I got mine. I think it’s really good. I’ve read abiut a third of it. I’ve spotted a couple of errors (pinyin errors, but also the wrong area code for Taipei), but all in all I think it’s great. Very well written with lots of colourful detail thrown in. I like the new layout too.
Brian
Confirmed that they are at Page 1 now.
I got the newest edition of it also. it looks pretty good. i think there could be more about taipei in it. i felt the japan lonely planet was the best guide out there. if not for using that one, i wouldn’t have gotten the taiwan one.
http://gotjapan.com/shop/product/174059360X/Lonely_Planet_Taiwan_(Lonely_Planet_Taiwan).html
I got my copy today. I think it is very well done. I’ve only skimmed through it a bit, but one error I noticed is where it mentions some of the Chinese novels available in English translation, it notes “Dream of the Red Chamber” AND “Story of the Stone” … they are in fact the same book. Haven’t found anything else yet, except for the odd pinyin error here and there, and I don’t think it’s quite as humorous as Robert Storey’s, but it’s nice to have such updated information … makes me feel like taking some weekend trips! 
Picked up a copy and thumbed through it a bit. So far, it’s not bad. It’s good to get some updated info . When I first arrived here, I relied on the old one, but found many things to be out of date.
I found the lack of any Taoyuan information to be a little odd, given that it’s the fourth largest town and closest to the airport. I know it’s not a great tourist center, but alot of visitors come through here. The new guide has even less on it than the old one.
I’m going to give it a through read, though.
[quote=“TS”]I found the lack of any Taoyuan information to be a little odd, given that it’s the fourth largest town and closest to the airport. I know it’s not a great tourist center, but alot of visitors come through here. The new guide has even less on it than the old one.
[/quote]
It’s not a tourist centre at all. At all. Remember, the LP guides are designed to help travellers see the sites and experience the culture, not to help resident expats settle into their little backwater.
Remember too, that guide books contain a limited number of words. Would you rather I omitted Taian to make room for Taoyuan? 
Besides, community websites like Forumosa more than fill in the gap now. The focus of the new LP guide is getting away from the shitty little towns we live in. 
Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but the price of LP guides has become insane and will prevent me and several friends from buying this book. Were it 750 NT or so. I would probably buy it. At 1,000 NT+, I can’t justify it.
[quote=“Mucha (Muzha) Man”][quote=“TS”]I found the lack of any Taoyuan information to be a little odd, given that it’s the fourth largest town and closest to the airport. I know it’s not a great tourist center, but alot of visitors come through here. The new guide has even less on it than the old one.
[/quote]
It’s not a tourist centre at all. At all. Remember, the LP guides are designed to help travellers see the sites and experience the culture, not to help resident expats settle into their little backwater.
Remember too, that guide books contain a limited number of words. Would you rather I omitted Taian to make room for Taoyuan?
Besides, community websites like Forumosa more than fill in the gap now. The focus of the new LP guide is getting away from the shitty little towns we live in. [/quote]
Agreed. Sort of. While no tourist haven, a lot of outsiders pass through here. Perhaps some mention is warranted simply because of Taoyuan’s size and proximity to the airport.
Oh well, no mention is better than the old edition which was full of incorrect and dated information about Taoyuan.
Are you implying I live in a shitty little town? Well, er, you’re right.
The new LP wants to be the new ‘bible’ for Taiwan, but it will never be, EVER, regardless of how ‘updated’ it is. The old Robert Storey version is infinately better. This new ‘bible’ has three authors…
Administrator’s Note: Unrelated feedback on the moderators was split off and put here.
To add a bit more perspective about the price, you can get other brand new editions of LP titles for 1,000 NT - but they’re 700-1000 pages long.
I’m sorry, but there is simply no justifying charging that much for a 350 or so page black and white travel book, regardless of how small the market is for the title.
What really gets me is we know none of the authors is receiving royalties for the Taiwan LP title, as Muchaman told us. So the money is all flowing into LP coffers.
What’s happened to this company over the last 5 years? I may have to turn to Moon or Rough Guides again, though I don’t prefer their tone, especially the RGs.
Finally, I’m not sure why Muchaman needs to be defensive at all. I could understand if he had a stake in the discussion here, but at the end of the day, LP owns all rights to the book. Succinctly put, it is their book. So why not allow a more ‘edgy’ tone? Surely the three authors need to be congratulated for their hard work. It must have been a massive task to rewrite this title. But I have to support a free-flow of opinion, be it positive, negative, constructive, or peripheral.
I haven’t gone back to re-read the bitter war of words between Storey and Muchaman, but has that since been sanatized? If not, there’s no reason to censor a post about the book’s cover. I read that post before it was removed and didn’t see anything wrong with it.
The cover is just a cover. Looks fine to me. It is the way most people who have never been to Taiwan might imagine an image of Taiwan. What was all the fuss about here that was deleted?’
Mod to poster: “You made a stupid and, in my judgement insincere post criticizing the cover of the book. As we writers had nothing to do with chosing the cover image, and do not get any royalties from the sale of the book, there was no reason to censor your post except for the fact that it was not useful to the readers of this thread.”
It might have been useful to readers of this thread, if it was not libelous or sacrilegious? What did he say? NOW I am curious…
Covers are always controversial. 50 percent of the people like it, 50 per don’t like it. can’t please everyone. same thing happened last year with the old Robert story cover, some locals in the Chinese media began saying it was anti-Taiwan… go figure.
Let’s hear what this cover controversy is about…
If you are capable of an intelligent post, would you mind actually saying what you dont like about the new LP?
I’ve almost finsihed reading it now, and it is very good. I liked Storey’s writing on general stuff about Taiwan, but I find the information and writing about actual travel destinations in the new one better.
What the cover’s like is irrelevant as far as I’m concerned. It could be better, but it hardly makes the book less useful as a travel guide, does it.
Yep, the price is a concern.
Gubo, you mentioned the bitter words in the past between the two Roberts (old author and new). I think if you went back and re-read, you’d find that the two of them resolved their argument nicely and professionally.
Brian
The new LP has got me enthused to go and visit a lot of places I’ve never been. Now that I know the greater Taipei area so well, and am getting a carsoon, I think I’ll have to make 2005 ‘Discover the Rest of Taiwan Year’.
Brian
Let me get this straight: one of the authors of the new LP is moderating this thread? Conflict of interest if I’ve ever heard of one. I’m not out to flame or upset anyone, but is it proper that an author of a book should be censoring a discussion about said book?
The book is pretty good in my estimation. It’s a little pricey, though I got mine for 900NT and not a thou. I always loved the photography in the LP and was a little disappointed to see so many carry over photos from the old edition.
Resolved sure, and that’s great. But there was a whole lot of vitriol in there at the height of the hurly burly. My point is it is still there, and the thread was not sanitized to preserve the ‘greater good’ of the discussion.
And yet, some remarks about the new cover are summarily deleted? Huh?
Again, consistency, consistency, consistency. Without it, might as well not moderate the boards at all.
900 NT is getting there. If that’s the Caves price, and I get another 10% with my Caves card, then it brings it close to 800 NT, which is reasonable enough.
Amazon has it for US$17.15. With today’s exchange rate (US$1=NT$32.35), that means the new LP Taiwan can be had for about NT$555 on Amazon. I know–shipping costs. But if you have some friends going to the States for a holiday, perhaps one could bring it back for you (I think shipping is free in the US for most Amazon orders).
Anyway, just an option to avoid paying NT$1,000 for the book.
Thanks for the heads up. 
Exactly what I did. My wife is bringing my Amazon-ordered copy here to me next week!
I want to say firstly that I am sorry for dissing so hard on the cover photo. Even now, I don’t like it, and I feel it looks very silly, and, actually, I don’t like it all and I hate it…so I’m not sorry…and to hell with the LP editors who chose it. Perhaps, then, the choice of the photo goes to show just how detached and retarded editors of LP are now. I was insincere, but not on that mark. Being slightly out of my normal realm of reason, I shot some particularly harsh comments to Mucha Man, which I now regret. None of this is so important or serious so as to insult someone personally, so, Mucha Man, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for words they won’t see. But I’m not sorry for blasting Taibodia -Taiwan’s new name- for being a dirty, unorganized country full of blue-and-white flip-flop wearing, betel nut chewing, wispy-swilling, drunk/crazed-driving morons. I have no reservations about my criticisms of the Taibodians, and, in fact, my cynicsim increases by the day -that’s why I’m leaving! Love it or leave, right? So I’m doing my best to bust out. But, Mucha Man, don’t be a nasty censor, because, quite obviously, you have very much to offer to Taiwan. Dragon cover? Fuck it. Let’s go chew some bing-lahn.