BootsnAll Travel Community

This writer for Slate Magazine doesn't like them much.

I've never found them terribly useful, but is useful *really* the goal for Time Out guides?

What do you think?

Hmmn very interesting link. Thanks very much for this one! It's almost uncanny femalenomad, but I was just watching a documentary on Flamenco last night! I absolutely loved the documentary and although not all the styles of flamenco were palatable, most of them were amazing to hear and watch just for the sheer passion in the voices of the singers (cantadores) or the tapping of the dancers (bailaoras). However the article had no mention of the author not liking timeout guides. Personally I have been guilty of using them in an absolute crunch but my main gripe with them is that they are not terribly organized. You really have to weed out information that is useful from them!

i like Time Out guides (and I subscribe to the NYC version of the magazine, primarily so I can read it and see what all I missed while I was chasing small children around an even smaller apartment) I like the photos and the sense that they've dredged up some fun neighborhood places where locals go to watch the Simpsons or because it has the best dart board or soba or whatever. and the maps are accurate, at least in tokyo, berlin and uh, san francisco, if memory serves.

Besides trashing Time Out guides, the flamenco story author was promoting her book about her brief career as a "feminist stripper". Has anybody read it? The Amazon reviews were mixed. Bare, by Elisabeth Eaves.

Or, how about a book that she did enjoy. Duende by Jason Webster. Sounds excellent. From Amazon,

"Touring with a musical group throughout southern Spain, he learns from the gypsies that duende is an introspective emotion that materializes only when one can let go of frustrations and allow music's rawness to infuse the soul."

I was actually in Prague and didn't have a local city guide (only a few regional ones). This was the best of the selection I found at the local English bookstore and I was pretty impressed by the depth of their content and the local insight in their small sidebars scattered throughout the book.

I prefer the layout of the Lonely Planet series more than TO, but they'll definately be the fall back from now on. Definately much more entertaining for the younger generation that isn't necessarily interested in all of the best high-dollar spots for a "once in a lifetime" sort of vacation (not me).