Daniel Smith (7) (1976–)

479 / 14 - Μια απίστευτα δημιουργική προσωπικότητα , που παρόλες τις ι
Χαρακτηριστική φιγούρα που αγωνίστηκε ως τέλους για την ειρήνη πάνω στη Γη. και έκρουσε από νωρίς το κώδωνα για τη κακή χρήση της τεχνολογίας ( εις βάρος των ανθρώπων ) από τους πολιτικούς.
Δεν αποδέχτηκε την ιθαγένεια καμίας χώρας και η μοναδική που εμπιστεύτηκε τον πλήγωσε… (mehr)

Yep, does what it says on the cover - it is indeed a book about 100 places I will never visit. (although I have been thinking about a visit to Chernobyl, as tourists are allowed to visit now and have been for a while). Okay! So 99 Places I will never visit and one I'm considering. And I've been inside Buckingham Palace at one of the Queen's garden parties, although admittedly not in the queen's bedroom... I digress.
This was somehow both a really interesting little coffee table style book, and also really dull and a bit repetitive and dragging. The ones in the UK were probably of most interest to me (the US and it's long, long list of assorted secret military bases were probably the least interesting to read about), though I found some of the more unusual things kept my attention. The majority of entries are of the sort the world knows about and are just not permitted in - The Pentagon, Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Area 51! and a few more where the location is unknown to everyone. There were a few I've heard about and been interested in before - obviously Chernobyl was one, and Centralia, the US ghost-town (now) whose coal mines are still burning underground decades after they began. I didn't learn anything about these from this book, because I previously read about everything that was mentioned here, but many of the entries were ones I knew nothing about, and a few of them I then went off to research further off my own back. Those were obviously the ones I enjoyed the most!
It didn't go into great depth on any one item, but that is probably for the best as it dragged a bit when reading the entries I didn't enjoy, and I imagine that favourites would vary from person to person. I could really imagine my son would enjoy this as he's 15 and so won't have heard of or know about many of these yet, but I'm sure he'd be fascinated to find out, and learn a little history of the world in the process. Without it appearing to be an 'educational book'!

Overall I'd say it would be a great book for some but your mileage may vary. I quite enjoyed it, and don't regret the few hours it took me to read. Pretty good stuff! 3.5 stars as I'm wavering between 3 or 4...… (mehr)