Using Let's Go Ireland confirmed the suspicions that arose after using Let's Go Spain & Portugal last year...namely, that my once beloved travel guide series is slipping into a downward spiral of mediocrity. Definite biases showed up in Let's Go Irelend 2002 that made me feel all I was reading was one person's specific opinion rather than generalized advice.
The fact that only vegetarian restaurants seemed to get high ratings was peculiar in a country whose cusine revolves around meat and potatoes. While this information is handy for vegans, the rest of us are at a loss when choosing where to eat. We gave up on their restaurant recommendations after three lousy meals. The tips on sights were equally shady...how is it possible that the only sight in Dublin that is given the highest recommendation (the thumbs up) was the Guinness Factory? While it was indeed worth a visit, there were obviouslt other spots more worthwhile in the country's lovely capital city. The maps in the book were either useless or nonexistant - it is of no use to recommend places and then leave it up to the traveler to find it on his/her own (especially in a land onf unmarked, windy streets!). The writing remains entertaining, but this book has made me lose my faith in the series. If you decide to bring Let's Go Ireland along, make sure to bring another (Lonely Planet for the budget traveler or Frommers for those with a little more cash).

This book was such a great guide of ireland. I backpacked across lower Ireland, for three weeks. It kept my friend and I, sheltered in great hostels, full of food and drink, and of course had great reviews on places to see. It gave also a great overview of the countries history. I stopped off in London, and the book has a great chapter on the sites, food, bars, and places to stay as well.

I would surely have been lost when I stepped off my Aer Lingus flight in the Shannon airport were it not for the faultless and laudable advice of a book which is now tied in my mind with the Bible for most indispensible tome as we shuffle along in life: Let's Go Ireland 2000. The generally good coverage in the book gives the traveler no suspicion of how exacting, clever, and delightful the section on Southwestern Ireland is. "Top o' the mornin' to ye, author of the section on Southwestern Ireland," I say. Surely you are a rare gem - never did I enjoy myself more than when strolling through Cork under the watchful eye of Let's Go Ireland 2000. Cheers!

(Is Cork in Ireland? I think so)

Well, I got duped by previous reviews. I went to copper canyon and thought this book would be swell judging by the reviews. Boy was i in for a treat. to give you an example, all the train schedules are wrong, and the bus station in juarez, that I WALKED to, was no longer there. The book was completely useless. Those who go with the Lonely Planet book instead will be much better off. If I could get my money back I would.

I've recently returned from northern Mexico and Copper Canyon and I have traveled to over 30 countries in the past few years. This book is as complete and accurate as they come. Best of all is the writing style of Joe Cummings. He is enthusiastic and appropriately opinionated when needed. I liked his historical review of Mexico; and he includes a section on plants and animals in addition to the travel information (bus schedules etc.) that you need. This book will add to your experience in Mexico! Have fun!

From Planeta Journal - Traditional tourism guides ignore what has to be Mexico's most dynamic region - the northern border. But not Joe Cummings! This is a welcome second edition that expands the work of his original classic. I don't use that word lightly. This handbook is destined to become one of my most dog-earred books... again!

i bought this book after reading several reviews praising it to the heavens and was extremely dissapointed after i read it. i found this a tedious book to read, the plot didn't seem to really go anywhere and the characters were never developed properly. the only reason to read this book would be for the descriptive language it uses, but the "plot" of the book detracts from even this. don't waste your money.

Ode to a Nightingale, which reflects John Keats's mournful state of mind in the face of the beauty and liveliness of nature, inspires the title of this sad but suspenseful book and parallels its melancholy tone. McCabe, like Keats, is in the thrall of nature in this novel, but McCabe's nature is not sentimentalized. Whatever beauty exists is wild, sometimes harsh and even savage, like the reality of life for the farm folk who populate the novel. Nature's everyday challenges are intensified here by the social and political challenges of Ireland in the 1880's: Catholic vs. Protestant rivalries, the upheavals of Charles Stewart Parnell and the Fenians, the assassinations of British aristocrats, the legacy of the famine, and the tenuousness of life itself.

Primarily a domestic drama, the novel describes one day in the life of Beth Winters, a Catholic in a community which is equally divided between Catholics and Protestants. Depicting her cleverness and resilience in the face of her difficult farm life, McCabe focuses on her 25th birthday and the events which have led to the crisis which is the novel's focus--the circumstances of her birth, her abuse by her putative father, and her attraction to Liam Ward, a Protestant firebrand. Full of local color, lively dialogue, sometimes mystifying dialect, and powerful nature imagery, Beth's personal drama achieves wider significance as the characters, confronting issues of life and death, separately reveal the inherent (natural) violence lurking in everyone just below the surface. Political and religious rivalries complicate the personal conflicts between Beth, her father, and her lover, and the suspense builds to a crescendo.

In terse prose which is so restrained that the reader must bring his/her own intelligence to the interpretation of the action, McCabe creates a final scene of devastating power, addressing the violence within us all and making it understandable, plausible, and ultimately shocking. The traumas here are the traumas of real life, the characters are practical and tied to the earth, the prose is unburdened by excessive verbiage, and McCabe's message rings true.

Eugene McCabe's DEATH AND NIGHTINGALES absolutely picked me up and dropped me - the book was that powerful and moving. For a novel set in 1883 in rural Ireland to transport me as a reader so quickly and thoroughly shows me the hand of a master at work. This is an author that I am pleased to have discovered - and one whose work I will actively seek.

McCabe's writing style is as rough-hewn as the characters he portrays - but this is deceptive, because there are many subtleties at work here. His descriptive abilities are staggering - but most of the story is carried along either as conversation or as revelations to the reader of the characters' thoughts. Another reviewer commented that the author's style almost compelled the reader to create the story while reading it - and that's a pretty apt description of the 'work' required of the reader to grasp the monumental achievement of this novel. This 'work' is not toil-in-vain, however - there is a great reward to putting forth a little effort here.

The characters are vivid and real - and the story is one that involves love, family, politics, class struggle and murder. There is a palpable air of mystery and suspense that permeates the story, one that keeps the reader guessing, rapt until the end. There are likable characters whose treachery lurks just beneath the surface, as well as persons who seem to be less than respectable at first glance who turn out to be made of stout moral fibre - and there are those as well who are just as they seem, so I'm not really giving anything away with these statements. There's also one of the most unlikely heroes you're liable to run across anywhere.

I'd be tempted to say that this book is one of the best reading experiences I've come across in the past couple of years - I read this from the local library, but it's definitely one I'm going to want to acquire for my own collection. This is a 'keeper'.

Just returned from a trip to Ireland using this book and most of the information was seriously out-of-date. Tourist offices there actually know that the bad information you received is from this book. Also, pretty sketchy on the details. Stick to the Internet for better info.

Ireland might seem a simple place, but it isn't. During a month in Ireland, Cadogan's "Ireland" by Catharina Day (Globe Pequot Press, ......)was my constant travel companion, and I'd highly recommend the newest edition to anyone traveling in the Emerald Isle.

The book contains excellent maps, historical perspectives, a guide to the politics, historic chronology, Gaelic language, geology, myths and legends, and religious complexities of this beautiful country. It also has a fairly hefty section on practical travel advice tailored specifically to the Irish traveler.

The book is divided into very logical sections, and information is generally easy to find in its rather comprehensive index. Best of all, the island is divided naturally in this guide into its four regions -- Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Leinster -- so the traveler needn't thumb through the whole book to find things that might be one mile apart. It is further divided county by county, and travel is laid out very nicely and clearly, in the order you would see it by car. I found only minor errors, none that would have significantly changed my travel plans for the day and none that might not have been the effect of changing markets and seasons.

I often would read this guide in bed at night, it's so well-written, entertaining and informative. I would highly recommend this book to the American traveler in Ireland. It's complete, funny and quite educational.

There's a new edition of this great guide available, as of March 1999. This is definitely the one to go for.

I was so excited to get this book! I thought: at last, new adventures with my favorite characters! What a disappointment. Not only is the premise ridiculous, but the characters are written as caricatures of themselves. Joel is only barely recognizable; do you really think he would close a letter with "Yours in Chutzpah!"??? Would Chris end a note with "Supremely Conscious"??? Please. Don't hit us over the head with it! Another irritant is the fact that whenever Joel, Maurice, or Holling sends a letter to a place of business, the personal address reads "Gentlemen." The Northern Exposure series was always exploring issues of gender with thoughtfulness and insight, but this book simply reiterates the cultural undertones of sexism. If you're a real Northern Exposure fan, don't waste your time on this book.

A must read for any Northern Exposure Fan! I thoroughly enjoyed every page. It is a shame it wasn't a script for a two hour movie.

I actually enjoyed reading this than I do watching the series. I don't have much else to say but thought I'd post this just to get my 5 stars in.
All I can say is I enjoyed it.

I found the CD an excellent overview of the northern praying mantis style. There is a wide range of technique, and the applications span the gamut of readily apparent to surprising.

I must disagree with Mr.Ortiz' evaluation of the CD, as I have seen his work as well and can compare the two. The fact that he may not be familiar with some of the applications in the CD does not make them incorrect, merely unknown to him.

While not having a sifu at your arm is a disadvantage, the methodical teaching style in the CD and the multiple angle format make it as close to the real thing as can be obtained.

Please take the one-star review below with a grain of salt. This is the publisher of the Shaolin series here, taking the opportunity to point out that the author of that review is the producer of competing mantis videos.

We apologize for having to respond in this review, but we think it only fair. We agree with the other reviewers that this is quite an excellent learning tool.

Thanks everyone.

The Northern Praying Mantis edition of the "Shaolin Interactive Instructional Series" is an excellent learning tool that should be considered by anyone with a desire to learn the basics of the style. Obviously the CD ROM cannot replace the hawklike eyes of an expert instructor standing attentively by your side. However, the program proves to be the perfect blend of an ancient art and the brilliant technological ingenuity of modern times. In other words, the interactive nature of the program (including but not limited to, multi angle viewing of techniques, an excellent slow motion feature and in depth investigation of "real world" applications of the basic techniques) brings this program to the cutting edge of martial arts instruction. Without access to professional instruction, this CD ROM is as close as one can get to the multi faceted, in depth knowlege of a seasoned (in the flesh) teacher. The CD ROM is way ahead of the archaic learning curve of other instructional media (with a nervous shudder, I hark back to the days of rewinding martial arts instructional videos much more than I could unwind through the enjoyment of an ancient discipline.) This program's intrinsic adaptability will provide much more quality instuction in that it can be easily tailored to the specific needs of the student. One needs only to click on the link to view a technique from multi angle, multi speed observation points second only to actually being there. In other words, buy it.

Private Investigator, Jeri Howard is out to find the real cause of her present, but just past away client, Rob Lawter. She goes undercover, travels, worked double shifts to find the answer to how Mr. Lawter died and what was the cause of it? This book is packed with gradually piled on suspense that can't exactly keep me interested. There seems to be a lack of description of the characters and the settings. Or maybe I'm just slow. It does include accurate information when it comes to describing the cities mentioned in the story, San Francisco and Oakland. Could get a higher rating, it just doesn't have what I want in a mystery novel. I would highly recommend this to San Franciscans and Oakland-ERs.

THE PLOT Private Investigator Jeri Howard is back and she's lost a client. Rob Lawter comes to Jeri and retains her services, tells her he'll brief her later, but he takes a header out of his apartment window -- suicide, accident or murder? Jeri investigates and takes a job as a legal secretary (her previous employment) at the company where Rob worked as a paralegal. All she has is a determination to help her now-dead client and an anonymous threatening note he received warning him about "blowing the whistle". Lots of people enter, stage left, and most of them stick around for the duration making it hard for Jeri to pin them down.

Was it one of the lawyers? Was it the corporate bigwigs who took over the company in a hostile takeover and are they going to take the company apart piece-by-piece? Was it the plant managers conspiring to hide some terrible secret? Was it the brother-in-law who is trying to convince everyone that Rob committed suicide? And what do Rob's neighbours know about what happened that night?

WHAT I LIKED There are no super-human powers of deduction shown here by Jeri. She is a plodder -- one piece of the puzzle at a time, turning it around and around to see if it fits anywhere. And a lot of the time, she doesn't know what to do with the pieces and doesn't try to make them fit anywhere. The writing is up to Dawson's normal first-rate level and it is particularly interesting to see how Jeri goes about her non-investigating tasks around the office. The office, and the office politics, are made real by describing Jeri's experiences -- all of them, including the rules for working the photocopier. They set the tone for the workplace and most writers would have left them out. Dawson includes them, and the story is better for having them.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE Jeri can be a bit of a dunce at times. Several "clues" leap off the page at the reader, but Jeri misses them, or rather, completely misses the significance -- at the time. There are a couple like that, so quite often the reader knows where the story is going when Jeri doesn't, and it is only to the credit of Dawson's writing that you don't say "Hurry up and get there already."

Secondly, at the end, Dawson doesn't play fair -- there are two "clues" that turn everything around for Jeri, the final pieces of the puzzle, and she doesn't show them to the reader. "Foul!", I cry.

OVERALL RATING There is nothing overly exciting about the book, but it is a decent entertaining mystery, and the descriptions of the office raise it up a notch. The fouls at the end lower it a bit, so an overall 3.5 out of 5.0. Wouldn't want to buy it in hardcover, but it would be worth a paperback purchase.

There is a familiar ring to the Bates food manufacturing company. Could it be another LBO company deep in the heart of Oakland that Jeri Howard finds so familiar? An excellent book full of Bay Area flavor -- which is what draws me to Dawson's books. She's a wonderful, entertaining writer and you find yourself right beside her in the produce district sleuthing for clues.

A fairly accurate translation which may not appeal to most modern readers due to the repetitive, laundry list of description nature of the original text. This would seem to have been a good object for the kind of fictionalization Eickhoff did with Bricriu's Feast (though hopefully without the fart jokes) but in its current incarnation I think readers will want a clearer structure and more characterization than the literal translation affords.

Conaire Mor's mother is an elf princess who marries the king of Erin. The altruistic monarch permits his stepson to foster with three sons of loyal warriors. The foursome become quite tight as friends pulling pranks and capers until the monarch dies. Conaire is named king over his three friends.
His former buddies resent the anointing of Conaire and abuse the power of being associated with him by ravaging the country. Though he knows he should put them to death, Conaire is averse to harming his childhood friends. Out of control their petty jealousy forces a reluctant Conaire to banish them to Scotland for the good of his subjects. However, the trio joins other looters to continue to plunder Erin with their goal to destroy their former pal.

Though well done in performing the difficult task of "translating" an epic poem written during medieval times in "Old Irish" into English, the tale loses some of its imagery and lyrics. Still Randy Lee Eickhoff captures the essence of this insightful poem that focuses on the varying perspectives providing a full look at the same event. Different eyes paint relatively different panoramas. This is a strong transliteration, but it fails to match the easy flow of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf rendition, making THE DESTRUCTION OF THE INN more for fans of Irish historical poetry.

Harriet Klausner

that one can give Mr. Eickhoff for his scholarly and artistic translations of the books of the Ulster Cycle. These have been as scarce as hen's teeth, but are now here, available to the interested readers. And interesting books these are. If some readers find themselves somewhat confused about the spelling and pronounciation of the Irish names, they should not take it as an obstacle, but but as an encouragement to explore the very rich and beautiful Irish tradition. These books are priceless treasures, and Mr. Eickhoff has done a wonderful thing by translating them. It would be interesting to see if he translates the Fennian cycle.

While this book contains great descriptions of the camino, the refugios and the travelers along the way, I was unprepared for the screed against modernization and technology. Obviously, there are serious downsides to progress as we know it, but the relentless atttack on technology and the modern world borders on fanatical. It makes for a tiresome, if not predictable, read.

As travel writing, it's perfectly adequate.You do feel like you are inside his head, brushing up against his thoughts and perceptions, occasionally tripping on his prejudices as he ambles through the 500 some odd miles from the French border to Santiago de Compostela. If you do decide to pick up this book, make sure you also read something that presents the camino and the people on it through different perspectives. I'm sure you could find a book about the camino that is a little less judgemental.

As religious reflection, well, let's just say it's no Seven Storey Mountain and leave it at that.

An inspiring travelogue of the ups and downs of the life of a modern pilgrim. Great reflections on spirituality, religion, modernisation, architecture, and travel in the modern age. Lots of practical tips can be gleaned from his experience of the walk. It was one of the first books I read about the pilgrimage before setting out myself this past fall. Hoinacki taught me that this pilgrimage, although not original, is certainly experienced uniquely by each person who decides one day to just put on a pack and start walking, like he did. He decided that chocolate would be too much of an indulgence for the pilgrim. So he never ate chocolate while he was walking. I did. And lots of it!!

P.S. I got my copy at Wide World Books and Maps in Seattle.

I was totally fascinated by this book. The descriptions of places and historical references were a great addition to understanding the signficance of the pilgrim's journeys, currently and in centuries past. The author's thoughts on technology, tradition, modernization and even aging were a marvelous commentary set against this ancient journey. As a result of a previous visit to Santiago and reading this book, I am even more moved to make my own journey on the camino.

Since the story line has been pretty thoroughly described by the publisher and in other reviews, I'll skip the plot summary.

In my quest to read all the winners of the Malice Domestic awards (for first traditional or "cozy" mysteries) over the years I came across this, the 1999 winner. Frankly, I was disappointed. Although the story was fairly interesting and moved at a satisfying pace, the actions of many of the characters and especially the protagonist, Cassie Ringwald, just didn't ring true. A professional psychologist, for example, would be bound by ethics not to discuss a case with anyone -- much less discuss it as casually as she does in this story. Especially alarming is the fact that the author is a clinical psychologist!

It was also stretching a bit to define this story as a "cozy." Most of the characters -- especially the skinheads -- are not the kind of people readers would be interested in knowing, which defies Martin's own definition of the rules for the contest. The "cozy" mystery usually creates just that atmosphere; this book certainly doesn't. The beginning and end of the book is set in a garbage dump -- rather a far cry from the Vicar's study or the library in a country house!

I found many of the relationships and situations implausible. How could the skinheads possibly think they could get away with kidnapping Cassie? And when kidnapped, Cassie rather took it in stride which seemed odd. Cassie's relationship with Tony is too strange to believe, and saddling Tony's sister with Auntie Liz indefinitely also doesn't seem too realistic either. Further, I don't believe a professional like Cassie would invest much time in discussing the case with the local pizza worker, Todd.

On a positive note, the book was well organized, and the author did a good job of ending each chapter in a way that encourages the reader to keep reading.

This book is freshly written and touches on the topics of racism, sexism, the legal system and corruption at the top. She also adds beautiful and accurate descriptions of the countryside of N. Cal east to Nevada. You can't help but become attached to the main character. Finally, you're left with a dangling question (not that I'm telling)---- will it be answered in her next novel?