Rating: 
Summary: Don't plan a trip to Machu Picchu without it!!
Review: I went to Machu Picchu for the first time last year with nothing more than a camera, an issue of the April 2002 National Geographic and "Insight Guides- Peru". I thought I had planned my trip fairly well, but felt a little disappointed with the information I had read about Machu Picchu. After exploring Machu Picchu for 2 days, I ran into several tourists who were carrying Ruth Wright's book. They ALL seemed so confident and knowledgable during their treks because of the information and map contained in the book. I then ran into one of the Wright Water Engineers who came with Ruth to Peru to do some surveys of Machu Picchu. The gentleman was nice enough to give me one of his maps (the same one contained in the book), which was to become invaluable to me during my journey. When I got home, I read the book, cover to cover and have been reliving my journey through it. DON'T PLAN A TRIP TO MACHU PICCHU WITHOUT IT!! It's like taking Ruth with you to Machu Picchu.
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS ONE TO BUY
Review: I've travelled a lot, but rarely with guidebooks. It's easier to borrow them from the library, xerox the maps, and travel light. This guidebook is an exception. Its photos, maps, drawings, and diagrams are very informative as well as beautiful (rare), its explanations clear, and the understanding it gives is vital to wise use of time at a site which can be very confusing to navigate. It's NEEDED, to find your way through a very labyrinthian place. I found myself pouring over the book for hours before going to Peru, and learning more from the book and the research behind it than any of us knew was there. With it, I was able to understand a very complex site when I arrived there. Geology is a vital element in the power of this place, many of its most exciting places are hidden underneath the major temples or accessed from some remote corner, and the motivations for the very unusual siting and use of natural rock by the builders difficult to unravel. Its about the only guidebook I would recommend that people buy and travel with. Thank you, Ruth and Alfredo!
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS ONE TO BUY
Review: I've travelled a lot, but rarely with guidebooks. It's easier to borrow them from the library, xerox the maps, and travel light. This guidebook is an exception. Its photos, maps, drawings, and diagrams are very informative as well as beautiful (rare), its explanations clear, and the understanding it gives is vital to wise use of time at a site which can be very confusing to navigate. It's NEEDED, to find your way through a very labyrinthian place. I found myself pouring over the book for hours before going to Peru, and learning more from the book and the research behind it than any of us knew was there. With it, I was able to understand a very complex site when I arrived there. Geology is a vital element in the power of this place, many of its most exciting places are hidden underneath the major temples or accessed from some remote corner, and the motivations for the very unusual siting and use of natural rock by the builders difficult to unravel. Its about the only guidebook I would recommend that people buy and travel with. Thank you, Ruth and Alfredo!
Rating:
Summary: "Don't Leave Home Without It": The Essential Guide Book
Review: Late one July afternoon in 1982, I found myself perched on a ledge overlooking the Machu Picchu archaeological site some 500 feet below. Having probed the bushes near the site's so-called guard tower, I had found some overgrown stepping stones and had begun hiking upward. One half-buried step led to the next, and within an hour I had reached this ledge. Along the way I had discovered a remarkable semi-circular stone staircase -- and managed to avoid the bushmasters said to be slithering nearby.As an anthropologist myself, I wish that I had had a copy of a guidebook even half as good as that authored by Ruth Wright and Alfredo Valencia Zegarra. Combining a clearly written text with intriguing photos and practical diagrams, The Machu Picchu Guidebook is the single best publication on this site that I have seen. While written primarily for the astute traveler, it will be of use to professionals as well. My own work with indigenous water systems in places like Guyana and Indonesia led to my cursory examination in 1982 of the system at Machu Picchu. It proved fascinating, but I had little time for study. To their credit, Ruth Wright and her husband, Ken Wright (in conjunction with a number of their colleagues from the U.S. and Peru) instituted a remarkably thorough archaeological/engineering investigation of this Incan system in the 1990s. This same degree of care and attention to detail is seen in the guidebook, which had its genesis in their archaeological research. In conclusion, it should be noted that Ruth Wright is a former chair of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of The Explorers Club. Her book brings an explorer's enthusiasm to Machu Picchu, while maintaining high standards of authorship.
Rating:
Summary: "Don't Leave Home Without It": The Essential Guide Book
Review: Late one July afternoon in 1982, I found myself perched on a ledge overlooking the Machu Picchu archaeological site some 500 feet below. Having probed the bushes near the site's so-called guard tower, I had found some overgrown stepping stones and had begun hiking upward. One half-buried step led to the next, and within an hour I had reached this ledge. Along the way I had discovered a remarkable semi-circular stone staircase -- and managed to avoid the bushmasters said to be slithering nearby. As an anthropologist myself, I wish that I had had a copy of a guidebook even half as good as that authored by Ruth Wright and Alfredo Valencia Zegarra. Combining a clearly written text with intriguing photos and practical diagrams, The Machu Picchu Guidebook is the single best publication on this site that I have seen. While written primarily for the astute traveler, it will be of use to professionals as well. My own work with indigenous water systems in places like Guyana and Indonesia led to my cursory examination in 1982 of the system at Machu Picchu. It proved fascinating, but I had little time for study. To their credit, Ruth Wright and her husband, Ken Wright (in conjunction with a number of their colleagues from the U.S. and Peru) instituted a remarkably thorough archaeological/engineering investigation of this Incan system in the 1990s. This same degree of care and attention to detail is seen in the guidebook, which had its genesis in their archaeological research. In conclusion, it should be noted that Ruth Wright is a former chair of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of The Explorers Club. Her book brings an explorer's enthusiasm to Machu Picchu, while maintaining high standards of authorship.
Rating:
Summary: Scientifically Based Guide Book
Review: The Wright/Valencia Guide to Machu Picchu provides an up-to-date, step-by-step, scientifically accurate and highly interesting walk through of this mangificant archaeological wonder of the Western Hemisphere. This guide book will make you realize just why the National Geographic Society rated Machu Picchu as fifth on the World Wonder list and why the United Nations named it as a World Heritage Site. If you can't get to Machu Picchu, this is the next best thing to seeing it with your own eyes.
Rating:
Summary: An Illuminating Guide to a Wonder of the New World
Review: There are some things in life that appeal mainly to the connoisseur: others you would have to have a heart of stone not to be touched by. Machu Picchu belongs to the latter category. It makes a huge impression on all who see it. However, while it is both possible and pleasant to wander around the ruins in a dream-like state, soaking up the atmosphere, most people would appreciate the Incas' achievements all the more if they understood more about the functions of the various buildings and the problems that had to be overcome, e.g. in supplying the city with water. I have visited Machu Picchu twice and considered myself fairly well informed but learnt a great deal from each chapter of this book. Anyone who reads the book, and better still takes it along and uses it at the site in the manner intended by the authors, will get even more out of their visit than they would otherwise. Next time I go Machu Picchu, whenever that will be, I will see things in a new light.
Rating:
Summary: Reading This Book Enhanced Our Trip
Review: University of Denver Water Law Review,
Vol. 6, Issue 1, Fall 2002 (forthcoming January 2003)
Reprinted with Permission of the Author and the Law Review Coloradans Ken and Ruth Wright have teamed with Peruvian archeologist Alfredo Valencia to place back in working order the sixteen fountains of Machu Picchu. You can see for yourself. The Inca were master water handlers. They chose Machu Picchu as a ceremonial center because the mountains and the river spoke to them of life-giving power. The Urubamba River far below snakes triangular around the base of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu Mountains. A saddle between these peaks cradles the temples, rock shrines, dwelling places and agricultural terraces that dance between the clouds in early morning and emerge to sunlight by noon. Water at the center of it all. The paleohydrologic studies of the Wrights and Valencia reveal how the Inca predicated the design and construction of Machu Picchu upon the flow of a spring. From high on the side of Machu Picchu Mountain, a canal brings water across an agricultural terrace to the first fountain just above the Temple of the Sun. From there, 16 fountains splash, spout and sing down a staircase to the Temple of the Condor. You can see for yourself. Inside of Ruth's and Alfredo's Guidebook is a foldout archeological map of Machu Picchu. Study it. See how the Inca trail leads into the upper and lower agricultural terraces. Notice how the Inca Canal cuts across the drainage moat to bisect the western and eastern urban sectors. Spot the Sacred Rock at the start of the Huayna Picchu trail, where Quechua families still hug the visible manifestation of Pachamama, the earth mother. Now you are ready for your self-guided tour. Just inside the entrance gate, climb to the Guardhouse. Pause to see how the water supply canal passes right by food storehouses. Cross the Inca Trail coming in from Cusco and stand beside the Guardhouse. Below you stretches the whole of this incredible cradle of civilization-lovely green of the main plaza feeding llama and alpaca; Inca stones rising on either side to form the ceremonial and residential edifices; and the crop-growing terraces on the flanks of the cradle falling away to the Urubamba River. Step-by-step, Ruth and Alfredo talk you by the printed page through these wonders. Plan on several days. You will have the joy of misty morning and sun-streaked afternoons. The day-traintrippers will be gone. Wind through the Rock Quarry. Pause in the quiet of the Unfinished Temple. You can take the time to side hike to the Sun Gate, Machu Picchu Mountain, the Inca Drawbridge and Huayna Picchu Mountain. Talk with other visitors. The world is here for good reason. Ruth and Alfredo immensely aid the visitor's Machu Picchu experience. They bring new information to old understandings: "There are many different ways to experience Machu Picchu. We hope this guidebook will give you the tools to do it in your own way. In the last several decades, much has been learned about the Inca in general and Machu Picchu in particular. Since the Inca had no written language, scientists have had to 'read' their artifacts, their stones, their temples and their mummies to establish their place in history. Recent information and new analyses of earlier findings are shedding additional light on these truly remarkable people and their culture." The Guidebook starts with an introduction to the history and topography of Machu Picchu. Chapters follow dedicated to the Guardhouse and The Terrace of the Ceremonial Rock; the Western Urban Sector; the Eastern Urban Sector; Various Sites on the Way Out; and Side Trips. Marvelous detail attends every page. The accompanying photographs are many and well shot. They draw your attention to the features described in the text. Pay particular attention to the numerous huacas. These are the Inca sacred places, typically consisting of naturally situated or human placed rocks cut to the shape of surrounding peaks. These people loved their mountains. Don't be afraid to make some wrong turns as you orient yourself. The structure of the Guidebook divides Machu Picchu into hemispheres. You start by going down from the Guardhouse to the Main Gate to the Temple of the Sun; then you turn laterally to the residence of the Inca and back through the Western Urban Sector up to the Rock Quarry, the Sacred Plaza and the Intiwantana. Then you proceed clockwise past the Sacred Rock and Unfinished Temple into the Eastern Urban Sector, finishing at the Temple of the Condor. Making the walk in this way takes you away from the staircase of the 16 fountains early on. You encounter the staircase and the fountains again when you reach the Temple of the Condor much later. Sometime during your multi-day visit to Machu Picchu, you will want to follow the staircase in one continuous movement down from the Main Gate to see, feel and hear the fountains flow sinuously. I especially like the fountains. SIXTEEN FOUNTAINS Down a granite staircase sixteen
Fountains carry the spring
Falling from the Sungate, high on
Machu Picchu mountain You can hear the mountain-singing
Hands of master craftsmen
Scoring stone with hammer rock and
Praying Pachamama To the temple of the arcing
Sun, jetting water out
When water runs for rock and men
And all is feminine.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: When I went to Machu Picchu for the first time, I paid for a personal guide because the entrance fee to the ruins doesn't include a guide. Later I found out about this book, and I was disappointed to see that it showed lots of things the guide didn't show me when I was there.
This book tells you step by step where to start your tour and where to finish it. It has clear pictures, easy-to-understand maps and directions, and every structure and building is well explained. You can't get lost with this guidebook. It's better than paying for a personal guide.
Rating:
Summary: Priority backpack item for your trip to Machu Picchu
Review: When you hike at high altitudes, you take your backpack weight seriously. This book is well worth its 15 ounces. It takes you through the ruins with multiple maps and illustrations. It explains what we do and don't know about the functions of the buildings and terraces. The book is organized by areas. When you reach a certain section of the ruins, you can turn to that section for pictures, descriptions and suggestions on how to walk through the area.
The section on water management illustrates the brilliance of the Inca engineers.The section on the climb up Huayna Picchu, is detailed and makes the climb less daunting. The description also give appropriate cautions about climbing there in slippery weather.
On several pages, there are photographs of the ruins next to artist's renditions of what the buildings might have looked like when they were in use in the 1500s.
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