This is a must-own reference for any travel lover, and would be an excellent resource in travel planning or just day dreaming. I checked it out from the library, but I liked it enough to add it to my wish list. The book is a weighty full-color guide to world festivals, parties, and events, such as Oktoberfest, Carnival, Burning Man, and Fiesta de San Fermin. Each festival has a couple of pages devoted to it, including information such as date, location, maps, insets, and notable facts. The book is sorted by continent, and there are handy month and country lists as well. My only small criticism is with "The Best of the Rest" sections. Each festival is only described with a paragraph or two; it would have been nice to have more information about each, but it would have definitely made the book quite a bit thicker. ( )