The book is slim and light and is therefore ideal to take with you on holiday to use whilst walking or hiking. The information is concise and helpful in identifying facts about the different Hawaiian species of birds and plants and also in identifying the species that have been imported to the islands. There are large colour photographs for each species shown, although the quality of the photographs is a bit disappointing as they are often slightly out of focus and at times over-exposed. However, this is a handy book to have with you on site or even after your holiday in Hawaii, if you want to identiyy any plant or animals you may have photographed.

This is a unique book with interesting black and white photos of mostly Hawaiian objects. Cute kids and nice photography. Although I thought of better suggestions for a couple letters, I still love the book. I picked up two for gifts while on Kauai, and plan to order more. This is a neat way to expose children to other cultures that are actually a part of our country!

This is a book about Japanese Americans living in Hawaii. It is a useful book for people studying American Studies. Lots of teachers recomend this to their students or require them to read this, especially here. I read this book and I thought this was pretty throughal....

This book gives a new perspective on John Sutter. He has been remembered as a benevolent oasis to people of the Donner Party and the William Manly expedition. But this gives us an overview on how he acquired the resources that enabled him to build his fort and be so helpful to immigrants. It takes us to Hawaii where Sutter spent five months in Honolulu from 1838 to 1839. There he made business connections, particularily creditors. When he worked a complicated chain of borrowing from one to pay the other, he was utilizing the connections he had made during his stay in Honolulu, a world trading center. It turned out to be a house of cards for him when one of his creditors suddenly decided to declare himself insolvent and to cash in his chips so to speak. Two other creditors bailed Sutter out because of his potential as a trading partner and an influential foothold in the rich and promising Sacramento valley. I also enjoyed the brief historical account of Hawaii that the author gives. As a child I was facinated to read about King Kamehamea and Queen Lili'uokalani. Kamehamea seemed like a mythical figure like a character from Homer's Odyssey. Now I have a reference that renders me a great perspective on the history of these facinating Islands in a brief but broad spectrum approach. This book is really a must for people interested in the 19th century western hemisphere and our roots therein. ,

Anyone who loves the movies is familiar with the island of Kauai. You've seen it in dozens of films including South Pacific, Blue Hawaii, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Honeymoon in Vegas, Outbreak and Pagan Love Song, just to rattle a few titles off the top of my head.

This is a lovely coffee table type resource which gives an overview of the movies and their love affair with Kauai. The only complaints I have with it involve organization and indexing. I'd like it to be organized in a manner that makes it easier to find the films! It's set up in a geographical format. If you don't know where the location is where a film was shot (i.e., Lumahai Beach for South Pacific), it's harder to find the information for a particular film. It does give you a good opportunity to leaf through the entire book and dream about another vacation in paradise!

I've always kind of split back and forth between Let's Go and Lonely Planet. The one thing that attracted me to Hawaii 2003 was the fact that it was Let's Go's first Hawaii book, and that the Lonely Planet one was a year or so old already.

I hesitate to consider this a comprehensive review of the LG book, given that I only travelled on Oahu and the Big Island, but my experience with those two islands has been wonderful with LG in my hand. All the information I came across was accurate presented, easily accessed and logically organized. The little sidebars provided interesting pieces of information, and I'd have to say that without the guide, I would have likely missed a lot of what Hawaii had to offer.

That said, the one complaint I've always had about LG is the quality of their maps, which is to say they [are no good]. A month in South East Asia with LG left me frustrated, and this was no different. Of course, a perfect map probably shouldn't be the sole reason for buying a guide, so it's not too big a deal. Besides, there're plenty of very good maps to be had all over the islands, for little more than the effort it takes to pick one up. (On this note, I did flip through the LG USA 2003 book and it seemed as if the maps in there were a little more comprehensive and useful, at least for the major cities: less obvious destinations may very well leave something to be desiered there, as well.)

One thing I'd have liked to see in LG are nice color map inserts like they do in some of the bigger guides, possibly even to include a basic layout of Oahu's TheBus system.

Overall, I've got to recommend LG Hawaii 2003; the new look is fantastic. The books are smaller, and yet contain the same amount of information was previous years. They're down to Lonely Planet size now, in fact, and perhaps even a little more manageable than that: I easily fit my LG book, all folded up and bent back, in any pocket of any bag, so it was always at hand, but never prominent. And let's not forget the famous "Thumbs Up!" recommendations: if you're going to Oahu, read up on Waimanalo (pg 145) and be sure you eat as many meals as you can at Keneke's. The spot looks like a dive, and I would have undoubtedly missed it had LG not raved about it. Just that meal alone made up for the cost of the book. Now get out there and see what Hawaii's all about!

This book is great, you find you way all over the state. and........you save a lot of money , it guides you to the most afordable places. By reading it your hollyday starts

My wife and I used this handy guide on a recent trip to Honolulu. It was the only one we consulted and it seemed to be adequate. The map section was particularly useful in helping us to navigate around Honolulu and Waikiki. Since we returned home there have been some more instances when the guide was needed as a reference.

The authors give only a lukewarm recommendation for the Polynesian Cultural Center. We are much more enthusiastic about our memories of that experience.

I was quite delighted with this book. The author, who was a 14 year old Japanese-American living on Maui when the attack occured, gives several different viewpoints of the attack and the days following. His characters are entertaining, and his use of "local" language is accurate. Definately recommended for anyone who wants a view of the Pearl Harbor attack from the local people's perspective.

I bought this book back in 1990 and have used it many times in our 14 trips to Hawaii. The small print allows for a lot of information to be packed into the book's small size. The drawings of the fish are accurate and colorful. The 166 fish described in the book depict a good cross section of the fishes found on the Hawaiian reefs.