Lonely Planet's Ultimate Experiences for a Lifetime (Lonely Planet General Reference) [Paperback]

Here we have another coffee table book from the popular 'Lonely Planet' team. Don't be fooled by the book's title, this is not a list of 1000 crazy-ass experiences for adrenaline-junkie maniacs looking for their next adventurous hit. Ok, so you've got some of that in there with the likes of the top ten 'biggest adrenaline rushes'. Instead, what we have here is a basic overview of experiences to be had from around the world. No matter what you want out of travelling, this book will have a chapter suiting your needs, giving inspiring details on what they class as the `top ten' places to experience it.

So, whether you're looking for awesome treks, top works of engineering genius, riskiest travel pursuits, the best places for a cuppa, the best places to experience music, the top ten places to go skinny-dipping or the world's strangest festivals; this book really does offer up a lot of suggestions for places to visit.

And that's the book in a nutshell. It's really just there to inspire and offer up initial suggestions. This is certainly not the book to plan a holiday with, or a in-depth guide to the various destinations of the world. This book comes before them. If you fancy just sitting back and skimming through a litany of various different experiences on offer throughout the world, then this is ideal.

The book is also intriguing to look up various places that you know that you'll be visiting (or indeed where you already live) to see what experiences the 'lonely planet' guide thinks that particular destination stands out from the crowd with (Wales had five `hits' - Best Cheap Sleeps, Best Spiritual Sleeps, Best British Regional Food, 2 x Finest Walks In The UK). England however is broken down into the various cities, each one having one or two mentions apart from London, which as you would expect, somewhat dominates the listings with a total of sixteen `hits'.

Within each one of the ninety-eight different sections, the book gives the top ten places for that particular experience, with a brief (4 - 5 sentences) explanation of what's on offer. Don't expect a detailed run-down on the experience or anything, these listings with corresponding information should merely be taken as a brief overview of what and where it is, which if you're interested in going to, you should explore and investigate some more.

The book is presented in a small, almost A5, sized softback containing numerous full colour photographs squashed somewhat into each page throughout the entirety of the book. Apart from the listings (which on average take up four full pages per section), the book doesn't really offer up anything more; just an uber-brief forward by Tony Wheeler (The Lonely Planet Founder) and an 'Ultimate Itinerary' if you were planning on travelling the world but needed complete direction and inspiration as to where to go!!!

Although the book is quite simplistic with its basic overviews, it does allow for a vast array of imagination to be employed into the experiences it details. Ok, so some are very sensible (Best Family Holiday Destinations) whilst some are not so sensible (Strangest Museums), but as a book to flick through on an already planned holiday, this is a nice little added extra that could enhance your holiday that little bit more.

It's not great, it's certainly not in-depth, but it's a fun little guide for flicking through or for seeing what's on offer where you'll be visiting soon. It's also an ideal book for anyone planning on backpacking around the world for a while!

This is an amazing book! It is ideal for people who love travelling, love adventures or just want to read about different experiences someone can have in various countries of the world. This book covers many faces of adventure, for example is describes the best road trips you can have, the best train journeys you can make and many more. I just love it!

This book is great for sparking ideas - just leafing through is enough to get the pulse racing. And that's about it - great for inspiration and gauging what types of places you want to visit, or adventure to have, or pilgrimages you want to make, but necessarily poor on follow through - since it's covering so much subject matter. You won't be able to plan from this, or learn much more than a sound bite paragraph can give you.

As others have said its size and format means that it's not got full coffee table, photograph gazing potential. But it's pretty enough to excite and inspire and get you list making and that's what it's for I think, and very nice it is too.