I had high hopes for this book. New Zealand is a place I've always wanted to go. The descriptions of New Zealand scenes, flora, fauna, etc were really good. However, the rest of the book was a different story. The man is supposed to be talking about Paradise, but there was an overall negativity to the book that really bothered me. On top of that, not only is the author obviously a serious liberal with resulting views thereof (pro Socialist healthcare, anti parents rights, etc.), but there was a very egocentric feel to the book. At one point I felt that if he wrote the word "intellectual" one more time I was ready to scream! Though he may not have come out and called himself a great intellecual, there was the feeling throughout the book that he really feels himself so much better/smarter than most people. I mean, seriously, you go to visit Sir Edmund Hillary taking as a gift books that you wrote?!? In fact, he mentions multiple times that he has written many books. Many times I wanted to shout out "Shut up about yourself--tell me about New Zealand!!!!" Even when talking about how wonderful NZ is, he still is very strong on what he considers it's negative points. I guess there was just an overall feeling of him talking down to/about everyone and everything. I enjoyed the descriptions, but they didn't make up for the sheer irritating arrogance of the writer.

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