Hawaii, The Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook

While having a recent discussion about Hawaii with several photographers on Twitter, I was told to check out “The Blue Books” aka. the Hawaii Revealed guidebooks. Shortly thereafter, the publisher sent us a tweet thanking us for the acknowledgement. Since I have an interest in visiting the Hawaii volcanoes they sent me a review copy of Hawaii, The Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook. In addition to receiving praise from the other photographers, what really impressed me was how tuned in the publisher was to social media. It’s definitely a great way to create engagement and grow their brand.

So now onto the actual book content. I could already tell from reading the preface that this is not your generic guidebook. Their staff actually lives in Hawaii and regularly scours the island for every bit of insight available. They tell it like it is and go as far as discussing the reason why the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park visitor center pulled the book from the shelves. This level of candidness is really refreshing and what all guidebooks should strive to do rather than pumping out fluff. This is even more crucial these days given the amount of unfiltered information available on the internet these days.

In addition to locational info, the author displays a deep historical knowledge of various locations such as how the volcanoes formed and stories about King Kamehameha. The amount of passion the publisher has for Hawaii definitely comes across in the writing. I liked this book so much that I will be purchasing the rest of the series in the future regardless if I go to those other islands or not. I’d highly recommend Hawaii, the Big Island Revealed for anyone thinking of visiting Hawaii and even for locals.

Visit the Wizard Publications website to purchase the book.

5 Responses to “Hawaii Guidebook Review: Hawaii The Big Island Revealed”

1. David Leland Hyde
   January 25th, 2012 @ 9:39 am

   Hi Richard, that is a good story about Twitter. I like your reviews because they are short and concise and give me all I need to know. I’m ordering the Kuai Blue Guide.

2. Richard Wong
   January 25th, 2012 @ 11:50 am

   Thanks David. I try to review things that I think are relevant for readers of my blog so I’m glad the review has encouraged you to order a book.

3. Russ Bishop
   January 25th, 2012 @ 12:23 pm

   Great review Richard. These are definitely the definitive guides to the Islands!

4. Ron Niebrugge
   January 25th, 2012 @ 12:27 pm

   I remember this discussion and they piped in – too cool! Great books and make sure you get their phone app.

5. Richard Wong
   January 25th, 2012 @ 2:30 pm

   Cool thanks guys for introducing me to the books. I’ll have to find the phone app.

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