City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East

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.Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: Gustave Flaubert

March 01, 1996
Having enjoyed "Salammbo," which is a technicolor sandals and swords Panavision epic a century before its time, I wondered about Flaubert's earlier travels in the fall of 1849 in the desert realm. He probably behaved no differently than any other twenty-seven-year-old aesthete from Europe among the natives, and this remains less an indictment of "orientalism" in our P.C.-sensitive era than a pair of journals by him and his companion Maxime du Camp, with commentary by the Flaubert expert Francis Steegmuller. Parts ramble on without a lot of interest, and other sections captivate you, but like any diary and the expanded journal entries made later by Flaubert, the work as a whole is more a miscellaneous notebook of impressions and observations, ... Read More:
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.Journey Back to Eden: My Life and Times Among the Desert Fathers
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: Mark Gruber, M. Michele Ransil

2002-09
This book about a Roman Catholic monk, Mark Gruber, and his extra-ordinary journey from the green fields of the U.S. to the deserts of Egypt is just breathtaking. As a member of the Coptic Orthodox church, and of Egyptian stock, i simply found Mr Gruber's plain and truthful telling of his experiance just so refreshing. It's funny, this man spoke more wonderfully about the Coptic people then most people at my church think of themselves. He showed them for their weaknesses, and their strengths, just as he saw it. It has helped me to appreciate who I am, my background, and my traditions so much more.

This book is great if you enjoy stories regarding exotic lands and peoples, and an honest telling of their journey.
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.Culture Shock! Saudi Arabia: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (Culture Shock! Guides)
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: Peter North, Harvey Tripp

February 15, 2007
Very very current and informative for the area. Quite useful for someone that may be spending time there on business. Easy to read and understand.
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.Helen in Egypt (New Directions Paperbook)
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)

1974-11
The poet H.D. [Hilda Doolittle] was born in Bethlehem, PA to an academic family. Her father, Charles Doolittle, was a Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy. "Everything revolved around him," Hilda wrote many years later. He was stern, patriarch, and hard to impress.

At Bryn Mawr College, she met Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. Under Pound's tutelage, she began writing poetry. He gave her the moniker "H.D.," and they became engaged. On an August day in a museum tearoom, Pound both gave her a pen name and determined that she should be a published poet. When she left school two years later under something of a cloud, it was Ezra Pound who introduced her to his literary circle, the Imagists, in London. There she met her future ... Read More:
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.Where God Was Born: A Journey by Land to the Roots of Religion
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: Bruce Feiler

September 13, 2005
I'll approach this from the standpoint of writer and engineer because a number of people have already amply tackled the Biblical aspect. If you read this book, read it carefully and with a critical eye. There were far too many times when the author implied "if A then B" when the result was by no means justified. Secondly, there were too many occasions where he took the end result and worked backwards to show how the forces colluded to achieve the result, much in the same way modern conspiracy theorists like to show that existing conditions are the carefully laid plot of someone's nearly improbable actions. I doubt that ancient man gave his existence nearly as much anthropological consideration as Feiler seems to have thought they had.

I enjoyed ... Read More:
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.Blood and Oil in the Orient
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: Essad Bey

January 20, 2008
I'll approach this from the standpoint of writer and engineer because a number of people have already amply tackled the Biblical aspect. If you read this book, read it carefully and with a critical eye. There were far too many times when the author implied "if A then B" when the result was by no means justified. Secondly, there were too many occasions where he took the end result and worked backwards to show how the forces colluded to achieve the result, much in the same way modern conspiracy theorists like to show that existing conditions are the carefully laid plot of someone's nearly improbable actions. I doubt that ancient man gave his existence nearly as much anthropological consideration as Feiler seems to have thought they had.

I enjoyed ... Read More:
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.Cyprus (Country Guide)
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: Vesna Maric

June 01, 2006
it doesn't seem the fact-checking was very good here, unless a bunch of different museums in cyprus decided to change their structure of hours in the past twelve months (we missed three different museums because the guide said they were open late starting in may, rather than only july and august). also, we lost half an hour going around in circles in Paphos in a restaurant that was put on the right road, but 2 km south of where it should have been. normally, i'm used to lonely plant doing a better job of verification on these kinds of things, and if i'm not able to rely on it for that, what's the point ?

nevertheless, we did get some good tips and ideas here.
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.The Rough Guide to Syria
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: Andrew Beattie

July 05, 2001
This is the best book on Syria that I have (I've three others). It is so thorough that my tour guide wanted to purchase it from me at the end of our trip (a month long one). I'm sending him his own. There is "political" information in it that our guide was not aware of (e.g. the massacre at Hama). The writing style, often "tongue in cheek" made the text interesting to read. But, for me, its strength is its commentary on contemporary Syrian life, politics, culture. etc.
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.Dubai (City Guide)
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: John Vlahides, Matthew Lee

September 01, 2008
This is the best book on Syria that I have (I've three others). It is so thorough that my tour guide wanted to purchase it from me at the end of our trip (a month long one). I'm sending him his own. There is "political" information in it that our guide was not aware of (e.g. the massacre at Hama). The writing style, often "tongue in cheek" made the text interesting to read. But, for me, its strength is its commentary on contemporary Syrian life, politics, culture. etc.
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.The Rough Guide to Turkey 6 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
City Travel Guides > Books > Middle East
by: Marc S. Dubin, Rosie Ayliffe, John Gawthrop, Terry Richardson

February 15, 2007
Highly disappointed in the 2007 edition of the Rough Guide to Turkey. I've used the Rough Guide for several other countries, but will not rely on Rough Guides ever again. Agree with the reviewer below who found the pricing to be completely inaccurate, a dearth of maps, and trip planning using the book unreliable.

The recommended hotels turned out to be disastrous for us. We went to a hotel in Izmir that was recommended as a good value at 50 Lira for a double. They charged us 160 Lira. It was also a horrible hotel that should never have been recommended. Found several email addresses for hotels to be non-working. Sirkeci/Gulhane area in Istanbul is a great area to stay in yet there were only 3 hotels in that area listed.

Also, there is no tram/metro ... Read More:
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