Rating: 
Summary: A Treasure Chest of Infotainment, A Barrel of Monkeys
Review: "The People's Guide to Mexico" is not your typical travel guide, full of recommended sights to see, hotels, itineraries, restaraunts, etc.This is a treasure chest overflowing with infotainment: outrageous travel stories, Mexican slang, advice about everyday problems, e.g., from dealing with corrupt officials to building a thatched roof beach hut to bargaining in the market. This book includes an incredible amount of general and detailed information about Mexico, but encourages readers to explore the country on their own. It gives the reader an inkling of what to expect and what not to expect of Mexico and Mexicans. Although aimed primarily at low-to-mid-budget travelers, it's a must-read for anyone trying to understand Mexico and its culture. Dispelling myths about Mexico, it presents the everyday, bizarre reality of the place. There's no need to start at the beginning and read each chapter sequentially to the last. Just open the book anywhere and become engrossed in some insanely funny adventure or a recipe for grilled Red Snapper. I read an early edition cover-to-cover about a week before my first dive deep into Mexico's interior in the mid-1970s. I've never had more fun reading a guidebook, and just about every word still rings true whenever I return. Reading this book is an adventure in itself.
Rating:
Summary: A Treasure Chest of Infotainment, A Barrel of Monkeys
Review: "The People's Guide to Mexico" is not your typical travel guide, full of recommended sights to see, hotels, itineraries, restaraunts, etc. This is a treasure chest overflowing with infotainment: outrageous travel stories, Mexican slang, advice about everyday problems, e.g., from dealing with corrupt officials to building a thatched roof beach hut to bargaining in the market. This book includes an incredible amount of general and detailed information about Mexico, but encourages readers to explore the country on their own. It gives the reader an inkling of what to expect and what not to expect of Mexico and Mexicans. Although aimed primarily at low-to-mid-budget travelers, it's a must-read for anyone trying to understand Mexico and its culture. Dispelling myths about Mexico, it presents the everyday, bizarre reality of the place. There's no need to start at the beginning and read each chapter sequentially to the last. Just open the book anywhere and become engrossed in some insanely funny adventure or a recipe for grilled Red Snapper. I read an early edition cover-to-cover about a week before my first dive deep into Mexico's interior in the mid-1970s. I've never had more fun reading a guidebook, and just about every word still rings true whenever I return. Reading this book is an adventure in itself.
Rating:
Summary: Loving Mexico for what is is
Review: Because my wife, Esperanza, is from a tiny village east of Juan Aldama, Zacatecas -- I had made a few trips to Mexico before having purchased this book. I truly wish I'd bought it before the very first time. Carl Franz humorously takes you through many typical venues and situations encountered in Mexico. In addition to being quite entertaining, these illustrations and anecdotal stories provide great insight to understanding the subtleties of Mexican culture. Carl Franz's love for the people, history and customs of Mexico come through in his writing. I can vouch, through my experiences in Mexico, that Carl is "right on the money" with his travel suggestions and understanding of the Mexican people. This book will give you the proper mindset for Mexican travel, leaving our preconceived notions at home, eager to take in all that Mexico has to offer and loving the country and people on their own outstanding merits.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best guide book on Mexico--period!
Review: Carl Franz has written the definitive guide book about Mexico. If you are planning a trip to Cancun and you think of Mexico as only a playground for U.S. and Canadian citizens, then you don't need this book. For everyone else, this book is a must!
Rating:
Summary: Mexican Magic
Review: Carl Franz's fantastic book is not your typical guide book, nor is it intended to be. If what you're looking for is facts and information, maps and a list of cheap hotels and restaurants this isn't the book for you. If you want to cross the border in your mind and see what Mexico and its people are really like, then go no further. This is a book you can enjoy whether or not you're planning to go anywhere near Mexico. And after you've read it you'll not only feel that you've been there, you'll be packing to go.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Will Give You A Problem
Review: Even while reading this book, you will have a problem. You will want to pass on these marvelous stories to your friends. However, there is no way you can match Carl's manner of delivering a story. For example his story of why you should ask what a restaurant has before ordering is one I love to pass on to others; but they just don't seem to want to break out laughing as I still do. His story of riding the bus at night in the mountains is hilarious. Another example is found in his story of trying to get off a bus when in the GRIP of cramps from... suspect food. "One old man bowed back courteously as I doubled over with a cramp, his dark face breaking into a grin at what he took to be my excessively formal farewell." Then the bus driver was suspicious that he wanted off the bus but didn't know where he was. Then... Well, get the book but try and not relate the stories to your friends.
Rating:
Summary: Too bad these guys haven't lived in other countries!
Review: Excellent guide to Mexico. We found this to be the best and most readable of many guides on topics that included just getting along; driving, eating, etc. Very readable, humorous. Too bad these guys don' t have similar books for other countries in the manner of the 'Moon' handbooks, Eyewitness guides, etc. Much of the information is old, based as it is on the authors trips to Mexico for the past several decades. Doesn't make the book any less valuable or interesting. If you're going to Mexico on anything other than the sanitized tourist package, you should get and read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Too bad these guys haven't lived in other countries!
Review: Excellent guide to Mexico. We found this to be the best and most readable of many guides on topics that included just getting along; driving, eating, etc. Very readable, humorous. Too bad these guys don' t have similar books for other countries in the manner of the 'Moon' handbooks, Eyewitness guides, etc. Much of the information is old, based as it is on the authors trips to Mexico for the past several decades. Doesn't make the book any less valuable or interesting. If you're going to Mexico on anything other than the sanitized tourist package, you should get and read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much story-telling, but otherwise a great guidebook
Review: First, Carl Franz has for decades been trying to fill a void in the Mexican guidebook market. Most English-language guidebooks to Mexico operate under the assumption that English-speaking tourists will be going to Mexico under circumstances similar to the circumstances in which English speakers travel to India or Japan: they will be arriving by plane, using buses, taxis, and maybe a rent-a-car to travel, and will be leaving be plane. As a result of this orientation, these books ignore large parts of the country and assume you wont ever need to know how to get your car fixed in a small town. Such an orientation might be justified for an Australian guide publisher like Lonely Planet. Even though many Americans fly to Mexico and would never think of driving in the country, enough of us drive across the border every day (and keep driving south from there) to justify the need for a more detailed, culturally astute guidebook taking you through the practicalities of "surviving" in rural and urban Mexico. This book tries to fill that void. Carl Franz has been driving to Mexico for decades and has a lot of practical wisdom to share with would-be road warriors. With that said, there are several criticisms to make about the book:
1) over 50% of the pages in the book are filled with stories, not all of them very good or amusing. In his defense, a few of the stories Carl Franz writes are quite amusing, but I would have liked them better if I did not feel like he was using his guidebook as a vehicle for pushing his amateur travelogue narratives onto readers...
2) The stories over all set a tone which borders on the culturally condescending at times. The sub-theme of many of the stories is "Oh those silly little Mexicans do things so backwards and silly me for assuming they should do things the way I would do them; the culturally sensitive attitude I should have is to revel in their backwardness (and tell my friends about it when I get home)." This sort of attitude is tedious at best, offensive at its worst. Mexican society has faults (some very big) and there is nothing wrong with citing them as faults. But some American travelogues identify as faults of Mexican society quirky differences which are neither faults nor virtues (the cliche favorite seems to be complaints about Mexican traffic cops... even Carl Franz can't resist a few dull predictable stories about paying traffic cops in the street for fines real or invented)
3) the "Wherever you go, there you are" attitude, though congenial to some, rubs me the wrong way. While wandering haphazardly from town to town with no point or purpose other than the experience itself might sound adventurous, it really doesn't make for very rewarding vacations in Mexico. Even if you want to avoid the high rise beach hotels, there is value in planning a visit to a certain town on a specific day to experience the town fiesta or turning off the highway at a certain spot to visit the ruins of a historically significant ex-hacienda. The Franz travel philosophy seems to border on the Kerouac-ish it its celebration of aimless wandering. For the traveler with an interest in history and culture, Franz's style will not work well. This book is worth reading, just skip the stories when they get dull, and be sure to complement it with more destination-oriented guidebook unless wandering aimlessly from town to town until you find something you like is your idea of good travelling.
Rating:
Summary: Don't go to Mexico without this book
Review: For the budget traveler seeking to really connect with the country, the People's Guide to Mexico is indispensable. It's obvious that the authors really know and really love the country and its people. But it's not a naive approach. They prepare the traveller with extremely detailed information needed to experience Mexico economically, safely and fully. The level of detail is astounding and the witty writing style encourages a congenial conspiracy between the author and his readers to outwit every obstacle to a successful romance with Mexico. The book is not so strong on where to go in Mexico but is unexcelled at teaching the traveller how to experience the country.
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