Reading this novel gave me great pleasure. In contrast to its plain cover, this marvelous novel, written in mellifluous and elegant prose, is complex; its world sprawling and vast, with mind-boggling depth. After reading only two pages, I found myself charmed by its narrator's voice, and my mind glued to its world. On the surface it is the story of its narrator, a banker named Hans van den Broek , born and raised in Netherlands, and working in London. While working in London in a bank, he meets an Englishwoman named Rachel and marries her. They have a son named Jake. In 1990's, they relocate to New York and live in TriBeCa. After the terrorist attack on the Word Trade Center on 9/11, however, they relocate again, and decide to live in the Chelsea Hotel. But Rachel's fear of another terrorist attack and the toxic political atmosphere in the United States create stress in their marriage, and the stress in turn compels Rachel to move with her son, once again, back to London.

Travelguide about the Netherlands.

I traveled all over the world for two years, using mostly Lonely Planet books. That was about 11 years ago. Back then I found Lonely Planet books to be very well written - especially the ones for Asia. This was my second time in the Netherlands, and this book missed a lot -- hardly any mention of Zeeland (beach country in the South); disappointing coverage of small towns. I can't comment on the Amsterdam coverage because we skipped that town.

This is an amazing little book; wish I had purchased it earlier. It is factual, interesting, and a quick read. It is especially helpful for those who are going to travel in the Netherlands, but also a good book for those who want to know more about where they may have already traveled. Great little reference.

It is a good book to start exploring the Netherlands. It contains important information about what you must not miss, details about most important cities and places of interest. But Netherlands has so many things to show, I believe it would be impossible to get them all into a book of this size, which you can still carry with you :) Overall, it is a good insight on Netherlands. Very good for people who want to spend 1 to 4 weeks in Netherlands. Although if you have more time and want to see and find out more about this beautiful place, you'll have to just ride your bike or go by car from town to town, because all the nice and interesting places do not fit in any book of this size.

Discover the Netherlands with the Michelin Green Guide

I used this guide book during a recent trip to the Benelux region of Europe. I found the book useful in helping me pick out good restaurants. It also listed the major sites I wanted to see. I did not find the book useful in reserving hotels and describing each site. I especially found the maps to be of poor quality. Many of them mislabeled the location of sites and failed to include important street names that would make it easier to find sites, restaurants, and accomodations. As a frequent traveler, I rely on good maps in guidebooks to get around cities that are unknown to me. Frommer's got me to take wrong turns repeatedly. Unfortunately, there do not seem to be many books out there covering exclusively the Benelux region of Europe. At least I did not find any that I liked, so Frommer's was the best choice among many bad choices.

I purchased this book before a trip to Holland. Kids ages 4 and up loved it and my husband, who grew up in Holland, even learned a few things about his homeland. Very fun and informative kids book!