freebies

by Terence Carter* Oh yes, there’s more… So far this Lonely Planet thing is a mess of contradictions and odd confessions. Surely the guy who photocopied and stapled together the first copies of a Lonely Planet guide by hand on his kitchen table will come to the rescue and sort out this nonsense once and … Read more about Strange Planet (part 4) or How I learnt to stop worrying and love the Lonely Planet Loophole

By Terence Carter* Hallelujah! On the weekend Peter Munro writing for The Age in Melbourne cleared up the whole Lonely Planet scandal. Thank god that’s over. Yes, we were getting bored with it too. But in the words of Lonely Planet publisher Piers Pickard: “No freebies – period.” Thank you and goodnight! What? Oh, wait, … Read more about Strange Planet (part 3) or How I learnt to stop worrying and love the Lonely Planet Loophole

Thomas Kohnstamm’s book Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? was released yesterday, and despite Lonely Planet’s author fraud scandal and the ensuing furor, very few book reviews or follow-up stories have yet to appear. Is everyone just over it all? Here are a couple worth reading: travel writer Robert Reid’s The worst guidebook writer ever?’ … Read more about Fraud or flawed?

BY TERENCE CARTER*Lonely Planet placed a statement on their website in response to Kohnstamm’s claims. This is how I read it:LP: “Thomas claims that during his time as a travel author, he skipped visiting certain destinations, plagiarised from other sources and traded good reviews for in-kind favours.”Skipping destinations? Plagiarism? This is the first time this … Read more about Decoding Lonely Planet’s explanation

The Lonely Planet author fraud scandal has taken more turns than we did on the switchback riddled roads of Crete on our most recent research trip there. Now referred to as the Thomas Kohnstamm Affair by the Guardian, Gadling and others, the controversy hasn’t yet begun to die the death some might have predicted. Google … Read more about The Thomas Kohnstamm Affair continues