I loved this book so much: it evoques that feeling of being told a nice tale about very distant and mysterious places by some very adventurous people.This is far from a travel guide, but I think it's a great twist to Lonely Planet publications, giving a poetic and not so practical approach to writing about travel. No prices, no directions, no hotel rating, just some personal stories about amazing places on this Earth.I actually keep this as a bedtime book, each night reading a story about a different place that one day I want to visit - but will only plan it when it's time.You find yourself looking at this book and not being able to put it down. It offers unique views and perspectives on the world we live in. Typical of the Lonely Planet series, it is well done. Frankly, this book should be left on the coffee table for visiting friends that you truly do want to entertain with an interesting read.As part of their eclectic series of coffee table books, Lonely Planet has produced a fascinating collection of essays and world-class photos strung around the theme of personal solitude and exploration. Fifty-five locales are covered by thirty-eight travel writers, most of whom succeed in evoking a sense of adventure that remarkably remains possible despite the intervention of technology and the all-encompassing Web. Most of the contributions fit the traditional image of isolated locales and exotic cultures, but some feel far more within reach, for example, Janet Brunckhorst's amusing dissection of Las Vegas and Andrew Dean Nystrom's account of the remote Thorofare region in Yellowstone National Park. The common thread among these accounts is that such adventures can take many forms and not necessarily require a backpack and a passport.There are a few accounts that bring fresh twists to familiar landmarks such as Daniel Robinson's remembrance of visiting Angkor Wat in 1989 when the civil war was raging between the Phnom Penh government and the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Or there is Gregor Clark's nighttime exploration of Machu Picchu when the ruins took on a ghost-like pall. Colorful stories abound in places far less famous such as Lasseter's Cave in the middle of the Australian outback and the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan. We are given descriptions of places as far-flung as Babuskina in the outer reaches of Siberia, the depths of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, and the harsh volcanic landscape of El Hierro, the most remote of the Canary Islands.All the continents are covered, and even the moon is included at the end in a semi-tongue-in-cheek manner. The book ends with a reference guide for each location, giving navigational information, specifically how one would get about; its geography and geology; its history with man; its proximity to civilization; the must-haves before embarking on a trip there; and what works of art the area has inspired. If not quite in the same league as I bought this book for 2 reasons: as a fan of the Lonely Planet Guides and I like "the middle of nowhere" idea. After seeing 3 colossal misguiding captions in the first few stories, I took an unprecedented action - I threw the book in the garbage!The photo of the bottom of the trench - I'm sure it is a model, the island in Tonga [if it is indeed Tonga] is not the one captioned and the final straw for me is the photo of "Seward" AK is actually "Fort Seward", two very different places and far from each other in AK. My confidence in Lonely Planet Guides is now completely undermined.There has been an explosion of self-indulgent and dramatic books like "50 places to visit before you die". This one predates those and not geared towards the armchair tourist. It's may pass as a coffee book, but the photos really play a supporting cast to short adventure stories that highlight the less-trodden parts of the world. Worth owning.It's a beautiful well laid out book! I enjoy it for easy reading, sits on the table regularity. Thanks lonely planet