Colin Nutt, Callum Cochrane and photographers, Picturing Scotland: Edinburgh
2011 / Hardback / 96 pages / UK
Lots of nice pictures of familiar places and attractions I never bothered to visit in three years, unfortunately annotated with self-described "fascinating insights" into Scotland's "multi-faceted" capital, with all the "hidden depths," "elegant vistas" and "stark contrasts" that make it "truly a capital city." The sort of generic travel copy I vomit up when I can't be arsed, that was all in the opening paragraph.
Julian Flanders, 1001 Days Out: Your Comprehensive Guide to the Best Attractions in the UK
****
This reliably economical Parragon guide has been road tested at precisely 0.0% of locations so far (as a family unit), but with its regional focus and broad smorgasbord – from overhyped star attractions to quirky dilapidation and plenty of nature – it should get a lot of use as both guide and motivator. If I let the challenge aspect get to me, this could end up having an insane amount of influence on all our lives. Chester Zoo, here we come.
2009 / Paperback box set / 2,560 pages / UK
****
More virgin travel guides that might take a while to get stuck into, what with them primarily targeting more adventurous grown-ups with their own sets of wheels, but they're bound to be pretty good, right? If I was driving, I wouldn't be able to read the guide, would I? Think it through.
2015 / Paperback / 1,216 pages / USA
***
A practical travel companion rather than a coffee table book to procrastinate with, though the necessarily brief summaries and extravagant business recommendations make its usefulness limited, even if we ever bother to get out of the country again.
Nigel Hicks, This Is the Philippines
**
As expected, and frankly hoped for, a highly selective and irresponsibly rose-tinted presentation of the nation that housed me for the best part of the last decade (the glowing preface is from the Secretary of Tourism, so you know it's reliable), so our daughter can grow up with the romantic ideal of where she comes from without being exposed to the depressing side that was the main reason behind the migration in the first place. Now we're going to watch This Is England for balance.
