The maps are actually very good. And I like the weather resistant finish (A real asset considering the climate).
But the section (map) of the trams makes it very hard to figure out or get your bearings. Fortinatly, good maps for this are easy to get, free, and well posted at every stop. However I geuss
I would still say it is a pretty good value.

I went to Amsterdam twice last year and used this map both times. It is extremly durable as I normally kept it in my left rear pocket - still good as new after two trips. I like the laminate since I can use those erasable markers used for presentations to mark landmarks or places of interest. Once done, simply wipe them off and add new ones. The main map showing Amsterdam could be just a tad larger to show areas to the east and south. Bring this map and a small compass and you won't get lost. Worth every penny.

I am on holiday in Amsterdam as I write. This is by far the best city map I have ever used. First, it is durable enough that I anticipate it will survive the entire stay. The street names are clearly indicated; the public transportation facilities are identified. Amsterdam can be a bit disorienting because it's a city build with concentric streets. North and South can be confused easily. I have found my bearings several times when I would have been lost without this map. If you are interested in finding you way about Amsterdam, this map will be interesting to you.

If you are planning a whirlwind trip of France and want someone else to set your priorities then this book is for you. Rick Steves does a pretty good job of identifying the must sees in France, but, I think his itinerary is crazy. Those who follow it must spend most of their time on trains and in cars. (If you plan to follow his itinerary you should take his bus tour - less stress.) While I found this book useful to my planning process, I could not imagine a trip in France with only this book. It omits too much. If you have already spent much time in France then I don't think this book would be of much help to you.

Rick Steves' did it again. This book is a great guide for seeing the main areas of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. I stayed in one of the B&B's and a hotel he recommended for Brugge, and they both were everything he said. The information on Paris is exact and helpful, especially the way he separates Paris into three maps. The hotel prices for all countries are right on the money, even in the busy season. One of the best things about this book, is that he always includes helpful information; i.e. how to use the phones; where the tourist info. is; the approximate exchange rates, etc. I love his books and never go traveling without them.

This is the second time we have used Rick for European travel and the books are terrific. From wonderfully friendly and clean hotels, to charming reasonable restaurants, walking tours, picnic suggestions and his accurate opinions on worthwhile attractions. We used it for 5locations and enjoyed each one. I think he is a little biased about the Riveria, could have used one more day there, but that was because we were trying to do as much as possible for each location and we fell in love with Villefranche.

This is a very helpful guide that we found organized and well-indexed. You won't go wrong with this if you're visiting Amsterdam.

The map which comes with this book is nearly perfect - it has all the tram and bus lines except the ones changed since '98 (very little changes) and it is more accurate, more detailed, and includes more of the city than the maps available in the VVV (tourist information) in Amsterdam. I spent the summer in Amsterdam and this map was indispensable, especially since I was not living in the city center and my apartment was located off most maps.

The book, on the other hand, is great for listing ideas of things to see and do, but does not actually 'review' anything - the author basically seems to think _everything_ in Amsterdam is absolutely wonderful and worth seeing. This is a terrific attitude if you are there for a long time, but if you are planning a short visit, try to read one of the more critical books as well so you won't waste your time and miss the best things. Also, the book has not been updated recently, so several of the restaurants (vegetarian ones mostly) are no longer open (but, to be fair, I could not find _any_ guidebooks for Amsterdam in which all the vegetarian restaurants were still in business, including a pamphlet published only a few months before, since several had just gone under.)

The map is excellent, very detailed, down to every street. And it's easy to read. The guide is brief, but helpful. Gives most of the essential information, all the museums and major attractions. We decided to order a second copy, in case our party wants to split up!

I read this book while I was on my vacation and I think it is exactly that sort of book :a vacation one. It is ok.

You can compare my review to the other one on this book. OUr views are not the same.

I found this book, which I read in French while living in California, to be a delight. It takes place in Liege, in the country of Simenon's birth, long before most of the novels. And part of the suspense (for it is a suspense murder mystery) is waiting for Maigret to appear.

Eventually the large figure in his dark winter overcoat enters the story, well supplied with his pipe(s) and tobacco, his mind racing over possibilities. And we are not disappointed, even after reading countless later stories. Not only does Simenon give us a satisfactory ending, but we have a splendid picture of an almost "old world" Liege and the kind of people who lived and worked in it.

No, definitely not just a "holiday book", this. Rather, a book for all seasons. Give it a try and you will agree.

Atmosphere is stranger than in others Maigret's novels. But it's also very good novel. If you have read "Pedigree" (Simenon's childhood autobiography) you can make interesting parallels between one of the two young boys and Simenon himself. It seems to say to us that the line between criminals and the other humans isn't very large ...

I bought this guide hoping it would give me more information on Amsterdam nightlife. It did, but it was nothing I couldn't have gotten from their Web site.

Buy the Eyewitness Guide to Amsterdam, which is organized by area. It's visually pleasing and really helps you decide what you would like to do. The Time Out guide is organized by topic (for example, Accommodations, Restaurants, Art and Entertainment), and it's impossible to tell where these things are in relationship to where you are or where your hotel is. There are maps in the back of the book that are helpful, and I do like how for many of the topics they list the "Top Five". Again, much of this information is available at the Time Out Web site so I wouldn't waste my money. Buy the solid touristy Eyewitness guide and get the low down on restaurants, nightclubs, and coffee shops at the Time Out Web site.

I brought several books on a recent trip to Amsterdam, but this was the only one I used while walking and sightseeing. The book's small size makes it convenient to hold, but don't be fooled: this book is jam-packed with useful information. The maps in the back are indispensable, and, unlike the Eyewitness Travel Guides, which are also great, this book lists a good number of budget accomodations and also provides important details (time open, admission prices, etc) that I found, for the most part, very accurate. The section on what to do outside Amsterdam was also extremely useful.

Case in point: My glasses broke during the trip, and the book actually listed places to get them fixed or replaced! It was amazing how much practical information they squeezed into a small book.

The only thing I wish would change about the book is a more detailed guide to what documents are needed to travel in Amsterdam, and where you can use American ATM cards other than AmEx, if they do exist.

Overall, the best travel guide I've seen to Amsterdam!

if you're going to amsterdam, there's probably a few different reasons why, and this book covers them all. i'd recommend it mostly to younger folks, or the young-at-heart. a great all around guide, with detail of night-life, eating & drinking (...etc), and great things to see and do. it's written by locals, so the info is accurate. i used a friend's while i was there, and now and buying my own now that i'm back in the states!...it will live in your pocket while you're there!

I have been living in the States for some time know and of course think back a lot of The Netherlands. When I read this book it makes me laugh . It is very accurate and doesn't give you the avarage american impression. ( cool those hashbars and the redlightdistrict!!)The book made me very proud to de Dutch. I would recommend it to anyone interested in The netherlands !!

Americans might think the Xenophobe books to be "racist" as they try to sum up entire nations of people stereotypically. But, while it was often off the mark, it did help me to understand some things about my Dutch friend, and facilitated our communication. I've got to go clean the house before he comes to visit. :)

This guide to the Dutch is the best book I've read about us (yes, I'm Dutch) in many years. None of your clogs and windmills fairy tales, no boring statistics either, but a pretty accurate insight into the Dutch society and the Dutch ways. It's a funny and tongue-in-cheek book, that very often had me laughing out loud and saying things like "Come on, we don't do things like that!", only to realise a few seconds later that we do.

excellen

I have lived in The Netherlands for only four months. I have looked at several sources of information about the country: its culture, customs, language, history, climate, geography, tourist attractions etc.. I found Mr. Janin's brief (167pp) volume to have been very well-done. I believe his 25 years as a U.S. diplomat (but not in The Netherlands) have taught him what an outsider needs, to begin to understand a culture. He combines the personal experience of others--in this case, his Dutch wife, her family and many of their friends and acquaintances--with pofessional writings. He even includes an 18-item english-language reading list. The range of topics covered is broad--geography, climate, history, language, customs, principal attractions, even a "culture-quiz" to help the reader understand what s/he has learned about the culture at the end of the book. The coverage is also balanced: he includes both pluses (egs.respect for others, language ability) and minuses (egs.drug use, immigrants and asylum seekers). He readily recognizes that, however helpful it might be to understanding the society, the Dutch view of themselves--which he capsulizes--is not likely to be objective. I wish he had included information on regional differences in the Dutch language, customs and attitudes. But, that minor quibble aside, I think Mr. Janin's goal in writing this small book ("to help [the reader] become [a] well-briefed foreigner." (p.10)) has been achieved in an admirable fashion. I think it is an informative, easy-to-read--even entertaining--book that is well worth reading.

Although the fighting around Hougoumont Chateau on 18 June 1815 had a major impact upon the on-going Battle of Waterloo, it usually receives only cursory attention in most accounts of that famous battle. In this Battleground Europe volume, the fighting around Hougoumont finally gets adequate coverage and Napoleonic enthusiasts should appreciate the uniqueness of this book. Unfortunately, while the book does provide an spotlight on an interesting aspect of the Battle of Waterloo, the inherent limitations of this volume detract from its historical value.

The book itself consists of thirteen shorts chapters, with the first providing a detail history and layout of Hougoumont Chateau. Another chapter is used to provide background on the campaign. Ten chapters cover the British occupation and defense of Hougoumont, including one chapter that covers the immediate aftermath of battle. A final chapter consists of a tour of Hougoumont today. Three appendices are included: a detailed hourly chronology, British personalities at Hougoumont and orders of battle on Allied and French troops at Hougoumont. However selected bibliography displays the limited sources used, including the unreliable Siborne and regimental histories. One of the authors, Julian Paget, is a retired officer from the Coldstream Guards and he has used regimental records to enhance this account, at least from the British side. Unfortunately, the French side is greatly neglected, with little information provided on units and almost none on commanders. Napoleon's brother JerÃ'me who pushed the attack, and his division commanders, remain ciphers in this account. Apparently, no French sources were consulted.

The wider issue of the impact of the struggle for Hougoumont on the outcome at Waterloo is addressed obliquely and with some exaggeration. Napoleon conceived of the attack on Hougoumont as a diversion that he hoped would divert at least British attention, if not reserves, away from his main effort in the center. This concept was tactically sound, and was originally only supposed to employ one division of the three in the French II Corps. It was a combination of JerÃ'me's escalation of his minor role in the battle into a full-fledged but uncoordinated corps attack and Napoleon's inability to reign him in, that really hurt the French cause. The author's cite Napoleon's failure to initially use his massed artillery against Hougoumont as a "mistake" but they fail to realize that (A) Napoleon would not waste his massed artillery reserve against a fortified target that was not his main effort and which initially only held a few hundred skirmishers, (B) JerÃ'me had plenty of II Corps and divisional artillery available to support his own attacks and (C) the muddy, wooded and cultivated terrain around Hougoumont inhibited rapid deployment of French artillery in a close support role against the chateau. Actually, Wellington made a significant mistake by not deploying at least one battery within the grounds of Hougoumont since grapeshot would have inflicted huge losses on the French infantry as they crossed the open ground to the south. British artillery supporting Hougoumont was deployed too far to the rear to employ anything but solid shot or howitzer shells. Whether or not French 12 pounder solid shot could have breached the walls of Hougoumont is also open to debate.

This book is an interesting read because it offers new perspectives on a well-known battle. Unfortunately, the author's predilection is to provide an glory-tinged narrative of one of his regiment's most famous actions - and at that limited objective he succeeds. Yet the wider goal of providing a fresh and balanced account of this crucial side-show remains unfulfilled.

Suppose LtCol.MacDonnel and a handful of Coldstream Guards hadn't forced the north gates shut; Hougoumont may have been taken. Without Hougoumont, Wellington's right flank was vulnerable. With Wellington's right crumbling, Napoleon wins Waterloo before Blucher and his Prussians can arrive. The Austrians, Russians, and Prussians negotiate a separate peace, Napoleon is ascendant in Europe, Germany doesn't become a world power, no Versailles Treaty, no Hitler, no World War Two, etc...

Or perhaps not.

But it wouldn't be exagerating to say that Hougoumont was the pivot upon which the Battle of Waterloo hinged. Julian Paget, himself a member of the Coldstream Guards, presents a detailed account of this critical episode that is usually discussed all to briefly in the more general histories of Waterloo. This book is filled with photographs, maps, a minute by minute timeline, and a breakdown of each section of the battle: the forcing of the gates, the orchard, the formal garden, etc. Paget even dispels the myth, promulgated by Victor Hugo in Les Miserables, about the 300 French bodies being dumped down the well.

The final section of this compact book is a guide for tourists, with an interest in history, for it leads you step by step through present day Hougoumont. Appendix includes the complete Order of Battle and bibliography. Overall, even though not monumental in scope, this book gets five stars for accomplishing its goal of covering one of the most decisive moments in the Napoleonic Wars.

Good and helpful book with useful information and case studies. Could have used web address references and pictures, though.

This book has a lot of useful information, and includes good case studies of different individuals' experiences of moving to the Netherlands. The only thing missing is the reference to web sites for accessing information online, such as apartment rentals. I also would have liked to see some photographs.

Although written in FRENCH, there is an adequate glossary in English in the back. However, if you're driving and want to find a particular restaurant/hotel in a town or city, the maps are outstanding in detail and helpfulness. Has saved many minutes/hours of trying to find a location in a town with narrow, unidentified streets.

Buyer Beware: this book is mostly in French with some English headings and references. Nowhere in the book's description did they warn me that I would need to break out my French dictionery. GOOD LUCK or as they say in French, BON CHANCE!