Amazon (Bradt Travel Guides) [Paperback]

The authors' challenge was to encapsulate an area three-quarters the size of the continental United States in a handy book. A task in which I think they succeed. The book in four sections. The first orientates us with an overview across the entire vast region. You will find: a brief history, getting there, what to take, descriptions of the people, sleeping and eating, climate, river regimes, planning an expedition and such like. For most travellers, the tropical forest will be an alien environment, so specific attention is given to health and personal safety - a topic that crops up in down-to-earth detail throughout the book. When snakes are mentioned for instance, you'll find advice on recognising those that are poisonous - and what to do if in the rare event you are bitten. And of infamous piranha we read with relief that their "attacks have injured people, but records show not one fatality."

Whereas the typical guide might describe the architecture and art, the next section enables the traveller, be it by river-boat and canoe, by trail-walking or by road, to grasp the detail of the forest's architecture, the 150ft high trees and the surrounding super-abundant natural art. You can marvel at nature's beauty - the orchids, flowers, ferns, floating meadows, and all manner of lianas and vines. And that's just the flavour of the flora. There is also a guide to the fauna - the animals of the canopy and forest floor, the birds like parrots, toucans, hummingbirds, plus a host of other exotic avian creatures. With the rivers so ubiquitous you are helped to identify reptiles, amphibians and the fabulous fishes. Most of the common insects are covered too.

Tucked away for the traveller to find are the forest's human inhabitants - so there is also information about these more ancient folk who have evolved a way of life, a culture that has adapted them to hard task of living in the dense jungle.

But those journeying through the region will need to go through at least one of the Amazon countries. So the third part of the book consists of a series of mini-guides. These give all the basic data any visitor will need. For each of the eight nation-states (and colony of French Guiana) there are the essential facts and figures - including how to access Internet - as well as introductions to the major towns and cities: where to stay (first class, middle and budget), eateries and the like. Outline maps of the countries and larger scale street maps of the bigger towns and cities will help readers find their way around.

Being monolingual I particularly appreciated the short English-Spanish and English-Portuguese 'survival' glossaries (with pronunciation keys) and the list of books for further reading.

Did the writers meet the challenge? I think so. Wisely the authors included extracts from other travellers and experts - so the drawings, maps and colored photographs are interspersed with boxes and sections that help to present a more balanced view of what travelling and staying in this vast region might actually be like - warts and all.

There is a downside. While prices are given in US dollars and many distances given in miles alongside their kilometre equivalent, most other numeric information is given in the more scientifically correct metric system. Also perhaps, I would have welcomed a few more light-hearted anecdotes about the area. As a seasoned traveller with over 45 countries under my boots, this is the kind of guide I would want study thoroughly before I went. I would also want to keep the book with me in my back-pack or suitcase to help me relish the ever changing surroundings. It's the kind of guide that will make your time in the region safer - and so much more pleasurable, exciting, rewarding and memorable. Buy it. It will be an investment.