The book is excellent. I learned a lot about Tel Aviv and the people who had some of its streets named after them.

I’ve never been to Israel but I know many people who are or were regular visitors and I’ve known Israelis/people who live(d) there. I think people who know or might be about to visit Tel Aviv might enjoy and appreciate this book even more than I did. I will highly recommend this book to all of them.

I love the photos and the map although I’d have liked an even more detailed map or multiple maps. Many of the photos show vibrant scenes and I felt as though I got a real feel for various areas and for the city as a whole.

The background history is fascinating. I’ve always been curious about street names and names of places.

This is a well-designed book. It’s divided by neighborhoods and then a lot of information is included for each street and for each of the people honored. There is the background of the person for which it is named including at least one photo of them and there is interesting information about the street itself. There are photos of the street and sometimes the area around it. There is some really interesting architecture and some great looking parks and other places of interest that are shown.

This book is so much more than a guidebook or coffee table book. It has more depth. I can see referring to it and perusing it the way I would those sorts of books though. I read it cover to cover but I can see readers thinking of a place on a street or a street and going right to the part in the book that covers that street.

I highly recommend this book to readers planning to visit Tel Aviv and Israel and to those who live there or have already visited (even though some of them might already know a lot of the information.) This is also a great book for readers interested in Jewish history, the history of the area, the terrain of the area, to those who like reading biographies, and also to those who enjoy armchair travel.

(general) Contents:

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Center
Downtown
Beach
South, Nev Tzedek, Florentin
Yafo
Ramat Aviv and Northern Environs

Credits

I won this e-book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program in exchange for an honest review. I won’t go into the whole saga but it took trying multiple copies/files in various websites and apps to even get the book properly downloaded and then in a way so that I could actually read a readable copy. Thanks to the publisher and to Abigail at LibraryThing for persisting because I finally got a copy that I could read and that was fairly easy to read. I thought that I was going to have to forego reading this. I’m glad that it finally worked out but from now on I will make sure to enter to win only paper/print books. I think this is a lovely book to view and would have been even better on paper.

4-1/2 stars ( )

This book is at once a geography, history and biography of the city of Tel Aviv, and how it celebrates the accomplishments of the Zionist figures Israeli history. The majority of the streets are named in honor of Zionist leaders, and each entry provides information about the location as well as the history of the person the street was named after. If you are interested in history, you would probably enjoy reading the book.

Perhaps equal parts historical compendium on the subject and travel guide, I was happy to see this as a reference source. In addition to providing solid background (if a bit overly enthusiastic about praising the region) of streets, neighborhoods, and the city itself, I was glad to see a recognition of the shortcomings of street-naming, and the attempts to correct this practice. I've found the naming of things to be fascinating, especially when it is undertaken in such a deliberate and conscious way. I appreciate the authors' diligent work and hope that this could be a model for other potential authors to undertake such a study of other towns, regions, or related topics. Recommended for history buffs or those interested in learning more about this region's history and culture. ( )