Customer Reviews

Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die

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

 

 

I was given this book recently and have to say it is probably the most inspirational travel book I have seen for many years. As a founder of an adventure travel company (Intrepid Travel) I see many books of this ilk - but this is altogether different and better. The pictures are fantastic and the copy very rreadable. It looks at 40 destinatiions - some mainstream, some off the beaten track. It makes you want to travel!

The photography in this book matches the high standards set by similar books; although a couple of photographs of Petra were particularly good.

The information wasn't terribly important to me: if I really want information about Machu Picchu, for instance, there are several books filled with great information on that topic. But if you really don't know anything about Machu Picchu, this book will give you a bare idea of it.

My top 40 places would be different of course, and so would everyone else's. For instance, number one on my list would be Jerusalem, and number three would be Istanbul: neither got in here. Well, that's his perogative and I can't dis the book over it.

Some selections did surprise me. For instance, Shanghai is listed, but Xian isn't. I think most people would reverse that. Of all the great places in India, of course Varanasi (my number 2) and the Taj Mahal appear, and then the Jaisalmer Fort. Well, that's a reasonable choice, but I would have strongly preferred Mumbai or Amritsar.

Anyway, the real problem is choosing 40, rather than 80 or so. The world's a big, wonderful, interesting place after all. No mention here of the Amazon or the Congo, of Meteora or Mashhad, and so on.

The real reason that I bought this book is to inspire my girlfriend to travel with me: I think we all have that kind of thing in mind. For that, it'll do.

There are some other books that I'd recommend checking out before you spend your money. For instance, "The Spirit of Asia" by Michael Freeman is excellent for that part of the world; and Joe Cumming's book "Buddhist Stupas in Asia" will inspire a lot of travel throughout Asia. I own those two books, but a few others also look very good to me: "Sacred Places Around the World," "100 Things to do Before You Die," "The Travel Book," and, for pure photography, books by Art Wolfe or Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Amid such company, I feel that this book is fine, and I don't regret buying it at all. But it's not exceptional in any regard, so I give it 4 stars. At Amazon's price ($13.50 as I write this), it is certainly a good deal, as some of the books I prefer are more expensive.

I guess I should count myself lucky for having been to 22 of the forty places that travel photographer Steve Davey has identified as essential stops before dying. Along with a similar Time-Life photo essay book ("Heaven on Earth: 100 Places to See in Your Lifetime") and the Lonely Planet coffee table books ("The Travel Book" and "The Cities Book"), there seems to be a sudden flurry of these types of dream destination books on the market now. Even Patricia Schultz provides 960 more places than Davey ("1,000 Places to See Before You Die"), but the benefit of his entry is that we get a singular perspective based on the notion that we have a two-week holiday to get to each one of them. The usual suspects are here - the Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Alhambra in Granada, Petra in Jordan - but there are some choices that are not as high profile and seem more personal to Davey such as Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland and Lalibela in Ethiopia. I am certain he would be the first one to tell you that this is not meant to be a comprehensive list since one can easily itemize the glaring omissions, but none of the forty seem superfluous.

Perhaps a slight exception is the inclusion of Manhattan and the Bund in Shanghai, both of which brings to question why other top-ranked metropolises are not included. Alas, this is apparently the start of a series of books Davey plans to put out, in which future volumes may put such questions to rest. The photographs are superb, and that is inarguably the main reason to consider purchasing this book. In case you're wondering, the remaining destinations are St. Petersburg; the Grand Canyon; Aitutaki in the Cook Islands; Pyramid of Kukulchán in the Yucatan; Iguassu Falls; Rio de Janeiro; Taman Negara Rainforest in Malaysia; Havana; Wat Phra Keo in Bangkok; Venice; Dead Vlei in Namibia; College Fjord in Alaska; Jaiselmer Fort in Rajastan; Karnak Temple in Luxor; the Galapagos Islands; Lake Titicaca; Greece's Santorini; Drakensberg in South Africa; the Great Barrier Reef; Tibet's capital Lhasa; Ephesus in Turkey; Monet's Garden in Giverny; both Ngorongoro Crater and Zanzibar in Tanzania; Makalu in the Himalayas; Australia's Uluru (Ayers Rock); Varanasi in India; Guilin in China; Dubrovnik; Samarkand in Uzbekistan; and Killlary Harbour in Ireland.

I liked this layout. Great photos with 3 or 4 pages on each site. Just enough information to see if you really want to travel there. The best news was I have visted 8 of the 40 sites the author lists. This is good bet if you ever wanted a list to mark off of great places to go see, this is starting point.

Obviously not everyone is going to agree on what places in the world are "must-see." And while it's hard for me to understand how places like Paris and the Alps didn't make Mr. Davey's list, this book is full of awe-inspiring places that peaked my imagination and made me want to run out and buy lots of plane tickets. There are very few destinations in this book that I would not have included. In fact, there are many that I had not even heard of, or only vaguely recognized. Mr. Davey has done an excellent job of compiling his list. The photographs are colorful and stirring, and the descriptions (including some detailed logistical information) are informative. This is a great book for someone who is planning a trip, dreaming about taking a trip, or just interested in some of the world's more intriguing places. I really wish I could have given it 4.5 stars, because it seems unfair to knock a whole star off simply because I didn't think it was perfect. But because the book does leave out a few places that I think are fairly obvious for a list like this while including a handful that I don't think had any business making the list, I didn't quite earn a full five-star rating from me.

I bought this book to get travel ideas. I was not disappointed. It includes several terrific places I've already planned to go to such as Guilin, China, Ngorongoro Crater, and Bangkok, Thailand as well as many beautiful places I had never known about before. Only three of the places are from the United States so it does a good job of depicting places from every continent except the south pole.

The photos, for the most part, are good but not great. The author's explanation for that was that he wanted to use photographs that would accurately show how you would see the place if you go as a tourist, rather than show amazing photographs with beautiful sunsets that only happen once in a while. On the plus side it has multiple photos of each place as well as a six to eight page description of each place.

Another very good book is "Heaven on Earth: 100 Places to See in Your Lifetime." The descriptions in that book are very short, but the photos are better. There's not that much overlap since only about 15 places are in both books.

I didn't think this book was anything special. The writing is not very good, and I didn't think the photography was very good - the places are fantastic, but I think that's the only reason people think the pictures are nice - because the places are nice, not because the skill of the photographer is anything to write home about.

For a REALLY spectacular travel book to inspire you, check out Lonely Planet's book "Travel" - the photos are just incredible, and it will inspire you to start packing your bags.

Having trouble choosing your next exciting destination? This book makes it simple with detailed photographs, helpful visa and immunization information, as well as a "best time to visit" section on each destination. My new favorite travel book.

Even though I had originally planned to purchase the book with a title something like 1000 places to see/visit before you die, I elected to purchase this one after I previewed its photos and layout online. Great book! Great service from Amazon!

I wish there were more places here and more "things to do" sections once you get to those places, but it's a good book to thumb through and make plans, for sure.