The Islands Book

by Lonely Planet

Islands have long been a source of fascination for travellers and there's an endless variety to explore: from storm-battered Faroes to the sort of tropical islands where long-gone pirates may have buried their treasure hauls. 

Following a similar format to Lonely Planet's iconic pictorial The Travel Book, The Islands Book presents 150 of the world's most unique and enchanting islands. All are notable for their history, wildlife or cultural qualities, and have been selected according to how unique and fascinating they are.

All island profiles feature: 

• An overview of the island's backstory; 
• Beautiful photography that provides an insight into life on the island; 
• Large-scale detailed maps that highlight the island's top 5 points of interest, from landmarks to volcanoes, beaches and wildlife;
• Practical information so that you can plan your visit;
• Bespoke illustrations; 
• Featuring stunning cover artwork by Taiwanese illustrator, Whooli Chen, and presented in a premium hardcover format, The Islands Book provides endless ideas for future seaside escapes and makes an inspirational gift for a special traveller in your life. 

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and phrasebooks for 120 languages, and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, videos, 14 languages, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more, enabling you to explore every day. 

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' —The New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' —Fairfax Media (Australia)

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Published December 27, 2022

About the author

OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

Reviews

[Kelly {SpaceOnTheBookcase] · Rating 5 out of 5]

With over 600 photographs, illustrations and maps featuring 150 islands, The Islands Book was exciting to read though!

Thank you so much Lonely Planet for gifting me a copy to review!

[Tilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

This beautiful big book is spread out into 5 sections of: Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Each section then has between 40 and 80 different Islands featured that have a double page spread.

Each Island has a detailed map, photographs of the island and items or wildlife linked to it and even the odd illustration too. The photos and illustrations are great and sum up the island really well in a visual way.
The information gives a good overview of the island as well as a section on interesting things such as myths, specific sites and interesting objects.
There is a section called "X marks the spot" that links to the map and tells more information about a handful of specific areas and places of interest.
The information is really well thought out and interesting to read. I found it very unique to each place which was fantastic and gave a really good overview.

I do wish that there was a zoomed out mini map to show the island in relation to the closest country/continent to give a better idea of where each one is.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this book and think it is a fantastic gift and read for anyone that loves to travel. I have come away with SO many new places I want to visit, it would simply be impossible not to!! It really showcases islands that you wouldn't know or have thought about when planning a trip/holiday. I couldn't recommend it more!

Please note that I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Jane Riordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember that slight lightbulb moment when, looking back over holiday choices for the past few years, I realised that we naturally gravitated towards islands; they just seem to have a different vibe to land based locations and the local population tend to be a closer community, often out of necessity.

This book is beautiful, a real treasure of a read and lovely to dip into.

That said, it really isn't a travel guide as such and I don't think it purports to be, but it gives a taster of many of the little gems around the world, grouped by region.

Each page gives a little bit of history and statistics about the island in question, suggestions as to what to see and do and lots of lovely colour photos.

[Ginger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely devoured this book, I bought it at my local bookshop with a gift voucher. My bucket list has been extended by about 50 more locations after reading this book. The pictures and cultural references thoroughly entertained me. I loved seeing the places I have been fortunate enough to visit. I can not recommend this book highly enough. My preconceptions of some countries are completely irrelevant, and I plan on expanding my travel palate after seeing and reading about all the exquisite things to do in South America (especially keen to visit Brazil).

TLDR: more than just another gnarly book by Lonely Planet, amazing way to add exquisite locations to bucket lists and travel plans!

[Booksandcoffeemx · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love to travel and these books are perfect guidebooks to plan a perfect adventure.

Thank you Sabrina Dax Hachette Book Group and Lonely Planet for these awesome books!

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