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A review by 807gmadre
Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook by Andrew Doughty
5.0
I’ve never visited any of the Hawaiian islands, so I’m starting from scratch to plan my first trip. To assist me with this, a family who spends two weeks in Maui every winter lent me a number of guidebooks and tourist magazines, including an older edition of Andrew Doughty’s Maui Revealed. I was intrigued by the frank manner in which the information was presented—so much so that I purchased a copy of the latest paperback edition for myself.
These are my impressions...
-This book was an excellent starting point for planning an upcoming winter vacation in Maui. The Introduction is basically “Maui for Dummies”. If the shoe fits...LOL! In The Basics chapter, I particularly enjoyed reading the pronunciation guide and vocabulary lists for Hawaiian and Hawaiian Pidgin words. (I already know that the place names of Maui are going to present challenges to my husband and myself!)
-I liked the detailed descriptions of the features of every beach, hiking trail and waterfall on Maui (and on the nearby surrounding islands)—although Doughty’s book promotes the less frequented, hidden gems, he is very upfront about the physical challenges of these places, geared for the adventurous, physically fit tourist. However, because of my severe arthritis and ensuing mobility issues, I will be giving the majority of those places a hard pass, in favour of more accessible locales and I now know which ones will serve me well (and keep me safe).
-I’ve gleaned lots of ideas for planning sightseeing excursions in each of the main districts of Maui and have been able to cross-reference those suggested activities, points of interest and best places to eat with other guidebooks. On advisement from this guide, I’ve even made some advance bookings for the most popular activities. (I probably would not have thought to do this on my own.)
-Changes wrought by the pandemic, the most recent storms and landslides are not much covered in this book. However, several apps created by Doughty’s team are available via Apple and Google Play stores, giving daily updates—I intend to take advantage of these Smartphone apps as well as regularly visit the official Maui Revealed website and blogs.
-The organization of this guidebook was rather organic. This might not appeal to logical/sequential thinkers, but because I treated the volume like a novel, reading it from cover-to-cover...this worked perfectly for me. I bookmarked key bits of information and rearranged it on lists of my own, to be revisited closer to my trip.
Kudos to Andrew Doughty who wrote this book as a heads-up for its intended audience, first-time visitors to Maui. Doughty does not suck up to local business owners or whitewash facts to appease elected officials. I totally appreciate that!
These are my impressions...
-This book was an excellent starting point for planning an upcoming winter vacation in Maui. The Introduction is basically “Maui for Dummies”. If the shoe fits...LOL! In The Basics chapter, I particularly enjoyed reading the pronunciation guide and vocabulary lists for Hawaiian and Hawaiian Pidgin words. (I already know that the place names of Maui are going to present challenges to my husband and myself!)
-I liked the detailed descriptions of the features of every beach, hiking trail and waterfall on Maui (and on the nearby surrounding islands)—although Doughty’s book promotes the less frequented, hidden gems, he is very upfront about the physical challenges of these places, geared for the adventurous, physically fit tourist. However, because of my severe arthritis and ensuing mobility issues, I will be giving the majority of those places a hard pass, in favour of more accessible locales and I now know which ones will serve me well (and keep me safe).
-I’ve gleaned lots of ideas for planning sightseeing excursions in each of the main districts of Maui and have been able to cross-reference those suggested activities, points of interest and best places to eat with other guidebooks. On advisement from this guide, I’ve even made some advance bookings for the most popular activities. (I probably would not have thought to do this on my own.)
-Changes wrought by the pandemic, the most recent storms and landslides are not much covered in this book. However, several apps created by Doughty’s team are available via Apple and Google Play stores, giving daily updates—I intend to take advantage of these Smartphone apps as well as regularly visit the official Maui Revealed website and blogs.
-The organization of this guidebook was rather organic. This might not appeal to logical/sequential thinkers, but because I treated the volume like a novel, reading it from cover-to-cover...this worked perfectly for me. I bookmarked key bits of information and rearranged it on lists of my own, to be revisited closer to my trip.
Kudos to Andrew Doughty who wrote this book as a heads-up for its intended audience, first-time visitors to Maui. Doughty does not suck up to local business owners or whitewash facts to appease elected officials. I totally appreciate that!