Customer Reviews

ROLLER COASTER LOVERS: A Thrill Seeker's Guide to the World's Best Coasters

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great book. An absolute must have for coaster enthusiasts. Even for the casual coaster fan there is a wealth of information and great unbiased comparisons of roller coasters the world over. The only catch is that it current up to 1997, and there have been so many incredible coasters built since then. Regardless, this is still a wonderful point of reference.

This book includes a history of roller coasters, lists of the top ten steel and wood coasters (as of 1997), a very full list of all the coasters in the world as of the printing, a top ten list of great amusement parks, and a trip planner that allows you to maximize your coaster experience anywhere in the United States.

I regret having to be a party-pooper, but the list of glowing Amazon reviews for this paltry sum of a book is unbelievable. Of the many rollercoaster titles out there, this has to be the most lackluster, primarily because the underambitious author set out ONLY to make a superficial guidebook that -- due to the ever-mutating coaster technology -- is already dated. Worse, the uninspiring black and white photographs fail to do these rides any justice. Most of them seem to have been culled from the same theme park publicity departments to whom the author (judging by the text) apparently ingratiated himself. As a history, it offers nothing but the same litany of facts stated again and again in such other -- much more engaging -- rollercoaster tomes as Robert Cartmell's groundbreaking THE INCREDIBLE SCREAM MACHINE. Be wise and look elsewhere on this site for other recommendations on books of this nature.

I enjoyed this book and it helped me plan my vacation. I last week took a midwest tour. I went to Great America in Gurnee Ill. Then I was at King's Island near Cincinatti. I then went to Kentucky kingdom. I then went to 6 Flags St Louis. This book really inspired the tour. I enjoyed king's Island and Great America the most.

This book helped me in terms of where to go first and the negative aspects of each park. I made the most of my vacxation thanks to this book. Still the tour I chose was more a Midwest tour combining the best of several tours. I was doing this for 7 days. But in a 9 day period Ceder Point and the 6 Flags park near Cleveland could be added.

This comprehensive guide is the best book of roller coaster information that I have ever seen. It includes everything from every single roller coaster in operation today, to perfect coastering trips. This guide includes tips for each amusement park that's out there that contains roller coasters. The author did a fantastic job of researching the topic, and the results are wonderful. I am a young coaster enthusiast, and this book has given me all the coaster information I would ever need. In short, it's the perfect book for a roller coaster rider!

A absolute must have for any coaster enthusiast The detailed descriptions of how a rollercoaster works and of the rides themselves are amazing. This is definitly one of the difinitive sources for rollercoaster information and rewiews of our time.

This book is definetly the best amusement park book out there!! It has so many great features like listings of all coasters around the US, Top 5 wood-inverted-steel-etc..., Coaster Trips that are very usefull in planning a multi park trip!! Overall it has everything a coaster enthusiasts wants in a book, a MUST for any coaster enthusiasts

This is a great guide for any beginning roller coaster enthusiast. The only problems are that it is not really that current, and the editing is terrible. Words are misspelled everywhere. But if you can get around that, it is a great guide.

For anyone planning a trip to the meccas of coasterdom, this book is essential. Not only does it provide a superb guide to the coasters of the world, it also gives good insight into the theme parks themselves. We used it to plan our recent coaster vacation in Ohio. It is a cool reference book which invites you to read about your favorites over and over.

To put it best, Urbanowicz did something very convinient for us all -- he put most of the coasters in the United States and the rest of the World in this lovely little book. However, in the age of the internet, specifically, with the Roller Coaster Database available (rcdb.com), this book really needs to have more than just a listing of coasters.

To me, the book is good for trip planning, and that's all. The section entitled "Best Roller Coaster Trips" is very good, but nothing that an enthusiast, with a brain capacity equaling that of a horse, couldn't figure out. Having the tips and hotel info is a nice plus, but other than that, nothing that can't be done alone.

The listing of the coasters, to me, is somewhat pointless, especially with the aforementioned web sources available. This section also provides ratings for the coasters, which to me is fine, but I tend to disagree with quite a few of them, so it affects my experience. One last thing to note here is that he claims to have every operating wooden coaster on the planet. I know of at least two that, at time of printing, were not included.

The top 10 and top 5 lists are ok, though again, I disagree with quite a few of them. The section on history and manufacturers are also both nice, but nothing far fetched from what you would read in any other recent book.

Overall, I would say that this book is good for two kinds of people: Those who want to know the opinions of Steven J. Urbanowicz, and those who have no access to the internet.

I have to say that i was never very interested in roller coasters, but had a trip planned for the summer, so I decided to purchase this book. It was facinating! The book was well written and not only held my interest, but made me want more. The photographs are exciting, and I really like the "coaster facts" which appear throughout the book. I would urge everyone to get a copy of this book. It will make a coaster fan out of you!