1,000 Places to See Before You Die

Rating:
Summary: very disappointing
Review: How narrow-sighted and misguiding this book is!
I first thought that the author picked the best places in the world because each chapter represents different continents such as Europe, Africa, Asia, etc.
The author picked hundreds of places in the US that has 200 plus years of history while picked none in Korea that has more than 4000 years of history.
What a pity!

Rating:
Summary: Wish I could see all the places
Review: Patricia Schultz does an amazing job of listing and briefly discussing 1,000 places around the world that should be seen before you die. The places she lists range from the well-known heavily-visited places by tourists such as DisneyWorld and the DC Smithsonian to much more obscure places such as the American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin and all sorts of places in locales that are easy to get to as well as locales at the extreme ends of the planet and some in very remote areas.

Many of her location snippets are accompanied with a picture, allowing you to see just how beautiful the park or hotel or attraction really is. The place descriptions discuss, in a half page or so, what the place is, what there is to do there, lodging opportunities (if applicable) and often who should go there.

Obviously, this book doesn't give you a clear picture of a place to decide to definitely go there, but it can pique your interest enough to explore what places you would like to explore and with that information you can go and do more research and plan a trip.

My one critique is that many of the locales in the book are expensive and definitely out of the financial reach of middle-class travelers. There are many high-end hotels and restaurants that only cater to the ultra-rich. And I also expected more natural sites, but she discusses many more man-made places (hotels, museums, restaurants, monuments, etc) than I had expected.

Nonetheless, this is a great book to be able to just pick up and skim through to get a sense of just how much outstanding stuff there is to see and do in this huge world of ours.

Rating:
Summary: Great title and so true!
Review: This is a great book to give you a taste of what's out in the world. My mother is a cancer survivor, but her friend didn't survive and didn't get to see many of these places. Yes, the title may seem stark, but it's so true. See these places before you die, whether you have a terminal illness or plan to live to 100. Get out to see these places while you have the chance. After all, life is a banquet!

Rating:
Summary: A bit disappointing
Review: For someone who really enjoys travelling, this book might be adequate, but the author doesn't seem to know anything about actually getting out and experiencing the culture. You can skip this one. [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Interesting concept but lackluster execution.
Review: The problem with publishing a travel guide to the 1000 Places You Must see Before You Die is establishing a fundamental criteria as to what constitutes a "must see" sight. Is it historical relevance? Natural wonder? Intrinsic beauty? World renown? You get the idea.

How you answer that question goes a long way to determining what sort of book you will have. The problem with Schultz's book is that she never clearly addresses that question and, therefore, has aggregated a series of recommendations that, in trying to fit all audiences, never succeeds in fitting any particular audience.

There has been much criticism in previous reviews of her focus on hotels/resorts, restaurants and "obvious" tourist attractions. Obviously, these folks have a very much narrower view of what constitutes a "must see" venue than does Schultz.

This is the factor that drastically limits the utility of this book-in trying to be all things to all people it serves the interests of very few people.

Frankly, it seems obvious to me what is needed is a series of "must see" books based on narrow criteria, such as "The 1000 Natural Wonders You Must See Before You Die" or "The 1000 Architectural Marvels....." or the "1000 Best BBQ Places You Must eat At....", and so on.

Having said all that, this tome does indeed provide, for certain geographical areas (primarily North America and western Europe) a decent generic guide to key attractions along a very wide continuum of choices. That is to say, this would be a good starting point to plan out a trip, but should not be considered a good 'sole source" as a travel guide. If nothing else, it can help you narrow down how you view what constitutes a "must see' venue when traveling.

Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: You won't agree with many of the choices in this book, and a lot of the information can be found simply by searching the net, but even so it is well worth the money I spent. To have all of this information in one place is great, and while a lot of the choices may seem obvious, there are quite a few off the beaten path. Overall this was very well put together and I would recommend it to both well-traveled individuals and those who are only just starting out.

Also recommended: The Da Vinci Code, Bark of the Dogwood by McCrae, and The Five People you Meet in Heaven--not travel books, but something to read along the way!

Rating:
Summary: May I Live to be 100!
Review: I LOVE this book. I have looked at it daily ever since I purchased it. I truly have never been that big on "seeing the world," but I intend to make time for it now.

I knew, obviously, about a great many of the places prior to reading this book, however Ms. Schultz takes the reader on a global safari with each turn of the page.

The book does NOT include ONLY 5 Star hotels (but hey, they work for me!), but also includes ingenious (for brave souls) hotels such as the Ice Hotel in Sweden, etc.

At almost 1000 pages (at a reasonable cost) this book is wonderfully concise. It serves as a great starting point with website info for each attraction when available.

I'm glad that I'm married to a pilot. I've already informed him that I can finish the list if I can only live to 100....

This book is one of the best investments that I have made.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting, Balanced, Varied, For all Budgets
Review: My hat goes off to this sensitve traveler who spent a life time compiling her own favorite thousand places to see. Do we have to agree? No, but who couldn't find a few hundred suggestions to keep them busy for the next many decades? What's with those who complain about her hotel suggestions? The world's great hotels are always expensive - they are often historic, landmark palaces that promise romance and luxury. Too expensive? Then go elsewhere, but at least stop in for tea or an aperetivo to soak it all in and people watch. Her emphasis is almost always elsewhere - from festivals to ancient temples, and little known sites of natural beauty and open-air markets. Frankly I'm incredulous any one person could put it all together. No one else ever attempted such a feat - and successfully so in my book.

Rating:
Summary: Five stars - and then some
Review: As a professional travel writer of more than 35 years, I marvel that this book can garner such disparate reviews - people love it (5 stars) or hate it (1 star). The latter would do well to read the author's intro where she explains that these are not the only one thousand places to see in this huge and fascinating world of ours. They are the places that make up her own Life List, and in my opinion she is right on the dime. Would these be my one thousand? The truth is - who would ever have the time, passion and experience to draw up such a list to compare? Ms. Schultz has done it for us and she deserves a gold star. This is my trade, and know what a nightmare it is to organize a book one fourth this size, and then include all the info (distances, contacts, best-time-to-go info etc) to get you there. Are we all convinced we could do it better? Ask the one-star reviewers - but let's see them try.

Rating:
Summary: Innovative Concept - But Fails to Deliver
Review: I went to the bookstore to buy this book as a present for my daughter.

I did not buy it. It reminds me of some of the European travel books that skim a lot of subjects at a level that is less than satisfying and when you get there you need more information, in fact a lot more information.

This is what I did not like. First of all it covers each subject in less than a page, and usually there is a black and white picture so the information is very limited, and much less information than you can get in a quick GOOGLE search. Secondly the book is not uniform in any sense. For example, too much space is given over to visiting different US states and not enough space is dedicated to interesting and unusual places outside the USA, the other 94% of the globe. The places in Australia, and some other countries are very weakly represented. I checked a number of famous spots and they get very brief or even no descriptions including Europe - that has a lot of history. So I think the book is very uneven. The idea of the book is good but it fails to deliver. A wasted chance in my opinion.

What I did like was the range of descriptions, but on balance the book appears to be a bit of a disappointment. There is simply too many competitors in the travel market. Cannot recommend.

Jack in Toronto