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thecandlelightlibrary 's review for:
Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die
by Steve Davey, Marc Schlossman
After some thought, I decided to give this book 3.5 stars.
I absolutely love traveling, and I have a long list of places that I already want to see before I die. Many of these places were included in Davey's book, and several I have already been to and can attest that they are indeed unforgettable. However, for the reasons described below, I did not add any new destinations from Davey's suggestions to my list of must-see places.
There were two reasons why this book lost 1.5 stars. First of all, I wished Davey had included more information on why each of the destinations made his top 40 list. For instance (and this is based entirely off personal experience), why did Davey choose the Grand Canyon as the most unforgettable place in the entire western two-thirds of the U.S.? Why not Glacier, Yellowstone, or any of the other incredible national parks in the U.S.? As for the destinations in general, why did Davey choose to leave off many well-known countries (such as Japan, Switzerland, and many others with unforgettable sights)? For the less familiar destinations I did enjoy having information about each place, but Davey's own thoughts could have also added to each section.
Second, I was surprisingly disappointed in the quality of the photos included in the book. Since it was primarily a photo book, I expected higher quality photos on each page. While there were some beautiful photos included, many of the pictures fell flat for me and, unfortunately, were quite forgettable. Perhaps it was just the edition I had, but many of the photos were noticeably blurry (for example, in some of the photos for Wat Phra Kaeo in Thailand, and College Fjord in Alaska), had poor lighting (as in many of the photos for St. Petersburg, Russia and for Yangshuo in Guilin, China), or were not as vibrant as I knew they could be (like for Iguassu Falls in Brazil/Argentina). The photos for some destinations, like Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, fell into all three categories.
In the end, while this book was not marketed as a travel guide, it also did not inspire me on its own to visit the places that Davey considers to be unforgettable. For the places not already on my list, I will have to do considerably more research online about each destination or receive suggestions from friends before I add them to my list of must-sees. With that said, this book could be a good conversation starter or useful to those looking for more international places to travel, as it does cover most of the globe.
I absolutely love traveling, and I have a long list of places that I already want to see before I die. Many of these places were included in Davey's book, and several I have already been to and can attest that they are indeed unforgettable. However, for the reasons described below, I did not add any new destinations from Davey's suggestions to my list of must-see places.
There were two reasons why this book lost 1.5 stars. First of all, I wished Davey had included more information on why each of the destinations made his top 40 list. For instance (and this is based entirely off personal experience), why did Davey choose the Grand Canyon as the most unforgettable place in the entire western two-thirds of the U.S.? Why not Glacier, Yellowstone, or any of the other incredible national parks in the U.S.? As for the destinations in general, why did Davey choose to leave off many well-known countries (such as Japan, Switzerland, and many others with unforgettable sights)? For the less familiar destinations I did enjoy having information about each place, but Davey's own thoughts could have also added to each section.
Second, I was surprisingly disappointed in the quality of the photos included in the book. Since it was primarily a photo book, I expected higher quality photos on each page. While there were some beautiful photos included, many of the pictures fell flat for me and, unfortunately, were quite forgettable. Perhaps it was just the edition I had, but many of the photos were noticeably blurry (for example, in some of the photos for Wat Phra Kaeo in Thailand, and College Fjord in Alaska), had poor lighting (as in many of the photos for St. Petersburg, Russia and for Yangshuo in Guilin, China), or were not as vibrant as I knew they could be (like for Iguassu Falls in Brazil/Argentina). The photos for some destinations, like Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, fell into all three categories.
In the end, while this book was not marketed as a travel guide, it also did not inspire me on its own to visit the places that Davey considers to be unforgettable. For the places not already on my list, I will have to do considerably more research online about each destination or receive suggestions from friends before I add them to my list of must-sees. With that said, this book could be a good conversation starter or useful to those looking for more international places to travel, as it does cover most of the globe.