Rating: 
Summary: For the passionate traveler on your gift list!
Review: This is a wonderful book for fantasizing---the world is packed with fabulous things to see and do! The less adventuresome will use it as a handy reference to make sure they're not missing anything on a trip, while the seasoned traveler will no doubt go through it methodically and count up the number of places they've already seen. I've given this book twice already as a gift and will no doubt give it again and again. I was a little disappointed that so many fancy restaurants and hotels were listed, as experienced travelers know the true joy of travel is in the unexpected, and money is no guarantee. But that's a small quibble--it's a great book!
Rating: 
Summary: WOW and WOW AGAIN
Review: My Mom suggested I write my first book review for Amazon.
I have just graduated from college and out of all the many gifts I received - an i-pod, a dvd player and a new cell phone - my favorite graduation gift by far is the book 1000 Places To See Before You Die. My tutor gave it to me with a yellow highlighter and a pink highlighter - one to underscore all the places I've been (my parents have never been the kind to leave the kids behind and Ispent a Jr Year abroad in London)and one for those I want to see next (he told me to pretend I won the lottery). My tutor inscribed the book "Travel is an education without walls. May your life be one magical journey." I have been to 42 of the places and know there are at least a few hundred on my "Short List". But I intend to be around for awhile and wouldn't mind a job like the one the author has. How can I find her?
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Get Any Better
Review: This is the first book review I have ever written, partially encouraged by the occasional negative reveiw I have read on this website about a book that I consider to be only exceptional (an opinion confirmed by its secure place on every USA newspaper's best seller list for the last many months). For those who have somehow managed to find fault with it I can only suggest that they put in the many years and efforts this author did and come up with their own list of 1000 remarkable places and then we'll talk.
Maybe it's sour grapes?
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Starting Point
Review: If you have no idea of where to go, this book can give you some ideas. I would recommend this book only for primary ideas on where to go. After you get an idea, go and check out a Lonely Planet book on your intended destination, as this book offers up only the slightest taste of what an area has to offer. To me, this book is what I would characterize as a "white bread" travel book; not much substance to it at all. I've done a considerable amount of traveling in the United States, Canada, South and Central Americas, Southeast Asia and some a limited amount in the South Pacific. When I compared where I have visited in the above areas with what the author offered to the reader, I found she came up lacking. I prefer to get off the beaten track and do it on the cheap, seeing more than just the tourist areas, getting a flavor of the local culture. I buy a roundtrip ticket and put my trips together as I am on the move. I find that I get my very best travel tips from like-minded travelers once I am in my destination country or in a nearby country. While some of the destinations shown in this book are worthwhile visiting, I found that most of them (the ones with which I am familiar) are not even the best places to visit in that vicinity. This book offers up itineraries where you will essentially visit highly touristed areas, where you get to share your travel experience with other tourists, not the locals. This might be good for inexperienced travelers and those who like to feel at home where ever they go. I prefer to have the feeling of being in a foreign country when I am on the road. This book did not offer up much in the way of getting off the beaten track, as the book's cover otherwise indicates. Or maybe what is off the beaten track to the author is mainstream to me. Either way, for my tastes in traveling, this book is too mainstream. I believe this book can give some good ideas to the type of travelers who set up their trips through travel agents. For the more free spirited, I'd say "pass" when it comes to paying for this book.
Rating: 
Summary: not worth it
Review: i agree with the reviewer 'tldoran': one star out of 5.i read about 120 pages of the book, concentrating on the u.s. and hong kong, the two locations i know the most about. and almost everything in these 120 pages are predestrian. one can't help but wonders if the author actually had spent quality time in the places that she wrote about. again 'tldoran' hit it on the head: so much about restaurants and so little about places that one would love to see before dying. in all, the title is the best part of the book. it goes downhill from there.
Rating:
Summary: Gem of a travel book
Review: My husband and I adored this book..it was so inspiring that we made up a top ten list of where we wanted to go in 2004. She writes in a fun, exciting way that makes you want to get on the first plane out! Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. I hope to see more travel books from this author.
Rating:
Summary: 1000 x 1000 cheers - This is The Best
Review: How glad I was to have overlooked a scathing criticism or two re the author's would-be emphasis on expensive hotels only - were we reading the same book???? What planet do these people live on?? The beauty of this book is that it covers every category or travel destination imagineable - from events to museums, bars to national parks, annual festivals to ancient temples. Are there hotels? Let's hope so, because the author's choice in every other category is so on the dime, you can be sure she has singled out all of the world's best hotels too. Are they expensive? Most are, yes - but where else do you intend to go for your once-in-a-lifetime trip to celebrate a honeymoon, a promotion, an anniversary or your mother's 80th birthday??? Still too expensive? Then go and sit in the lobby, wander the impeccable grounds, take in the white-gloved service with a smile and get a glimpse of the good life and make believe if only for a few hours....then explore the hundreds of other options that will fit a leaner budget and keep you mighty busy and awefully happy for years.
The book blew me away - and I thought I had been around the block.
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Summary: I love the premise of this book!!!
Review: I love this book as it made me read the front and back covers before I bought it! When I got home with it-I definitely started reading with the intent to dislike it. After the tenth page or so-I was hooked. This is a very good travel book-it may presenting the information differently, but at least it gets people reading and thinking! I was hoping to see what the author thought of Aruba ! My wife and I went for our honeymoon... We had a BLAST!!! Lovely Book!!!
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I should have spent more time browsing this book before I bought. The title is a fascinating idea but it's a misnomer. It should have been " My Favorite Expensive Hotels." Schultz goes to the Pyramids and talks about the hotel. She goes to Yellowstone and talks about the hotel, and so on and so on.
If you followed her guide to Britain, for instance, you'd spend 75 or 80 nights in different hotels averaging $300 a day.Some days would cost several times that much. In a couple of months in Britain you'd spend $25,000 and never meet anyone but hotel and restuarant staff --unless you chitchat with the other tourists. She almost always mentions who else has stayed at the hotel. Does she mean that Madonna, Prince Charles or Jacques Chirac is likely to share a cup of coffee with me in the lobby?
Schultz's travel style seems incredibly shallow. For me, lodging is a place to sleep and shower before I go out and see the place. If it's safe and sanitary that's all I ask for.
I've been to some of her places and couldn't disagree more. She says Jackson, Wyoming isn't "Aspenized," and that the Million Dollar Steakhouse is a place to meet locals. I found the downtown pretty touristy. It seemed everyone who wasn't a tourist was from California or Brooklyn. Those were the "locals" at the steakhouse. There was better food at a much better price a block or so south of the square. It's a 24 hour cafe where ranchers, cops, tourists, and "movie people" all eat. I even saw an actual movie star there.
On the Outer Banks she stays at the resort at Duck. Ocracoke is a few miles south, more reasonably priced and has guys who get on boats every morning, who go out and fish, then sell what they catch. Just like real life.
I went to high school in Key West. The last place I'd recommend is the private island resort for $700 a night. You'd be better off to rent a condo for a week, then walk or bicycle around town. If that's too strenuous, rent a scooter or golf cart. The book's title promises but doesn't deliver at all.
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Summary: Wonders of the world
Review: Thanks to the modern world's travel infrastructure, many remote and exotic places can be reached in only a day or two, so the entire world can be our playground. How, then, could author Patricia Schulz select 1,000 places from all the wonders the world has to offer? Her criterion was to select places that have inspired adventurers, writers, and artists, as well as curious travelers. She admits that traveling is a personal experience and that this is her own short list of dream trips. Since her choice was subjective, she may well have neglected your favorite vacation spot or dream destination. Even if that is the case, you will still marvel at the breadth of her selections. Don't expect glossy color photos, though. The included pictures are small black and white photos. The book includes far more than just cities and countries. It mentions excursions like a cruise on the QE2, a trip on the Eastern and Oriental Express from Singapore to Bangkok, and a trip on the Moscow Underground. It suggests events like the Winter Alpine Balloon Festival in Vaud Switzerland and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It lists geographical areas as diverse as London, the North Pole, and Bora Bora. It describes sites as varied as the Mayan city of Tikal, Museum Mile in New York City, and the Taj Mahal. It recommends places to eat as diverse as gourmet restaurants, the street food of Singapore, and Chicago's Superdawg hot dog stand. It suggests places to stay that are destinations in themselves, such as the Singita safari lodge in South Africa and the Rawlins Plantation in St. Kitts, Lesser Antilles. It includes experiences like bungee jumping from the Kawarau Bridge in New Zealand, playing golf in Scotland, and attending the opera at La Scala in Milan. There is a useful set of special indices to help you find active adventures, festivals, spiritual sites, museums, natural wonders, culinary experiences, resorts, beaches, museums, and sacred places around the world. This is not really a Fodor's-type travel guide. Although it lists some places to stay and dine, it should be regarded as a source of ideas and suggestions. You should consult more detailed travel guides when planning your trip. Even if you don't have the time or resources to experience some of these destinations, it's a great way to armchair travel to some spectacular places off the beaten track. Bon voyage! Eileen Rieback
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