Norway (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Snorre Evensberget

1 Beautiful pictures throughout the book
I am planning my trip to Norway this May and have found this book to be very useful. I have other reference books I have used but none of those have the format of this book. It is very easy to find information and I find the maps and pictures very helpful. I would recommend this book if you are planning a trip to Norway or just interested in learning more about the country.

2 Bad book, go to your room.
I enjoyed the Eyewitness Travel Guide for Istanbul, although I used the Blue Guide to fill in the many information gaps. However, where the ETG finds success when providing information for a city, it fails when trying to cover an entire country.

This book was almost completely uselss. The Oslo section only covers with any detail the immediate downtown section. The maps for greater Oslo are horrible. The tram and bus information is wrong.

Of couse my largest gripe is my own fault. I knew one skinny book would leave way to much out.

One area the book got right, an area that every single other ETG has gotten wrong, was the food area. Handing the book around to Norwegians on the train brought more than a few, "Yes, that is what I normally eat."

Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife - chopping off what's
incomplete and saying: "Now it's complete because it's ended here."
-- Muad'dib, "Dune"

A MODERN FABLE

Aesop's fables and other traditional children's stories involve allegory
far too subtle for the youth of today. Children need an updated message
with contemporary circumstance and plot line, and short enough to suit
today's minute attention span.

The Troubled Aardvark

Once upon a time, there was an aardvark whose only pleasure in life was
driving from his suburban bungalow to his job at a large brokerage house
in his brand new 4x4. He hated his manipulative boss, his conniving and
unethical co-workers, his greedy wife, and his snivelling, spoiled
children. One day, the aardvark reflected on the meaning of his life and
his career and on the unchecked, catastrophic decline of his nation, its
pathetic excuse for leadership, and the complete ineffectiveness of any
personal effort he could make to change the status quo. Overcome by a
wave of utter depression and self-doubt, he decided to take the only
course of action that would bring him greater comfort and happiness: he
drove to the mall and bought imported consumer electronics goods.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Invest in foreign consumer electronics manufacturers.
-- Tom Annau