Insight Guides - Czech and Slovak Republics
ISBN: 0-88729-655-6

The following review was contributed by: Jim  Curtiss.  Click Here To Read More Of Jim’s Reviews

When it comes to choosing guidebooks, one generally has 3 options: the
pre-learning variety, the learn-on-the-go variety, and the
learn-on-the-go with photos and graphics variety. Each genre has its
popular titles, but the Insight Guide to the Czech and Slovak Republics
manages to straddle each of these genre fences stunningly well. One need
only to open the front leaf and look at the book's contents - Areas of
Interest, Top Attractions, Spa Towns, Natural Attractions and Maps - to
discover that this book pretty much covers it all.

If the reader has time for just a quick flip-through, the book provides
dozens of remarkable images - from an historical engraving of Karlsbad
(pgs. 16-17) to a view of the Matthias Gate of the Prague Castle (pg.
132); from the destructive mining operations near Most (pg. 125) to the
majesty of the Dunajec river in Slovakia (pg. 309). In short, the
breadth of imagery contained in this book is an accomplishment in
itself.

If the reader desires to go a bit deeper, many easy-to-follow timelines
are provided. For example, the Decisive Dates (pgs. 18-19) range from
the first Slavs in AD 500-600 to Prague's hosting of the IMF/World Bank
conference in 2000. Further, one-page Information Panels on topics as
varied as Jan Hus, Czech beer, the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and
Moravian Wine are sure to provide the casual reader with quick
information fixes. 

And if one wishes to delve deeper still, longer sections (many of which
are written by Czech and Slovak natives) cover Czech and Slovak History,
as well as the region's people, music and literature.

The book doesn't shy away from the hard topics, either. When speaking of
the IMF World Bank conference in 2000, it addresses the demonstrators'
clashes with police; pages 124-125 contain a lucid discussion of the
countries' considerable environmental concerns; and pages 63-67 examine
the countries' minorities, which can often be a difficult subject to
address.

The lone drawback of this otherwise exceptional book is not immediately
discernable, but it is still noteworthy. While perusing the title with
the reviewer's Slovak mother-in-law, the imbalance of information
dedicated to the Czech Republic at the expense of the Slovak Republic
was readily apparent. Indeed, of the book's 319 pages (not including the
Travel Tips and Index sections) only 54 are devoted to the Slovak
Republic. It can be argued that this imbalance is simply a product of
travelers' relatively higher interest in the Czech Republic.
Nonetheless, future editions would benefit from an expanded portion
dedicated to the Slovak Republic.

But the bottom line is this: If you buy one guidebook for the Czech and
Slovak Republics, this Insight Guide should be it. Not only is it an
excellent on-the-go guidebook, it can also serve as a reference book for
years to come.