1,000 Places to See Before You Die, updated ed. (2010) (1,000 Before You Die)

Introducing the Eighth Wonder of travel books, the New York Times bestseller that's been hailed by CBS-TV as one of the best books of the year and praised by Newsweek as  the "book that tells you what's beautiful, what's inspiring, what's fun and what's just unforgettable everywhere on earth."

Packed with recommendations of the world's best places to visit, on and off the beaten path, 1,000 Places To See Before You Die is a joyous, passionate gift for travelers, an around-the-world, continent-by-continent listing of beaches, museums, monuments, islands, inns, restaurants, mountains, and more. There's Botswana's Okavango Delta, the covered souks of Aleppo, the Tuscan hills surrounding San Gimignano, Canyon de Chelly, the Hassler hotel in Rome, Ipanema Beach, the backwaters of Kerala, Oaxaca's Saturday market, the Buddhas of Borobudur, Ballybunion golf club-all the places guaranteed to give you the shivers.

The prose is gorgeous, seizing on exactly what makes each entry worthy of inclusion. And, following the romance, the nuts and bolts: addresses, phone numbers, websites, costs, and best times to visit—all updated for 2010 with the most current information.