Book Review: Paris Revisited: The Guide for the Return Traveler, by Gary Lee Kraut

I like a meaty book. Something I sit down to read accompanied by a glass of red wine or a strong beer, with a highlighter and my AS3K for note-taking company.

I also have difficulty with guidebooks. They're harder to sift through, for some reason; I chalk that up to my literature-addled brain. But Gary Kraut has done something damn neat: he's combined guidebook with history book, with first-person account that just about has you smelling the crepes and dodging the dog poo all over the city of light.

Kraut also has a unique way of breaking down the information — and crikey there's loads of course — into well-organized sections that are easy to read and that, well, you want to keep reading.

Maps break down the arrondissements and major attractions. Chapters are broken into various sections, arranged by geography and history. Some examples: