Paris

I hated this book for all the same reasons that the previous reviewer loved it. Latour's voice changes add some depth to the story, but are done in a manner so convoluted that much of the substance is lost. Using Aramis itself as the voice of martyred technology just becomes increasingly absurd throughout the book. There are much better books than this out there about man's relationship with technology, do yourself a favor and find one of them.

I enjoyed Latour's strange genre-busting technological detective story. Many of the dialogues with government officials are some of the funniest things I have read. If only most philosophy books could be written in such an interesting way.

This is a very disturbing but at the same time very thought-provoking book on the adoption of a hypermodern new means of public transportation. Aramis was a small car version of the driverless subway which is now commonly known because of applications in Lille (France) and Orlando (USA)
Latour disguises as a student of engineering sciences and writes a kind of whodunnit on the final question: 'who killed Aramis"? Because he lends his voice to the engineer, to his professor of Sociology,
to the Aramis system itself and to himself as an author, the book shows different views on the same reality.
Highly documented with texts that would be dynamite if they had been published during the development of the Aramis train system itself.
Latour shows why Conservative governments never would adopt really revolutionary developments in public transportation.

At times a difficult book, but hilarious too, and a reader for every technology-minded post-structuralist and post-marxist thinker...

Stefaan Van Ryssen

This slim volume records, and often self-duplicates, Paris dining experiences of a couple who think it's important to let the reader know what they did every day, as if they were writing a very long letter home or keeping a journal. I'm sure it would be a useful little book to show the IRS to defend writing off trip and meal expenses, but it is nowhere close to the excellence of coverage in the Hamburgers' Bistros of Paris or Patricia Wells's Food Lover's Guide to Paris. And to subtitle it "Millenium Edition" is pompous beyond belief, implying something very special to the reader.

This "culled out" Paris section from the original "Best Bistros of NY,San Francisco and Paris" is a handy pocket sized gustatorial guide to not just the City of Light but to the City of Dining Delight. Our first reliance on this good advice brought us to some of the most memorable bistros and meals that Paris has to offer. Nearby points of interest mentioned in the book permitted planning a day around wonderful meals in classic settings rather than sightseeing followed by a "catch as catch can" search for an acceptable meal. Star of the show was Chez Georges on Rue du Mail; Chardenoux and Brasserie Flo tie for close seconds.

A previous trip to Paris taught me the city has some of the best and worst food in the world. The great food is easy to find if you are willing to pay for it. The challenge, I found out, is to find the great food at an affordable price. A friend suggested this book as a guide to finding good food at traditional French "Bistros". We hit the jackpot on every dining experience we selected out of this book. We found the food quality and atmosphere of each restaurant to be very consistent with the book's description. This book definitely helped us avoid the "tourist trap" restaurants and the overpriced "world renowned" restaurants. (although some of these world renowned establishments are reviewed in the book) If you want to find the authentic bistros of Paris, this is an excellent resource to the secrets and treasures of Paris dining.

i recently returned from my first trip to paris. in preparation, i reviewed multiple guidebooks and took with me two. the four i considered most promising were let's go paris, rough guide paris, frommers paris from $90 and fodors paris. it was frustrating that i could not find a comparative review of guides which is why i share this info with you.

of these, after the trip, i must say that let's go paris was the most helpful with copious useful maps and tips, in addition to accurate and abundant recommendations on housing, dining and entertainment. frommers was the second most useful in planning and understanding the city.

although i thought that the rough guide would be beneficial, the maps were limited in detail and annotation. also, dining etc was not listed by arrondissements which made searching very difficult.

fodors was nice, but not particularly useful for the moderate income traveler compared to the others. frommers paris i briefly reviewed but found much less useful than the other frommers guide.

I bought this book because the Fodors 2002 Italy guide was superb! Well, so much for crossing countries and years. First of all, the Paris guide contains no color photos (no photos at all), which would be acceptable, but the lack of color extends to the map of the Paris Metro as well, rendering it useless because the various metro lines, only shaded with an orange or gray, are virtually indistinguishable. Indeed, had I tried to utilize it for my travel, I'm convinced I would have surely been routed to Berlin! The meat of this work furthermore seems to have been gutted: although there are brief one-page inserts called "CLOSE UPs" which provide handy concise tips, the restaurant and lodging guides are limited, with very few if any inexpensive recommendations. Then the information text often refers the reader to somewhere else for the essentials. To wit: Found everywhere is this phrase, " . . to research prices, get advice from other travelers, and book arrangements, visit Fodors.com." Are you kidding? I don't have access to the internet when I'm on the street. That's why I bought a guide BOOK, Stupid! While prices for goods and services understandably often change, this edition should at least have supplied those that are accurate up to the publishing date. Why else would someone buy the 2004 Fodors as opposed to the 2003, etc.? Unfortunately, while not always the case, too often these particular items were absent. The merits that this book does possess can be found in the various walking tour sections which provide helpful itineraries for what can be covered in a day (or two or three or more}, each including a map. Trouble here as well, however. An adroit editor would have numbered these sections for easy reference. Instead, the reader is forced to constantly flip back and forth through pages in order to find the appopriate section (paste-up book marks are not supplied in this edition). Then there are the maps which are practical only to a point. Ostensibly micro-views of the area being discussed, such as the one of the "Bastillle to Nation," for example, the detail is wanting, and only a few major streets are named. Thus, the traveler had better have another resource close at hand in order to navigate the various rues and boulevards (what sense does it make to have a magnified map without labeling more streets?!?). This has some travel advice, but woe unto those who rely on it exclusively. Indeed, some of the explanations are downright confusing, and a tourist surely can do without anything that is more confusing! Thank goodness I chose to bring other guide books and maps with me to the City of Light. Overall, I'd have to say that this book is not worth its price. The publishers obviously pinched and skimped on their costs, and the result was an inferior product. I certainly expected a lot more in a much better package (even the page paper wrinkles and tears very easily because it's composed of the cheapest weight and quality available). I suggest that you pass on this travler's "aide" and opt instead for either the Frommers Paris or the Paris Eyewitness Guide (which among other things contains an exceptional street guide index, well worth the extra money).

I've looked at a lot of books lately for Paris vacationing. The Fodor's book beats them all, hands down.

This book explains the sites, gives a little historical perspective, and suggests itineraries. It also suggests off-the-beaten-path places, and things you might not realize are even there.

The eating and hotel parts don't just give you lists of hotels and restaurants. It lists by arondissement (important in Paris, where you'll be walking a lot), and lists by price group. It also lists what is a particularly good value. This book doesn't just give a generic blurb. All places are evaluated by the people writing the entries. You get honest, up-to-date appraisals by people who've been there. They tell you what to look out for.

The book lists good travel suggestions, such as how to pack, what to take with you on an international flight, etc. Overall, it's a good preparatory instrument for a trip that is such a big undertaking.

I enjoyed reading the book. It is comprehensive, well-written, and very informative. And I love being told where to look for the best deals.

Definitely a must if you're planning a trip to Paris.

We found several problems with the information in this book. Places that were recommended were no longer in business or not as described. Some of the information about reservations, lines, etc. were written for peak season travel so we did a lot of things to avoid lines that were not there. Interesting background and some good tips, but if you have time to prepare, I would recommend something more in-depth and written more recently.

This book may be a little dated (1998 publication), and perhaps that's why I found it so useful, as I was traveling in early 1999. But one memory--one of my favorites of the city--was thanks to this book. We were looking for a place to eat and I suggested this West African place I had bookmarked. The guide described hearty dishes served family-style in a friendly neighborhood setting. We found our way through the winding Parisian streets and came upon a very unassuming storefront in a dark alley. My companions were hesitant but I insisted. What we found inside was exactly how Fodor's UpClose described it. The food was some of the best we had on our entire trip and cheap too. We were kids on a budget! And the book was right on with the rest of its content. I recommend this series and only hope a new edition is put out before my summer backpacking excursion! I give it only 4 stars because of the two-year-old edition.

I was looking for local travel information, and there was a treasurehouse of telephone numbers and Website listed here. This might not be for the spanking rich traveling with an unlimited budget, but for a budget minded traveler like me, I found the tips indispensable. The book is well bound, and like some other books that I clowsely examined, this one did not *seem* like it would fall apart into three unasked for sections in the middle of my trip. A nice map at the end is an added bonus. For little more than ten bucks, I found this hard to beat. If you only wanrt to carry one guide with you, and like me, you're a first time traveler to France, this should probably be the one. Excellent and highly recommended. END

John Russell wrote this "biography" while Francis Bacon was very much alive and tends to emphasize the influences on Bacon's work more from an environmental standpoint than an art historian view. But to jump into Bacon's raucous life "in medias res" is a gift that now can be savoured, like picking the grapes off the vines that in years to come will become a fine vintage wine. A diversion, and only in black and white reproductions, but a rather important comment in retrospect.

Like many biographies, Russell's work concentrates more on the man's times than on the man himself. While we learn a lot about what was going on around Bacon, what he himself experienced is left unexplored. Granted, Bacon made gathering biographical information very difficult, but I would have appreciated more insightful analysis of Bacon's life and its connections to his work. Overall it is a very good introduction to Bacon's career and total output, and includes a huge number of pictures that make the book extremely valuable as a reference. Unfortunately though, while there are many color reproductions, they are outnumbered by black and white ones that take away from truly experiencing the power of Bacon's work.

Well i really think that Francis Bacon is a great artist. I just stratid reading about his art work and he has so many goos drawings like Henrretta Moraes, and his selft portrait. They are veri nice drawings.So i really think his greatt.

Zola is a great author and any of his stuff is worth reading. This book breaks new ground in its portrayal of the lives of the "little people" of Paris, its detailed descriptions of food and, most of all, its use of a city district - rather than human beings - as its main character. Zola himself had great affection for it. You feel his nostalgia for his difficult early days in the capital. But ultimately the book doesn't quite gell. The famous descriptions, while being jewels in themselves, actually get in the way of the action. The plot could have been more sharply focused and, perhaps the most curious thing of all, the main human character, Florent, is only a member by marriage of the Rougon-Macquart family which the cycle of novels is about. The "real" member of the family, Lisa, has a remarkably peripheral role. Also, the book could have been made a lot shorter. But it is still rewarding for the reader because, after dealing with provincial intrigue and the capital's fat cats in his first two novels, Zola takes his first stab at portraying the people that were ultimately to make his reputation: the "lower orders".

The plot for the "Belly" is excellent for those who appreciate Zola's subtle twists of fates and corruptible society. Many books by Zola have been amply translated with little lost of the style incorporated by Zola. However, in painting the markets of Paris, Zola incorporates a style similar to literary landscaping utilized by James F. Cooper (highly detailed). The translation does not flow as an artist brush on a canvas, it becomes tedious at times leaving me to skim over rather quickly, which is rare. Overall, it was worth reading, but not worth going to pains to get to it.

This novel ties the main character Flaurent with the Rougon-Macquart family through marriage of his half brother. Flaurent is a runaway convict, who lives in his half brother's shop, which is a part of the big Parisian market. Flaurent is a former school teacher, who had had no interest in politics, but once, during the coup d'etat in December of 1851, while walking along the street came under police fire and had his hands smudged in dead woman's blood. That is how he got sentenced to hard labor. There is a sharp contrast between him and most of the other characters in the novel...

The novel is somewhat draggy at times and gossips with squabbles take up lots of passages, but one must bear in mind that in the Rougon-Macquart epic Zola was trying to create the broadest possible picture of the French society under Napoleon III. That is why, besides the Parisian market, the epic narrates about: big shops defeating small ones ("Au Bonheur des dames/Ladies Paradise"), miners ("Germinal"), the stock exchange ("Argent/Money"), etc.

Basicly, this book is an account by Marion Mainwaring about the research she did to write it. She goes to the south of France, she reads some old letters, she talks to some people who knew Morton Fullerton late in life. Etc. etc. Along the way she gives a somewhat confused account of the slanging match she got into with Wharton's official biographer (about how she did all the research for his book but got no credit, blah blah blah). All of it's pretty tiring and you get the feeling that Mainwaring is desperately trying to pad out an already thin book.
Having said that, Fullerton led a fascinating life, something straight out of a Henry James novel. To anyone interested in Edith Wharton or even about expatriate life in early 20th century Europe, this book is a must read.

This is both the story of Elizabeth Wharton's cad of a lover, and the earnest researcher exploited and spurned by the Scholar in the Field, who she won't even deign to name! Hot stuff, to those who care about such things.

The scholar-cad dismissed her earlier cries de coeur as attempts to elicit publicity for this work, but you have to have read the LRB review to know this.

Literary hearts are broken all around. If you understand this for what it is, it's one of the best books ever, but a bit of an objet trouvee, if you know what I mean.

I greatly enjoyed this book after I realized it was not a quick read of connecting the dots/facts and racing to a conclusion. The joy of this book is that it offers the reader the chance to join Mainwaring as she roams through Paris seeking out the truths of rogue M. Fullerton's life. I loved the descriptions of Paris, the street scenes and the old buildings with their old bureacrats serving as gatekeepers to the dusty stacks of information in the registries of births, deaths and marriages. In her quest for the facts she encounters characters ranging from counts to charwomen and her style, humor and voice make me feel there with her, mulling the facts and planning the next step in the detective work.If you need a vacation from your life, read this book. I now open it to any page and just dive in and quickly become captivated again. Mainwaring is an artist in her impeccable choice of words. Enjoy the process of her quest, indulge yourself and you will find that you will forget about the mundane matters of your life. An instant vacation, what a relief!

I'd love to read a book that lives up to the title of this one. The recent New Yorker anthologies of fiction, nonfiction, and humor come a lot closer. The Paris Review published the lesser work of major writers, and lately it has been mostly given over to the longueurs of lightweights like Rick Moody. Plimpton will go down in literary history as a negligible, starstruck, Robin Leach-like figure, a party boy of narrow taste and ken. His magazine has been irrelevant for at least two decades now.

I bought this book mainly for the interviews the magazine has had over the years, and some of them with notoriously reticent figures like Nabokov and Hemingway. But I was disappointed, because what really distinguishes a Paris Review interview from those of other magazines is how well they're edited, and how beautifully and naturally the conversations flow. All we get here is single paragraphs, usually just anecdotes, funny stories, little opinions: sometimes they're profound (see Edmund White's page) or just convey the author's personality well (Faulkner, Hemingway), but all of them just made me upset about not being able to read the rest of the interview.

Of course there's not enough space. But I would have thrown out most of the other material. I doubt there was any way to make this collection totally succesful: if you pick only the famous stuff that the magazine has published over the years, it's sort of a waste, since most people would either have read the selection already or wouldn't want to read just an excerpt. A first chapter is useful to get you excited about an upcoming book, but unnecessary if the book's already been published. If you limit yourself to the more obscure material, well, it'll be good, but there's a reason that some people remain obscure.

Not that I didn't get a lot of pleasure out of this book. Heather McHugh's poem, for example, is beautiful, and I never would have run across it if I hadn't picked this up. There are little wonders sprinkled throughout, but too much of the rest is familiar, just okay, or an unsatisfying little piece of something larger.

I hesitate to put forward this criticism, since I have no idea how I could do it better - but I do know what book I would rather have read. If anyone down at the magazine (which I hope will rebound from the sad loss of Plimpton) can put together a big volume of complete, untruncated interviews, I would pay a princely sum for it. I've seen earlier collections, but nothing that covers the entire Plimpton era, and I think it would be easier to pick just the great interviews than to squeeze thirty plus years of wonderful material into this enjoyable but probably ill-advised collection.

This book makes a perfect gift for both serious literature junkies and those who have blown off reading for the past fifty years. If the former applies to you, here's the best from the best. If you're in the latter category, this book will catch you up to speed. The Paris Review published the first chapter of Kerouac's ON THE ROAD, the first chapter of McInerney's BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, the first chapter of Franzan's THE CORRECTIONS, etc., etc., etc. Obviously, they've been able to spot new talent from the day they started even to today. And of course, their fantastic interviews with writers themselves are legendary. A must for the collector and the neophyte alike.

READ THIS BOOK AND WAS FRANKLY DISSAPOINTED. NOTHING NEW IN IT.THE ABOVE TWO REVIEWS WOULD SEEM TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY MATTS MUMMY AND POSSIBLY HIS PUBLISHING COMPANY AS WELL.THE CELEBRITY ANGLE WILL DOUBTLESS SERVE HIM WELL WITH SALES. ALL I CAN SAY IS THEY MUST BE EASILY PLEASED

I don't agree with one of the other reviews, for I believe this book is definately a star among other books. It helps you get started and maintain it all! As a model it was so helpful to me.
It's a good bargain, so try it out. It's Worth it!

I purchased this book initially because of the great resource of exercises contained in the book. But, upon closer examination, I found that not only is there the aerobic and "resistance" training, but Roberts also gives concrete guidelines for diet changes . I think this is a really great book, and the breakfast energy smoothie that he recommends as part of his "detox" plan was Yummy! I wasn't hungry all day!! I am very excited about this book, and about the new body that I'm soon going to have.

What happened to maps?!?!? In Paris, a real guide containing maps showing Rues (streets) without its names it's absolutely useless. That kind of disappointing tools you will find in this supposedly updated guide, only a very skin deep varnish about the City of Light. Instead, I recommend to pick one of those free brochures in the Metro or change offices. These can give you a much better information about where you are...in Paris.

I'm a devoted follower of "Lonely Planet" guides, but there weren't any available at the local bookstore when I made the impromptu decision to spend spring break in Paris. So, a bit disappointed but desparate for guidance, I picked up this "Let's Go" -- and was pleasantly surprised. Once I got to Paris I gave in to temptation and bought the "Lonely Planet," which I found to be far better organized, and an overall better value. I don't think either guide is exhaustive, though, and each has its failings. If you're looking for a single guide, I would recommend the "Lonely Planet." However, you might prefer the "Let's Go" if you're a young budget traveller less concerned with trip planning details and more interested in a guide that will show you a good time (or at least where to have one).

What earns this guide four stars is the restaurant and entertainment section. In addition to listing restaurants by arrondissement, it includes a table listing them by style, making it much easier for people like me to eat out in a city hostile to vegetarians, or to satisfy a craving for Indian food. The summary of the nightlife (the musical venues in particular) is also quite accurate. The commentary is clever (though sometimes a little too self-consciously so), spicing up what might otherwise be too staid a look at a vibrant city. There's a substantial section of historical background, and helpful information on the contemporary musical scene (notably rai and rap). While most guides list the closest metro stop for an attraction, the "Let's Go" often goes a step further in providing detailed directions from the metro to the site, something very useful in a city full of daunting boulevards and winding alleys. There's also an extremely helpful directory in the back of the book that lists resources (housing references, crises lines, and cultural centers) for people planning longer stays, something unique to "Let's Go."

There are problems, though: This guide is overpriced, given its... newsprint-quality printing and the fact that it's chock full of advertisements. The ink smudges easily, it's hard to write notes on the rough paper, and I spent about 10 minutes ripping out as many ads as possible. The maps are mediocre at best, and even the most popular tourist attractions are extraordinarily poorly indexed (often a side-note rather than the main entry is listed). So, if you have neurotic organizational tendencies like I do, you might find yourself frustrated. If, however, you're content to stumble across something interesting, "Let's Go" might just be for you. I'm now living in Paris and have lent this book to several visiting friends who've really liked it. And while I've come to know the city well enough to make it around without a guide, at times this book still ends up in my bag when I feel like playing the tourist.

I have been traveling to Europe every year for the last 15 years. Every year I buy several guide books. Without a doubt, Let's Go publishes the best guides for the budget minded traveler. This edition is no exception. Paris 2001 is loaded with practical information. If you have to watch your money the way I do, don't leave for Paris without this book.