101 Places Not to See Before You Die [Paperback]

Catherine Price (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2010

Because bad places make good stories

The Testicle Festival • Garbage City • Rush Hour on a Samoan Bus • Y our Boss's Bedroom • Ibiza on a Family Vacation • Stonehenge • The Road of Death • A North Korean Gulag • Fucking, Austria • And 92 More!

From the Grover Cleveland Service Area to the Beijing Museum of Tap Water to, of course, Euro Disney, 101 Places Not to See Before You Die brings you lively tales of the most ill-conceived museums, worst theme parks, and grossest Superfund sites that you'll ever have the pleasure of not visiting. Journalist Catherine Price travels the globe for stories of misadventure to which any seasoned traveler can relate—including guest entries from writers such as Nicholas Kristof, Mary Roach, Michael Pollan, Rebecca Solnit, and A. J. Jacobs—and along the way she discovers that the worst experiences are often the ones we'll never forget.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A hilarious look at some of the most uninviting, overcrowded, unsanitary, overhyped, and stomach-churning locales on the planet.” (Budget Travel )

“101 Places Not to See Before You Die takes a fascinating and hilarious look at some of the least appealing places and events on the planet—from Montana’s Testicle Festival to the Amsterdam Sexmuseum—and explains in lucid terms just what you’ll be missing out on.” (Salon )

“Amusing.” (The San Francisco Chronicle )

“Price is a delightful writer who manages to give readers more giggles in under-two-page entries than many writers could in an entire chapter. . . . Highly recommended.” (Library Journal )

“This clever collection of travel advisories lists all the places that are definitely not worth a trip, including a rendering plant, Times Square on New Year’s Eve, and, bien sûr, Euro Disney.” (Entertainment Weekly )

“Price’s delightful work is utterly hilarious.” (Arthur Frommer )

“Weird and funny.” (The Washington Post )

“Funny and engaging.” (USA Today )

About the Author

Catherine Price is an avid traveler and writer who hopes never to see a body farm firsthand. Coauthor of The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook and a contributing editor at Popular Science, she has written for the New York Times, O, the Oprah Magazine, Salon, Slate, and The Best American Science Writing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 edition (June 22, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061787760
• ISBN-13: 978-0061787768
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Reference

More About the Author

Catherine Price's written and multimedia work has appeared in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Popular Science, Salon, Men's Journal, Mother Jones, Health Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, and Outside, among others. A contributing editor at Popular Science and co-author of The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook, she's also a recipient of the Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental Reporting, a winner of the Gobind Behari Lal prize for science writing and has contributed several commentaries to American Public Media's Marketplace.

A native New Yorker, Catherine is an enthusiastic traveler. Her own personal worst travel experience was sailing for two weeks from Palmyra (an island smack in the middle of the Pacific) to Hawaii on a 135-foot sailboat with 39 other sleep-deprived people whose main leisure activity involved puking off the deck. A compulsive list-maker and Type A personality, Catherine finds the entire concept of the 1,000 Places to See Before You Die series very, very stressful.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, July 7, 2010

By 

Nate Johnson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 101 Places Not to See Before You Die (Paperback)

I picked this up (while in a friend's bathroom I have to admit) and was so absorbed and amused that a significant amount of time slipped by. It was only when I emerged and saw the questioning stares that I realized how odd it must have seemed for a guest to disappear into the loo and stay there for 20 minutes, occasionally laughing out loud.
If you want a tonic to cure you from the sort of travel writing intended to sell - if you need a gift for a traveler (or a homebody for that matter) - take a look at this.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Travel Anti-Bucket List, July 18, 2010

By 

Dick Jordan "Tales Told From The Road" (Marin County, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 101 Places Not to See Before You Die (Paperback)

What do "The Testicle Festival", "Your Boss' Bedroom", "The Wiener's Circle", and "Groper's Night on the Tokyo Subway" all have in common? They are chapters in Catherine Price's new book, 101 Places Not To See Before You Die.

Seven years ago Patricia Schultz gave us the ultimate travel "bucket list" with 1,000 Places To See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List. In the introduction to her "sequel", Price said that she decided to create an "antidote" to all of the "must-do" tomes that followed in the wake of Schultz' book, so she came up with "a list of places and experiences that you don't need to worry about missing out on."

Price didn't visit each of the 101 don't ever go there locations in her book; she "called on travel-loving friends, family members, and, in some cases, complete strangers to tell [her] about overhyped tourist sites, boring museums, stupid historical attractions, and circumstances that can make even worthwhile destinations miserable." Some chapters are actually a "Guest Entry" by another author: Michael Pollan, who wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma, contributed "The Worst Meal in Barcelona"; Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell, described the bureaucratic Purgatory she found herself in at "The Customs Office at the Buenos Aires Airport." And Brendan Buhler, staff reporter for the Las Vegas Sun, entices readers with "Fan Hours at the Las Vegas Porn Convention."

Most of us would deem a visit to "A Vomitorium", or being stuck on "The Top of Mount Washington in A Snowstorm", or landing on "Jupiter's Worst Moon" as a travel experience to be avoided. Bypassing "Hell" or an overnight stay in "Garbage City" seems like good advice. Skipping "An AA Meeting When You're Drunk" is a no-brainer. And what traveler would want to be trapped on "The Inside of a Spotted Hyena's Birth Canal"?

But some readers will will undoubtedly find that at least a few of Price's "anti-bucket list" choices rank among their most memorable travel venues. I'm sure that Euro Disney and the Winchester Mystery House have legions of fanatical fans. "Times Square on New Year's Eve" may not be Price's favorite place to celebrate the beginning of the new year, but are the throngs that gather to watch the famous ball begin its descent counting down to 12:01 a.m. mere fools? Devotees of Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore, and the Blarney Stone may be so incensed that they will set "vanity bonfires" and send Price's book from ashes to ashes.

I enjoyed visiting Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona, even though Price says that the "U.S. Park Rangers Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police named it the most dangerous national park in the United States" and that you have "to deal with the desert's 116-degree summer heat, venomous snakes, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and of course, drug traffickers..." As as often can be said about travel, "your experience may differ from mine"; I had a good time there during March a few years back when the weather was fine and the nasty critters, bad bugs, and evil people were nowhere to be found.

101 Places Not To See Before You Die isn't really a guidebook for figuring out where not to go on your summer vacation. But it's a good "summer read" that will give you plenty of chuckles especially when you're stuck at the airport, or on the tarmac, two places you hope you not to find yourself even one more time before you die.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Funny!, July 9, 2010

By 

Emily Westin - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 101 Places Not to See Before You Die (Paperback)

I found this book very engaging and fun to read. I'm especially enamored of the author's fascination with carpets (on subways/hot yoga rooms) and I personally experienced #92 (and wish I hadn't- still living with the consequences).

I think that this book makes the perfect gift, as it will always generate something to talk about! While reading, my husband would often laugh out loud (books don't usually generate that response from him) and I found myself reading sentences aloud to whomever was near me.

All in all, you can't go wrong with this one! (as long as you don't take it too personally, as I think one reviewer may have...