Discover America [Hardcover]

READER'S DIGEST (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2004

Discover, re-discover, and renew your connection to America with this comprehensive, information-packed travel guide, featuring over 3,000 of America's most scenic treasures. Find not-to-be-missed historic sites, national parks, national monuments, and more-complete with over 1,200 color photographs. Organized by geographical region, and then by state, are 100 pages of the most up-to-date, detailed road maps.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This hulking volume might be best described as a cross between a fact-filled encyclopedia of the 50 states and a collection of brochures from state-sponsored travel agencies. With 100 pages of road maps, over 3,000 place entries and sidebars highlighting significant cities and state parks, the book is chockablock with random bits of trivia and essential information. The editors have divided it by geographical region and subdivided by state. Every state gets a full-page introduction, along with a few paragraphs each on principal cities and national monuments and parks. Although the prose is, for the most part, rigidly straightforward (and even hokey: "Wherever you visit in the South, you're sure to meet an interesting character with a spellbinding story to tell"), the editors don't shy from covering some locales' less attractive aspects (e.g., they mention Detroit's "decaying core" and problems with crime, poverty and unemployment in the late 1990s). The photographs neatly capture iconic images: an intricately sculpted sand castle on the beach at Fort Lauderdale, the crowded Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, bison roaming the North Dakota wilderness, brilliant fall foliage in New York's Adirondack Park. The book ends with a gazetteer including towns and cities, national parks, national forests and other national reserves, with page references. Flipping through this vast compilation of American places should inspire would-be travelers to get out of their armchairs and hit the road.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: Readers Digest (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762104341
• ISBN-13: 978-0762104345
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,469,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Beautiful Comprehensive Planning Book, December 14, 2004

By 

G. Reid (Roseland, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Discover America (Hardcover)

This is the book to use to plan for travel anywhere in America. It is not a book to take with you while traveling. It is too big and heavy for that purpose. To be used in preparation for an upcoming trip or vacation this book has more than 1200 brilliant color photographs and 100 pages of detailed road maps.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars looks are deceiving, September 29, 2005

By 

---- Neil H. "A Trailer Sailor's Library" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Discover America (Hardcover)

THis book looks great at a quick glance, a more thorough read leaves you wanting. It does not attempt to rate locations, and is basically a quick blurb on all the bigger cities in the US. Yawn.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tons of information, September 7, 2011

By 

daisy2147 (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discover America (Hardcover)

I really love this book. I am a geography buff and love to read about different cities and states. This has so much information, you can spend hours just pouring over it. It is not a "travel book" per se-it doesn't rate areas or give you attraction recommendations! It is literally a descriptive book about America. Wonderfully done!