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The Absolutely Useless Guide to... Travel
This book is a comedic parody of the average travel guide. From a college student’s blog about their gap year in Bangkok to a young man's adventure with Egyptian mummies; we try to cover all subgenres of travel guides.
From Rome to Toyko, New York to London, this book covers 13 of the biggest cities around the world. Each are written from a unique perspective and, more importantly, are absolutely useless.
This book is an easy, funny read. This book is not to be taken too seriously and it’s aim is to show just how awful some travel guides can be.
From Rome to Toyko, New York to London, this book covers 13 of the biggest cities around the world. Each are written from a unique perspective and, more importantly, are absolutely useless.
This book is an easy, funny read. This book is not to be taken too seriously and it’s aim is to show just how awful some travel guides can be.
78 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 10, 2019
4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 15, 2019
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The Absolutely Useless Guide to… Travel is a parody of travel guides that try to use personal stories to illustrate the culture or sights of a new country – often failing miserably. Sean Dalton, Sean Kelly, and David O'Rourke are very witty guys and I imagine would keep a crowd entertained for ages, but in terms of writing a book that delivered something worthwhile, I don’t think they achieved it. One statement they made, was that they were trying to illustrate how awful some travel guides can be, but their way to demonstrate that is to write an awful travel guide. The guys are travel bloggers and I’d suggest following them because they have a comedic turn of phrase that is clever and entertaining.
There is a lot of sarcastic wit and with each of 12 worldwide cities, the authors alternate in telling a story associated with that country, mainly heading off in unexpected and irrational tangents. To suggest they have taken a trip, you wouldn’t be wrong, but I just question how many of those trips were chemically facilitated.
The tales followed the lines of fantasy such as getting a tour of Dublin from William of Orange, insulting the Queen of England and being taken to the Tower of London, meeting the Pope in Rome and Putin in Moscow. The last two could be possible, but by this stage, I don’t know what parts could be real or imagined, and worse still, I don’t care.
There are a few insider jokes or innuendos that would fly over many people’s heads, for example, the never-ending building of the National Children's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, has become a national scandal with the amounts of money invested at the detriment of healthcare needs around the country. As a patient in a luxurious hospital in Cairo the author reflected
I really wanted to love this book and I know I laughed often but overall I just missed the point. It reminds me of the danger of being so funny in your own head that you forget to take the listener with you. Some will find it uniquely hilarious and I do hope they enjoy it but it just wasn’t for me.
I would like to thank Sean Kelly for providing me with an electronic version of their book in return for an honest review.
The Absolutely Useless Guide to… Travel is a parody of travel guides that try to use personal stories to illustrate the culture or sights of a new country – often failing miserably. Sean Dalton, Sean Kelly, and David O'Rourke are very witty guys and I imagine would keep a crowd entertained for ages, but in terms of writing a book that delivered something worthwhile, I don’t think they achieved it. One statement they made, was that they were trying to illustrate how awful some travel guides can be, but their way to demonstrate that is to write an awful travel guide. The guys are travel bloggers and I’d suggest following them because they have a comedic turn of phrase that is clever and entertaining.
There is a lot of sarcastic wit and with each of 12 worldwide cities, the authors alternate in telling a story associated with that country, mainly heading off in unexpected and irrational tangents. To suggest they have taken a trip, you wouldn’t be wrong, but I just question how many of those trips were chemically facilitated.
The tales followed the lines of fantasy such as getting a tour of Dublin from William of Orange, insulting the Queen of England and being taken to the Tower of London, meeting the Pope in Rome and Putin in Moscow. The last two could be possible, but by this stage, I don’t know what parts could be real or imagined, and worse still, I don’t care.
There are a few insider jokes or innuendos that would fly over many people’s heads, for example, the never-ending building of the National Children's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, has become a national scandal with the amounts of money invested at the detriment of healthcare needs around the country. As a patient in a luxurious hospital in Cairo the author reflected
“It looked like millions were spent to build this hospital, but hey… It’s better than spending billions on no hospital. It would be worse if that no hospital was for children too. Luckily, that kind of situation is unimaginable.”
I really wanted to love this book and I know I laughed often but overall I just missed the point. It reminds me of the danger of being so funny in your own head that you forget to take the listener with you. Some will find it uniquely hilarious and I do hope they enjoy it but it just wasn’t for me.
I would like to thank Sean Kelly for providing me with an electronic version of their book in return for an honest review.
November 15, 2019
I've never heard of Sean Dalton, Sean Kelly, and David O'Rourke. Have you? Well, you should if you're looking to travel. Or at least feel like you've traveled the world with people of great...well, culture isn't the correct word for it. Perhaps, sophistication isn't a word to describe their travels either. Nope. The reader needs to bring a sense of humor, enthusiasm for adventure, and prepare for traveling mishaps.
Travel Tidbits from the book:
1. When going to Vegas, you need to bring a friend like Josh. Perhaps, leave Tommy at home until he feels better.
2. Crocodile Dundee wasn't given appropriate respect during the Australian trip. What the heck? Fix that for the next book.
3. Try saying this 5x as fast as you can: “Goomba Roomba Rumpatity Do" and get back to me.
4. I have no desire to visit a city with 1,000 rats. Where were they? No, they weren't in NYC.
Overall, it was an easy and fun read. You'll laugh and shake your head at their adventures and wish they'd invite you for their next trip. This type of book isn't my usual reading preference, but I'm thoroughly glad that I read it. You will be too!! Read it!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Travel Tidbits from the book:
1. When going to Vegas, you need to bring a friend like Josh. Perhaps, leave Tommy at home until he feels better.
2. Crocodile Dundee wasn't given appropriate respect during the Australian trip. What the heck? Fix that for the next book.
3. Try saying this 5x as fast as you can: “Goomba Roomba Rumpatity Do" and get back to me.
4. I have no desire to visit a city with 1,000 rats. Where were they? No, they weren't in NYC.
Overall, it was an easy and fun read. You'll laugh and shake your head at their adventures and wish they'd invite you for their next trip. This type of book isn't my usual reading preference, but I'm thoroughly glad that I read it. You will be too!! Read it!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
November 12, 2019
This book does exactly what it promises. It is a parody on travel guides and it definitely shows how stupid some of them can be. I could not understand why someone would want a book that is absolutely useless. It is definitely useful for a laugh.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
November 11, 2019
Some quite funny bits but generally I wasn't overly impressed.
I received a copy from Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a copy from Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews