The Tapir's Morning Bath: Solving the Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest

Book Description

An engaging portrait of a community of biologists, The Tapir's Morning Bath is a behind-the-scenes account of life at a tropical research station that "conveys the uncertainties, frustrations, and joys of [scientific] field work" (Science). On Panama's Barro Colorado Island, Elizabeth Royte works alongside the scientists -- counting seeds, sorting insects, collecting monkey dung, radiotracking fruit bats -- as they struggle to parse the intricate workings of the tropical rain forest. While showing the human side of the scientists at work, Royte explores the tensions between the slow pace of basic research and the reality of a world that may not have time to wait for answers.

Customer Reviews:

Enjoyable and well-researched book on the world of tropical field biologists .......2007-05-06

_The Tapir's Morning Bath_ by Elizabeth Royte is an interesting look at the world of field biologists working in the American tropics. The author spent about a year living and working with scientists at a scientific station that was located on Barro Colorado Island (often abbreviated as BCI), an isle that rises steeply from near the middle of Gatun Lake, the enormous midsection of the Panama Canal. Isolated by the waters of the Chagres River (dammed in 1910 to form the canal), BCI was once the highest peak of the now submerged Loma de Palenquilla range. Its summit rises 119 meters above the lake's surface and covers some 1,564 hectares or about 6 square miles.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) runs a lab on the island's northeastern shore, a facility that has operated continuously since 1923, its backyard the most-studied tropical rain forest in the world. The preservation of the island and the lab was the brainchild of James Zetek, a U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist who had been working on mosquito control in the Canal Zone during its construction.

The island is a nearly ideal laboratory for researchers. It is home to 65 terrestrial mammal species (including agoutis, peccaries, deer, sloths, howler monkeys, anteaters, tayras, and tapirs), 70 bat species, 381 bird species, 58 species of reptiles (including crocodiles), 32 amphibian species, and 1,369 species of vascular plants, including 300 tree species. The animals are reached by a series of maintained trails and some are so well studied that good population figures are had for a number of species (there are about 2,500 agoutis on the island for instance).

In order to ease her way into the island residents' culture and also to get a handle on both what life is like as a field biologist and what it was they were studying, Royte volunteered to be a free field assistant to anyone who wanted her. At first the scientists were reluctant but soon she was eagerly sought by a variety of researchers. The heart of the book is really her work in the field with these biologists, describing both what they were studying and the field biologists themselves, what motivated them, what they hoped to achieve, and their views on both their research subjects and larger issues in science.

One scientist she spent a lot of time in the field with was Chrissy Campbell, who was doing a study of spider-monkeys. Her study a difficult one, requiring her to follow the island's one spider-monkey troop all day until it bedded down at 6pm and then be back in the field at 6am to follow it again (if she was late she had to spend all day locating it and was often not successful). She sought to collect fecal samples from the troop's five adult females and record their behavior, hoping that analysis of the samples in the lab and correlation with the behaviors she recorded would reveal information on female hormones, adult behavior, and the relationship between the two.

Another scientist she worked with was Bret Weinstein, who was doing a study of tent making in bats. This behavior (which consisted of a bat biting and bending leaves into shapes to conceal and protect them as they slept) was noted to have evolved three separate times among bats and was found only among small, canopy fruit eating bats of the American tropics. Weinstein hoped to discover the reasons behind the tent-making, a job that kept him up all hours of the night, running through the jungle at night chasing faint signals on radio transmitters he attached to some of his study subjects.

She was field assistant to Paul Trebe, himself a field assistant to a scientist who was back at his university in the U.S. His laborious daily job was to visit scores of traps every morning on BCI and on several small adjacent islands (one island had 99 traps) for the nocturnal spiny rat, collecting information on that species population size, age structure, sex ratio, and reproductive output, which along with manipulating conditions on some of the small islands enabled the scientist back home to do complicated studies that impacted on such issues as the animal's role in seed dispersal and as a reservoir for infectious agents.

Other researchers Royte worked with included a geologist studying the forest's effects on runoff and the canal watershed, two scientists doing a diversity study of lianas, and a researcher studying the effects of leaf-cutter ants on tree growth.

While in the field and talking to the island's residents, Royte noted that there was a rivalry between field biologists and those who worked in laboratories. Field scientists often had a "working-class pride," and "cultivated a spunky disdain for lab jocks." She said that pure animal-behavior studies were "decidedly out of fashion in these molecular times" and was perceived by many as a "soft" science. Many on the island griped that molecular biologists got the lion's share of money and prestige, though some did acknowledge they provided useful insights (particularly in the area of taxonomy).

Royte pondered the often incredibly narrow focus of researchers there, joking once that she "damned tropical biology as a black-art discipline and scientists as high priests of esoterica." Sometimes researchers labored on projects that seemed to have little application and gained deep knowledge about very narrow aspects of an organism but were often "ignorant of the whole." Royte wrote that the increasing number of scientists and decreasing amounts of funding available (consumed partially by huge university bureaucracies) forced scientists to specialize early, to carve out a niche that no else had in order to "avoid competition and make names for themselves." She also noted that sometimes seemingly very arcane research results can yield surprising answers to larger puzzles.

A very good book, I enjoyed her descriptions, the obvious research she did, and a subject she came back to repeatedly in the book, why tropical rain forests are so diverse.

Of Ticks and Tapirs.......2006-12-22

This is a really good book! I'm a biologist and I'm currently in Panama and I've spent the last couple of years in Central America. I can assure you that this is an excellent work about biologists, research, and life in Central America.

The writing is straight ahead, no flourishes of flounces to get in the way. The story is simple but clear and funny and heartwarming. I don't know what more you can ask for in a book.

The BCI Research Station is one of the last great centers for basic research into topical ecology. While it is being taken over, gradually, by biologists who know everything about what's going on inside the cell wall but cannot tell a Red Deer from a Bulldog, there are still enough who are trying to understand what animals and plants are doing and what is the relationship between them.

Whether you intend to travel to the rain forest or not, this is a good read and you will enjoy it. I did and I highly recommend it.

Hanging out with the socially challenged.......2005-08-24

Ms. Royte has written the book that I've always wanted to write. I've done my share of hanging out with biologists and archeologists at field sites in Central America watching them undertake tedious and lengthy data collections under uncomfortable situations. She captures how caught up these people can be in the work they do and how hard it can be for them to relate and function in social situations. Toward the end of the book she describes the migration of the Urania butterflies. I live in Panama City and there is a migration going on outside my window right now. Only it is much more enjoyable after reading Ms. Royte's explanation of what is going on.

Barro Colorado Is Well Worth Investigating!.......2005-04-19

Imagine riding a rickety train through the forest to a boat launch, boarding a tiny boat to an obscure island where six foot long iguanas drape nonchalantly over the paths. Imagine an evening in a screened in porch, much of that screen covered with 6" beige flying cockroaches. Imagine a creature not unlike a raccoon, called a coatimundi, traipsing over from the trash bins the following morning to sniff and greet you. Imagine a tapir standing mysteriously in the brush nearby as howler monkeys howl and cackle overhead, throwing debris from the upper story of the forest.

Some twenty two years ago, I had the great privilege of experiencing exactly this as a young girl, spending a year with the many American biologists steadily working in the jungles and facilities of Panama, including several stays on Barro Colorado Island (BCI).

While I freely confess that I have not yet read this book, I was utterly delighted to find that someone, at last, has documented the important yet seemingly obscure research being conducted in this tropical stronghold. I plan to purchase this book for as many friends as possible, knowing that our awareness of biodiversity will ultimately hold the key to funding needed research into the mysteries and wonders of this wild and vital terrestrial treasure chest.

journey of discovery.......2002-11-27

On the trail of the scientists who make the trails

A journalist follows researchers into the South American rain forest to study the mystery of their devotion

By Diana Muir

Deep in the tropical rain forest, a small fruit-eating bat carefully nicks the veins on the underside of a philodendron leaf, causing the edges to fold down like a miniature tent. The bat curls up under its little tent and goes to sleep. Other bats don't make tents, why do these?
In "The Tapir's Morning Bath," journalist Elizabeth Royte follows field biologists into the rain forest with a similar question: Other people, after all, do not feel compelled to sit up all night being bitten by mosquitoes, ticks, and chiggers. Why do these?

The Panama Canal is made up of a channel leading inland from each coast, joined by an immense manmade lake that covers what was once a rain forest. Numerous islands dot the lake. In the 1920s, a group of foresighted scientists managed to have the largest, Barro Colorado, with its nearly intact tropical forest, set aside as a scientific preserve.

In these pages, the present-day researchers of Barro Colorado spring vividly to life. Royte follows a young biologist from UC Berkeley, as the biologist follows a troop of spider monkeys.

Studying monkeys like this entails long days of trailing the agile little creatures as they skitter through the treetops, clambering easily from branch to branch. For an earth-bound researcher, keeping up with the troop entails scrambling up steep ravines, pushing through tangled undergrowth, and skidding down hillsides slick with rain. The early weeks are especially frustrating, as distrustful monkeys shy away from the interloper.

Royte, a New York journalist, is as much an interloper on the island as this scientist is among the troop of monkeys. The scientists, after all, have paid their dues to get here. They have spent years in graduate school, and they reach Barro Colorado only after their laboriously planned studies survive rigorous review to be selected for funding.

But Royte ingratiates herself by offering to help. On the island, these scientists work long hours, and conversation can be larded with arcane jargon incomprehensible to an outsider. She's willing to wade through this - and the muck of mangrove swamps - to hang insect traps on branches and sit on the forest floor counting the number of leaf-cutter ants that march past.

As they whiz across the lake in a Boston whaler, Royte is determined to pursue her subject at full throttle, even as the distinguished biologist perched in the bow tries to net moths without falling overboard. He shares his excitement about the natural world in all its magnificent complexity.

For instance, he tells her, urania moths migrate annually. Some years, however, only a few hundred appear. Other years, several hundred million moths fly past the island. No one knows where they come from or where they are bound. In Royte's retelling, scientific enthusiasm is infectious. Soon we, too, want to know what drives these winged nomads.

Readers will come away from "The Tapir's Bath" with an appreciation of the way narrow research questions become the material from which useful knowledge is constructed. But don't read it for that.

Read it for the thrill of the chase. Will the young researcher from Berkeley who has trudged the forest for three days without so much as a glimpse of a non-human primate ever locate her spider-monkey troop? Will the German biologist whose sophisticated equipment fails manage to contrive an impromptu method to measure the effect of leaf-cutting ants on the trees they harvest? And will the PhD candidate from the University of Michigan astound his professors by synthesizing a new theory to explain why biological diversity decreases with distance from the equator, or fulfill their expectations by failing even to discover why bats make tents?

And just why does a tapir take a morning bath?

Customer Reviews:

Don't Bother.......2006-10-21

I'd call this book "self indulgent". It seems more like therapy for the author than entertainment for the reader. I really wanted to like it and read the first 90 pages. I just moved too slow and didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Read Wizard of the Upper Amazon by Bruce Lamb, The World is as You Dream It by John Perkins or Diary of an Amazon Guide by Paul Beaver if you want to experience the Amazon. This book is boring.

How Monkeys Make Chocolate: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Rainforest

Average customer rating:

How Monkeys Make Chocolate: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Rainforest
Adrian Forsyth
Manufacturer: Maple Tree Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Tropical Rain Forest
The Story of Chocolate (DK READERS)
Smart About Chocolate: A Sweet History (Smart About History) (Smart About History)
Rainforest Adventure
Beans to Chocolate (Welcome Books: How Things Are Made)

ASIN: 1897066775

Book Description

In How Monkeys Make Chocolate renowned ecologist Adrian Forsyth introduces the people, plants, and animals of the world’s rain forests through exciting first-hand stories and stunning color photographs. He visits aboriginal shamans and imitates the behavior of animals to tap into the inner workings of various rain forests, revealing a world of riches with unsuspected connections to everyday life. His adventures expose the amazing origins of familiar products, including chocolate, cola, aspirin, and rubber, and offer tantalizing glimpses of the discoveries yet to be made. With visual force and vivid anecdotes, Forsyth instills a deep wonder for the web of life and the importance of conserving these fragile ecosystems.

Average customer rating:

Rainforest Run (Scooter Gang S.)
Stephanie Dagg
Manufacturer: Mentor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Spirit in the Rainforest: A Tom and Liz Austen Mystery

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Spirit in the Rainforest: A Tom and Liz Austen Mystery
Eric Wilson
Manufacturer: Orca Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

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ASIN: 1551432242

Average customer rating:

Itapi! A thriller!
Great read! Gripping story! Impressive first novel!
Surprisingly Good

Itapi
Andrew Baltzegar
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1419636170
Release Date: 2006-05-04

Book Description

A dedicated doctor finds a new wonder drug deep in the Brazilian rainforest and finds himself stalked by a murderous pharmaceutical giant, in Andrew Baltzegarâ€™s edge-of-your-seat thriller, Itapi.

Customer Reviews:

Itapi! A thriller!.......2006-07-14

This was an impressively crafted novel. It caught my attention from page one and never let go. I had a hard time putting it down to go to sleep. Despite the gory nature of the plot, I was made to feel for each of the characters and could understand each of their viewpoints. Behind the main story, Baltzegar displays not only an understanding of biology and ecology, but a deep care for the fate of some of the greatest places on earth. This is not only a highly entertaining book full of swift action, but a lesson in the biological and social issues gripping much of the Americas today.

Great read! Gripping story! Impressive first novel!.......2006-06-15

Itapi chronicles the efforts of Dr. John Lentz as he struggles to wrest a great medicinal secret from the jungles of the Amazon, while being stalked by a murderous phamaceutical company bent on killing its competition! As a first novel by Andrew Baltzegar this work is impressive for its style, evident research, fast pace and gripping plot. A great read on its own, it also says much for what may come from this promising writer in the future. "Itapi" introduces the process of medicinal "mining" in the Amazon against a background of vanishing tribes, anthroplogical research and just plain rotten villians. The background science is delivered in an easy to read style that hints at Baltzegar's own depth of knowledge (rather than seeking to knock the reader over the head with it). The result is a fun, exciting read with a measure of education woven into its fabric. Great Stuff! Thoroughly recommended!

Surprisingly Good.......2006-05-21

"Itapi" is a great book. Baltzegar's writing, resembling a smarter James Patterson, kept me riveted. I rushed home from work just to read it and had to force myself to put it down at the end of the night. The obvious amount of research that went into writing this novel really connected me to the characters and Brazilian jungle. I can't wait to read more from this author.

The Lost Treasure of the Rainforest (Global Friends Adventures)

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The Lost Treasure of the Rainforest (Global Friends Adventures)
Judith Austin
Manufacturer: Wyatt Group Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0963861476

Book Description

Camina dances the samba at the Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro, she treks to the Amazon rain forest. Deep in the rain forest she discovers a treasure guarded by rare Hyacinth macaws.

Workouts from Boxing's Greatest Champs: Get in Shape with Muhammad Ali, Fernando Vargas, Roy Jones Jr., and Other Legends
Average customer rating:

A quick read

Well laid out - worhwhile

totally awesome read

knockout book.

Boring

Workouts from Boxing's Greatest Champs: Get in Shape with Muhammad Ali, Fernando Vargas, Roy Jones Jr., and Other Legends
Gary Todd
Manufacturer: Ulysses Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Boxing | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
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Similar Items:

The Ultimate Boxer: Understanding the Sport and Skills of Boxing

Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Boxing

Boxing Mastery: Advanced Technique, Tactics, and Strategies from the Sweet Science

The Boxer's Workout

Boxing: The Complete Guide to Training and Fitness

Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 1569754438

Book Description

Fed by media fascination with super heavyweights like George Foreman, the perception of boxers as oversized guys with oversized muscles is simply wrong. For every weight class, strength must be carefully balanced with the ideal physique. In truth, boxer training produces a body perfectly balanced for strength, shape, speed, and stamina.

The author traveled the world talking to top boxers about how they train for peak performance. Their workouts will help reshape the reader's body, and the short bios and quotes from legendary favorites will inspire readers to take their workout to the next level.

This one-of-a-kind approach to the world of boxing offers readers proven tips on balancing their own physique. Want to build more strength? Follow the workout of heavyweights like Ali. Need to slim down but don't want to lose muscle? Try the program of middleweight Fernando Vargas. Want to go all out for the ultimate physical fitness? Then try to keep up with the training of pound-for-pound legend Roy Jones Jr.

Customer Reviews:

A quick read.......2007-05-18

As a boxing fan, I wanted to check this book out to see the workout ideas of the great boxers. To be honest, the glimpses into their training regimes are fairly short and repetitive. I would have liked a bit more on even just one boxer but the author did give his own training routine and some good tips.

The pictures were pretty good in the book. A quick read.

Well laid out - worhwhile.......2007-01-09

book is very well laid out with workouts from all the champs and details of their personal training schedule and nutrition program. Excellent for the new boxer or the experienced boxer looking to vary their workout schedule. Lots of great pictures.

totally awesome read.......2006-07-26

what a great book. i read it over and over again, and i now have it stored in my locker at the gym. totally awesome read. cant wait for volume 2. rob, new york

knockout book........2006-07-13

great book. ive read loads of boxing books, but this has a different read altogether. i loved it. shane, miami

Boring.......2006-05-09

This is not at all what might be expected. The book is filled with pictures, the same 10 or so interview questions and a list of workout routines that vary, slightly, with each athlete. There is no rationale included in the benefits or strategy of each boxer's workout or routine. There is very little here that would be of use or interest to anyone interested in learning.

Book Description

Beyond the magnificent Renaissance cities is a rolling landscape crying out for exploration, whether it's bustling markets and medieval hill towns, drowsy piazzas and ancient vineyards, or frenetic festivals and thermal springs. With detailed regional coverage, this definitive guide to Tuscany and Umbria is the key to your perfect getaway.

TREASURE HUNT - tracking down fine art or hunting great espresso, our in-depth descriptions ensure you find the region's hidden gems

ESCAPE - leave the crowds behind with detours to local haunts and insider tips for getting off the beaten track

WINE & DINE - from family-run trattorie to truffle festivals, seek out the regions' outstanding cuisine with over 250 refined restaurant reviews

KNOW YOUR WAY - inspirational itineraries and comprehensive maps help you plan ahead and get the most from your holiday

Customer Reviews:

Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria, 4th Edition, 2006.......2007-03-02

My partner and I used this guide for our trip to Tuscany (Toscana) in June 2006, and we found it very serviceable. The places we visited were Siena, Florence (Firenze), Assisi, Perugia, Orvieto, and Volterra, among others.

Lonely Planet's guide gave us all the options available for getting to and from each city and town in the region. Whether by train, car, bicycle, or foot, it provides enough information to help you get there and back without too much trouble. This is in contrast to the Let's Go guidebooks which provide more information about staying in the towns themselves than about how to get there. This guide helped us with taking the train from Rome (Roma), and renting a car in Siena and making daytrips to Assisi, Perugia, and Orvieto.

The information on hotels is sufficient but I'd recommend doing a little research online about places to stay BEFORE you leave. LP guides give you a sampling of hotels and inns and a little blurb about each, but don't expect too much information on them. The quoted price ranges can be a little off, but LP assumes one is travelling during the peak season (July-August).

The information on restaurants is okay, and LP provides a decent listing of places to eat in whatever town you may be. It was either hit or miss for us. A few of the places LP recommended turned out to be duds but a few were spot on. One of the hits was a little taverna in Assisi that served linguini with black truffle sauce--yum!

As far as sites and attractions go, don't expect a wealth of information. LP gives a brief history/description for all the major sites but a lot of minor ones are either only touched upon or passed over altogether. One would be better off using the Michelin Green Guides for more detailed information about specific sites and attractions, as those provide a plethora of names, dates, and events that make them more akin to history books than travel guides.

The maps in the book are really good; they are accurate and easy to read. For all the major cities and towns covered in the guide, LP plots out the locations of all the hotels, restaurants, and attractions they mention. In this regard they are exactly like Let's Go (and all other guides, I imagine).

In my opinion this Lonely Planet guide is not the definitive book on Tuscany, but when used with other guides it can be an invaluable resource for your trip to this wonderful region of Italy. Pack it with you when you go--and don't forget the sunscreen!

Lonely Planet Tuscany (Lonely Planet Tuscany and Umbria)

Average customer rating:

Major disappointment - even Lonely Planet can do better!
Not up to Lonely Planet Standards

Lonely Planet Tuscany (Lonely Planet Tuscany and Umbria)
Neal Bedford , Damien Simonis , and Imogen Franks
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books

San Marino & Umbria | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Lonely Planet | Guidebook Series | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Lonely Planet Italy
Italian: Lonely Planet Phrasebook
Lonely Planet Florence

ASIN: 1864503572

Book Description

Glowing frescoes, patchwork blue-green landscapes, multihued Gothic cathedrals and cypress-dotted vineyards - from Florence's Renaissance riches to medieval hilltop villages, this guide will help you get the most out of Italy's most beguiling region.

46 detailed maps, including full-colour regional map
mouthwatering special section on the region's food and wine
comprehensive coverage of Tuscan art and architecture
in-depth walking section
the finest accommodation options, from convents to castelli
practical Italian language chapter with Tuscan pronunciation guide

Customer Reviews:

Major disappointment - even Lonely Planet can do better!.......2003-06-10

Previous edition (2000) was very poor, and now this one is no improvement at all.

Lonely Planet has a long tradition for producing brilliant guides to less-explored destinations - and messing things up in a major way when they are dealing with places like Tuscany, or Venice, or New York.

This time, the problem is not the trademark self-righteous attitude or a preachy tone. It's just the general feeling of the guide having been done on the cheap. It's difficult to justify this - the book costs the same as every other guide on the market, thank you very much.

The other reviewer noted chaos and lack of focus - it is difficult to disagree. The guide boasts of "strict hierarchical structure" of its headlines - well, if you say so. It is very difficult to find anything, there are no visual "hooks" for easy navigation, and the only help in orientation can be offered by meaningless, heart-stoppingly ugly and amateurish drawings, placed here and there (they are worse than even chapter icons in Rough Guides that remind you of artwork adorning leaflets from a social security office or a community clinic).

And the photos - yes, I understand that they are not the main selling point of this guide, but just how CHEAP you have to be to find something like that (especially when they seen perfectly capable of finding excellent pictures for their covers)? What are these - your aunt's holiday snaps made with a disposable camera?

Maps are poor and confusing. How difficult it is to include a clear map - in color? How expensive would this make the guide?
Information on tickets is so out-of-date and irrelevant that it beggars belief. People in Europe and America are finding cheap tickets on the Internet in ten minutes, low-cost airlines are all over the place, but somebody needs to tell Lonely Planet. The guide is like a senile grandfather who cannot stop talking garbage about his younger days: apex fares... super apex... courier fligts... Why waste paper on this?

The same out-of-date irrelevance is true about Money section. Maybe Lonely Planet is on commission, but who uses travellers checks these days? (Probably same people who go to airline office ask for "apex fare ticket"). This is supposed to be a guide for shoestring travellers - yes, they will really appreciate the worst exchange rate imaginable and a commission of up to 10%. No wonder some people complain Europe is expensive - after guidance like that and leaving half of your money to banks and excange offices, there will not be much in your pocket to pay for lodging and meals.

But the main reason why you should not bother to buy this book is its poor, uninspired and dull writing. No attraction, no treasure of art, no historic building is spared this indifferent and lazy treatment: it feels as if they didn't want to write about all these churches but they had to. This is strange: this guide often poses as a staunch critic of mass tourism and commercial crowds. Here, Lonely Planet adopts exactly the approach of box-ticking thoughtless crowd: "Been there, done that."

To sum up - if you are planning to buy this, please think again. There are better guides for listings and practicalities (Rough Guide), there are better guides for signtseeing or culture (Blue Guide or Cadogan), and there are better all-rounders (DK Eyewitness). Even if Lonely Planet until now has been your favorite guide and you are a loyal follower, please think again. You will do yourself a favor.

Not up to Lonely Planet Standards.......2001-03-02

I am reading this guide in preparation for an upcoming trip to Florence. I have found this guide confusing and badly organized. I still don't have a feel for the major sights in each area. I'm going to have to buy a few other guides. I usually have good luck with Lonely Planet guides - this one just isn't up to snuff.

Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria (Lonely Planet Tuscany and Umbria)

Average customer rating:

Lonely Planet Tuscany & Umbria (Lonely Planet Tuscany and Umbria)
Nicola Williams
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books

San Marino & Umbria | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Lonely Planet | Guidebook Series | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1741043131

Book Description

The picturesque city of San Antonio, Texas with its rich Mexican-American culture provides the ideal backdrop for the linked stories in this award-winning collection.

Customer Reviews:

White Bread Competition.......2002-03-19

Those of you who like to know real things that happen in different communities you should read htis book, this book is very descriptive, challenging and it even has spanish words in it.
I believe that the book White Bread Competition makes me understand that there are some challenging people but you should continue to work hard on what you want to do. I love this book it showed me how to encourage myself to do what I want to do and to do it the best way that I can. Listening to others opinions is still helpful but when they want you to quit it's too hard to say no to something that you really want. I recommend that this book will make you feel as of you are living the story.

a Latina on the edge of teenhood!.......2001-10-31

A young Latina in San Antonio, Texas, speaks of her older sister who is representing her family, her culture, her school & her state in the upcoming national spelling bee & the craziness between cultures, between girls, between losers & winners.

White Bread Competition is emminently readable with laughs galore, a keen ear for language & an unblinking eye for relationships. A fine sense of drama & frustation with a heroine who keeps correctly spelling each word, inexorably making her way to the top of the heap while her competitors & families torque into a rabble of discontent.

Vibrant family scenes, the motor-mouth of irrepressible youth & chapter titles that are clever double entendres which only leave you wanting more, more & more!

For anyone interested in listening to the voices of outsiders looking in & winning! Very well done & a must for the girls in your life.

a Latina on the edge of teenhood!.......2001-10-25

Vibrant family scenes, the motor-mouth of irrepressible youth & chapter titles that are clever double entendres which only leave you wanting more, more & more!

For anyone interested in listening to the voices of outsiders looking in & winning! Very well done & a must for the girls in your life.

It's a good book........2001-05-28

The author does a commendable job in making her characters come alive, and there is a stong sense of place and culture in the stories. The characters are shown in the context of their families and friends rather than as isolated individuals. While the subject of people between cultures has been covered before, so has every other subject. I enjoyed this book. The reason I gave it four stars is because I reserve five stars for books by authors like Nabokov, Gombrowicz and Proust.

"Short" White Bread Competition.......2000-06-26

Although I understand it would be very difficult for Amazon.com to verify comments made regarding this book, I would be hard-pressed to believe that it is being used in colleges & high schools since the material covered has been rehashed too many times to mention. The typical story line of the misunderstood character who has to react to perceived injustices has been played out once too often. While I found the story line easy to follow, it also seemed too predictable-like the movie you knew would end with the "good guy" getting the girl. An obivous first-work by the author, it read like a class project for a journalism major...maybe next time.

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