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Rating: 
Summary: Star of the Sea
Review: "Taiwan sees a lot of change in one generation. And here, three years is one generation."
This observation by a native says it all. Taiwan is growth, whether you're talking about its lush vegetation, its booming economy, its vibrant democracy, or its increasing awareness of itself as a distinct and unique place in the world. You will be hard put to find a more open and welcoming destination than Ilha Formosa--the beautiful isle, the star of the sea.
Since 1987 many travelers have made Lonely Planet Taiwan their companion on the journey. You will find reviews of the first five editions of the book, all by Robert Storey, elsewhere here at Amazon. This new edition by Andrew Bender, Julie Grundvig, and Robert Kelly serves me well. Judging by the way it flies off shelves in downtown Taipei, other people feel the same way.
The core of the book presents chapter-length tours by region: Taipei, Northern Taiwan, East Coast, Western Taiwan, and the Taiwan Straight Islands. Each chapter offers stop-by-stop descriptons of towns, parks, natural features, temples, museums, and related attractions. The level of detail is excellent for an introductory text. In-text maps offer a focused look at each locale. You will find lodging and dining options for every budget, with complete contact information for each establishment. Specialized itineraries help readers with special interests--night markets, spas and hot springs, temples, mountains, waterfalls--make the most of their time or money. Along the way the authors alert you to Taiwan's lesser known joys as well as to its icons. They are on top of their game when it comes to describing new attractions, such as the resorts taking shape at Dapeng Bay and Taiwan's outlying islands.
Additional chapters address Culture, Food and Drink, Environment, Transport, Health, History, and Language. First-time visitors to Taiwan will want to turn at once to 'Don't Leave Home Without' (p9), 'Etiquette Dos and Don'ts' (p29), 'Eating Dos and Don'ts' (p55), and 'How to Visit a Hot Spring' (p109). The Language chapter gets you started with a guide to pronunciation, a short list of words and phrases, and an explanation of the phonetic systems used in Taiwan. The Culture chapter describes Taiwan's religions and aspects of art. The History section provides a long view, concise but helpful, of life in the Taiwan Straight. The Health chapter, by Dr Trish Batchelor, offers welcome professional advice about travel ailments, remedies, insurance issues, and facilities.
Inset boxes throughout the book highlight subjects of interest. Topics include the Top Five Hot Springs Resorts, Top Five Temples, Cloud Gate Dance Company, the Betel Nut Beauty, Sun Moon Lake, the 2-28 Incident, Specialty Shopping Streets, Gay and Lesbian Nightlife, Three Small Links, Beer Houses, Holidays and Festivals, the 921 Earthquake, Chung Tai Chan Temple, and the National Palace Museum.
The book is generously illustrated with grayscale images and some color photos are provided. You will find a cross-referenced, color relief map of Taiwan near the title page. The book provides measurement conversion charts, MRT maps, cell phone and Internet option lists, and a world time zone map.
The book has room to improve. The Snapshot tends to gaffe on military matters, as when it tells readers (p19) that in 2000 Clinton was "sending Taiwan the biggest supply of nuclear weapons Asia had seen since Vietnam." Taiwan does not have nuclear weapons. (US warships patrolled the Straight.) Neither is the text as helpful as it could be in alerting readers to vice issues. We're warned that 'barber shops' can be brothels even though few visitors are likely to confuse one kind of establishment with the other. But I don't see an alert that 'karaoke' can mean a variety of things, though the possibility of confusion is much greater.
The book has room to grow. It appears to take good care of hikers, mountain climbers, and whitewater rafters, but it would be good to see more about sailing, diving, and boating. The Arts section could show readers more possibilities: Taiwanese opera (related to traditional Chinese opera, but based on Taiwan's folk music and often performed outdoors, where it is much more likely to be encountered by the visitor); Taiwan's popular puppet dramas (kung-fu stories with dazzling special effects, televised); Taiwan's thriving concert scene (orchestras, choirs, recitals, theatre, world artists on tour).
The book, in its effort to be helpful, does not hesitate to offer data that goes quickly out of date. Readers will want to bookmark the many websites the authors recommend and keep up with new editions of the book.
Going to Taiwan? Lonely Planet Taiwan makes a fine first purchase.
The Pinyin English-Chinese Dictionary (Far East Book Company) makes a good second purchase. This compact book, published in Taiwan, includes useful phrases and shows traditional Chinese characters. A nice complement to Lonely Planet Taiwan would be the abundantly illustrated National Geographic guide. And if you believe, like Socrates, that "the unexamined life is not worth living," pick up a copy--now--of the hilarious and wise book by Alain De Botton: 'The Art of Travel.'
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