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4.5
Bolivia, named after Simon Bolivar, Latin America's greatest Liberator, is an undiscovered gem and David Atkinson's guide on Bolivia has a wealth of background information and his cultural, economic and ecological commentaries are excellent. Bolivia is one of the top ten nations in the world for bio-diversity and Bolivia is the home for 22 national parks and 60 protected areas - Atkinson's coverage of these areas is exemplary.David has a great descriptive writing style and the sidebars throughout the book are gems. He provides good background information on the standard "must visit" locations: La Paz, Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni, Santa Cruz, Rurenabaque, Lake Titicaca and Copacabana.However, if you are going to travel to more remote locations; or if you are going overland into Brazil; or if you seek to journey into the Bolivian Amazon then this guide falls short. No Coverage.Also the guide's "health" section is paltry and it skims over the health problems that you could encounter in Bolivia. The maps are sophomoric and the city maps are cluttered and difficult to use (however, this is true of all Bradt guides).Finally, this guide could have been a strong contender among Bolivia Guides, however Atkinson's accommodation and restaurant recommendations are dismal. Some of the properties I checked out were closed, and, I found far too many of the hotels/hostels listed in this guide to be hovels, dumps or worse. A guide MUST give it readers reliable and accurate recommendations.Though there is enough in this guide to make it a nice addition to another guide, if I had to buy just one guide, I would select "Lonely Planet: Bolivia 2007 (highly recommended - see my review). Conditionally recommended
