Customer Reviews

Russia: Belarus & Ukraine (Insight Guides)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
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I am surprised to be the first reviewer for this book, as it was the better of the St. Petersburg (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE) and, Moscow (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE) that I also looked at covering Russia.

In style it is similar to DK books. What gives it the edge is the scope and humor of the book.

Overview text of current situation and politics appeared fairly evenhanded and concise.

Scope: Insight Guides Russia covers locations throughout Russia, DK books mentioned above are smaller and focus only on two major cities with the most popular tourist destinations. Belarus and Ukraine chapters are a definite plus, as Ukraine is also a popular destination, and Belarus is rarely covered because it isn't yet -not for us Americans anyway.

I also found that Insight Guides Russia had a bit more humor than the DK titles, adding both dry humor and blatantly funny summaries to topics and photo descriptions.

Book is filled with excellent photos. Just like DK titles they do not appear to be cliche stock photos, but original, high quality shots. The book has larger photos, versus detailed cutouts and small photos that dominate DK.

DK titles have very nice cutaways of buildings and hand drawn maps. This series does not have it, so if you're an engineer aficionado, you may want to look into that.

Overall, you will not go wrong with any of the three books I mentioned here. I am quite impressed with Insight Guides Russia, especially as I have come to see DK titles as the best in the genre of travel books.

I particularly recommend it to someone who considers going off the beaten path.

Looks good---quick service and great condition. I have only read a few pages so far. It looks like what I'm interested in. I've yet to visit this land.