Would you BUY or PASS? 1,000 Places to See Before You Die #FridayFiveChallenge #NonFiction #Travel

Welcome to the ‘Friday Five Challenge.’

Would you BUY or PASS if you had only a thumbnail image and five minutes to decide?

Welcome to the #FridayFiveChallenge.  The original idea comes from Rosie Amber, and you can join up at https://rosieamber.wordpress.com

The rules are laid out at the end of this post if you fancy having a go.

Here is my contribution for this week:

I was running a workshop yesterday for a Leamington Spa networking group and on the drive over I spotted the sign for Kenilworth.  Visiting Kenilworth Castle has been on my to-do list for ages and so I used this as inspiration for my search theme.  I entered ‘Kenilworth Castle’ in Amazon’s search bar and was randomly drawn to this:

1,000 Places To See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz

Blurb:

Discerning world traveller Patricia Schultz hand picks the 1,000 most astonishing destinations in the world and brings them to life in lively, evocative prose that reveals why the place is so wonderful. Best time information and the essential contact information will help you get there.

What’s different about the new edition? Every entry has been reviewed and assessed to make sure it’s still worthy of inclusion in the book, then re-written 200 all-new entries. It features 25 countries that were not included before, including Qatar, Greenland, South Korea, Estonia, and the Maldives. It has a greater variety of hotel and restaurant choices, including more budget-conscious options. 

My Analysis:

Cover – As you may expect, searching for Kenilworth Castle brought up some books with turrets or Elizabethan gardens on the cover, but I wasn’t drawn to any of these.  The next page included Conn Iggulden’s War of the Roses – something my dad would enjoy, but it’s not for me.  Then I spotted 1,000 Places to See before You Die.  As non-fiction titles go, this is a pretty catchy hook.  The cover isn’t anything flashy, but it did stand out from the crowd, and I could clearly read the typography at thumbnail size.

The book blurb – As my search term was ‘Kenilworth Castle’ I am expecting to see this historical landmark featured inside.  I took advantage of the ‘look inside’ feature, and sure enough, Kenilworth Castle appears on page 29 along with Warwick Castle.  A tick in the box for matching my search criteria.  The book is beautifully laid out with 1,000 places of interest from across the globe.  There is a mass of information on each area, including closest city to a specific landmark, visitor info, where to stay, and costs.  Plenty of material available when you are planning your bucket list!

The Stats – There are 1200 pages, and the Kindle price is £6.17 (paperback is £10.49).  There are 45 reviews on Amazon.co.uk, 40 of these are four and five stars.  There are 239 reviews on Amazon.com, 81% of these are four and five stars.  Here is an example of a three-star review:

A great idea. It has a fair section on the UK as well as the rest of the world. My main gripe is that it is very wordy and the pictures are somewhat limited. So, if you’re doing serious research, this may be a useful addition to your library. If you want a coffee table book, look elsewhere.

BUY or PASS? – I have to agree with the reviewer, if I wanted to do some serious research on these historical places of interest, then this book would be a good find.  For a quick reference guide it’s over my budget (I also prefer a hard copy of non-fiction books).  It would make a lovely gift for an intrepid explorer, but I don’t think it would suit me, so it’s a PASS from me.

1,000 Places To See Before You Die – buy your copy.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Take a look at who else has taken part in the Friday Five Challenge:

Rosie finds a WW2 book.

Barb searches for a witchy book with a magical result.

Cathy takes a look at debut novels.

What is the Friday Five Challenge?

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions on small postage stamp size book covers (thumbnails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

The Challenge is this… IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES…

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description of this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)