Many restuarant reviews are way out of date. e.g. lists a restuarant in the Galleria that closed 5 years ago (still listed in 1999 edition).

Map is far too small to be of use.

Have shown it to some Houston residents and they agree the reviews are not accurate.

One bookshop said that they would give a refund because restuarant guide is so poor (wish I'd kept the receipt).

Our son has just moved to Houston, and I bought this book in an effort to learn about his new home. I'm glad I did. Maybe the restaurants reviews ARE out of date, but Joanne Harrison writes in a breezy, conversational tone, throws in enough history to give a sense of place, gets in the traditional and off-beat sights to see, and organizes it all well. There are even sections on nearby places to visit such as Galveston. I felt I learned a lot about the CHARACTER of the city. I'll let the son take us to the latest hot restaurants (although I bet House of Pies is still there)!

Unlike many other guides of this sort, Ms. Harrison's book gives you much more than just the facts, ma'am. Indeed, while reading it, you get a strong sense of a quirky and perceptive intelligence behind the words. The facts are there, in abundance. But there's more: amusing anecdotes, clever turns of phrase and fascinating historical detail.

This is a good starting point for someone who is planning a Dallas/Fort Worth trip. It includes info on the surrounding suburbs as well. The lodging section is lacking; room quality is seldom mentioned, and the information given is no more helpful than the hotel brochures. This is a "just the facts" guide; no author's opinions or insider tips.However,there are good maps and getting around hints.

Rebecca lived through a lot of interesting things and knew interesting people, so if you're looking to read her letters, this is probably a pretty good collection of nicely typed out copies of them. I would disregard the preface since the editor, Bonnie Scott, has obviously not spent the time on attention to details and solid background information. If you want to read about Rebecca, I would recommend "Rebecca West: a saga of the century" by Carl Rollyson, who spent many hours at our home talking with my father and getting all his facts right over a long period of research.

since my last review, I have written to Bonnie Scott and she has contacted the publishers to correct errors. So it's getting better.

The Eyewitness Guides are an oustanding series, so I bought this one without a second thought. Alas, this seems more like a placeholder than a serious attempt at writing a guidebook - a kind of "watch this space" advertisement masquerading as a book. It's so thin, in fact, that the cover seems to sag; the spine is thicker than the pages! The coverage of Oahu is decent, so if you only plan to go to Honolulu, the book might be worthwhile. But the coverage of Kauai (where we spent most of our time) and the Big Island were very poor. I'd very highly recommend the "Ultimate Kauai Guidebook" for Kauai instead.

I am a big fan of Dorling Kindersley Travel Guides, so I was greatly disappointed when I received this pamphlet sized guide to all of Hawaii. It contained slightly more information than I would expect from airport brochures on arrival. With roughly 10 picture covered pages per island, the guide is attractive, but not very useful.

I always use the Eyewitness travel books when I travel to new places. These books are concise and very reader-friendly. The Hawaii guide was extremely useful in planning our honeymoon in Hawaii: we used it to plan all of our activities and were very pleased with the results. Some things are outdated (such as times of Lu'au on Kauai), but overall this book is great.