The Cities Book (Lonely Planet Pictorial) -

The Cities Book is a wonderfull brief look at 200 cities around the world. As I go on 5-6 city trips a year I have found it invaluable as a quick quide to where to visit next. But oh dear, there are so many mistakes here. Both descriptions of cities, misnamed photos, innacurate statistics. Did no one ever proof read this book. Please Lonely Planet, send me the next one and I'll do it for free!

Very Disappointing (3/4 people found this helpful)

I completely agree with bibliobiblio's comments the photos were wrong amongst other things, if you are going to write a book you should do proper research so that you are providing the correct facts and information. When people spend there hard earned money they expect to get a good product not an miserable attempt. Do not buy this book.

Lazy editorial (8/16 people found this helpful)

As a Glasgow citizen I turned firstly to the section on my city.

I was immediately disappointed at the photos that I viewed. The upper photo of a Glasgow street was wrong. It was stated that it was Buchanan Street when it was, in fact, Gordon Street. The lower photo was described as the Scotish Exhibition and Conference Centre. That's wrong, it is the Clyde Auditorium. Two out of two wrong. Appalling work.

The wrong caption of Buchanan Street referred to it as being a rare sunny day. I felt this was a negative and unecessary comment. Buchanan Street is the main shopping area in Glasgow, and to have such a limited and negative view of it is shocking.

Also the references to the Glasgow dialect were overstated. Anyone coming to Glasgow will fully understand Glaswegians in pubs, clubs, when shopping, in the transport system etc. Glaswegians are helpful, and will adjust their accents to assist visitors.

The vast majority of the good citizens of Edinburgh do not refer to Glaswegians as soap dodgers. This is a childish jibe not worth repeating in a book of this value. The whole Glasgow / Edinburgh rivalry (if it exists) is overstated.

The section omits any refernce to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which is one of Scotland's biggest attractions.

The caption on the Suspension Bridge reads "looking down", when in fact it is "looking up".

With the exception of the reference to Rangers and Celtic, the city speak section refers to subjects that are not even topics of conversation.

The word "stoush" is not used correctly.

A miserable attempt at portraying Glasgow. There is nothing that I have read that makes me think that the nonsense, inaccuracies, and thoroughly poor editing, is not replicated in the other cities in this book. Do not buy this book.

Let down slightly by photographs (6/7 people found this helpful)

This is a really readable interesting book - it is not too text heavy! I love sitting in the garden flicking through it deciding which city I'd like to visit next. My only gripe is with the photographs - having visited many of cities in the book I think there are more stunning buildings that could have been photographed (but then I suppose these pictures are found in all guide books!) Certainly by no means comprehensive but will definitely get the wanderlust in you going.

An Inspiration To Travel (5/7 people found this helpful)

This is a good book that I'd recommend. It can give you inspiration to visit a whole range of new places. It's written well enough and provides some useful information, although it shouldn't be your single reference for a destination.

The reason why I didn't give it a 5 is that I bought it based on a recommendation from a camera magazine. I was expecting more photographs from the destinations but there weren't as many as I hoped for. A few less destinations and a few more pictures would have suited me.

Still worth buying though.

The Cities Book (Lonely Planet Pictorial)

Reader Reviews:

Proofreader required (4/4 people found this helpful)

Very Disappointing (3/4 people found this helpful)

Lazy editorial (8/16 people found this helpful)

Let down slightly by photographs (6/7 people found this helpful)

An Inspiration To Travel (5/7 people found this helpful)

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