Insight Guide Taiwan (Insight Guides)

Rating:
Summary: Good Photos, but Insufferably Inadequate Travel Guide
Review: Although the photographs are brilliant, and the descriptions of Taiwan's more famous sights are interesting; the practical travel necessities are sorely lacking.

There is hardly any mention of the means to arrive at the locations illustrated in the book, and relevant information regarding cities or transportation is nonexistent.

If one is looking for a book simply to admire Taiwan through photos and occassionally insightful prose, Insight Guide Taiwan is an adequate choice. However, speaking from experience, for helpful travel information, stick with Lonely Planet.

Rating:
Summary: Read this detailed intro to the country before you go.
Review: I bought this book from Amazon and read it before my recent (first) trip to Taiwan. It provided an outstanding introduction that helped me to understand the country's people, culture, and history. Over half the book is real text, as opposed to the simple lists of attractions, hotels, and restaurants that dominate most guide books. Plan to spend several hours reading the book before your trip; you will not be disappointed. I got a lot more out of my trip because I understood what I was looking at.

I also used the book's short reference section to help me choose hotels, and the advice was on target. In addition, the maps and photos are uncommonly good.

Weaknesses are few. The book's descriptions of individual attractions, restaurants, & hotels (to help you decide whether to go) are too concise. Its inconsistent use of English spellings of Chinese words -- with no pronunciations given -- was a nuisance.

I travel a lot and have bought a number of guide books to various countries and cities. More guide books should be written like this one: really helping you to know the place, and appreciate what you are experiencing, instead of just telling you "go here and then go there". I'll buy more of this series, because it added value to my trip.

Rating:
Summary: good background and photos but not a useful guidebook
Review: I enjoyed reading about Taiwanese culture and looking at the lovely photographs, but then realized two major drawbacks with this guidebook. For one thing, it says that everything is wonderful, making it difficult to decide what to see and do. The bigger problem is that it has no information about how to get to a sight it reccomended, not even an address or phone number. So we ignored it the rest of the trip and got along great with the Lonely Planet.

Rating:
Summary: Misrepresentation of Taiwanese
Review: I think this book has great photos and perhaps the places are well known...but it needs to present both Mandarin and Taiwanese pronunciations because BOTH languages are widely used in Taiwan. The author apparently has been misinformed...and brainwashed by the Nationalist Party and KMT's textbook version of who the Taiwanese are. It treats Taiwanese as just ethnic "Chinese" and fails to discuss the DUAL ancestral heritage of the Taiwanese. It fails to discuss that the Hoklo (Hokkien)and Hakka who came to Taiwan and intermarried with women of the then existing Lowland Aboriginal peoples (pingpu) who lived over much of western Taiwan. It also fails to acknowledge even 100% pure aboriginal households who were forced to assimilate into the Hoklo culture from Fujian during Cheng-Kung's time. Like I said...Dual Ancestry. Check out DNA studies by George Mackay...and a brochure from US called "The Taiwanese Americans".

The book does mention Taiwanese Aboriginal peoples such as Paiwan and Atayal...but these are the Highland and Mountain Aboriginal tribes.

This book also states that "Min-nan-hua" is the more "correct" way to refer to "Taiwanese Language". Taiwanese language is derived from the "Hokkien" Language of Fujian Province, yes. However, Min-nan-hua includes another variation called "Teochiu, or Chaozhou hua" which is different. So Min-nan-hua is more broad...whereas "Hokkien" is narrowed down further...and is most similar to Taiwanese outside of Taiwan. Then again, "Hokkien" actually refers to "Fujian" and the people/culture/speakers of "Hokkien" are called "Hoklos".

Rating:
Summary: Misrepresentation of Taiwanese
Review: The keyword for this guide is photos. It's packed with full-color photos on almost every page. It seems almost like a National Geographic magazine. In fact, this is why I like this guide. It also has a lot of information about the culture, history, and people of Taiwan in the first half of the book. The second half is dedicated to an overview of the major cities and sights in Taiwan. Again, these are well illustrated with full-color photos on almost every page.

This guidebook has a few bad points though. The section on hotels and restaurants is very weak. You could probably find more information at the information counter at the airport. Also, the maps are a bit difficult to read. And finally, the transportation information is entirely inadequate. It doesn't tell you how to get around the country at all. For me, this is the weakest point. I feel uncomfortable traveling with this kind of guidebook.

I don't recommend using this as your primary guidebook. I do recommend this as a secondary guide though. It can help you choose destinations because it has a lot of full-color photos and also the culture section is excellent. I think this book is especially good for armchair travelers.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: The keyword for this guide is photos. It's packed with full-color photos on almost every page. It seems almost like a National Geographic magazine. In fact, this is why I like this guide. It also has a lot of information about the culture, history, and people of Taiwan in the first half of the book. The second half is dedicated to an overview of the major cities and sights in Taiwan. Again, these are well illustrated with full-color photos on almost every page.

This guidebook has a few bad points though. The section on hotels and restaurants is very weak. You could probably find more information at the information counter at the airport. Also, the maps are a bit difficult to read. And finally, the transportation information is entirely inadequate. It doesn't tell you how to get around the country at all. For me, this is the weakest point. I feel uncomfortable traveling with this kind of guidebook.

I don't recommend using this as your primary guidebook. I do recommend this as a secondary guide though. It can help you choose destinations because it has a lot of full-color photos and also the culture section is excellent. I think this book is especially good for armchair travelers.