I felt like kicking Thomas Kohnstamm after reading about him admitting on Guardian that he did not always visit the places he reviewed on Lonely Planet.
His book 'Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?' talks about writing his 'experiences' in Columbia without actually visiting the country. He admitted using tourism brochures, net and other local contacts for his 'research' and then put it all together "as best you can from there". What a shame!
One way it's good to see him admitting to this blunder, but then, one wonders why people (including me!) spent all that money on many of those 'authoritative' travel guides from the 'Lonely Planet'. Is that the way all those guides are written? Shouldn't I ask them for a refund?
Hello there, I work in the Media team at Lonely Planet and wanted to answer the questions posed in this thread. We've posted some information about this here: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/about/thomas_kohnstamm.cfm
ReplyDeleteRegarding Colombia, we would like to clarify that Kohnstamm was only contracted to do desk-based research on the History, Food and Drink, Environment and Culture chapters and not undertake in-destination reviews on attractions, accommodation, restaurants etc. He has a masters in Latin American studies and studied Colombian history as part of his education. Two other authors were commissioned to do on-the-ground research for the review section.
The books that Kohnstamm contributed to (including Colombia) are currently undergoing an urgent and comprehensive review to check whether or not the content has been compromised if it has, we’ll fix it.
If you have any other questions or concerns I’m happy to help.
Aaron
Hey Aaron,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your quick effort in clarifying things. From what I could make out here, it seems Kohnstahmm tried these tricks to create a buzz around his new book.
If you don't find any other way, try being controversial, hit out at a top brand, and go up the bestseller charts.