a "guide" without "guidance"
Customer Rating: 
The best thing one can say about this book is that the author's love for the people and culture of Georgia shines brightly; rather than the cynicism that peppers many guidebooks to the former Soviet Union, this one is written with genuine warmth and affection.
Regrettably, however, this very affection soon becomes one of the book's many, many flaws. Rosen's style is florid to the point of being laugh-out-loud funny: open any page at random and you're sure to find a sentence gushing with the moonstruck hyperbolic excesses of a hopeless sentimentalist. (Wish I could now provide examples, but I abandoned my copy of the book in Georgia.) Much worse, though, is the book's utter, utter uselessness as a travel guide. Rosen provides no practical information whatsoever for the independent traveler: where to stay, where to eat, how to get from point A to point B. Some phones and addresses for hotels and a very few for restaurants--the vast majority of them in Tbilisi--are appended without comment at the very end of the book, but no descriptions are provided, and no value judgments about the quality of the places are made. This is a "guide" wholly without "guidance"! Nor does the author get off the well-beaten tourist-track: nearly a third of the book is devoted just to Tbilisi, while entire regions (Guria, Racha, Kvemo Kartli and Samegrelo) are glossed over in a paragraph or two. Fabulous places like Bakhmaro don't merit so much as a mention.
How then does the author fill his 300-odd pages? With long-winded disquisitions on the art, architecture and history of the country. Some of this is interesting, some not, but none of it is useful once you're actually in Georgia. Fine to go on for pages and pages about the history of Gelati Monastery, for example, but the only thing you need to know once you're on the road is how to get there easily from Kutaisi...the one piece of information this book doesn't provide.
So, as PRE-DEPARTURE background reading, the book isn't completely without merit, especially for those who know little or nothing about the history of the Caucasus. (Some "background" areas where you'd expect to Rosen to be good, however, he comes up inexplicably short. I'm thinking particularly of the perfunctory sections on Georgian language and Georgian cuisine.) To actually help you get around Georgia, though, you're better off with any other travel guide. Tellingly, I lived in Georgia for nearly two years, and the entire time I was there this book sat gathering dust on my shelf, while whenever I needed some practical information I referred to the older Lonely Planet or Bradt guides--both flawed themselves, but far superior to this effort.
A great travel guide and coffee table book.
Customer Rating: The best travel guide available for The Republic of Georgia. I had the Second Edition, so when the Third Edition came out I had to have it. I am a Georgian American who enjoys all things Georgian, especially sharing my heritage with others. This guide makes for a great coffee table book and a quick way to briefly share a little about Sakartvelo.
Visiting Georgia is not like visiting Europe, but if you are a traveler that doesn't mind things being a little unpredictable or a little rustic, or likes out of the ordinary trips like the Middle East, South America, etc. you'll have no problem. The warm-hearted hospitality of the Georgian people, their culture, food and wine, more than makes up for the problems of a country still pulling itself together after the ravages of communism.
The book covers a little of everthing - history, culture, information, maps, and of course beautiful photos of Georgia and its people. If there is a better guide to Georgia here in the U.S. I haven't come across it.
