European Travel With an Intellectual Framework

THE SCIENTIFIC TRAVELER: A Guide to the People, Places & Institutions of Europe by Charles Tanford and Jacqueline Reynolds (John Wiley & Sons, $16.95 paper).

Four or five hundred years ago, nobody traveled for pleasure. People took trips to get something done--sell a cow, fight a war, avoid a plague. In the 16th Century, a different kind of travel started to develop--travel for its own sake, as a source of enlightment and of greater knowledge of the physical world. People began to travel to improve themselves, in other words. Today, of course, we still travel for business (and for war). But our non-essential travel tends to be pretty flaccid stuff intellectually. We go places just to go--to see the sites or to relax (or play) in an unfamiliar atmosphere.

For anyone who seeks to introduce a bit more rigor into his or her travels, to give at least a loosely intellectual framework to the old itinerary, The Scientific Traveler offers plenty of guidance. Authors Tanford and Reynolds, both former professors at Duke University and former Guggenheim fellows, have assembled a readable, not particularly technical catalogue of places throughout Europe related to scientific discovery. This includes the birthplaces and workplaces of great scientists, museums with a scientific bent, great universities and more. Historical and biographical sketches abound, providing context. Using this book, the traveler could easily plan a fascinating, varied European journey (luckily, many important scientific events occurred in such places as Paris, London and Florence, so there’s be no need to miss the usual stops)--and learn a little of what probably ought to be common knowledge about the sciences in the process.

As to the obvious question of why they restrict themselves to Europe, incidentally, the authors reply: “In the very dim past, going back even before the Greeks, Persia and India were undoubtedly seminal sources of wisdom, and in the immediate present science is, of course, totally global. But in between, from Copernicus to Einstein, our roots are almost entirely European.”

WHY IS THIS COUNTRY DANCING? by John Krich (Simon & Schuster, $22 hardcover).

This is a curious, ambitious book, difficult to classify--an appreciation of Brazilian music in all its forms but also a traveler’s memoir and a portrait of Brazil through its music. Krich, a journalist and writer whose previous books include a novel about Fidel Castro, obviously knows the musical part very well, writing knowledgeably about what he calls the country’s “many rhythms, practically one to a town.” He even offers tips for “Music to Read By” at the end of each chapter. If his observations on Brazil itself are sometimes less than acute (“Compared to most of the world’s major metropolises, Rio really is a frisky little girl”) and his stylistic devices are sometimes annoying (as in his “It Happens” chapter, in which that locution is used over and over to the point of obnoxiousness), he nonetheless captures the intensely musical spirit of the place (even in non-musical matters) quite deftly. This may well be the world’s first listener’s guide to an entire country.

SANCTUARIES: The West Coast and Southwest by Marcia and Jack Kelly (Bell Tower/Crown, $15 paper) and WEEKENDS FOR TWO IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: 50 Romantic Getaways by Bill Gleeson (Chronicle Books, $14.95 paper).

There are as many kinds of getaways as there are things to get away from. Western America is full of hideaways catering to those who seek an essentially spiritual brand of escape--monasteries, abbeys and retreats of various kinds. The Kellys list more than 200 of these, from the Benedictine Abbey of St. Walburga in Boulder, Colo., to the Zen Mountain Center in Mountain Center, Calif. Brief descriptions and specifics on accommodations are included. Party animals and would-be canoodlers, on the other hand, would probably be more interested in “Weekends for Two,” which is more or less a colorfully illustrated and extended magazine article on resorts and intimate hotels from San Diego to Big Sur.

THE WORLD’S BEST: The Ultimate Book for the International Traveler, edited by Kathleen Peddicord, 5th edition (Agora Inc., $29). This large-format guidebook to what are said to be the finest hotels, restaurants, museums, parks, sports facilities, wines, shopping and more, on six continents, is an ambitious work, and will doubtless be of interest to travelers who don’t want to waste their time on “inferior” experiences.

Unfortunately, the book is not always accurate or up to date, so it is hard to know how seriously to take its recommendations. Some examples: Spain’s legendary Vega Sicilia is not the best wine of the Penedes region (it comes from the other side of Spain, in the Ribera del Duero), and Le Chantecler in Nice does not serve “the excellent inventions of chef Jacques Maximin” (he left the restaurant in 1988). And does anybody really believe that the best restaurants in Los Angeles are the Polo Lounge, Le Dome, The Dynasty Room (in the Westwood Marquis Hotel) and Scandia--the last of which has been closed since 1989? Indeed!

THE 100 BEST SMALL TOWNS IN AMERICA by Norman Crampton (Prentice Hall, $12 paper).

This volume, which carries the hefty sub-title “A Nationwide Guide to the Best in Small-Town Living--From Culpeper, Virginia, to Elko, Nevada, to Red Wing, Minnesota!” isn’t really a travel guide. It’s more a sourcebook for the would-be drop-out from big-city life, offering such data for each municipality as population, growth rate, climate, notes on school and health-care facilities, average cost of a three-bedroom house, cost of electricity and natural gas, and the number and names of local churches. Boosterish statements from selected residents are appended. If you don’t plan to move to Hicksville, but are planning a cross-country drive, “The 100 Best Small Towns” might still be of interest: Many of the entries sound like right-nice places to visit, at least for an hour or two.

Quick Trips:

WHERE THE ANIMALS ARE by Tim O’Brien (Globe Pequot, $12.95 paper).

A no-nonsense guide to America’s best zoos, aquariums and wildlife sanctuaries, interspersed with “Fauna Fun Facts” (“A kangaroo is only about an inch long when it’s born”) and other asides. Everything from hours to food-service facilities is included.

BUSHWALKING IN AUSTRALIA by John Chapman and Monica Chapman (Lonely Planet, $12.95 paper).

In the guidebook world, Lonely Planet practically owns Australia (the series originated there), and this latest addition to their Walking Guide series is full of inside lore, and not at all pedestrian.

LET’S GO 1993: The Budget Guide to Rome by Let’s Go, Inc., edited by Kayla Alpert (St. Martin’s, $11.95 paper) and LET’S GO 1993: The Budget Guide to Paris by Let’s Go, Inc., edited by Zachary M. Schrag (St. Martin’s, $11.95 paper).

Cheap restaurants, bargain-priced hotels, student facilities, minimal history, terse but accurate notes on attractions and all the other usual “Let’s Go” stuff.

CANCUN HANDBOOK AND MEXICO’S CARIBBEAN COAST, third edition, by Chicki Mallan (Moon Publications, $12.95 paper) and YUCATAN PENINSULA HANDBOOK: Gateway to La Ruta Maya, fourth edition, by Chicki Mallan (Moon Publications, $14.95 paper).

In layout and tone, these comprehensive guides to two popular regions of Mexico have sort of a Lonely Planet feel, though they delve less into historical and cultural background than that series does. They do have an insider’s sense of authority, though, and seem well researched.