Though I use LP books alot. i only use them in a very loose sense, reading through the country info about banks currency, shop times etc. ocassionally looking for some idea's of things to do and see ( often this is done in the book shop at lunch time I don't march around with my nose stuck in the book following the legion of travel sheep. As i think this spoils part of the "essence of travel" for me anyway. removing the random element which mkes travel so brillant.

and here's another reason why......


Lonely Planet writer says he made up part of books Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:29pm EDT
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - An author for the Lonely Planet travel guidebook series has claimed that he plagiarized and made up large sections of his books, an Australian newspaper reported on Sunday.
Author Thomas Kohnstamm told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper he had worked on more than a dozen books for Lonely Planet, including their titles on Brazil, Colombia, the Caribbean, South America, Venezuela and Chile.
The Lonely Planet guidebooks sell more than six million copies a year.
The Sunday Telegraph said Kohnstamm also claims in his new book "Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?" that he accepted free travel, contravening company policy.
He said in one case he had not even visited the country he wrote about.
"They didn't pay me enough to go to Colombia. I wrote the book in San Francisco. I got the information from a chick I was dating -- an intern at the Colombian consulate," the newspaper quoted Kohnstamm as saying.
Lonely Planet said it had reviewed Kohnstamm's guidebooks but had not found any inaccuracies in them, the Sunday Telegraph said.

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'99 R1100GS - In a suitable shade of black

It's not that life is so short, It's just that we're dead for so long....
"The world is a book, those who do not travel read only one page." ~ Saint Augustin

That's pretty funny - the LP to Iran reads like someone did something on the same lines.

Talking to hoteliers in Guatemala I found similar things about the guide book author. The local guide book contact - the source for all detail to the region - was the owner of four hostels and various tourist initiatives. Guess which author got to eat and stay for free? Guess whose hotels were recommended in first, second, third and fourth places?

LP is a victim of its own popularity. There's a story about a street in Thailand where every hotel has the same name, after the original that was recommended in the LP. A whole street of Golden Palace hotels.

Information in Guide Books is invariably several years old (add together the time of research, writing, publishing, sitting on shelf). Once name-checked owners can confidently let standards fall. Trade is guaranteed, while they put their energies into something better.

In general I found it was best to head for the newest budget place in town - they are keen for your trade, they are pricing low, the plumbing hasn't failed yet, and the first enthusiastic flush of enterprise is still in bloom.

All that said, I found the Rough Guide to Pakistan absolutely brilliant. Mostly it depends on the author, rather than the brand.

Simon

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Simon Kennedy
Around the world 2000-2004, on a 1993 Honda Transalp

I've stopped buying Lovely Planet guidebooks after finding several innacuracies in several books. I also find the writing irritatingly smug and self congratulatory. I mean, those little biogs at the start...shudder.

Matt

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http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

In my backpacking days in South America I travelled with a friend, he was carrying the LP of SA and I was carrying the Footprint. After a week or so we put away the LP because it was rubbish compared to the Footprint! Incomplete, incorrect, to heavy and of poor quality and there were too many " its dangerous, its ugly, its not worth going, don't go there, etc". We even met a couple of girls who were so fed up with the wrong info of the LP, that they were sending hate mails to them. Yes they are truly a victim of their own success and now seem to market the fat bellied American with striped trousers i.s.o. the adventurous young traveller.

Ever since I only buy the LP's if there's really nothing else available.

Cheers,

Noel
exploreafrica.web-log.nl

I used them for a long while. But as I travelled to more and more places I became annoyed at the inaccuracies. As new editions came out and I went back to a lot of the same countries I noticed that there seemed very little changes, a lot of whichever new edition seemed to be just cut and pasted from the previous one or two.

There also got to be more and more top end stuff mentioned that I couldn't afford (hotels, restaurants), even though the book stated it was "good value for money". Not for me it wasn't, too bloody expensive.

I also went off a lot of the style of writing and opinions, I thought it was me changing, obviously not.

A German biker named Stefan who I met in Sulawesi put it this way: "Things change, but the Lonely Liar doesn't"
All the bad places I went to in SEA was recommended in Lonely Planet and the great places was rarely mentioned.

LP sells there books by the tone, made for the genral public who wont go more than mile from there resort unless its on tour bus on there week stay. They pay authors to do wright ups on there trip because LP likes the way they wright not on the trip or facts.

LP once was written by a few travelers who really did camp and stay at the nasty little hotels and hostels while they backpack RTW. They were books made for the broke collage kids seeing the world now there made for the same people but there not broke or kids. LP never did wright ups on 5 star hotels now they stay in them more than not.

Riding and camping around the USA I used LP and Moon there books are good for pointing out the most obvious places and most of the towns. Dont use them to find a place to eat or stay. There info is out dated and wrong I used it once to find a camp ground said it was grate place, it was not its in a swamp they allow horses. A smelly swamp filled with RVs the size of my house, generators running, mozys, biting flies, screaming "rich" kids and there even less well behaved drunk parents. I left stayed a little campground on the beach.

Some are giving LP a brake by saying its from there success. I dont they are rakeing in cash for crap work been doing it for some time. LP is from Australia so it gose to reason there for the fat bellied Australia. LP was a grate idea gust like many others chased the cash. A money makeing publisher Lonely Planet | Travel guides, advice, tips and information

All that being said I have lots of LP and Moon books there a source of information that is foolish to ignore not the trusted or useful books once thought. More of an overview or a vacation review. That and I get them for $2 used .

Maybe we can start something. See thread Accommodation list for South America dowwnloadable

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Stagbeetle

It is not the Journey nor yet the Destination, that is the Prize; it is the people you meet on the way.

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