The author is Gordon West (not West Gordon

If you are an amateur general looking forward to your extra-class license this is, of course, the way to go. If you are interested in amateur radio and don't know where to start look for the book "Look Who's Talking"

If you are looking for backgrounder on the people, geography, and history of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, this book may fit your needs. As a general travel guide, it misses the mark badly.

First, the positives. The book provides 150 pages of concise overview. The history section is particularly successful. With an investment of about 90 minutes of reading, you come away with a reasonable understanding of how these two nations arrived at their modern condition, and in particular why they are quite different from one another. The photography in this section and throughout the book is superb and inspirational.

Now, the bad news. As a practical travel guide, information is consistently lacking or just plain wrong. A few examples (there are many more)...

1. Want to know what time it is when you arrive in the DR? This book will tell you you're in the Eastern Time zone. (False - you are one hour ahead).

2. Want to know how much cash you'll need at the airport? This book correctly informs you of the $10 tourist card you must purchase on arrival but utterly fails to mention the $10 departure tax.

3. Want to do a little exploring on the Costa del Coco north of Punta Cana? This book will treat you to purple passages like "the charter meccas are left behind glinting like shiny oyster pearls in the sun...", then toss out the names of a few beaches you could have located on the map, and provide absolutley no additional information.

In short, you might find this book useful for some inspiration in planning your trip, but don't expect to rely on it for practical information once you're on site.

I bought this book, not as a travel guide, but as a "coffee-table book" about the country of Haiti. As such, it is FANTASTIC! Sure, there are some typos in this first edition, but the publisher specifically invites readers' contributions & corrections (p. 2) for future editions. The photos in this book are vivid, stunning depictions of life in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. There is an introductory section full of photos & illustrations that covers the history of both nations that comprise Hispaniola, followed by colorful, photo-filled sections on people, language, art, religion, cuisine, sports, flora & fauna, architecture, economy & agriculture, geography & demography by regions of each country (including a wide variety of detailed maps), sites to visit and sights to see. All this comprises the first 344 pages of this marvelous book! Only the last 48 pages are devoted to "Travel Tips" -- trip planning, transportation, places to stay, places to eat, tourist sites, shopping, festivals, excursions, and so forth. Indeed, this is NOT A TRAVEL GUIDE! BUT A MARVELOUS AND DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE RICH CULTURE, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, AND INTRIGUING HISTORY OF THE ISLAND OF HISPANIOLA it is!!

The jacket blurb compares this book to McPhee's "The Survival of the Bark Canoe." While Klinkenborg tries manfully to achieve something like McPhee, he doesn't make it. He comes close at times, but only close and that not often enough.

From Klinkenborg I got only glimpses of the places and people living a life I know next to nothing about. He took me to the edge of the field, but not up close enough to understand what they are doing and why. A few times he describes machinery or processes well enough for me to see them, but most of the time he drops names with only the barest description, leaving me in the middle of nowhere. In contrast, when I finish one of McPhee's many books, I feel like I could BUILD the canoe, pick the oranges, or pilot the ship.

Klinkenborg does better with the people in the story, many of them family of his, and those parts were fine. But the heart of the story is in its title, and I was left wanting much more than I received.

Klinkenborg knows this topic is off the beaten track. No puns, metaphors or euphemisms intended, it is literally a book about the production of hay in the vast fields of Minnesota and Iowa. His fascination perplexes no one more than the author's relatives, who make a living at it and observe his enthusiasm for the work with benign bemusement. Of course in the process of learning the family trade, Klinkenborg learns something about his own heritage, but he presents this as mere incidental observations, like an old friend waved to at the end of a row just before turning the combine around to get back to business. The writing is superb. I'd give it a 10, but he does tend to go a tad overboard with loving descriptions of the machinery.

This book was written as a companion to an exhibition that opened at the Huntington Library in Los Angeles in October 1998. The illustrations are disappointing, because they are mostly photographs of documents. The text is decent, but provides a very superficial account of Washington's life. A much better general book about Washington's life is James Thomas Flexner's Washington: The Indispensable Man.

Washington's achievements were primarily in three areas: commanding the continental army, being president of the Constitutional Convention, and serving as the country's first President. He practically single-handedly fostered a sense of our being one united country and held it together through the war, the draftig of the Constitution, and the national's early history.

It is difficult to overestimate Washington's contributions. Everything he did set a precedent for the nation. And everything was being done for the first time. There had been no democratic country in the history of the world. No country had had a democratically elected leader; they had all been kings.

Washington was a fascinating man. Unfortunately, this book is not. Still, it is worthwhile as a superficial overview of Washington's life.

We made the mistake of taking this book to Puerto Rico with us. It seems as if the author copied the information from various hotel brochures she was given, because its sadly obvious she never even visited most of the places she mentions.The information on the paradors (country inns) was totally inaccurate - we wasted hours of driving to places which were not as described. In other hotels and/or paradors, she never mentioned the most interesting features. Her descriptions were vague, misleading, or totally wrong. Her only helpful comments were on the most expensive resorts ($300 - $500 per day). Her only real review was on the Wyndham El Conquistador where it seems she had a cold breakfast. Again DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. It is a total waste of time and money.