Rating: 
Summary: The organization is very user friendly.
Review: Before my last trip to the Keys, I picked up two books: this one and the Insider's Guide to the Keys. The Insider's Guide was less opinionated and had more "tourist" information but it was harder to find what you were looking for.This book is organized is such a manner that it's very simple to find out the history of each Key as you drive down the Overseas Highway from Florida City to Key West. You'll read about the attractions, the places to stay and the restaurants Key by Key. That's very helpful. There's no flipping from chapter to chapter just to find out about the attractions in one place, dining in another, water activities in yet another place and accomodations elsewhere. I also liked the opinions that the author expressed. For example, her takes on the Conch Tour Train, the Little White House, Mallory Square and the Key West Aquarium were right in line with our experiences. We happily skipped some other attractions based on this book and we don't believe we missed out on a thing. If anything, there are some interesting things we saw in the Keys that weren't touched upon in this guidebook. How could the author leave out Robbie's Marina where for $1 you can "SEE the Tarpon" and for an additional $2 you can "FEED the Tarpon"? This "attraction" was mentioned to me at least a dozen times by various people I talked to, including a stranger at the post office in Virginia! I really enjoyed this guidebook and only wish that it was even more comprehensive.
Rating:
Summary: The organization is very user friendly.
Review: Before my last trip to the Keys, I picked up two books: this one and the Insider's Guide to the Keys. The Insider's Guide was less opinionated and had more "tourist" information but it was harder to find what you were looking for. This book is organized is such a manner that it's very simple to find out the history of each Key as you drive down the Overseas Highway from Florida City to Key West. You'll read about the attractions, the places to stay and the restaurants Key by Key. That's very helpful. There's no flipping from chapter to chapter just to find out about the attractions in one place, dining in another, water activities in yet another place and accomodations elsewhere. I also liked the opinions that the author expressed. For example, her takes on the Conch Tour Train, the Little White House, Mallory Square and the Key West Aquarium were right in line with our experiences. We happily skipped some other attractions based on this book and we don't believe we missed out on a thing. If anything, there are some interesting things we saw in the Keys that weren't touched upon in this guidebook. How could the author leave out Robbie's Marina where for $1 you can "SEE the Tarpon" and for an additional $2 you can "FEED the Tarpon"? This "attraction" was mentioned to me at least a dozen times by various people I talked to, including a stranger at the post office in Virginia! I really enjoyed this guidebook and only wish that it was even more comprehensive.
Rating:
Summary: More than your average run-of-the-mill travel guide...
Review: I bought this book in anticipation of going to the Keys, but have not done so yet, so I cannot comment on the actual accuracy of her information. But I can say this is one of the more refreshing tour guides I've ever read. Williams' writing style is clear and to the point. She gives a great deal of historical background to each region, as well as the more usual "best hotels, best restaurant" info you'd expect. There is a fair amount of emphasis on the various forms of wildlife found in the area, which I quite appreciated. She tells you the best places to fish and dive, where to shop or swim, she talks about the architecture particular to one area or another. All in all this certainly seems to be a great book for the price, and while I cannot comment on the complete accuracy of her information, the book certainly makes me want to go to the Keys soon!
Rating:
Summary: Exceptionally Refreshing Read
Review: I enjoyed the author's comments about the Keys very much. I felt that she was a just a tad too cynical or negative at times for my tastes, but on a second read, liked her approach even better than on my first read. Passages were so amusing that my boyfriend and I read them out loud to each other. The picture she paints for the future of the keys is a slightly depressing one, but more than likely realistic. I sincerely hope that on some points, her predictions are off. I truly enjoyed the details of the book and have an appreciation not only for the Keys that I didn't have before, but also for the author and her writing style as well.
Rating:
Summary: Looking forward to the new edition coming out in June, 2000
Review: I have found this book to be very helpful but I am l waiting on the new edition to come out in June, 2000 before purchasing. The eighth edition is great, however, many chances have occured in Key West since the hurricane in 1998. Many of the older guesthouses have been remodeled. I travel to the Keys quite often and this is the only guide I use. The 1997 edition was the third edition that I have bought. GREAT BOOK!
Rating: 
Summary: Obviously a Keys hater
Review: I live and work in the Florida Keys and found Ms. Williams book to be overly critical and in some cases, grossly inaccurate. Ms Williams seems to be looking to find fault instead of enjoying what is unique and wonderful about this area. Or perhaps it is easier for one to criticize than to appreciate. Ms. Williams is a fiction writer as well...perhaps this is just another work of fiction because her descriptions don't resemble the Keys I know and love.
Rating:
Summary: Obviously a Keys hater
Review: I live and work in the Florida Keys and found Ms. Williams book to be overly critical and in some cases, grossly inaccurate. Ms Williams seems to be looking to find fault instead of enjoying what is unique and wonderful about this area. Or perhaps it is easier for one to criticize than to appreciate. Ms. Williams is a fiction writer as well...perhaps this is just another work of fiction because her descriptions don't resemble the Keys I know and love.
Rating:
Summary: Getting Off the Beaten Path
Review: In the last three and one-half years, my husband and I have vacationed in the Keys 9 times (mostly in Key West) and have thoroughly enjoyed our experiences. We usually fly into Fort Lauderdale and drive down Route 1 through the Keys, never exploring the many side roads we have encountered. I recently had minor surgery and was out of work for a few weeks, so I went to the library to find some reading material to keep me occupied, and this was one of the books I checked out. I read it from cover to cover, often showing my husband a passage mentioning something we hadn't yet learned or discovered on our own. We finally got an explanation for the mysterious white blimp we have seen flying over Cudjoe Key. Both of us were delighted to find some of our favorite restaurants (Banana Cafe, Mangoes, Mangrove Mama's and Finnegan's Wake) and bars (Captain Tony's and Schooner Wharf) accurately described. Montego Bay on Big Pine Key isn't mentioned, but we'll forgive the author for the oversight. (Maybe she's not a Green Bay Packers fan. The owners and most of the clientele, us included, are.) We have stayed in several guest houses, but have always returned to our favorite, Westwinds, which is the first the author lists in her chapter reviewing the Guest Houses of Key West. In 7 weeks we will be in the Keys again, and this time we are taking this book along to help us "get off the beaten path," Route 1, and enhance our travels through "Paradise."
Rating:
Summary: Getting Off the Beaten Path
Review: In the last three and one-half years, my husband and I have vacationed in the Keys 9 times (mostly in Key West) and have thoroughly enjoyed our experiences. We usually fly into Fort Lauderdale and drive down Route 1 through the Keys, never exploring the many side roads we have encountered. I recently had minor surgery and was out of work for a few weeks, so I went to the library to find some reading material to keep me occupied, and this was one of the books I checked out. I read it from cover to cover, often showing my husband a passage mentioning something we hadn't yet learned or discovered on our own. We finally got an explanation for the mysterious white blimp we have seen flying over Cudjoe Key. Both of us were delighted to find some of our favorite restaurants (Banana Cafe, Mangoes, Mangrove Mama's and Finnegan's Wake) and bars (Captain Tony's and Schooner Wharf) accurately described. Montego Bay on Big Pine Key isn't mentioned, but we'll forgive the author for the oversight. (Maybe she's not a Green Bay Packers fan. The owners and most of the clientele, us included, are.) We have stayed in several guest houses, but have always returned to our favorite, Westwinds, which is the first the author lists in her chapter reviewing the Guest Houses of Key West. In 7 weeks we will be in the Keys again, and this time we are taking this book along to help us "get off the beaten path," Route 1, and enhance our travels through "Paradise."
Rating: 
Summary: A view from someone who lives there
Review: Joy Williams is a great fiction writer, someone who sees our culture's absurdities with heart intact. She sees the Keys the same way. The author used to live in the Keys at least part of the year. She might still. This guide is how a very smart local would see it, and is thus invaluable. It's not a complete listing of every restaurant and every hotel. It's a select listing of just the ones you need bother with and a few references to the ones you need skip. It's a fabulously succinct history and cultural guide. Some of the sentences will make you laugh out loud. As Joy points out, the future of the Keys is bleak. They're nothing but a bunch of nasty rocks hanging in a beautiful sea anyway. There's not long until builders have squeezed somthing onto every nothing. And as the Everglades die much of the ocean around the Keys does too. Since I've been going there much of the reef has died and remains a bunch of fossilized coral lying on the bottom like scattered bones (pollution and careless boating and scuba diving are much to blame). She's just right when she says that the opening of Cuba would make the Keys a mere depot. Might be the best thing that ever happened to Key West. There would be fewer T-shirt shops perhaps. And how in the heck do they keep building huge hotels in places that used to be water? Nevertheless, there's no place like it. You should take this book with you when you go.
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