La Enciclopedia Multimedia de Honduras es un excelente trabajo histórico con una asombrosa combinación de tecnología Multimedia que tiene unos videos históricos de muy buena calidad incluso de los destrozos que hizo por su paso de este país el Huracán Mitch, es definitivamente una obra de colección.

This book reminds me on how individualistic
many Christians are, and how we tend to add something
to the grace of God. Using his ministry experiences
in Honduras, Dr. Baker explained the necessity to see
grace of God as a sufficient grace, and the importance
of building a community of grace pretty well.
Though I think Dr. Baker needed to write more about
faith, not only as written in the epistle to Galatians,
but I think his book deserves a five-star rating.

KUDOS to Ron Mader and James Gollin for taking the time and effort to organize thier many years of travel savy experiences and research to put together the most outstanding Honduran travel guide that has ever been published. The book "Honduras: Adventures in Nature" is a MUST for anyone that has an interest in experiencing the unique and widely variable environments as well as its peoples and customs in this beautiful country. Ron & James cover EVERYTHING from the first people in this area to where the best place to get a refreshing chilled glass of tropical juice, all with a good sense of humor to lighten all of the informatively descriptive and educational material.

"Honduras: Adventures in Nature" does not just list areas of the country and the Bay Islands that holds special interests to the traveler but gives precise details of how to get to the many different sites, what is available at each point of interest (as well as the surrounding a! rea), park fees but also information that only well seasoned explores would know, such as suggestions on particular qualified guides, lodging and meals. An extensive list of government and non-governmental organizations also adorne this well rounded book with contact information. The information is so personalised and current that this book will have to be kept updated and from what I understand, this is excactly what is being done. If you are wanting to make an enjoyable venture into this diverse country but want all the homework done for you in advance, then "Honduras: Adventures in Nature" is the publication that has done the homework for you.

I am the author of two other guidebooks in the "Adventures in Nature" series (on Belize and Guatemala) of which this is a part. I was originally asked to write the Honduras guide, but declined on the grounds that I didn't know enough about the country to do a good job. I'm happy to report that Ron Mader and Jim Gollin have done a BETTER than "good" job...in fact the results of their combined efforts are excellent in all respects. Their intelligence and insight come through on every page, along with a genuine affection for the people and places of Honduras. I have been to the country twice in recent years, and my experiences are congruent with those reported in this book. I particularly appreciate the straightforward and honest appraisal of hotels, restaurants, and outfitters, as well as the indepth material about the natural wonders of this underrated and underappreciated Central American destination. Put simply, this is the best guide to the country I have ever seen. Buy it!

For those venturing to discover the hidden secret of Honduras, this is the best guidebook you can have. It's not your ordinary where-to-eat-shop-stay book; rather, it caters to the ecotourist who comes to appreciate the sublime beauty of this lesser-traveled country. Honduras is a land of many treasures, few of which I've had the fortune to explore; but this book has inspired me to go back for more. From the helpful tips and sidebars to the excellent details about the wonder of Honduras, this book will lead you off the beaten path to discover this fabulous country on your own. Don't go to Honduras without it!

Lacking any prior interest in Central America, I resolved to read this book because the author has been a friend since our days together as junior naval officers in the late 1950s. My persistence was rewarded as I found myself increasingly involved in momentous events on the world stage, with my old wardroom colleague, Jack Binns, calling the shots. The author and his family were literally under fire in a war zone, with him at one point simultaneously trying to stop a war and a coup - and succeeding in both endeavors. My guess is that a number of generals and politicians at one time or another contemplated the pros and cons of having him rubbed out. I suppose one of the toughest challenges for him was having to deal with people like Colonel Alvarez, who obviously directed the human rights transgressions in Honduras as head of Public Security Force - and at the same time was responsible for safeguarding U. S. property and lives.

I savored some of the book's descriptive touches, be it the characterization of presidential adviser Torres Arias with his gold Rolex watch and heavy gold chains or CIA operative Dewey Clarridge looking like a fugitive from La Dolce Vita - or the way the author sets the scene with the fly-specked map in the base commander's office in Puerto Lempira. Binns's observations prompted by the abrupt dismissal of his loyal Foreign Service superior, Assistant Secretary Bowdler, by the incoming Reagan administration were elegant and moving. And I was impressed by how Binns responded in his capacity as our ambassador in Honduras to businessman Fernando Lardizabal's plea to postpone elections, and the way he challenged Secretary of State Haig's personal emissary, Vernon Walters, on human rights abuses in the region.

While this memoir was not written for general readership, The United States in Honduras, 1980 - 1981 certainly offers a compelling first-hand account of a critical period in a critical area - and thus provides invaluable documentation for the future. It is also an informative read for anyone who wants to know how our embassies operate in pursuit of our national goals, real and perceived. I would suggest that this book be required reading not only for anyone contemplating a career in the Foreign Service, but also for political appointees to ambassadorial posts. The former would get a comprehensive preview of their duties, while the latter would perhaps gain more of an appreciation of their Foreign Service staff.

At the time that Jack Binns and I served as ambassadors, he to Honduras, I to El Salvador, revolution was sweeping over Central America. Although many in the Reagan foreign policy team knew better, it was the official position of the administration that these revolutions were not home grown but manufactured by the Soviet Union and Cuba. Binns pulls no punches in this lively, authoritative account of how a professional diplomat carrying out his instructions to calm trouble spots and strengthen democracy came into conflict with zealots who knew that their policy could not stand the light of truth. They pushed Binns not to report the facts about the corruption and abuses of the Honduran military. Binns stood up to these dishonorable and illegal pressures at the cost of his career. To those who follow Central America, this is an indispensable tool to understand how, within a few short years, the pleasant, easy-going country of Honduras was turned into a staging area for the Nicaraguan contras and the place where a CIA-backed secret battalion tortured and killed political dissidents. Never in the history of Latin America has a group of countries suffered such concentrated death and destruction as the United States, through its proxy armies inflicted on Central America during the 1980s. Read this book to find out how Washington officials refused to listen to sound recommendations that could have saved us a war.

This is an interesting ,informative and very readable book. In 1980, I diligently read various newspaper and news magazine articles trying to keep up with the situation in Central America. The more I read, the more confused I became.It was very difficult obtaining a clear picture of the true hapoenings in that part of the world. At that time I found that separating fact from propaganda and columnist personal bias was impossible. After reading Ambassador Jack Binns' book, a clear and concise picture of the situation has emerged. I found the book enlightening and troubling. The enlightening part was that I was now able to see and understand the entire situation in a clear chronological order. All occurrences that I read in the book now made sense and enabled me to separate the the facts from propaganda and personal opinion that I read at the time. The troubling part was the lies, inaccuracies and bias reporting as well as the misinformation that our government was putting out. I wish there was a Jack Binns type book to cover all the United States foreign policy situations. This type of book is the best way to create a well-informed citizenry that will be able to vote in an intelligent manner instead of emotionally based on misinformation or personal bias.

The story was told by Charlie Fox, the son of Allie Fox. Allie hates America and believes that there will be a war happened in America. He takes his children and wife to the jungle of Honduras and starts a new life. He wants to build a better world, away form money, television and all the troubles of America, such a crazy mind. He thinks he was the only person that makes the villagers in the jungle live better than before. While he was doing the things to achieve his desire, he never concerns the workload that has been given to the villagers and even his children. He was a strict, crude, mad and crazy man.

I like this book because I can imagine what the jungle like through the story, how the family live in a jungle, the problem of the ¡§natural life¡¨ that they have to face up, what did the villagers in the jungle look like, what the house in the jungle look like, how they can take bath by using simple equipment, the type of food they ate, the dangerous thing that sleeping in a jungle, etc, it was really interesting and attract me to read through the whole story.

And also, after reading this story, I¡¦ve got a strong feeling on Allie Fox, he thought that he was living in an imperfect world and wanted to create a new and simple life in the jungle, that was his own desire, he still needed to respect and concern the other¡¦s thinking, he cannot take them away from America by his own thought. His attitude shows that he was selfish and mad. His action brought his whole family to death. In the jungle, he made terrible mistake, the explosion pollute the river and lands, kill all the fishes, let the prisoners to come their home. He always thought that he was doing the right things and everyone should obey him and also he thought that adult should not get ill such a crazy thought. It made me feel that he was an irresponsible, rude, mad and autocratic.

I recommend this book to anyone who love to evaluate or analyses the character because the character in this story are unique. And also if you want to read something that you think you will never meet in usual, want to read something new and interesting, you should choose this book.

I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a novel with unique characters and an unpredictable plot. This story is told from the point of view of Charlie Fox, son of Allie Fox. Allie is a selfish man who is fed up with American society. He improves upon the "imperfections" of the world with his ingenious inventions. He moves his family to the South American jungle to escape the defective society and create a suitable town of his own. Charlie relates his father's actions through admiring eyes at first, but he soon sees the flaws in his father's civilization. The family suffers many losses and eventually realizes that Allie is not saving them from a faulty society, but he is squelching them from thriving. This is a very well written, detailed novel that has a great deal of suspense. While the story is unique, all can relate to the feelings and thoughts of the characters in this exciting, thought-provoking novel.

"The Mosquito Coast" is the story of Allie Fox and his family. Allie calls himself an "inventor", trying to make his life better by ways of using stuff at hand and putting them together in the form of new machinery.

Tired of the life in the United States, he predicts doom will fall over his native country, and takes his family (his wife and four children) to a deserted spot in rural Honduras. There, he builds an ice machine in an effort to make all people surrounding him, even native indians, believe his way of life is better than any other. But suddenly things star to go wrong...

The story is told by Allie's elder son, Charlie. Like everybody else in the Fox family, he desperately tries to believe his father is something close to a god. But the problem is that each page of the book shows an Allie madder and more tyranical than the page before. That's what is best in Theroux novel. Allie is so simple he becames suddenly complex. He has everybody in an iron grip, but when the environment turns against him he doesn't realize that grip isn't strong enough.

The book can be divided in three parts: leaving USA, the Jeronimo village and the end. While the first is plainly introductory and the second is mostly descriptional (sometimes they get pretty slow) the final part is as histerical and raving mad as Allie Fox. This third part is enough to give the book an upgrading from four to five stars.

A very good book.
Grade 8.7/10

Like her other book on the Yucatan, this one focuses on many smaller sites. I was surprised that it didn't mention El Puente as a site, however, and it was written before the Copan Museum opened, which is too bad. Unfortunately it is already sadly outdated. I hope she does another book soon.

This book, while somewhat outdated, provides accurate and detailed information about the ruins in Guatemala in particular. The guides I traveled with all wanted to purchase it to enhance their information. The descriptions help you make decisions about where to go and having it with you enhances viewing. Places are generally easier to get to now.

This book felt like a Univ. text and outlines the scope of archaeological studies at Copan. Such a small book falls short of providing the interesting details we Mayanofiles crave. The cover photo in grey was poorly chosen when so many facinating and dramatic choices were available. After an introduction several review papers are presented and the most interesting for me were the C4 and C3 data extracted from human and other animal bone demonstrating among other things that the Copan people (and their dogs) ate mostly corn and maybe very little else. The second interesting review dealt with the rate of hydration (v. slow water up-take) in obscidian (volcanic glass) fragments scattered throughout numerous digs. This relatively new rate technique can help date a site as obscidian glass is found at almost all habitations in all time levels. This glass made the cutting tools of the people. The technique seems to be quite good with little varience and is backed by the older C14 method. I read this book cover to cover and my interest drifted occasionally.

Copan is one of the great cities of the ancient Maya world, now in Honduras, and its spectacular 3D sculpture and colorful architecture is easily visited. The authors here focus on what is not so easily seen, the former growth and life of the metropolis and its mountain valley. Their Penn State project has been investigating the outlying community and households in a series of suburban and rural studies summarized here. These supplement, extend, and counter-check the Harvard-linked studies of the other half, the central "downtown" core with its famous statues and buildings (like the perfectly preserved "Rosalilla" temple) (go to books by Newsome or Fash for what you will not see here).

This is an intriguing, if somewhat technical, book. It is a very nice summary of the workings of the Copan city-state. It reports on the material underpinnings of ancient Maya society and the "dirt archaeology" side of what is usually on view as the elite and fantastical Maya. It is for people seriously interested in the ancient Maya and not just the flashy and bloodthirsty kings. And also for those seeking studies of civilizations/cities or a Case Study for students of course. The text is clearly and directly written, especially if you are already familiar with American archæological terminology. You will find here almost nothing of the spectacular finds, and no color images, but a good selection of maps and charts in black and white.

To mention only a few points, instead of the expected chronology based on the reigns of kings and changes in pottery, the authors present a chapter on Freter's controversial obsidian hydration dating method (depth of water adsorption since the last chipping of volcanic glass tools correlates with time). This analysis is the prime support for their surprising and fascinating contention that common people continued in residence around Copan long after the king and then the nobility had faded away. The unexplored implication, if this scenario is true, is that Maya kings were unecessary to Maya farmers (versus what the rulers say in their art) and therefore parasitic exploiters. The authors' skillfully and comprehensively developed conclusion is for the collapse of Copan from a system of overpopulation and internal loss of royal legitimacy, a significant change from Webster's former promulgation of military answers. The authors make a strong argument for their particular point of view, while drawing on the results of all studies of Copan.

This book provides an interesting account of the recent history of the Mosquitia Coast, and helped greatly with my research of the Legendary lost city of Ciudad Blanca. Taken from the autobiography of a missionary, it's an honest account of his families trials and tribulations. A must read for lovers of the Mosquitia.

The book shows the conditions of Honduras C.A. in the early 20th century and how a man with his God changed people's lives and the primitive conditions within the country. It shows how a dedicated man and his family can survive primitive conditions and make a major change on the lives of others.

I should have looked more closely at the publishing date rather then the glowing reviews by other readers because most of the information is from 1999 (published in 2000) and is fairly out of date. Though I love the format and the amounts of information in the book I found myself using The Open Road Honduras Guide (2002) for my hotel, bus and pricing information. If you're going to Honduras this year I'd recommend the Open Road Guide - especially for E-mail and Web Site info as that tends to change very fast.

This is what a guidebook should be like. I have traveled extensively around the world using many different guidebooks, but none have surpassed this one. Chris Humphrey has done a great job. He really understands the country and its people, and is a very good writer. This guidebook thoroughly covers the Honduran culture, customs, society, economy and history. It contains lots of interesting nuggets of information that will help you get more out of your trip. It also makes getting around and finding a place to stay and things to do very easy since the information is very accurate and up-to-date. Overall, this Honduras guide is hard to beat.

(From Planeta Journal) - This second edition by Humphrey revises the nuts-and-bolts information about traveling in Honduras and provides an entertaining read for anyone heading to this Central American country. This guidebook has great details about Celaque National Park, the petroglyphs of El Sauce and even an analysis of the country's maquiladoras. Honduras seems to have it all -- Caribbean beaches, coral reefs, ancient Maya ruins, colonial villages, and virgin forests -- but it takes a good guidebook to get you there. Independent travelers will relish this book.

The major drawback is that the drawings of the birds described in the book are poor so that it is often difficult to use them for identification. The text is fine. However, it is the only book available, so you have no choice.

Ridgely's guide is the best - and really the only - available field guide covering all the species of birds in the nation of Panama. While it is useful and serves most purposes, it has been over a decade since the second edition was released, and it is more than due for an overhaul and expansion. The most necessary would be the addition of range maps, that would make the book infinitely more useful in planning a trip. At the very least, there should be a single, detailed map of Panama, indicating the locations mentioned in the range descriptions! Also, it would be better to limit the scope of the book entirely to Panama, as Costa Rica and other areas to the north are covered by other guides, and the pertinent information for those areas in this book are scant, at best. Then, the isolated plates in the back need to be intergrated, as do the plates of Darien specialties, etc. Many species have been recently added to the Panama list, or split, etc, and those species need to be added. But, all this aside, this book should enable the identification of most Panama birds, and remains an indispensible resource for any birder traveling to that country.

A nicely done guide. Well-illustrated, easy to use. Worked for me in Costa Rica...