have a Provence part, and a Cote Part. In essence, your hiking and ruin exploration part and then your beach, booze, and sun part. But understand that in either location, there is more to do, more to see, more delightful places, more interesting and half hidden towns, then you could possibly see in a lifetime. There is no region on Earth like it. This Knopf book coveres hundreds of the points of interest in the area, but as one area is completely different to the next it is difficult, you cant use this book to find the niche you want to stay in, nor can you use it to get the real history of some particular monument or town. Picking what you may want to see is very important because with summer crowds, (just about the entire French nation gets off in the summer) traffic, and getting caught in a cheesy tourist mill can dampen your trip. This area is about superlatives, and when you go you want to be sure to get it all. there is a reason the wealth of the world beats a path to the South of France every year! You will see it rather quickly when you get there.

In my other City trips, I use Knopf guides about 95% of the time I reach into my backpack. In The South of France or the French Alps, I use it 30% of the time, to compliment what I read somewhere else. I recommend if you go, use the Karen Brown guide to pick a B&B, then read Fodor's 'Exploring Provence' and the Rough guide too. But always bear in mind, that many of these resort towns, or seaside towns, or mountain towns, have their own particulary slant, if you will. None of the books on this region can adequately brief you on this. You will just have to keep going back till you find the perfect town. You know, the South of France was the only place I have ever been where a manager of a hotel actually recommended in French, another hotel to me, if I came back to the region. It must have been a middle class bonding thing. Anyway, pick up those other books, then get this one, and armed with the three of them you will be fine!

Happy traveling!

These Knopf guides are pictorially rich, have excellent tips and itineraries, and are comprehensive in scope. Small enough to pack and carry too! The Provence guide really introduces you to the art, culture, geography, history and the sights beautifully. Just about all you need (or can rely on comfortably) in advance of a trip. OK, so there are guides richer in hotel/restaurant details, but as a general trip planner, keepsake, and carry around guide this is the one!

This is a digest. Knopf is Gallimard correspondant in USA. Gallimard published various guides-books in french about Loire Valley. This area is so much filled with castles and magnificient landscapes that one book was not enough. Knopf US edition for this digest is quite a good choice for those who want to get more than the plain Michelin Green Guide. Castles drawings are just extraordinary. They built Gallimard reputation for guide-books. Don't forget to buy Arthur Frommer's, Lonely Planet or Michelin Red Guide if you don't know yet where to stay. Knopf guide to the Loire Valley will not be very useful in that matter.

I have lot of respect for the writing of Ondaatje but this book is just not upto his standards. Enough labour has not been given to the research portion while writing this book. You can easily get better repository of lost book in the net and sometimes in the listmania of amazon.com. Most of the critical analysis are very poorly written and I found only two books which are really "lost classic" in the correct sense of the word - they are Doctor Glas and Codex Seraphinianus. I never knew "Classic Revisited" is a lost classic since it is still taught in some universities. Its better to search the net that buy this book

Reading allows us to learn things from others, to experience things we might not ever experience in our own lives, and to go places we wish we could but may never have the chance to. We can go back in time or travel to the future and experience worlds we haven't experienced before. After reading this book I thought of many books I too have lost and misplaced from my earlier years of reading, and wished I had kept, or perhaps not given away. It would be nice to be able to re-read them again, if only they were still in print.

This is a wonderful collection of almost 75 essays, by some of the world's best writers brought together by the editors of Brick: A Literary Journal, that are thoughtful, funny, interesting, witty, and heartwarming. There is such a diverse selection of writers here that there are bound to be several essays for everyone to enjoy.

Jim Moore's essay on "The Salt Ecstasies" by James White who died in 1981 was very inspiring. Jim's poetry is very familiar to me for this was one of the first gay books of poetry I read while coming out. Luckily I still have a first edition copy of this book. Reading this essay inspired me to re-read Jim's poetry once again, and experience the passion & love that he visualized in his poetry for so many of us. Colm Toibin's essay on "Forbidden Territory" by Juan Goytisolo, who was an acquaintance of Jean Genet in Paris in the 1950's, is a tribute to this wonderful Spanish writer. Colm is a fascinating Irish writer himself who has written two wonderful books, " The Heather Blazing" and "The Blackwater Lightship" (See my earlier reviews).

Please don't miss Javier Marias' Afterword. This is writing at its best; intelligent, informative, funny, and touching. The telling of his experience in a bookshop in England, and how the owner was such a fanatical collector that he had a hard time parting with & selling his books is unforgettable. If you love and cherish great books like I do, don't miss this collection of essays. There's something for everyone here. Only one inquiry from me, why isn't this book in hardcover for our collections. Highly recommended!!

The act of reading has been mistakenly called solitary. It is all about dialogue and this book has it in spades. Michael Ondaatje and fellow editors from Brick Magazine, a literary journal, invited over 70 past contributors to submit essays singing the praises of lost, long-ago, out-of-print or underrated books that mattered. In other words, it is a collection of love stories, all personable and short. It is a delight on several levels: not only does it suggests some good-sounding reads, it also introduces some interesting reader/writers, many of them Canadian who do not get enough recognition in America.

To state it as succinctly as possible, this guide is useless for the first time visitor. The maps included do not list all of the little side streets in the city (a must for the maze that is the historic center). The description of the sites are totally devoid of any practical information for the first time visitor, and what is included is shunted into a separate section in the back. We purchased this instead of the Eyewitness Tuscany because if was more focused on the city, but we found the others in the Eyewitness series to be much more user friendly.

While living in Florence, Italy, I used this little book on a daily basis. It is a beautiful book and a wealth of priceless information: from scenic walks along the Arno, places of cultural value, stories behind some of the world's most incredible collections of art, churches, markets, wines and trattorias, transportation routes and day trips into the Tuscan hills ... the list is endless. This book is worth its weight in gold.

This guide does not compare well to the other guides that are available. Too bad there is not an Eyewitness guide for Berlin at the moment. You will probable be better off with the Lonely Planet Berlin guide. The maps in the Knopf guide are difficult to use, and the organization is very strange.

One of the few guides I've ever seen where the restaurant information (at least on the eastern part of the city) was reliable -- we could trust it and find really good addresses, where there were few foreigners. Yes maps are small, but it's worth squinting!

Yes, the pictures are nice.But as a useful resource on a trip, this book was amazingly deficient.Major destinations are inadequately covered, while more minor ones are discussed in detail. The Lonely Planet guide was infinitely more useful and informative.

An insightful and complete reference work that includes information about all aspects of Egypt, from ancient times to today. This book makes understanding Egypt's long, varied, and sometimes complicated history easier. I lead groups to Egypt each year and this is my number one recommendation for them. The illustrations of the temples and tombs are the easiest way to gain an understanding as to their original grandeuer and how they really looked back then. Highly recommended.

If there has ever been a demonstration for the necessity of a good editor, this is it. "Legends" seems to be a loose aggregate of a huge pile of note cards without much shape or accuracy. Every page or two I find a mistake. These mistakes are often minor (like mis-copying the name of Baron v. Egloffstein from Walace Stegner's superior "The Hundreth Meridian"), but it certainly undermines everything else the author says. Aside from that the author is rather hypocritcal - he sneers at the racist Anglos in the Southwest, but has no problem refering to Chinese owners of dry cleaners as a mafia. He complains about the waste of water in the arid Southwest, but he makes sure to play a round of golf whenever he finds a green. I find the book rather irritating, and the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that the disjointed nature of the narrative makes it of no consequence if you read the book in daily five minute increments. If you want to read about the history of the Southwest, try Wallace Stegner's books, Anne Zwinger's "Deserts of the Southwest" or "Cadillac Desert", but don't waste your time or money on this.

I've got to agree with several of the other reviews that this is a poor book about the southwest, he did seem to get facts wrong or what I have learned from over 25 years living here was wrong - the Anasasi are always refered to here as "The Acient Ones" never the "The Enemy Ancestors". I got the feeling that during his visit here people were just putting him on, he was falling for it and put it in this book. This book reminds me of "The Solace of Fierce Landscapes" by Belden Lane who was also not a desert resident, from St Lewis, but trying to write a meaningful book about the desert. You need to live in the deseret for a long, long time before it 'happens' to you, and for most people it never does. To think you are going to go on vacation and then write a meaningful book about the desert is completely missing the point. Come out and sit on a rock for ten years - then write.
An additional point to note is that a golf course is the negation of the desert.

I've explored a little southwestern desert over the 19 years I've lived in the West and believed I was learning from the book and was certainly enjoying it. I discovered an error that tipped me off to do a little research here on what I was reading. As I learn of all the other errors, the book now seems a little suspect. I'm scratching my head wondering if I should continue. I think not, even though I was truly enjoying it.

P.S. The author referred to the place where the Mormons, in search of a short route to the Pacific, chipped and dynamited their way through the redrock canyon wilderness near Escalante, Utah, approaching the Colorado River, to make room for their wagons and handcarts.

The author referred to that place as "Hole in the Wall." It should be "Hole in the Rock." Hole in the Wall is a place in Johnson County, Wyoming where Butch, Sundance and assorted outlaws used to hide from the law (the members thereafter known as "The Hole in the Rock Gang").

The maps in this book were nice. 4 or 5 maps of different sections of the city and one nice subway map. BUT, the guide was heavy on where to eat and stay. I just prefer a map and info on the things to do in a city. I usually have my hotel reservation before I arrive.

Don't confuse the Knopf city guide with the Knopf Guide. The Knopf Guides are quite good. The city guide, of which I have mistakenly bought several, is very short, and devotes at least 80% to where to eat, where to stay, where to shop, where to find night life...20% or less useful info of what to visit if your'e a tourist. And the maps are pretty useless too.

I travel alot both for business and pleasure. I usually buy four to six guides per trip but the guide that I relied on for my trip to Madrid last month made my trip very, very enjoyable. The new Knopf City Guides are nicely organized and color coded to meet the travelers most sought after needs. Where to stay, eat, shop, see sights, enjoy night life are cross referenced and expertly mapped. Not only do they stick to their view of the highlights but each of the sections make it easy to find other attractions outside the section of interest. For instance, the micro map views in the shopping section also contained numbered,colored references to the after hours and eating sections. I would highly recommend these guides to anyone visiting the cities covered.