Ben Coates' "The Rhine": A Captivating Tale of Love and Adventure

Bookbean: Fascinating book - an easy read. Great information accompanied by some zinging humor. I just wish I had read it before I took my Rhine River cruise this summer!

United States on Sep 18, 2023

Gordon Clawson: Bought this book as a throw-away primer for cruising Amsterdam to Basel on the Rhine, thinking I should know SOMETHING about our intended journey. I initially gave Ben Coates less than he is due, until I randomly dropped in on his commentary of Cologne, Germany. Not only does he lay out informative geography, leading to history, leading to past and current culture, but he is WITTY! Just when I felt my pea-brain filling up with really fascinating history and current events, he tossed in a jolt of wry British humor to keep me page turning. Just what you need to make learning FUN.

United States on Sep 01, 2023

Lisa: This guy is funny with his euphemisms and a great punster. I am halfway and using cities and history for my riverboat Rhine cruise. I have never delved into the history, I am a scientist, but now feel competent knowing the cities background when I visit or motor by.

Canada on Jul 14, 2023

B. R. Almer: I was looking for a little history and more of a site seeing type book. This takes the history to an extreme and it was not exactly what I was hoping for.

United States on Jul 01, 2023

Carol Ann Lundquist: Well-written, and with humor.

United States on Jun 09, 2023

Dave8: good read

United Kingdom on Mar 18, 2023

G. Thompson: Parts I really enjoyed. - and parts seemed to be missing. (Like the Rhine between Strasbourg and Basel and not much about Freiburg which is not on the Rhine but is surely “shaped” by the Rhine).
There were also errors that should have been caught by an editor. Near Chur he refers to being close to the Italian border (which he was not) because he saw signs in Italian - “Scola da Snowboard “ - which is not Italian but Romansch. In fact not saying anything about Romansch is a shame.
But all in all it is a good read…

Germany on Nov 15, 2022

Edward M. Sedgwick: I needed to know something about the Rhine and this book fulfilled the need in an enjoyable fashion. The only data missing is an account of how much traffic there was upstream before steam engines and how they did it.
Google Earth was a constant companion during the reading in lieu of detailed maps.

United Kingdom on Aug 09, 2021

Martin C.: Well written. Interesting coverage though lack of maps meant frequent reference to an atlas map to keep sense of where we were going! Some of the content in the Dutch section seemed to overlap that in the author’s book on Holland. Despite these reservations, a good read.

United Kingdom on Apr 04, 2021

Discerning customer: This is an enjoyable book to prepare for a cruise on the Rhine. However, the few general maps at the beginning of the book do not answer the reader's constant question, "Where is he?" If the author had included maps pinpointing the location of the stories and descriptions, then the reader would not be lost. Also, the copy needs another edit to eliminate some errors (pp. 48, 51, 76, and 82 for starters). On p. 26, second paragraph, first sentence: the word should be "led," not "lead."

United States on Mar 04, 2019