lvk

I need help from all of you Costa Rica travelers out there.

I would like to purchase a nice, hardcover, coffee-table-type book about Costa Rica for my mother-in-law. The ideal book would have nice photography of Costa Rican places, buildings, people, flora & fauna. English language would be nice, and German would be a plus, but not necessary.

We were supposed to go souvenir shopping on our last day in CR, but due to the trucker strike, that was not possible. We barely got to our flight on time. I vaguely remember seeing some books in the Los Suenos gift shop but did not look too closely at them at the time.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? - publishers web sites? Amazon doesn't seem to have anything decent.

Thanks for your help.

shillmac

I purchased a book a couple of years ago called Costa Rica, Wildlife of the National Parks and Reserves written by Michael and Patricia Fogden. The e-mail address is [email protected].

In July, I was browsing through some books at the shopping center in Sarchi and saw some wonderful ones I would like to have had. I wish I could help you with some of those or tell you where to go to get them. I'll look around online and see what I can find. You probably would prefer something that shows more about life in Costa Rica rather than just wildlife.

shillmac

http://costa-rica-guide.com/Books/CoffeeTable.html

Try this site. Perhaps there will something you could use!

Jessie_

The Fogdons are a wonderful couple! We had just bought Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica. A herpetofauna between two Seas when we ran into them. We enjoyed hearing about how they took some of those amazing pictures.

One of my favorite books for just beautiful pictures is the one by Kevin Schafer-Forests of Eden. I have seen it for sale in many places in CR and also on Amazon.com.

There is another book that is supposed to be beautiful but still haven't seen a copy of is La Suiza de Centroamerica. We purchase a lot of books from ABE Books(internet). I did a quick search and they do have it listed. Didn't look too deep to see if they had one but it was printed in German also.

lvk

Thank you both so much. I will look into those books by the Fogdons. I checked with ABE books - what a great site! I just purchased Costa Rica: La Suiza de Centroamerica for $12 (used, I believe) It is supposed to be printed in Spanish, English, French and German. I'll let you know what I think of it when I receive it.

Forests of Eden looks beautiful too. I might just buy that one for myself.

Thanks again. I know I can always count on Fodorites for great advice. Any more suggestions will be appreciated!

Jessie_

Hope it works out. Would love to hear about the book. Might consider it ourselves.

costaricaguide

Costa Rica: The Last Country The Gods Made
by Adrian Colesberry, Brass McLean, Kimberly Parsons (Photographer), Hardcover, 152 pages, Publisher: Falcon, (October 1993), ISBN: 1560442514

It's out of print, but you can still find it for sale (although the $55 that Amazon wants for it seems pretty steep)

This focuses on the people and places of Costa Rica, and is the book that most gives me the feeling of being there.

lvk

Hi all,

I promised that I would post about the book Costa Rica: La Suiza de Centroamerica. I bought it used from ABE books. It is written in English, Spanish, French and German. It covers lots of the country, but it is very dated (judging by the clothing - 70's maybe?). The photography is okay, nothing spectacular. It's more like an informative library book than a coffee table book.

Shillmac, I think you are going back to CR soon. If you see any interesting books in your travels, could you please post info like publisher, author, etc., so I can continue on my quest?

Thanks and have a great time.

Ilka

Spend many hours last week compiling a big list of books from Amazon at tamarindobeach.net/books. Hope you find what you are looking for!

lvk

Thank you,llka for your very comprehensive list of books.

I just received the "Forests of Eden" book by Kevin Shafer. (One Xmas present for myself and one for MIL). The photography is terrific and I would recommend it to anyone.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

If you get back to Costa Rica (or for anyone who is looking), I think that Seventh Street Books (Calle 7, between Avenidas Central and 1 in San Jose) has the best selection in this type of book of any bookstore here.