Having a Fielding Day

BRAZIL 1994 by Pamela Bloom and CARIBBEAN 1994 by Margaret Zellers (both Fielding Worldwide, Inc., $16.95 paper).

The Fielding travel-book empire seems to be thriving. Handsome, freshly revised guidebooks are appearing under the imprint almost monthly, it seems, and in the best Fielding tradition (travel-guide pioneer Temple Fielding caught the last plane out in 1983, and his company is now owned by Robert Young Pelton), they are detailed and opinionated and authoritative.

Pamela Bloom’s guide to Brazil is energetic and colorful, and includes plenty of asides on the country’s varied and seductive music (on which Bloom is an acknowledged expert). The practical guidebook information (hotel prices and phone numbers, shop hours, etc.) is more extensive than in many Fielding guides.

Don’t trust Margaret Zellers on music, though. She tells us that entrepreneur Richard Branson (of Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, etc., and owner of the private Caribbean resort Necker Island) produced albums by one “Richard Bowie”--the name, of course, should be David Bowie. Other than that, she seems quite knowledgeable on her subject--as well she might be, since this is her 16th Caribbean guide for Fielding.

BELGIUM 1994 by H. Constance Hill, BRITAIN 1994 by Joseph and Judith Raff, FRANCE 1994 by Gary Kraut, HOLLAND 1994 by H. Constance Hill, ITALY 1994 by Lynn V. Foster and Lawrence Foster, SCANDINAVIA 1994 by Martha Berman, SPAIN & PORTUGAL 1994 by A. Hoyt Hobbs and Joy Adzigian, SWITZERLAND AND THE ALPINE REGION by Margaret Zellers and EUROPE 1994 by Joseph and Judith Raff (all Fielding Worldwide, Inc., $16.95 paper).

More in-depth Fielding-style guidebooks, covering most of the more popular European destinations. Full of authors’ personal tips and asides, the books seem more personal and thus more credible than many similarly encyclopedic volumes.

One maddening thing, though: There seems to be no consistent style for the hard-core facts and figures. Thus, for instance, some hotel and restaurant recommendations include address, phone number and prices, while others include none of the above, or only one or two of them.

The same is true of opening hours and prices for monuments and museums, data about shops, etc. Whether this is simple sloppiness or some misguided but intentional stylistic idiosyncrasy, I don’t know--but it’s very annoying, and, at the very least, means that travelers will have to supplement these otherwise comprehensive guides with competing guidebooks just to get the essential details.

BUDGET EUROPE 1994 by Joseph and Judith Raff (Fielding Worldwide, Inc., $16.95 paper), THE GREAT SIGHTS OF EUROPE 1994 by Patricia and Robert Foulke (Fielding Worldwide, Inc., $16.95 paper and SHOPPING EUROPE 1994 by Joseph and Judith Raff (Fielding Worldwide, Inc., $12.95).

These are three other new Fielding titles, with self-explanatory specialized focuses, to which the above comments apply.

EGYPT by Michael Haag (Cadogan Guides/Globe Pequot Press, $16.95 paper) and EGYPT & THE SUDAN, third edition, by Scott Wayne and Damien Simonis (Lonely Planet, $16.95 paper).

Tourists aren’t necessarily welcome in Egypt today, or rather aren’t necessarily welcomed by all Egyptians; but if you’re going, either or both of these would be splendid companions for the journey. Like all the Cadogan Guides, Haag’s book is reasonably comprehensive and written in a lively style that manages to be informative without ever becoming pedantic. The Lonely Planet approach is a bit more oriented toward detail and inside information; using it is like traveling with an old Egypt hand.

Books to Go appears the second and fourth week of every month.