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Summary: Where is the dictionary?
Review: My son and I eagerly anticipated our trip around the world via this book. We would read this book in the car, in restaurants, at the dinner table and during quiet time. We were completely engrossed in the way David Cohen was able to reach myself and to keep the interest a my 9 year old. The only problem we had was that we had to keep a dictionary on hand. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable, but found myself not being able to pronounce words and feeling guilty for never having heard of many. So from one prospective, we have learned many new words. But from another, having to stop while traveling through a rainforest in Costa Rica, to pick up a dictionary, became a nuisance at times. Thank you to Mr. Cohen for wanting to share the experience most families wish they could too could enjoy.
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Summary: A Travelers' Tale
Review: One Year Off by David Elliot Cohen is the charming picaresque tale of a disenchanted yuppie who trades in his big house, the SUV and the laid-back lifestyle for a round-the-world trip with his wife and their small three children. In the course of 14 months, the family learns a great deal about the world beyond Marin County, California-and themselves. While some of Cohen's more meditative passages slow down the travelogue, his prose sparkles when he relates the joy his children find in looking at African animals or describes the enormous warmth and hospitality he and his family find in rustic Sardinia. The reader will share Cohen's concern when a child is injured and his relief over the outcome. One Year Off is a good yarn: a good read and a terrific present for any family, adventurous or stay-at-home.
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Summary: The best part was the kids...
Review: I liked best the segments dealing with the Cohens children and how they responded to the various sights on their trip. They paid little attention to natural scenery, had to be "bribed" to see the Louvre, but loved the safari and the museum with the implements of torture. Reading of their escapades reminded me of my own childhood when my sibs (ages 7-10) traveled Europe (only) with our parents during a year living in Scotland.
I am sadly disappointed in Amazon for choosing a reviewer who apparently did not read the book through and through. The Cohens were NOT endangering their chidren. Kids get wild and scamper about -- and bones can get broken at home falling off a bicycle. The older two Cohen children will remember this trip all of their lives. (25 years since our year in Scotland, our memories are still vivid!) And we did things, too, that would put fear in a parents heart. Yes, kids can be heedless of danger, but is that any reason for them to stay at home?
The Cohens did not recklessly choose to go a game preserve -- that was their daughter Kara's request. And they explain in the epilogue why they didn't go the luxe route!
I admire the Cohens for doing what they did. And I heartily admire my own parents, too -- reading this book made me realize just how much my own parents had taken on, and we didn't do half the stuff the Cohens did.
More power to all of you intrepid parents traveling with your kids!
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy and nightmare rolled into one
Review: I just read this in 2 days and I'm so jealous. I would love to drop everything and take off on a big journey. I admire them for taking the kids,seems like a huge undertaking, although it turned out fine. Wish I could've done it when I was a kid; will have to wait to have my own! Delightful, easy, quick read; have already recommended it to others!
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Summary: Travel vicariously through the adventures of a family
Review: This story kept me fully entertained and laughing throughout! It wasn't just travel but about a family and their adventures. It was inspiring for me to do the same. Reading about so many different places and honest reviews was refreshing. Cohen's sense of humor was such a treat! This book must be read if you like to travel or not!
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Summary: A rare, inspiring, hilarious gem of a travel essay.
Review: "One Year Off" was a delightful, enlightening, hilarious journey around the world. This book easily captures the heart and imagination of any "wanderlust" reader. Mr. Cohen's ability to transport the reader to all points of the globe are a tribute to his extraordinary gift as a writer and his passion for travel.
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Summary: An Adventure not to be missed.
Review: Who doesn't dream of seeing the whole world? And how many of us have thought that it will have to wait until the kids are older? Obviously the Cohens were one step ahead of us - they took the kids too! David talks about their successes, and their failures, all with a good dose of humor. They don't focus on the typical tourist attractions, but rather they inspire us to explore with them the rare and unusual. Some places I had never heard of... but want to know more about! And some places that I say - glad they went, but I wouldn't... I originally got the book from the library, but bought my own copy on amazon.com so I could take my time re-reading, using it as a reference for my own future travel, and reading it with my own children.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and humorous
Review: An excellent easy read. Many nights found me not wanting to turn off the light because I was right between significant adventures. As the parent of a toddler, I couldn't have gotten more of a kick out of their littlest one but it was really the last few pages that were most telling: was it worth it? Were the economic issues (before, during and after) and the forced family closeness and the moments of fear and the sheer scope of the trip all worth it? I was glad for the epilogue, and glad for a glimpse of a road not taken (yet.)
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Summary: Wonderful, just wonderful
Review: What fun it was to read this book. My dream, but looks like David Cohen and his family got to it first. What I like most about the book are the desctription of the children. One in particular about turning the back to Grand Canyon to look at a chipmunk has become a family favorite. I am looking forward to an another book by the author.
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Summary: A Charming Original
Review: David Cohen's ONE YEAR OFF is a charming original. It is not so much an innovation on the standard form of travel literature as it is the honest product of one individual's unique perspective. Modest, philosophical, whimsical, and observant, when this perspective is focused simultaneously upon the macrocosm of the entire globe and the microcosm of his endearing family, the result is a swift and delightful and new kind of read. David Cohen's midlife quest is somehow representative of our contemporary good fortune: speaking of its goals, its optimism, its understanding, and its longing. I encourage you to share his experience through this book. As it must have seemed to the Cohen's, when you have finished ONE YEAR OFF, you will be surprised that it has all gone by so quickly.
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