DORLING KINDERSLEY-TOO IMPARTIAL!!!! (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Member Name: GNU BOY

Product:	Eyewitness Travel Guides
Date:	06/02/01 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful photography. Excellent maps. Up to date prices, times and dates.

Disadvantages: So impartial you don't know what to think.

Written by your maths teacher from secondary school, Dorling Kindersley Travel Guides are the most impartial and informative guides you are likely to find, although they might be a bit too impartial.
I use the example of their Canada guidebook, since I recently used this extensively. I visited Toronto and Vancouver during my trip. The guide covers the main tourist attractions well, and there are a good fifteen pages on each of the cities. However, the guidebook neglected to mention one factor: the homeless. Now, I (try to, none of us really can) understand the problems that are faced by homeless people throughout the world, so this is a criticism of both the local authorities and the guidebook, NOT the homeless themselves. On a walk from the CN Tower to my hostel (five minutes), I was asked for money by (I kid you not) fourteen homeless people. This suggests a problem, does it not? This was not only the case in the downtown area, but throughout the city. The authorities are clearly not doing enough to get the homeless off the streets and into jobs. Was this mentioned in the guidebook though? No. There was a brief section with a colour photo of two police, and a suggestion that the streets were relatively safe, but no mention of an abundance of homeless. To compare, I consulted a Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, and both warned of the problem in the two cities.
This seems typical of this series of books. There is a lack of information about the home truths of the places discussed.
On the plus side, the Canada book was fantastic for showing me large, colour photos of the sites (be warned though, it spoils the surprise somewhat). It contains maps of all the tube stations in the major cities, as well as maps of the wider areas such as the Rockies. The best route from anywhere to anywhere is revealed, as are opening hours, telephone numbers and admission fees.
The other problem with the impartiality is the lack of a grading system. Rather than having a
‘five star’ or ‘marks out of ten’ system, you are simply left to guess as to how good a place really is. Also, a few of the writers seem slightly misguided. The Ontario Science Centre, which I enjoyed thoroughly and didn’t have time to completely explore the day I was there, was given (if you don’t believe me check for yourself!) ONE FIFTH the column space to that afforded to the Shoe Museum!
To summarise, these books are highly informative, full of useful information and beautiful photography; and the paper quality is glossy, meaning you don’t feel like you are reading toilet paper. However, you would do well to read or carry one of the other series, in particular a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet, for the sheer fact that they cut to the chase and tell you what travellers are REALLY likely to experience, not what your old maths teacher would tell you.

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