LESLIE'S FIELD GUIDE TO IRELAND

A pocket-size manual offers advice to travelers planning to visit Ireland for the first time.

After touring Ireland in search of her maternal ancestry, Lee became intoxicated with a strange land that quickly felt like home. In order to help others visiting Ireland have the best experience possible, she prepared a “handmade field guide,” a travel reference work in the form of a spiral notebook that neatly fits in a jacket pocket. The author provides a lucid summary of the country’s history and traditions—she begins by reconstructing Ireland’s prehistoric existence based on archaeological evidence of its geological evolution and its first inhabitants, roughly 9,000 years ago. Lee also furnishes an abridged tour of the nation’s religious character, mythology, festivals, and trees and even provides a guide to the modern pronunciation of its language. She also includes lists, collected by region, of all the “places of interest” readers may want to visit. The entire book is beautifully illustrated with the author’s hand-drawn maps and pictures. The maps, like the work itself, are best suited for acquiring a general picture of Ireland’s topography rather than for navigating the terrain. For all of its virtues and unmistakable charm, Lee’s field guide is likely most useful as an introduction to Ireland before readers arrive. The manual will be of limited value once they get there. There is really no need to carry the work while enjoying Ireland’s wonders, despite the fact that it was designed for that purpose. The author seems to understand this, which is precisely why she includes on a list of “items to pack” GPS and maps. Similarly, the long catalog of places to visit lacks full explanations. She encourages readers to see the Brownshill dolmen but doesn’t describe its attractions or even explain what a dolmen is.

An aesthetically pleasing but limited tourist guide to Ireland.