The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World

Disappointed...was expecting a book showing countries around the world highlighting cities, architecture, points of interest to see with photos of cities to assist you in picking places to travel. Instead, 90% is a book of photos of locals giving the viewer no idea what would actually be there making you want to visit.....such as.....501 Must-Visit Cities.

As an "Intrepid" traveller, I loved this book, it serves as a whistful reminder of the beautiful places I have visited and better still as a valuable "taste" of the countries I have yet to visit. It's doubtful I will get to all 230 countries featured in this great coffee table book, but of the 67 I have visited, the pictures for those have done complete justice to the location. Simply stunning. Good to have general facts and figures listed, enough for you to see if you need to delve further in exploring a country. In fact my last trip was brought about by this book, I closed my eyes, opened the book randomly and it opened on Nicaragua so off to Central America I went. Don't Analyse the book, simply try to live it.

Once I saw this book I bought it immidately! And trust me it was worth all that excitment! The Travel Book is a quick-smart phtography guide to the world. You will learn so much from a couple of paragraphs about each country, Best time to visit, Languages, food, drink, entertainment and so much more. The pictures are absolutely stunning and the format enriches it. It is also in alphabetical order so it is easy to find the country you are looking for. The only letdown is that it does not show each countries major religions but what it loses in the religions it makes up quickly with everything else. This is a must buy- I would be willing to spend up to $200 for it - thats how good it is!

This is the most beautiful, inspirational and informative coffee table book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who travels, dreams about traveling, or has children who want to see the world in a much more exciting way than sitting in a geography class or looking at a globe or atlas. Every country comes alive in this book. The photos are spectacular and I always get a smile or a laugh out of the "in a word" phrase for each place... "Bula" for Fiji and "Hakuna Matata" for Tanzania are so spot on. It's so much fun to revisit the 28 countries I've traveled in and even more exciting to find new places to go... I wish I had this book when I was a kid, or at least when I started traveling. (A great companion book to this is "1,000 Places to See Before You Die.)

I had no idea the editors of the Lonely Planet guides would have such an extensive library of National Geographic-quality photographs. After all, like other travelers, I am used to the miniscule text and overabundant data of their inevitably tattered handbooks. But this oversized coffee table book is nothing you can carry with you too easily, nor would you want to as this is not a comprehensive reference source for global travel. It's merely a staggering feast for the eyes. The stunning images in this wonderful book provide a potent reminder of what a diverse place the world is, as it covers each of the 230 countries existing today in visually enticing two-page entries. The text for each country is minimal but creative within the following standard sections: --"Best Time to Visit" - Not only time of year but in some cases, when in history was the best time to be there. --"Essential Experiences" - A bulleted list of the top five to eight things to do in that country. --"Getting Under the Skin" - What to read, listen, watch, eat and drink in each country...what happened to "smell"? --"In a Word" - The one word or expression in the country's native tongue that epitomizes its spirit. --"Trademarks" - What you immediately think of when someone brings up the name of the country. --"Surprises" - ...which really amounts to some interesting trivia and arguable observations, e.g., under the entry for the United States - "New Yorkers love to help strangers." Your enjoyment of this comprehensive approach will depend on what your degree of wanderlust is. Since mine is quite high, I love poring through the book to get a visual sense of each country's identity. Unless you are a geography addict, you will be surprised that many of these countries even exist. It's also intriguing to see the entries for current hotspots like Iraq and North Korea where their political turmoil is mentioned but contrasted with some unexpectedly vivid photos. Note the surcharge for delivery above as this is indeed a big book, over eight pounds. Say, isn't that the weight of the human head according to the little boy in "Jerry Maguire"? I wonder if that's a coincidence.

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, ... and continues on to the last country Zimbabwe, Lonely Planet has put together an extraordinary travel book that brings us to every country in the world. Listed alphabetically from A-Z, each country occupies 2 pages with vivid pictures and some impression of the lands. Even tiny Pacific islands get the same amount of space as everybody else, regardless of their size and popularity in tourism. Using a more liberal concept of 'country', it brings the total number to 230. In just one volume, it makes no attempt to be a comprehensive reference book. Instead there are many fun ways to use it. Flipping it to a random page to get some inspiration for your next travel destination (you will likely end up in some distant place rather hard to get to.) Cover the title and try to name the country by the pictures alone (a challenging game given the pictures are more focused on people and landscape than instantly recognizable landmarks.) Or just read it cover to cover as I have prepared to do. This book evokes the same kind of exhilaration from travelling. I was joyous like a kid while walking away from the bookstore with this 3kg book.