What an excellent idea. Here's a tantalizing roundup of 1,000 great places -- world famous monuments, fine restaurants, essential hotels and extraordinary travel experiences -- complete with a convenient checklist. Each monument, museum, town, trek, or park is nicely described in a few paragraphs, including travel details. Not just for explorers and adventurers, the selections are skewed toward North America and Europe; mortals can imagine actually visiting many of the places. It seems to us that, apart from anything else, this book would make a great parlor game. For fun, compare Shultz's selections to the Before You Die picks at travelintelligence.net.  (TVL23, $19.95)

Best of 2003
Best of 2003