A not so successful attemp of another "the future after armageddon" genre. A few good concepts but delivered in style more fit for ... umm .. intellectually deficient?

As a master diver who has dived over 40 years and has visited many of Fiji's dive sites, I would advise any potential diving visitor to save their money here and buy the newer and much more complete Lonely Planet "Diving and Snorkeling Fiji" by renowned dive guides Casey Mahaney and Astrid Witte (also available on Amanzon). Just be aware- Fiji has so many and varied dive sites visited by day operations and liveaboards NO book can really do justice comprehensively. Nope, no connections with LP or Mahaney, I just want to save other divers the trouble... and if you love diving, you will LOVE Fiji diving!

This book gives limited information on approximately 20 dive sites in Fiji. The descriptions and photos are adequate, but are relatively brief. The book makes few recommendations, but provides a decent place to start rough planning of an independent dive vacation.

The information in this book is sketchy, at best. I was VERY disappointed when I received the copy I ordered. I should have stuck with Frommer's for information on New Zealand.

Unlike other Fodor's guides, this one was disappointing. The George, one of the nicer small hotels in Christchurch wasn't listed, restaurant recommendations were few and disappointing and Local destination spots if they were mentioned, contained no useful information about accomodations etc. Lonely Planet New Zealand and Rough Guide New Zealand were much more informative.

I bought this one because I was planning a trip to New Guinea and wanted to read up on it a bit. Big waste of 15 bucks -- I have to concur with the other reviewers. This is perhaps the only book I've ever read where I found myself taking an active dislike to the author.

A better book about New Guinea (minus the faux-zen ramblings, but with discussions of marsupials) is Throwim Way Leg.

I whole-heartedly agree with what the above to folks had to say. The author was absolutlely hopeless and self-absorbed.

I found myself wondering how the author had the nerve to write such an embarrassing book about his own ineptitude and poor planning. Perhaps Zen offers some explanation for him but I sure can't. Like another reviewer, I was glad I wasn't a part of the group with which he was traveling. Don't waste your money on this one.

Vivat russia and trahnem vsu ameriku na babki

A big bore. Homogeneous selections. No Aboriginal stories of worth. Sameness of style, plot, location added to drudgery--and I really wanted to be entertained on the 15 hour flight. Few of the stories held my interest. Later I realized that the major problem is that the collection didn't really paint an accurate picture of these incredibly diverse, lively, creative,spontaneous, brave people and fierce, glorious habitats. Not at all the Best of Australia--my Aussie friends (well-read) had not heard of the majority of authors. Not worth the weight to carry home. I threw it out in the hotel.

I didn't find this guide helpful on a recent 3 week trip to Sydney, Melbourne and the coast- very few recommendations for accomodations, and even missplelled place names.

The book is really only a cursory treatment of a small section of the Baja side of the Sea of Cortez. It implies, incorrectly, that there is no cruising area north of Mulege, and does not mention the mainland side at all. Although it doesn't say so, it is clearly designed as a basic guide for people chartering boats on short trips out of La Paz, NOT for long term cruisers coming into Mexico with their own boats. The information is incomplete, out of date and is so riddled with errors and inaccuracies as to make it pretty useless.

Here is an example of just one of the glaring oversights in this book: Mexico requires all vessels entering or leaving a port of entry to go through a very specific check-in/out process with the port captain, immigration and customs. Not following the required procedures and having the required paperwork can land you in trouble with the authorities. Yet this book not only has no description of the process, it never mentions it at all.

The book also implies that there are not decent charts available for the area, and that the sketches in the book are the best you are going to get. In fact, Gerry Cunningham's Cruising Charts publishes a multitude of detailed, highly accurate charts that cover the entire Sea of Cortez, and are far superior to what is in this book. The sketches in "The Cruising Guide" are no better than those in several other more complete guides.

In short, skip this book. You will be better served by Gerry Cunningham's guides and charts, Jack William's Boater's Guides to Baja and Charlie's Charts of the Western Coast of Mexico, all of which are more complete, up-to-date and detailed.

Desiring a travel map for the purpose of driving, I found this map inadequate. It was difficult to read because the towns were printed in very small print with little coordination of print size to size of town. Generally the city map inserts were good. The map legend or reference referred only to the city inserts so there was no description of roads, train routes, tunnels, hiking tracks etc. I prefer the Kiwi Pathfinder map series or the Wises maps.

This book is reading material- appears to be a workbook, maybe a companion book to a text somewhere? Anyhow, not worth purchasing unless this is what you want!