Reviews (3)

A good guide
My wife and I recently went on our first trip to Italy.We stayed in Florence about 10 days and planned to take some day trips out of Florence.I bought the walking tape on Florence a couple of weeks before leaving home and was so impressed with the clarity of English and the historical content that I ordered the Siena and Pisa tapes too. They were all more than I expected. Although I listened to most of the tours on the flight over, I was very satisfied with using them on the actual tours and so was June. We took along a tour-guide book as well and found that the two really complimened each other.It was a great way to sightsee the streets of those beautiful cities.They were obviously well researched and written so that European history was linked here and there with U.S. history as well as the root of a lot of our English language.I recommend these tours to anyone traveling to Italy.

What Travelers Need
These tapes are wonderful because the information is based on the antiquities, and the tour taken is much more meaningful.The traveler can go at his or her own pace.Reading a travel guide and then applying that knowledge later looses something, these tapes are as the title states "Walk with Me".The traveler feels just like he or she is walking with the author, a very knowledgable, real person who knows what travelers need!

Walk with me in Pisa/Lucca
I would like to buy this guide cassette in Italian language, but I can see that you do not sell it.I like Cicerone man because his ENglish is very clear, and the map is good.But, please produce this cassette in Italian for other cities like Rome and Venice, Naples and Palermo. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Travel    2. Audio Adult: Other    3. CAS - Audio - Travel    4. Europe - Western    5. Italy    6. Lucca    7. Pisa    8. Pisa (Italy)    9. Travel    10. Travel - Foreign    11. Travel / Europe / Western   

Editorial Review

Fed up with cold, foggy London and the high cost of real estate, Annie Hawes is persuaded by her sister Lucy to travel to Italy and graft roses for the winter. The sisters arrive in rural Liguria with some formal Italian, no knowledge of rose grafting, and visions of Mediterranean men and sun. What they find is a town full of hard-working, wary olive growers smack in the middle of an olive oil depression who think these two young Englishwomen are nuts. Read more

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Reviews (44)

I loved this book!
I bought it on a whim, and I can't think of the last time I've been so entertained. I've laughed out loud at numerous points. I'm recommending it all over the place, but am unwilling to lend out my copy as I intend to read it again.

Good read with a bit of a twist on a familiar story
I have read a whole slew of books on living in northern Italy.I have enjoyed them all (well, all except for A Summer in Tuscany by Sandra Swanson).This one is a bit different from the rest, and not for a single reason or two.First off, the book is based on the Riviera, not in Tuscany.Second, it starts with a story of how they are working in Italy for a season, but then becomes a story of living there.Third, there is a more complex attitude toward Italy revealed here by the writer, not a blind love, not cynicism, but a realistic combination of those approaches, and one that I think changes slightly over the course of the book.Fourth, a single woman living with her sister seems to lead to different experiences and therefore make the book a bit different from the others about couples.The authors have some opportunities to interact with the locals but are also given a bit wider berth as might be the case with bringing a single person to a party consisting entirely of married couples.Either because of or in spite of these differences the book succeeds.It was a much slower read than the other were, but also very enjoyable.I recommend it, though the ending does seems a bit rushed and compressed.

My favourite expat memoir
It's difficult to stand out in such a crowded milieu, that of the British expat finding paradise in a foreign land and writing a book about it. This book is head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. Annie Hawes is at the same time self-deprecating, respectful and most of all insightful. The descriptions of the food are mouthwatering, and the characters and anecdotes both funny and moving. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Travel    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Description and travel    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. Europe - Italy    7. Riviera (Italy)    8. Social life and customs    9. Travel    10. Unabridged Audio - Travel    11. United States - General    12. Travel / General   

Editorial Review

Frances Mayes continues her love letter to Italy in this sequel to Read more

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Reviews (19)

Beautiful photographs
This book is quite different from Mayes' first two books about Tuscany, which were more like travel memoirs. This book's focus is photographs, accompanied by some commentary, thoughts, and insights from Mayes, as well as some recipes. Frankly, I didn't read the text at all. I just enjoyed the photographs. I wish I'd had this book when I was reading Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany because all the places she talks about in those books are scattered throughout the pages of this book in beautiful photographs. We finally get to see what Mayes' charming Bramasole house looks like, as well as the town of Cortona and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. If you haven't read Mayes' first two books, read them and have this one handy so you can see for yourself just how beautiful these houses, towns, and people are.

In Tuscany
If you are the least bit interested in anything Italian then this is the book for you. "In Tuscany" has a great intro into the lifestyles there and more. There are many beautiful pictures and easy to follow recipes. A must have for those who are looking for a ecsape from our busy lives or an inspiration to redecorate your own home.

Complete the Experience
A delicious feast for the eye and heart.If you have read the book, if you have travelled in Tuscany this book brings it all home visually. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Other    2. Audiobooks    3. Description and travel    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Europe - Italy    6. Pictorials    7. Social life and customs    8. Travel    9. Tuscany (Italy)    10. Unabridged Audio - Travel    11. Travel / Pictorials   

Reviews (1)

The best series to learn basic French
I purchased this little book and cassette tape to learn some basic travel French after using the Dorling Kindersley (DK)German tape/book package, with which I was very pleased.Its format is to (1) say the English phrase, (2) have a native speaker say the phrase in the foreign language, (3) leave time for the student to repeat the phrase, and (4) at the beginning of each tape, at least, repeat the phrase in the foreign language so you can "hear" how you did.It is a marvelous method, and after a few listenings you start to think the foreign phrase reflexively.It only takes about an hour to listen to the tape, so you can pop it in the cassette player in the car and listen over and over prior to your trip abroad.After 10-12 times, you have reasonable confidence that you can speak some French if needed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Europe - France    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. Foreign Language Study    4. French    5. French language    6. Language    7. Polyglot Phrasebooks    8. Self-instruction    9. Sound recordings for English speakers    10. Spoken French    11. Foreign Language Study / French   

Reviews (4)

The Great Journey
My great-great grandparents with an infant daughter journeyed overland from Missouri to California in 1850 and I read this book to learn something of their experience.
Straightforward, commendable
Meaningful, first-hand chronicles from six westward women pioneers of 1850. A Must Hear Tale From the Trail!
As Americans we have heard many tales, true and false, of tales of, and about, those brave souls who migrated across the country in wagons and on foot in the 19th century.Beverly's LTD has recorded The personal diary of one such woman, Margaret A. Frink.Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Historical - U.S.    4. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    5. United States - 19th Century/Old West    6. Women    7. Biography    8. Diaries    9. History    10. Overland journeys to the Pacif    11. Travel    12. U.S. History - Westward Expansion    13. West (U.S.)    14. Women In The U.S.    15. Women pioneers   

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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Industries - Hospitality, Travel & Tourism    5. Information Management    6. Knowledge management    7. Management - General    8. Business & Economics / Management    9. Management decision making    10. Management of specific areas   

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Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 1-2    3. Foreign Language Study - General    4. Juvenile Nonfiction    5. Italian    6. Language teaching & learning material & coursework    7. Modern language learning material   

Editorial Review

Prepare to have some of your greatest fears laid bare in this collection of riveting, and often terrifying, "cautionary tales from the limits of human endurance." Based on interviews with accident survivors and the medical specialists who treat them, veteran outdoor writer Peter Stark offers mostly fictitious accounts (there is one based on a true historical incident) of people caught in life-threatening situations. In Read more

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Reviews (18)

I couldn't stop reading

Amazing work
This book is one of the best I've read in a long time.To the first reviewer, he clearly didn't understand this book, as is shown by the following reviews. My Favorite Non-Fiction
I first read a chapter of this book in paddler magazine and the way Peter Stark described the drowning of a kayaker (Chapter 2: A River of One's Own)in detail right down to the amounts of oxygen remaining in his lungs at various periods of time.The entire book is written as en ewcellent blend of fact and fiction and while the scenarios are not true they are composites of true stories, and some of Stark's imagination, which gives them a realism that pure fiction can't match.The facts Stark gives are sound, he obviously did his homework and he even gives a bibliography so you can check out some of his sources.I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get outside. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Misc. Nonfiction    2. Abridged Audio - Travel    3. Adventure and adventurers    4. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. Health aspects    7. Outdoor medical emergencies    8. Special Interest - Adventure    9. Travel    10. Travel / Adventure   

Reviews (1)

Made the trip easier...
I bought a few reference guides before travelling to Tokyo last year.This was the only one that I used.The tape introduces you to general phrases that won't make you standout as such a tourist.The fold out guide that mimics the tape was my best friend on the trip.I highly recommend this over anything else that I found on the net. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Audio: Juvenile    3. Foreign Language Study    4. Japanese    5. Japanese language    6. Self-instruction    7. Sound recordings for English speakers    8. Spoken Japanese   

Editorial Review

Actor Michael Palin has managed to keep busy since hisdays with the British comedy group Monty Python. First, hetraveled Read more

Reviews (18)

Still Fresh
"Pole to Pole" is one of the earlier, and therefore better, of Michael Palin's travel series. It benefits from a definite aim (a journey from the North to the South Pole) rather than being a rather aimless wander.
North Pole to South Pole via Africa
This review is based on watching the DVD version of "Pole to Pole", the BBC TV program made in 1991 that showed Michael Palin traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole.
Best of the series
This time, avoiding the obvious too-much-time-at-sea problems of "Around the World in 80 days", Palin's team becomes a marvel of light travel and problem-solving in this somewhat dangerous, honest and good-natured tour of 1990 Eastern Europe and Africa. The music's better too. The best of his series, without a doubt, and possibly the best of this genre of travelogue. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Travel writing   

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Travel    2. Audio Adult: Other    3. Europe - France    4. Unabridged Audio - Travel    5. France    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Walking, hiking, trekking   

Editorial Review

"Centuries of travel lore suggest that when we no longer know where to turn our real journey has begun," writes author Phil Cousineau. "At that crossroads moment, a voice calls to our pilgrim soul." Many have embarked upon a pilgrimage, but few have understood its mysteries and possibilities as well as Phil Cousineau does (author of Read more

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Reviews (20)

Part Travel-logue part philosophy of travel, a gentle good read
This is part travelogue, but very much a deeper philosophical insight into why we travel - and by talking it Cousineau expresses much of what I felt about travel but hadn't really put into words before. It is very much about getting meaning from the places you visit rather than simply visiting them, which is why spiritual and religious pilgrimages mean such a great deal.
The Art of Pilgrimage
A great read for someone embarking on their own pilgrimage or thinking about doing it.I'm inspired.

The Art of Pilgrimage
Phil Cousineau challenges the reader to think of each tripthat you take as a pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is a state of mind... Pilgrimage is an art form... A Pilgrimage can turn an ordinary trip into a life-changing experience. Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Travel    2. Audio Adult: Other    3. Audiobooks    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Pilgrims and pilgrimages    6. Reference - Guides (General)    7. Religious aspects    8. Spirituality - General    9. Travel   

Reviews (1)

The Paladin the man that well all strive to achieve
In HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL you will here about Paladin a man that is a gun for hired but only if the price is right and the cause is right. He is a man that stands up to those that defy law and order and is a man that attempts to right wrongs. Sort of like the Lone Ranger without the mask. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Travel    2. Audio Adult: Other    3. Europe - France    4. France    5. Unabridged Audio - Travel    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Walking, hiking, trekking   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (148)

Falling angels and rising tides
Author John Berendt doesn't tell a story, so much as paint a portrait in The City of Falling Angels-appropriate, perhaps, since the American view of Venice is so colored by art and architecture. The reader gets a protrait of a Venice that is simultaneously cosmopolitan-the playground of nobility, titled and untitled-and provincial-Berendt's Venetians are often distrustful of outsiders, and frequently resentful of the millions of tourists who throng the city, bringing traffic, environmental decay-and money. Though it was once the seat of an empire, Venice today is as much a tourist town as Las Vegas or Orlando.
Another City - no angels
It just didn't do it for me.Like so many other people, I loved Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.It was such a rich, unexpected book and came alive in the reading.But, I fear John Berendt had only one in him - one great story.He found a crime and a city and another series of characters, but he just didn't find the magic.
John Berendt has a formula - and it works well.
John Berendt has a formula - and it works well.
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Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Travel    2. Audio - Travel    3. Audiobooks    4. Description And Travel    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. Europe - Italy    7. History    8. History: World    9. Social History    10. Social life and customs    11. Travel    12. Venice (Italy)    13. Travel / Essays & Travelogues   

Reviews (4)

traveler beware
good solid advice of what to be aware of when traveling Traveler Beware
I have been traveling for the last 10 years, but have never traveled overseas.I had heard many stories and have had friends who have wallets and purses stolen gypsies and thievesbut have had a hard time findinginformation that was in-depth.I saw the author on Oprah when she talkedabout this tape but never got around to buying it, but finally did beforemy first trip to Italy, Spain and Greece.The tape was just what I wanted,gave all the scams used by crooks.Of interesting note, the author has aweb site... that gives additonal informationand travel safety tips. Traveler Beware
This book was very helpful to me in my travels.I am in sales and I do alot of traveling and ever since I listened to the tape it has made me moreaware of my surroundings in the airport and other areas that I was notaware of.It is amazing some of the scams Detective Coffey talked about. I would highly recommend this tape to anyone that wants to protect theirproperties while traveling on business or pleasure. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Language    2. Europe - Italy    3. Reference - Guides (General)    4. Reference - Tips    5. Travel    6. Unabridged Audio - Travel    7. Audiobooks    8. CAS - Audio - Travel    9. Crime and criminals    10. Italy    11. Language teaching theory & methods    12. Safety    13. Safety measures    14. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY    15. Theft   

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Reviews (4)

This is so hammy it spoiled my appetite
I've never seen Charles Kuralt on television. This book is my only experience with him, and that may explain the review that is to follow.
Like a ride with an old friend
Charles Kuralt had the gift of seeing a story in the littlest thing.He took the thread of everyman's life and wove a tapestry of America and then gave it as a gift to us.

I loved re-discovering America with Charles Kuralt!
After reading this book, I felt a sense of renewal and satisfaction that there are still candles lending their beams to the world.I picked up this book for a report at school.I thought that it would be just anotherboring book that we are often forced to read in school.Wrong-O!I lovedit!From the team that had lost every single one of its games to the traindepot that served soldiers during WWII, I found myself emersed in each ofthe stories.Each of these average Americans had a not so average story totell... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Description and travel    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities    8. Television programs    9. Travel    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. Literary Criticism & Collections / General   

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Reviews (132)

Spellbinding story - uneven writing and organization
This is a spellbinding book on a scuba diving drama that raises mixed emotions, as it combines a variety of topics and experiences and confronts the reader with a number of challenges. As the title implies, it is nominally about the last dive of Chris and Chrissie Rouse, a dare-devil father-and-son scuba dive team that perished in 1992 while trying to unlock the secrets of an undocumented German U-Boat laying at 230 feet of water about 60 miles off the New York/New Jersey coast.
Intriguing study of what drives risk takers
Bringing their only child into the world, and making a lifetime commitment to each other, changed everything for Chris and Sue Rouse when they faced her unplanned pregnancy. Chris was 18 years old, and still in high school, when Chris Jr. - known throughout his life as "Chrissy" - arrived. Sue gave up her dreams of college, a career, and world travel so the young couple could build a business and a family instead. Eventually they succeeded so well financially that Chris could afford such hobbies as owning his own small airplane. Then he discovered scuba diving, a sport to which he promptly introduced both Sue and Chrissy; and the Rouse family's lives changed again. Never inclined toward doing anything by halves, they soon moved from recreational diving - a relatively safe pursuit - to the adrenaline rush of cave diving.
A Must Read For Any Wreck Diver
Bernie Chowdury does a great job at giving an in depth look in the life and death of the Rouse's. This book is a must read for anyone involved in the sport of Wreck Diving. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Accidents    3. Adventurers & Explorers    4. Atlantic Coast (U.S.)    5. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    6. Audio Adult: Other    7. Scuba & Snorkeling    8. Scuba divers    9. Scuba diving    10. Shipwrecks    11. Special Interest - Adventure    12. Travel    13. United States    14. Travel / Adventure   

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Reviews (20)

British humour the American way
One explanation of the conception of 'British humour' is that by laughing about it was the only way for the Brits to cope with the misfortune of loosing an empire. It this 'just wonder and laugh about it' attitude which Bryson applies to all kind of Americanisms and every day wonders and (mis)fortunes. And who better then a funny bloke like Bill Bryson to reflect on these in a combined 78 news paper columns as an American who lived in the UK for over twenty years who masters the art or exaggeration. This is the ideal book to pick up every now and then, read a few notes and move on with a smile on your face.

A good laugh
If you are able to laugh at your own faults and mistakes - this is a great book. Otherwise stay away because it'll just get you frustrated (as one of the reviewers mentioned, this book may only be a bestseller in the Middle East or a favourite of illegal immigrants).
slow delivery speed
the book is naturally excellent but the service rendered was very poor. this was supposed to be a birthday gift and it reached a week late. it was a regular postage option and yet it took 14 days to reach. I was very upset. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Travel writing    3. USA