Introducing the Eighth Wonder of travel books. A joyous, passionate gift book for travelers-both the real and the armchair variety-1,000 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE delivers exactly the promise of its an around-the-world, continent-by-continent listing of places guaranteed to give you shivers, the unique and wonderful places you must see on and off the beaten track.

Take a safari into Botswana's Okavango Delta, the world's largest oasis, where "if you see 10 percent of what sees you, it's an exceptional day." Sail the Grenadines, 32 islands and hundreds of dotlike cays strung like a necklace of gems across 40 miles of pristine waters. Tour the covered souks of Aleppo, where the labyrinthine streets seem straight out of A Thousand and One Nights and frankincense and myrhh are still sold. Hike the Tasman Glacier. Climb the Tuscan hills to San Gimignano. Stay at the Hassler in Rome, or Paris's Crillon-you must, at least once. There's Canyon de Chelly, Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market, the backwaters of Kerala, Ipanema beach, the Buddhas of Borobudur, Mesa Verde's cave dwellings, the Oaxaca Saturday market, Ballybunion Golf Club.

The prose is gorgeous, seizing on exactly what makes each entry worthy of inclusion. And, following the romance, the nuts and bolts: addresses, phone and fax numbers, web sites, costs, best times to visit. Of special interest are subject-specific indexes-gorgeous beaches, destination restaurants, world-class museums-making the guide entirely user-friendly, no matter if you're dreaming or going.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Been there...
Comment: All in all, a pretty fun, useful book. While it shouldn't be used as the ultimate resource for any adventure, it still offers some great suggestions and tips. In checking out some places I've lived around the world, I was mildly surprised both at the author listing places I wouldn't suggest, and omitting sites I'd rate as don't-miss... but any travel guide would have such shortcomings -- especially one with as broad a subject as the entire world.

On the bright side, it's put some locations on my itinerary that otherwise would have been left off -- for that, I thank the author. Each site's cost estimates and best time of the year are great helps, too.

And finally, a friend that has lived all over the world with the State Department was given this book as a Christmas gift, along with a rubber stamp to mark the pages with "Been there... Done that." I thought that was brilliant.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Starting point
Comment: This is a very fun book for a lot of reasons. It can be read to kick off your travel imagination to places you might visit and those you never will. The criticisms of the book are very well-taken but I think would-be readers in search of an adventure should read by the ridiculously priced hotels and imagine their own trip to the fabulous places they read about. For example, when I visited Cuzco we stayed in a $7 a night hotel, in Arequipa. We had a great roof top room for $5 a night right over the central square. The places the book suggests to say, are in my mind, ridiculous if you really want to experience the cities you are visiting. That said, the monastary in Arequipa, Peru, for example, is incredible. I will never forget the wonderful interior courtyards painted with incrdible color combinations like aqua and mango. For us, the monastery was a chance find of incredible good luck. This books tells you about that. Take the tip and forget the hotel.
Similarly, the $1995 Inca trail trip is probably a loser for adventurers who don't want crowds. You can do a wonderful one-day portion of the trail in isolation for free, by getting off the train from Cuzco to Aqua Caliente at milepost 81 and hike in the rest of the way by yoruself. The experience of crossing the pass and looking down at Machu Pichu, as though you were the first to find it, is the memory of a lifetime. This book wont't tell you about that, but you can figure it out on your own with further research. The book, however, could tip a person who has never heard of the Inca Trail to the possiblity of hiking it.
I think it is a mistake to ignore the great trips suggested because the very unadventurous writers insist on insular, super-expensive hotels. Use the book as a starting point to fire up your imagination and then plan your own trip. I think it has great ideas for places to go for the adventurous. It is probably least useful for those who are neither adventurous or rich, although even those people can use it to travel with their imagination.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice book to own
Comment: This is the perfect book to flip through on a rainy day when you are thinking of far off places you would love to visit. While personal preference plays a large part in the places one should visit, this book provides a great starting point for each country. The information is both up-to-date and detailed. Learn about exotic places you would never had added to your list or read about places in your own backyard. Highly recommended.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: A Very Successful Gift
Comment: Last night our family opened Christmas gifts and I got my brother and sister-in-law several things that they could share. One was "1,000 Places to See Before You Die". They've been talking about going on a trip to Tuscany next year and the author lived in Florence, Italy, for 3 years. The whole family loved the book.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Total, total waste of time -- it's about hotels
Comment: I love the title -- bought it and looked forward to reading it. What a huge disappointment. It seemed mainly to tell you what hotels/inns you shouldn't miss. I thought it was supposed to be about things to see. Don't waste your money.

---