Customer Reviews

Insiders' Guide to Salt Lake City, 4th (Insiders' Guide Series)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very good, informative book, written with warmth and humour by someone who obviously has a great affection for the area and it's people. I've visited Salt Lake City for the last 4 years as a tourist and, as I read this book I'm back there smiling at it's quirks, looking around it's buildings, eating in it's restaurants and shopping in it's malls. The book is as easy going as the place it describes and is written logically, filling the reader in with the history and background before moving them around the city with added knowledge and appreciation of all that's there. This book will be my companion when I visit again this year. Oh and why only 4 stars - colour photographs instead of black and white please!

A guidebook should do two things. First, it needs to present a lot of factual information about places in the area it describes. Second, it must evaluate the places in a way that is useful to its target audience. This book meets the first requirement: it gives some historical information about the Salt Lake area and it describes many stores, restaurants, hotels, and other locations that will interest travelers. It also talks about health care, education, and other topics that are useful to people considering moving to SLC. Unfortunately, this Insider's Guide fails the second requirement by describing pretty much everything in glowing terms: if you believe this book, everyone is nice, the restaurants are all good, and you can't stay in a bad hotel. Compared to the more useful and frank evaluations found in the better guidebooks such as Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, or Let's Go, this book is definitely second class.