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Title: The Rough Guide to Ireland (Ireland (Rough Guide)) by Margaret Greenwood ISBN: 1-85828-400-7 Publisher: Rough Guides Limited Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95

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Average Customer Rating: 2.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Comprehensive, factual, eloquent.
Comment: I love the Rough Guides, and _The Rough Guide to Ireland_ is a brilliant example of why this series consistently puts out the finest travel guides on the market.

The introductory material is thorough and helpful, giving you an idea of what you can expect in preparing your trip. The profile sections of such topics as politics, music, woman travellers, and such, are thorough, candid, and useful.

The detail given to Ireland as a whole is remarkable. There are reasonable entries for all major cities, towns, and a sizable number of the villages as well. Most points of interest--archaeological, historical, religious--are included throughout, even if it means detouring from the motorway and wandering down a hillside.

I'm impressed by the authors ability to weave travel advice, whimsical savy, and social commentary throughout this work. It's honest, reasonable, and well help direct your actitivities.

Most appreciated by me is the strong material on places, people, monuments. There's loads more they present than the usual 'book of kells/rock of cashel' triviality. There's little nonsense in the authors' microscope of the Irish countryside. They'll tell you where to go, what to avoid, and how to make the most of however you travel. They list all manner of activities to suit whatever your interests fancy.

Criticisms: Maps--they're sparse and without labels, a frequent problem with Rough Guides. The map for Sligo town is particularly lacking and inaccurate. Also, their bus information isn't up to much, and doesn't prepare you for such difficulties as schedules during off-season travel. But then that's what the Bus Eireann web-site is for.

I grew up in Roscommon and moved to the US in my teens. Whenever I make the return journey (once a year) I stick this in my carryall and keep it ever-handy. It's not perfect (and who wants a perfect travel guide?) There's details in here that always keep me discovering, no matter how much I think I've mastered, learned, and found in Ireland. The country's always unfolding new experiences for me, and the Rough Guide is indeed a good guide. First-time travellers will make an excellent start on their trip with this book.

(Lough is a frequent subject of murals in Catholic Falls and Murphs areas, where he is considered a 'patron figure.' All Catholic areas of Belfast have a mythic personage considered as a 'protector' of sorts. This isn't pagan worship, in so much as a method of identifying with what is perceived as an Irish-celtic history, using the tradition of mythology as a means of re-inforcing 'heritage.' Likewise, Protestant areas have their Battle of the Boyne iconography.)

Rough Guide, it'll do you a service.

Rating: 1
Summary: Out of Date and Innacurate
Comment: My US-raised Fiance bought this book prior to coming over and living in Ireland and we rediscovered still on his parents' book-shelf on a recent trip over to the States. We'd intended to pass it on to some friends who'll be visiting Ireland for our wedding, but a quick glance through the pages soon convinced us this would be an act of wanton cruelty. A significant proportion of the book's details are out of date, granted sometimes only a couple of years out of date, but Ireland is changing so much that is enough for the info to be seriously misleading. (E.g I found a number of pubs, clubs , restaurants etc listed which no longer exist or have been renamed, renovated and are definitely *not* as described). The section on Northern Ireland is particularly poor, verging on the funny (e.g the ancient sun god Lugh is allegedly a popular political icon) and I genuinely feel sorry for people who're basing their travel plans on this book. On the brighter side though,any hapless visitor trying out the selection of 'useful' Irish phrases listed is certainly going to bring a smile (or indeed tears of semi-hysterical mirth) to Irish eyes...!