Book Review - Rome Venice Florence by Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls

This book has solid information and is well-written but that doesn't keep it from being BORING! The only pictures provided are in a few pages at the front of the book. The maps are not good enough to travel with. It makes a decent pre-trip read (or to at least browse through when planning your trip). However, don't plan on traveling with this book. The National Geographic or Eyewitness Travel Guides are far better. The best of the best are the Rick Steves travel books which do not have pictures either but are updated every single year with new hotel and restaurant information plus great maps.

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Book Review - Rome, 2nd (Cadogan City Guides) by Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls

 Decent pre-trip read but not worth taking with you
This book has solid information and is well-written but that doesn't keep it from being BORING! The only pictures provided are in a few pages at the front of the book. The maps are not good enough to travel with. It makes a decent pre-trip read (or to at least browse through when planning your trip). However, don't plan on traveling with this book. The National Geographic or Eyewitness Travel Guides are far better. The best of the best are the Rick Steves travel books which do not have pictures either but are updated every single year with new hotel and restaurant information plus great maps.

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Book Review - Rick Steves' French, Italian, and German Phrase Book and Dictionary

 Make Three Books Out It
I took the Italian section of this book with me on a two-week backpacking trip through Italy. It was highly-useful, especially in the restaurants. It's well-organized with all the phrases you'll need. The "Menu Decoder" section is great for looking up words in a dictionary format. Since I was traveling light and only needed the Italian section, I cut the book into three parts and bound each with duct tape. Now I have three phrase books!

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Book Review - Michelangelo : Biography of a Genius by Bruno Nardini

This book is sold in the museum giftshops all over Italy. It's a quick read and a decent introductory biography of Michelangelo. The author covers the political climate during Michelangelo's life as much as he does Michelangelo's personal life. Then again, he served several Popes who had a major influence on his life and never really had a personal life. If you're looking for a broad overview, this is a decent book; however, you're not going to find any detailed descriptions of his artistic sculpting or painting processes or any artwork reproductions.

Book Review - The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany by James Bentley, Hugh Palmer

 Good picture-book for trip planning
If you're planning a trip through Tuscany this is a great picture book to use in determining which of the smaller towns you want to visit. The book covers 36 smaller places and skips over large towns like Sienna and Orvieto. Each town also gets 3-5 paragraphs of very introductory text. The pictures are not postcard quality, but very modern with an "editorial travel" style giving you a good idea of what it will actually look like with you get there.

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