David Brown (19) (–2009)

We all have dreams of paradise islands ... Or perhaps your nightmare is being cast away on a desert island but with no music . Here is not a book to take with you to an island but to do some arm chair travelling since you are presented with some 500 islands, and it is big and bulky. (it must weigh about three kgs). This book is part of a recent series of 500 must read type of books .. As in a guide to 500 must read books or 500 must view movies . This particular volume was published in 2008 . It is very formulaic but a formula that works in combining information, a colour photographs and basic facts. It offers no more than the briefest of introductions to your destination island . A couple of hundred words of text, some statistics of population, advice about when to go , how to get there and what you should know , like needing a permit to dive in the stretch of water between Fomentera and Ibiza as it is a UNESCO world heritage site . Every island earns a lush inviting colours picture . Bad weather never features on any of these islands , and once you get there you could well be bored to death in paradise. The book is divided geographically - Americas and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and the Arabiab Gulf, Indian Oceanm Asia and Oceania and has colour coded page tags. Far more useful would have been a few essential maps . You need to read this book with an atlas at hand. I would have preferred the cut to be along the lines of islands in specific oceans , but that was an organizational or editorial choice Different writers have contributed to the different sections but I can't fault the standard of writing. There are two games to be played with this book ... Which islands have you visited and which island you know or have visited is missing from this volume. For example , a missing island is Robben island , an island off Cape Town (which was the world renowned former prison island and place of incarceration of Nelson Mandea ) is missing, though Alcatraz is included . But then prison islands are not exactly dream holiday destinations. For me Mauritius remains my favourite paradise choice but Mauritius is an island , a divine holiday resort and a country all rolled into one, and there is more to do than remain a stranded soul. Incidentally, it is hardly helpful to know that Mauritius was home to the now extinct Dodo . Singapore is another island cum country choice with an interesting history and an array of activities, and I certainly did not know that something called "Singlish" is the spoken language of Singapore.. Really! I do recommend this book but on its own terms of instant travel , and quick overview and as an example of book as consumable product and with 544 pages it is not a guide book . Rating three stars. if there had been a map or a decent series of maps then it would have warranted four stars.… (more)

A wonderful coffee table book which you will never tire of picking up and flicking through. Its also fun to work out how many of the cities you have been to!

The photographs are great, although some (such as Bordeaux) just don't do the beautiful places justice.

All in all this is a lovely book worth picking up, especially if you can find it cheap like I did (£4.99!)

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