Lonely Planet Russia, Ukraine & Belarus by Ryan Ver BerkmoesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Disclosure:
I have got this edition of Lonely Planet as an evident to show the western intentions of the Eastern Europe or as they call "the House of Communism", but fortunately the Book was far from expectations.
Overview:
The Book is a sort of general Touristic presentation of the Russian heritage and Culture including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It took the Region with depiction from several sight, Cultural Heritage and Historical sights are the most dominant objects in this Book. Besides it depict the most common places in the Russian world, including addresses and telephone number of the Hotels, in addition to some demonstration to the most national symbol of Russian cuisine. Another point is that the book contains some key dialogue in Russian that could be used during the tourist trip, Including words that one have to use inside the restaurant or inside the Russian Tea Salon, How to order a drink. Anyway the book is intended to be a nice guide in this vague world of Culture.
Positive and Negative Aspects:
Most of the Information inside the Book are trustworthy, the design and the nature of Information are up to date, besides It contains some maps that could be useful during the trip in this region. the Russian Phrases used inside the book are so limited. Though I recommend a prior Russian knowledge rather than laying on the sentences used in the Book, because Russian has a vague number of accents. The accent used in the sentences is the standard one, and if the Tourist used it abnormally he would be seen as a stranger obviously. That's why I always recommend a close contact with the population rather than sticking on the "ready to take" source of Information.
My Personal Reaction:
I reveal that I am a "Russophile". Meaning, I love so much the Russian culture and I don't mind being one of them, but reading this book made me feel proud of the cultural heritage, the big change and the development that Russia has gave to this Region. I really feel my head high being a person who fall in love with these countries and these peoples who don't feel afraid of being loved as writers admire them. Back to the Book I would said that Lonely Planet was successful in getting much information and posing it in a civil manner for the "Persons" who want to feel devotion to this Russian world, but I guess that a lot of change had been made in Russia, that's why I Hope to review another updated version of this book.
Recommendations:
I would recommend this Book to all the person who get a certain love toward Russia and its culture. However I recommend people to get in touch with the population in order to get more cultural connection rather than staying as stranger. In addition I recommend people to have prior knowledge with the Cyrillic alphabets, because it is the main alphabets in most situations. But ultimately Tourist would get lucky because foreign languages became in use for the last decades. Just try to be a positive visitor and do not cause trouble.
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