The beautiful colour photos glossy sheets make this guide seem attractive at first. But I was taken aback by some of its racist comments. Take, for example, these quotes on page 292: 'many thousands flooding into the hills and burrows to escape the terrifyingly relentless sword of Islam' and 'Astonishingly, Islam proved rather more open to religious freedom than Christianity'.

This book is also probably better used to plan a trip to Turkey than as a guide. While there is a lot of historical and cultural background at the start of the book, individual places are not always covered in much detail and some (e.g. the valleys of Cappadoccia) none at all. Pretty heavy to lug around with you too. ( )