A meandering trip through the history and geography - and many, many hairpin turns - of the Alps, from Switzerland to Slovenia, although we don't see much of Slovenia!

The pace changes partway through as the history gives way more and more to the traveler's tale - which was more interesting to me.

While I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the book, the maps weren't particularly helpful, which was a disappointment. I had a tough time figuring out the route. The "it's not that I'm afraid of heights, it's just that..." thing got old after a while.

...and I sorta hate to admit it, but I want to see Heidiland...

3 stars.
An easy, if somewhat repetitive, read through the European Alps.
I enjoyed the familiarity I felt with many of the places O'Shea visited, but was less enthusiastic about his going on and on about his rental car and his fear of heights. He over exaggerates the scariness of the Alpine passes which are all, in fact, easily traversed by huge busses, so shouldn't have been an issue for a bloke in a tiny oft-mentioned Renault.
This is basically a travel blog with a misleading cover ( a train was a form of transport used once, from memory), some good information about specific locations and occasional humourous passages.

Huh I really liked this travel novel. O'Shea does a nice job weaving his personal narrative of traveling the Alps with an enriching human history of the mountain range. I really liked the repetition of "I'm not afraid of heights, I just ____" throughout the book. It was a nice touchstone for his character development when he finally breaks the format. His focus on people and stories that I had not heard before helped to illustrate the Alps. I've always liked visiting the Alps, so this is a nice addition to my experiences.

A great combination of travelogue and history. I love the Alps and have the same combination of awe and terror the author has. So happy he articulated it and provided an absorbing history as well!

The Alps is a travelagoue created Stephen O’Shea filled with history tidbits and personal interactions. These sort of books are often not my favorite, even the classics like The Innocents Abroad and Roughing It by Mark Twain took some effort for me to get through. However, O’Shea does a really good job at keeping it engaging and exploring many aspects of Alpine culture and the people you meet there. While his historical blurbs are sometimes light on details they were often fascinating. If this is your kind of book, I would not hesitate recommending it.

I don't know who this is for. The author doesn't paint a scenic picture of the Alps nor does he make them out to be a must visit place. There's not much of a narrative and it's mostly musings of an old white guy in a sports car who complains about things wherever he goes.

2 stars because the cover is nice at least.

A nice light read. Read it over two days. I would love to travel through Switzerland now.