No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach

The book is a treatise on food and travel.
There are pictures of splendid scenery throughout
the world. For instance, the Sichuan Province is
depicted in full color. The Sunderbans are shown.
They are rice growers in tiger country. Excellent
views of Indonesia, the Balinese life and friendly
people are depicted in breath-taking color.

There is a beautiful scene of the Sarawak River
in a travelogue of Malaysia. The photographer
captured a very realistic picture of a Shanti
village in Ghana. The book would be a perfect
gift for the student in your house.

This book content is composed of mostly still photos from the television show. There is not much written content. I bought the book based on the other reviews expecting some deep written insight and background into each episode. Its not there.

It is a nice coffee table type of illustrated book if you are a big fan of the show. It does have some great photography. I also really respect how he puts his crew on the same level as him.

If you are looking for a good read though I would recommend Bourdain's other books over this one.

update: I just picked up 'The Nasty Bits'. That is the book you should read if you want more background on the people and events behind the television series.

Do you like food? Travel? A wiseass chain smoking New York host? Then this is for you! A great book by a really cool guy, about a really cool show. It's an overview of places around the world Tony Bourdain and crew visited and featured on No Reservations, and it's filled with information that never, ever, EVER could have made it on the air. True fans of No Reservations might get more out of this than a reader who has never watched the show but anyone can pick this up and catch the tone and flavor of one of cable TV's most uniquely audacious hour-long events.

If you're new to the works of Anthony Bourdain as well as his Travel Channel TV show "No Reservations" then this book might not be the best place for you to start. While the volume itself is a very handsome and well-produced book with oodles of great photos and minimal text, this particular title was written for the fan of Bourdain's ongoing TV series with plenty of behind-the-scenes glimpses at the adventures in getting his show made as well as snippets of appreciation toward his beloved crew. Fans of the show will find much to like as each country visited in the show's 3 year span is re-visited with familiar still shots of memorable moments we've seen before as well as new material. The highlights of the book though occur at the very end where Bourdain hilariously rates the best and worst toilets he and his crew have encountered in their world travels.

I should have perused this in more detail at the bookstore, but alas I got too excited to see another book by Mr. Bourdain. I finally looked at it this weekend and much to my disdain it is primarily pictures. Nice pictures, but only pictures nonetheless. There is some minor text but not enough. I was hoping to find out more back stories about what happened, biting commentary (related to the episode not FoddTV "chefs")maybe lists of places from the show, recommendations of restaurants to eat at, etc.

I am a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain and of No Reservations, this book just didn't cut it for me.