The Complete Kauai Guidebook (Indian Chief Travel Guide)

Rating:
Summary: The most comprehensive guide: setting the record straight
Review: Alas, the cover of anonymity available to the "reviewer" in this forum offers such temptation and opportunity for mischief. For the record, let me state that every single guidebook published by Indian Chief is field-tested for accuracy and updated, in its entirety, at every printing; and every one of them is researched by someone who lives and works in the area -- a claim few other, if any, travel guide publishers can make. The author of this guidebook, David Russ, has lived and worked on the island of Kauai. He was on the island before the Hurricane Iniki, during that hurricane, and after the hurricane. And while the first edition of the book was ready to go to press at the time of the hurricane, we elected not to proceed with the printing until we had taken stock and updated the information. Subsequently, the author went back to research the damage and devastation left in the wake of the hurricane, which delayed the release of book considerably, and we then went to press with the most current post-Hurricane Iniki information available to the traveler, in our very first edition. The guidebook has been updated yet again, in the 2nd edition, with the most current information at press time, and will continue to be updated at every opportunity, at every printing -- as with every one of our other books. Also for the record, let me just say that this guide to Kauai offers the most complete and thorough exploration of the island: every waterfall, every creek, every shack is precisely (not approximately) where the author says it is: he has hiked every hiking trail in the book, splashed in the ocean at every beach on the island, negotiated every bend on every road on the island, and even jammed with the Shakers, the Jawaiian reggae band that once played at Poipu. As any diligent travel publisher, we have reviewed nearly every guide to Kauai on the market, and can confidently and happily state that this is the single, most comprehensive guide to the island. It also has excellent, and accurate, maps, 8 pages of full color photographs, and superb illustrations of Hawaiian flowers, Hawaiian fish (both reef and game), seashells and leis -- handy for indentifying all the different types -- and even a glossary of Hawaiian words.

Rating:
Summary: Well done---very instructive
Review: Excellent job on this guidebook. I was pleasantly surprised by its ease of use. Well organized and well written, this guidebook will be going back to Kauai with some friends of ours visiting next month. Sorry Amazon, but they are using the same tattered copy. Here is to more of the same!

Rating:
Summary: A great comprehensive guidbook
Review: If you have to pick one book to guide you through Kauai this is it. Small but very extensive, clearly organized and easy to use. Full of accurate maps to help you find things. I highly reccomend it.

Rating:
Summary: This book is outdated and far from comprehensive.
Review: Not only is this guidebook not complete--you'll get more information on Kauai from Hidden Hawaii, for example--but it's also outdated. Even though the book appeared in 1995, it doesn't include the substantial changes wreaked on the island by Hurricane Iniki in 1992. For example, the premier boogie boarding beach on the island was wiped out by the hurricane--a significant event noted by the other prominent guidebooks--but if you followed the advice in this one, you'd waste a day trying to find a beach that no longer exists. The same for hotels and restaurants that went out of business, etc. A guidebook has an obligation to stay current, and this one fails miserably--in fact, I wonder why it's still being offered for sale!