Customer Reviews

London (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I like DK Books. Their wonderful pictures and diagrams are real strengths and I would buy this particular London book again.

However it was written so long ago and has been so poorly patched its practical text is not suitable for the people I bought it for. The advice about traveler's checks with the patch about using your credit card to get a cash advance from an ATM is quite a bit off. Digital camera owners need to be told to look at their charger and see if it works at 240; that tells them whether to get a voltage transformer or only a plug adapter. Oyster cards are a confusing convenience that can save real money and time if you stay more than a few days. These practical things need to be written up properly.

A brief reference to vibrant Canary Wharf and the superb Dockland's museum was not added very well. The photo on page 236 must have been taken before the first American edition in 1993. For perhaps 5 years you have been able take a tour that walks across the top of Tower Bridge; do readers want to be told that is a change from what the book used to say? Goddard's pie shop, which gets as much coverage as Docklands - Canary Wharf, is closed. Have the editors heard of Ben Franklin's house?

"Annually Revised" it says. There is evidence of many revisions and repairs; that is true. However this 2007 edition is not good enough to be your main guide book. Read it with some skepticism.

After looking through many other travel guides, mostly copy-dense volumes with only a section or two of color photos, I admit to having been skeptical of the utility of this large, colorful, profusely-illustrated book. Would it really have the in-depth info I wanted? I shouldn't have worried. When my wife and I took a vacation to London this spring, this (along with one or two more specialized guides) was the book we ended up taking with us.

This guide handily divides London up into several sections, and covers each in generous depth. The suggested walks and tourist highlights in each chapter came in handy, even if we never chose to follow them verbatim. The collection of maps in the back, as well as the more narrowly-focused illustrated maps in each section, was easy to read and pretty comprehensive. And because the illustrations are large and lavish, it was no problem finding the information we needed quickly (keeping us from having to stand on street corners thumbing frantically through guidebooks like, well, like tourists).

The general travel information at the back of the book also came in handy, although we found it odd that according to the authors, "travelers checks are the safest alternative to carrying large amounts of cash." In fact, we had absolutely no problem accessing our American bank accounts via British ATMs, which struck us as a far safer and more convenient process.

Many travel guides become obsolete very quickly. But the many illustrations in an "Eyewitness Travel Guide" make it a best-of photo album as much as a guidebook. I think this volume is one of the very few that may be worth hanging on to now that we're back home.

The new (2006) Eyewitness Guide for London maintains the beautifully-photographed, competently-written, and *brilliantly designed* full-color format--with heavy use of informational sidebars--that the DK Eyewitness series has become famous for. It's a combination of a guide for practical use and--primarily--a whirlwind, photographically-intensive overview of London as a tourist is likely to encounter it...and as a tourist is likely to enjoy remembering it when looking through the book upon return from London.

The book is nicely arranged by sections of the city. All major tourist attractions are covered, in part through the use of attractive cutaway museum floor plans and street plans for neighborhoods commonly visited by tourists, including a few removed from the center of London, such as Greenwich.

The Eyewitness Guides do not provide in-depth or specialist information; but, overall, they are no less detail-oriented than any other of the many *basic overview* guidebooks. A helpful contrasting example might be the Blue Guide for London: which is also an overview guide book but which cannot fairly be called a "basic" guide. While the Blue Guide is as broad in scope as the Eyewitness Guide in terms of the number of attractions covered, it is generally more detail-oriented, especially regarding architecture and history.

Since the Eyewitness Guide for London is not a specialist guide book, it is also largely free from editorializing, for better or worse. (I.e., no entry in an Eyewitness guide is going to include a suggestion to avoid a particular attraction, or a warning that some aspect of an attraction can prove frustrating. Other guides--such as a TimeOut, Blue Guide, or a Lonely Planet guide--are better for that.)

As is the case with most guide books, the Eyewitness Guide also offers sections of practical tips and information. This includes how to operate most London phones, what British currency looks like, what the emergency numbers are (e.g., in London one dials "999" not "911"), where to buy stamps, how "zebra" crosswalks work, etc. It should be stressed that other guide books offer the same information, and some more comprehensively. But the Eyewitness series' handling of such information is noteworthy once again because of the photographically-intensive style. While another guide book might inform the reader that in London phone booths are red, the Eyewitness Guide states the same thing *and shows a photograph* of a typical red phone booth. Is such a photograph really necessary? No. But, the photograph becomes one more aspect of the London tourist experience graphically captured by the publisher.

In short, the book is a must-have if you're traveling for the first time to London. I never tire of thumbing through my Eyewitness Guide for London. So rich, colorful, and dense are the layers of photographic and graphic elements in the Eyewitness Guide for London that it can provide hours of enjoyment both before and after your trip.

CAUTION: Do not pick up an Eyewitness Travel Guide unless you are prepared to take a huge hit on your savings account and buy a plane ticket. Any and all of these books make your mouth water for the beautiful and exotic places featured within the pages.

Now that the commerical is over, we'll get down to what I didn't like.

The pictures are amazing and beautiful and inspiring, but that's more or less where this book's assets end. If you're looking for information, pick up Frommer's instead. There are very brief travel helps in the back of the book, but if you had to be stranded in London with one guide book, you'd be foolish (and lost) if you chose this one. The travel information and survival tips are kept at a bare minimum, and even information on the sights and sites mentioned or pictured in the book are lacking. Think National Geographic captions.

If you're planning a trip, it's worth checking this book out of the library to help you make a list of all the beautiful places you want to see, but if you want to know the best place to stand for the Changing of the Guard or where to find cheap food that resembles food, find another book.

I did, and I regret it.

Now I'm not saying this is a "bad" book. I'm just saying this is a very specific book (which actually makes it good, since the more specific, the better) but it's not specifically for me, and I think is not specifically for 90% of the people who are visiting London at any given time.

Therefore, it's odd that this book is has a higher Amazon sales ranking (2594), relevant to other books (7741 Lonely Planet, for example). The popularity ranking and the mainstream look of DK led me to choose it. But now I realize that, 1.) I am not really that mainstream, and 2.) This book is not mainstream either. And, I suppose, 3.) The way that I am not mainstream is different from the way that DK London is not mainstream.

Since the subject of this review is DK London and not me, let's stay on topic. The cover says History - Theaters - Art - Churches - Pubs - Hotels - Nightlife - Markets - Restaurants - Museums - Parks - Architecture. Of these, the guide covers mostly: History. And by extension, churches, museums, architecture. But really, it's history. Floor plans of museums. Descriptions of every wing. Details of church spires, which you probably won't be able to see except with binoculars. Historical timelines. And most of all- worst of all- any and every building, arcade, academy, house, church, mall, institute, chapel, square, market, gallery, arch, tower, theater, museum, and library in London. It's in here.

So what's wrong with that? Well, if, like me, you're just going for a week and for the first time, and you just want to visit a few major sights, not more than one or two museums or art/ historical things per day, and take plenty of time to mellow out (it's a vacation, right?) at cafes, or lunch, dinner, maybe go somewhere at night- this book leaves you completely in the lurch. 90% of the book is about buildings and history. The hotel listings are just a few pages in the back, as are the restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. Followed by some cursory travel info. Also, the listings are mostly for mid-range to expensive places. This is where I realized I'm still more of a budget traveler. They do offer some suggestions for "light meals and snacks" like pizza, noodles and sandwiches, but this amounts to just a few pages in the back section. This book is in denial that you have to eat and find places to rest inbetween examining all those Tudor facades. Like I said, it's very specific.

This book is for my high school AP Spanish teacher, who made us memorize a hundred slides of places I had never been to (and gave a decided advantage to those affluent enough to have traveled and seen them). This book is like the annoying guy at the office who does NOT shut up and goes on and on about things that no one cares about. This book weighs three pounds.

I bought this book because it looked easy. It looked like a comprehensive yet user-friendly guide (due to the pictures and glossiness). Well, it is comprehensive and user-friendly, but only in one respect. And overall having this book, rather than calm me, has overwhelmed me. I can't tell what to visit. Everything seems important. Meanwhile I am left to figure out of all the practical matters of my trip by myself.

Of course history is important. But I'm also interested in London as a living, breathing city- where people live, its culture... none of which I will really come in contact with if I follow this encyclopedia masquerading as a guidebook. And ideally I'd rather not go from historical object to historical object all day and then sit in my room at night.

Now I will say some positive things about it:
1.) It's beautiful. I bet some are duped by its beauty into thinking they ~are~ interested in this stuff.
2.) It has several "area by area" maps, watercolor aerial close-up drawings of small sections (a few blocks) of the city with handy lines pointing to --yep, historical places. This does make things easier to find.
3.) It also has maps in the back, which look easy enough to use.

Oh yeah, one more "bad" thing-- it doesn't say what anything costs. It just says either "free" or "charge." I mean, that could mean anything.

OK I'm done. That's all my thoughts about this book. In this time I probably could have gone to the bookstore, sat down with several other guidebooks, perused them all, and found one that was really for me. Given that there are 100 London guidebooks out there, there is probably one that is just for me. And one for you. Instead I chose to sit here and write down all my thoughts about this one. 'Cause actually, I hate returning things. And I wish that someone had written an honest review, instead of all this general positivity that proliferates on this site, because then I would have found something else. I don't think it would hurt to have a negative review here and there. I mean, someone who is going to London is going to buy a London guidebook; it's just a matter of which one. I wish someone had told me that this was not the one for me.

From Lonely Planet to the Rough Guides, location-specific guidebooks generally seem so transient since a purchase generally depends upon an upcoming trip and soon afterward ends up in a storage box collecting dust or on craigslist for sale. That's not to say they don't have valuable information when you need them, but there is no incentive to return to the book once the trip has ended. The one exception to the rule is the series of Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness Travel Guides. The London guide is as good as any in the series as it presents a graphically pleasing, intuitively organized guidebook with detailed pictorials that show animated aerial shots of neighborhoods like Covent Garden or cut-away floor plans of heavily visited buildings like Westminster Abbey or the Tate. It also helps make geographic sense of neighborhoods that allow you to navigate easily through them by pointing out recommended sights.

The first part of the book presents a timeline history of London that is both interesting and useful, as events are cross-referenced to sights you would want to see there. There is a well-presented survival guide toward the end of the book that highlights important travel information as well as recommendations on where to stay, shop and eat. Moreover, there is a comprehensive street finder of central London which helps you navigate without the inconvenience of fold-out maps. All the information is contained within a user-friendly, laminated paperback format that slips easily into backpacks and holds up well against inclement weather (a particular plus in rainy London). For all its obvious benefits, the one that has the most resonance to me is the fact that the book makes a fine keepsake of the trip afterward given its colorfully glossy quality. Even though the price is on the higher end of such guides, it is well worth it for its lasting value after your trip.

I've been to London countless times. I used this travel guide the first several times I went to learn about the various sights and their background. Looking back, owning this book has really paid off. I was glad I went out to discover one of the most cultural cities on Earth having learned a bit about its history and people.

I purchased this book 6 weeks before my trip to London - and it was money well spent! Before leaving, I planned my entire vacation using the D&K Travel guide (and tripadvisor dot com for reviews). The map section is excellent and accurate as I used it continually on walking tours as well as when on the buses and tube. I really loved the map section. The maps are broken down into sections of London with arrows at the edges of each map pointing to the page number that the map continues on (depending which direction you are following) - so no struggling with a huge unruly map. There is a handy tube (subway) guide at the back of the book. The book fit nicely into my purse, and this was very important to me as I wanted it with me at all times. Not only did I find the road maps terrific, but also the various overview maps of specific areas (i.e. Covent Garden, Russell Square, Westminster & Whitehall) which had recommended walking tours marked up. The individual attractions diagrams (i.e. Westminster Abbey, British Museum, National Gallery), were excellent too and right on the mark as I used them for planning exhibits to see in advance of the trip. Being a full color guide divided into locations, you'll find information easily and be able to organize a flowing itinerary. The tips section is excellent with bus, telephone, currency and many other important tidbits of info. As for the hotel/B&B selection, I found it limited, but the information accurate as to the accommodations listed. My vacation in London was fabulous and I truly think this book had a big part in my trips success. Almost all of the museums in London are free - enjoy!

This ia a useful guide with good selection of restaurants broken down by area; clear map with murked attractions and good good in-depth coverage. My favorite feature is large number of links that allow easy jumping from one article to another and to the map.

This guide is an excellent travel companion to London and surrounding towns. We went to Cambridge and Oxford (an hour trip from London) and the guide had good articles about both Cambridge and Oxford.