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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I would normally hesitaie to give 5 stars, but......, March 27, 2001
The value of a really good book in other spheres of literature can mean hours spent in another time and place in a trance of pleasure, or perhaps the true satisfaction of gaining a comprehensive understanding of a concept or event that had formally intrigued or baffled you. These are considerable and valuable pleasures of course, but when a book like this gets things absolutely right, it can mean a trip being enhanced to an immeasurable degree, resulting in memories that will stay with you until the day you die. This was my experience with this book, and when I awoke on our first morning in our hotel, the sun was streaming in over a terrace bedecked with lemon trees and classical sculptures, I could hear the mass being sung by the nuns in the nearby convent, and I could look directly above my bed to see a deep relief sculpture of prancing angels, it was difficult not to be convinced, for a split second that I had not survived the flight over, slipped by the pearly gates due to some administrative error on the part of St Peter & Co, and awoken in paradise. That I had this experience was entirely due to the quality of the research undertaken for this book, and the discretion of the author. The writing is of a quality that you will wish to revisit the book, and your destination. A 5 star rating is probably overused on ... but it would be ungrateful and crass of me to give less here. Priceless information, precious memories, a palpable hit.
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