Best Books of 2000
by Ron Mader

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Planeta.com provides some of the best online book reviews and bibliographies for those interested in environmental issues and travel. This month we republish some our previous reviews of some of our favorite books of the year.

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Planeta.com Bibliographies

Richard Mahler
Belize: Adventures in Nature, (Santa Fe: John Muir Publications, 1999)
- Second edition. The reader-friendly format profiling "the jewel of the Caribbean." You'll find travel trips, hotel recommendations and a terrific overview of the country's environment. Clever insets explain useful trivia, such as why Belizeans speak English or profile the life of a fisherman. An excellent guidebook and a useful reference volume, this book is a jewel in itself.

Richard Mahler
Guatemala: Adventures in Nature, (Sante Fe: John Muir Publications, 1999)
- Reading Richard Mahler is like opening a letter from a well-traveled friend. This is the second edition of a regional classic. Its coverage of environmental issues and travel options is first-rate. This is a must read for any eco traveler.

Joe Cummings
Baja Handbook, (Chico, California: Moon Publications, 1998)
- Covering the Baja from Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas, this third-edition handbook is as useful as it is entertaining and it is educational. Great work!
Author website: http://www.joecummings.net

James Lyon, editor
South America on a Shoestring, (Berkeley: Lonely Planet 2000)
- January 2000 and better than ever. This edition provides more than 200 maps, excellent coverage and hundreds of tips. This is a traveler's favorite!

Wayne Bernhardson
Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, (Berkeley: Lonely Planet 2000)
- Extensive coverage of the region's history, culture and geography complements the author's suggestions of where to stay and eat. This book provides clear advice on traveling to national parks and reserves. Recommended.

Harry Pariser
Explore Barbados, (San Francisco: Manatee Press, 2000)
- This veteran travel writer has created his own press to produce this up-to-date guide focusing on environmental attractions and issues in this Caribbean country. Barbados is a crown jewel. Now in an updated and expanded third edition, Harry Pariser's Explore Barbados showcases the culinary, cultural, historical, and natural treasures of exotic Barbados for the vacationer and business traveler. This book highlights the natural wonders, including a smorgasboard of beaches and caves.
Author website: http://www.savethemanatee.com

R.J. Secor
Aconcagua: A Climbing Guide, (Seattle: The Mountaineers, 1999)
- Second edition of this thoroughly researched guidebook to South America's highest mountain. It details both the popular and less-traveled routes reached via the Horcones Valley, South Face, and Vacas and Relinchos Valleys. This book also features a fascinating climbing history of Aconcagua, along with a definitive answer to the age-old question of whether Aconcagua or Ojos del Saldo is the highest peak in South America. The lively text is complemented by 50 black and white photos and maps.

Dennis Dahlin
Earth-friendly Inns: Northeast, (Sandbar WIllow Press, 2000)
- Guide to "green" hotels in the U.S. Northeast. The author provides a selection of hotels designed and operated in harmony with the environment. Establishments in this guide strive toward being earth-friendly via the use of solar heating, innovative recycling programs and/or organic gardens. The author describes these hotels and inns and provides rates, credentials and - most notably - lively histories of each hotel's origins and the owner's current work. Chapters include information about nearby earth-friendly restaurants, natural food stores, farmers' markets and destinations for low-impact recreation. This is the first in a series. Highly recommended!
Author Website: http://www.earthfriendlyinns.com

Joe Cummings and Chris Humphrey
Mexico City Handbook, (Emeryville, CA: Moon, 2000)
- Two exceptional writers have combined talents in showcasing the most popular as well as some of the more lesser-known, eclectic destinations the Distrito Federal has to offer. Mexican photographers Pablo Monasterio Ortiz, Raul Ortega and Maritza Lopez contributed exceptional black and white photos that along with Bob Race's illustrations complement the text. Sideboxes examine environmental issues and even city websites. Travelers will find the book is not limited to the megalopolis, but it also profiles nearby destinations, including Valle de Bravo, Puebla and Taxco. Highly recommended.

Bruce and June Conord
Adventure Guide to the Yucatan, Edison, New Jersey: Hunter Publishing, 2000
- Second edition of a highly-recommended guidebook to this fascinating corner of Mexico, a region which the authors describe as "a big hitch-hiking thumb." Their interest and hard work has paid off in both editions. The book is loaded with hotel and transportation info, great maps and interesting art work. Eco travelers will love this guidebook. The Conords provide full details on kayaking, hiking, rappelling, and camping in the region. They also feature more out-of-the-way attractions such as natural cenotes, ancient ruins and colonial towns. Of special note -- this is the first guidebook to feature a section on colonial era hacienda hotels , including both luxurious hotels and working haciendas where readers can experience authentic Yucatecan living in fine accommodations that are also economically priced. Indigenous artists in Maya villages are also profiled. As if all this weren't enough, the second edition includes a "Top 20" feature of things to do and see in the Yucatan. By far, this is the most comprehensive guidebook to the region.

Yossi Brain
Ecuador: A Climbing Guide, (Mountaineers, 2000)
- All twenty of the country's major peaks, half more than 5,000 meters high, all of them taller than 4,000 meters (13,124 feet) are described in detail in this terrific book. The country has two climbing seasons -- June through August and December through Feburary, but the author also includes information on local climbing available throughout the year. Excellent!

Yossi Brain
Bolivia: A Climbing Guide, (Seattle: The Mountaineers, 1999)
- Before his death in 1999, the author was a professional mountain guide and adventure traveler based in La Paz. A colleague and friend wrote: "His books are the best that have been written about Bolivia's trekking and climbing in decades." In this useful book Brain provides a number of choices of where to climb, including new and lesser-known routes in the cordilleras--Real, Apolobamba, Quimsa Cruz, and Occidental.

Yossi Brain
Trekking in Bolivia: A Traveler's Guide, (Seattle: The Mountaineers, 1999)
- The first trekking guide devoted solely to Bolivia, this fact-filled book will please travelers. It includes expert advice on where to buy and hire gear and services.

Chris Humphrey
Moon Handbooks: Honduras, (Chico, CA: Moon Publications, 2000)
- This second edition by Humphrey revises the nuts-and-bolts information about traveling in Honduras and provides an entertaining read for anyone heading to this Central American country. This guidebook has great details about Celaque National Park, the petroglyphs of El Sauce and even an analysis of the country's maquiladoras. Honduras seems to have it all -- Caribbean beaches, coral reefs, ancient Maya ruins, colonial villages, and virgin forests -- but it takes a good guidebook to get you there. Independent travelers will relish this book.
Planeta.com Exclusive: Conversation with Chris Humphrey
Excerpt: Parque Nacional Montana de Celaque

John Noble
Mexico City, Berkeley: Lonely Planet, 2000
- Brand new second edition of this street-smart, city-specific guide. John Noble knows the DF and provides some great hints for trips in the world's largest city. He also provide handy information about excursions to areas outside the metropolitican district. The book expands on the chapter from Lonely Planet's Mexico guidebook.

John Noble, Michelle Matter, Nancy Keller, Daniel C. Schecter, James Lyon and Scott Doggett
Mexico, (Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet, 2000)
- The seventh edition of this guidebook is better than ever. One of the most popular country guides, this book provides detailed information for readers who want to visit destinations beyond the tourism resorts. It includes up-to-date information on Mexico's national parks and reserves. A plus -- it features a 24-page handicrafts section and 161 detailed maps. It's hard to get lost if you have this book!

Frank Franklin, Louise Bostock Lang, managing editors
Eyewitness Travel Guides: Mexico, (New York: DK Publishing Guides, 2000)
- Excellent! Finally a guidebook that makes visual identification and explanation its goal. Hundreds of color photographs illustrate the book. There are 3-D aerial-view layouts of towns and ancient sites, cutaways and floor plans for churches and pyramids. Sections include Mexican Muralists, Paseo de la Reforma, El Tajin and Antojitos (Appetizers), among many others.

Alfonso Silva Lee
Natural Puerto Rico, (Saint Paul, Minn: Pangaea Press, 1998)
- Bilingual natural history guide to the island, home to thousands of different animals and plants. The author traces the origins of the island and explains how the island became populated. Vivid photos complement the text.

Alfonso Silva Lee
Natural Cuba, (Saint Paul, Minn: Pangaea Press, 1997)
- Bilingual natural history guide to the island. The author dived the seas of his native Cuba as an ichhtyologist and the book displays both terrestrial and marine life. Vivid photos accompany the text.

Marcelo D. Beccaceci
Natural Patagonia, (Saint Paul, Minn: Pangaea Press, 1998)
- Poetic and scientific languages mix in this bilingual natural history guide. The author introduces the landscape: "In the midst of its imposing mountains, in its desolate steppe and all along its solitary coasts, one can 'hear' continuously the silence of what is eternal." Vivid photos accompany the text.

Conley K. McMullen
Flowering Plants of the Galapagos, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999)
- A wonderful book for botanists or any traveler heading to the Galapagos. It covers 436 flowering plants and provides photos of more than half. It also introduces the botanical history of the islands and their varied ecological zones. Its boasts clear text and some exceptional pictures.

David Engwicht
Street Reclaiming, (Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 1999)
- A favorite! If five of these ideas could be implemented in large cities -- say Mexico City -- we would notice a ratical change in behavior, simply because the author infuses his work with creative, inspiring and imaginative ideas.
Planeta.com Review

Bernd Wursig, Thomas Jefferson and David Schmidly
The Marine Mammals of the Gulf of Mexico, (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2000)
- Well-written and highly recommended reference volume. This book describes the marine life of the Gulf with numerous color photos and paintings by artist Larry Foster. A set of drawings of the skulls of Gulf species allow readers who find beached animals to identify the animal. This is a key text to anyone working on rescue and recover operations and it discusses the environmental problems of the Gulf as they affect marine mammals.
Planeta.com Review

Susan Stonich
The Other Side of Paradise, (New York Cognizant Communication, 2000)
- One of the best academic books of the year, The Other Side of Paradise reviews tourism, conservation and development in the Bay Islands. The author has focused on tourism and development for many years and this volume is a well-written synthesis of her findings. She explores the historical legacy of the Bay Islands and the expansion of the international tourism market. All is not well in Paradise as she documents the negative impacts on the communities and the local ecosystems. Maps, black and white photos and illustrations complement the text.
Book Page: http://www.cognizantcommunication.com/filecabinet/osp.htm#osphome

Christopher Shaw
Sacred Monkey River, (Norton, 2000)
- Subtitled "A Canoe Trip with the Gods," this remarkable books traces the author's trips running the great Usumacinta River on the border of Guatemala and Mexico. He paints a remarkable portrait of the river and its watershed in an account that combines the best of travel literature and environmental reporting.

Gene Kira
The Unforgettable Sea of Cortez, (Cortez Publications, 2000)
- The California Outdoor Writers Association awarded the title "best book of the year." It's easy to see why. Kira pays homage to Ray Cannon, who wrote the bestseller The Sea of Cortez which documented the "Golden Age" for Baja. No one could have written a better tribute than Kira, a Baja afficionado whose enthusiasm and affection for the peninsula can be detected on every page. Rare photos and drawings complement the text. This is a beautiful book!
Author Website: http://www.bajadestinations.com/aboutgene/aboutgene.htm

Lawrence A. Herzog
From Aztec to High Tech, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 2000)
- Subtitled "Architecture and Landscape across the Mexico-United States Border, this book is tour-de-force that gives visual explanations of the great changes at the heart of the US/Mexico Borderlands. The book is expertly illustrated with maps and black-and-white photos, but the majority is space has been crafted by the author. It's a wonderful medley of observations, historical anecdotes and interviews with the architects themselves. Highly recommended.

Bruce Geddes
World Food Mexico, (Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet, 2000)
- This is more than a simple guide to the food and drink of Mexico. It also reviews regional cuisines and provides a pocket encyclopedia -- with photos!

Wade Davis
Shadows in the Sun, (New York: Broadway Books, 1999)
- Well-written and engaging series of travel essays, examining indigenous cultures around the world -- including the nomadic Penen of Melaysia and the Vodoun practioners of Haiti. Davis describes the role of medicinal plants and describes pockets of biodiversity, many of which are threatened. This book is a jewel. Excellent!
Publisher's website: http://www.randomhouse.com

Jane Bennett
Watching Wildlife: Australia, (Berkeley: Lonely Planet,2000)
- This the first book in a new series designed to provide an activity guide to the top wildlife-watching destinations in the country. Australia boasts the tropical wetlands of Kakadu to the desert landscapes of the Centre. The book includes full color maps of parks and protected areas and a stunning wildlife gallery. If you're headed to Australia, you'll love this book.

Silvio Waisbord
Watchdog Journalism in South America, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000)
- Subtitled "News, Accountability and Democracy" the book is organized in three sections. The first deals with the factors behind the current surge in watchdog journalism. Part two looks at how journalistic principles drive the interest of some news media in publishing exposes and how they shape the "thematic agenda of contemporary muckraking." Finally, Waisbord examines the consequences of muckraking for the quality of contemporary South American democracies."
Planeta.com Review

Peter Winn
Americas: The Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999)
- A must-read for anyone interested in Latin America, this book is a new edition of a companion volume to a PBS series. It is well-written, well-documented and amply-illustrated.

David Lira
Travel Advisory : Stories of Mexico, (New York: William Morrow & Co., 2000)
- It's hard to believe this is the author's first collection of short stories. The prose is composed by a pro who knows Mexico inside out. Lida weaves together dark tales of witches, run-aways, maids, travel writers and exploitative tourists. To choose a favorite story is an impossible task. The entire collection shines.
Related Article: Visiting the Witches of Veracruz - David Lida

Ron Morton and Carl Cawboy
Talking Rocks, (Deluth, Minnesota: Pfeifer-Hamilton, 2000)
- Subtitled "Geology and 10,000 Years of Native American Tradition in the Lake Superior Region, this book is a fictionalized dialogue between a Native American elder and a geologist. In telling the shared history of the region, the two men discover many commonalties between science and religion. This is a creative and spell-binding tale.
Publisher's Book Page: http://www.phpublisher.com

Anita Endrezze
Throwing fire at the Sun, water at the Moon, (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2000)
- Endrezze weaves prose and poetry in an ecclectic tome that blurs the stories of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Coyote Woman. The author tells the story of her family -- a Yaqui father and a European mother and through Aztec and Yaqui creation stories, she weaves stories of her own family history. She writes: "The faces of my ancestors are both luminous and shadowy. I'm standing in a long line, holding the memory of their hands." Highly recommended.

Adventure Guide to the Yucatan
Adventures in Nature Honduras
Adventures in Nature Mexico
Belize & Northern Guatemala
Composting Toilet System Book
Costa Rica: The Ecotravellers' Guide
Costa Rica's National Parks
Explore Costa Rica
Green Dreams: Travels in Central America
Homegrown Healing : Traditional Home Remedies
Let's Go 2000 Mexico
Moon Handbooks: Ecuador
Moon Handbooks: Mexico City
Moon Handbooks: Northern Mexico
Moon Handbooks: Pacific Mexico
Nicaragua Travel Map
Open Space Technology : A User's Guide
Que Vivan Los Tamales : Food in Mexico
Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel
The Alchemist
The Coffee Book: Anatomy of an Industry
The New Key to Costa Rica
The Other Side of Paradise : Tourism in the Bay Islands
Tropical Mexico: The Ecotravellers' Guide

Recent Planeta.com Book Reviews

Ron Mader lives in Mexico City and travels frequently throughout the Americas. He hosts the award-winning Planeta.com: Eco Travels in the Americas website -- http://www.planeta.com -- and is the author of the Mexico: Adventures in Nature guidebook and the Exploring Ecotourism in the Americas resource guide.

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