Beyroutes - A Guide to Beirut

by Studio Beirut

From the back cover:
The destination of this guidebook is Beirut, one of the grand capitals of the Middle East. Beyroutes presents an exploded view of a city which lives so many double lives and figures in so many truths, myths and historical falsifications that for navigating its streets and its corners you need a whole new set of rules of engagement. Visiting the city with this intimate book as your guide makes you feel disoriented, appreicative, judgemental and perhaps eventaully reconciliatory.

ARCHIS Never Walk Alonely Planet series

Genres: Lebanon

169 pages

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It isn't Lonely Planet and it isn't Monocle and if you want either of those things you are looking in the wrong place. Rather it is a guide to Beirut written by people who live Beirut, have been eaten up by Beirut and know the real Beirut. It is political, artful and insightful. It's provocative and creative. I'd love to see this book for other cities.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I NEVER read guide books before a trip. NEVER. Hate em! Love to see a country or a city or an adventure with “fresh eyes “. Don’t want to read someone else’s impressions or recommendations of where to eat or what to do. How limiting is that? I want o explore and make my own mistakes and find my own way...BUT..OK...I was exploring a hostel in Beirut...and saw this little gem stuck in a glass case. It bought it and now I a happy camper and it suited y crazy travel mode...no restaurant reviews, no hotel and 5 star ratings.....but an irreverent synopsis with a ton of good history and the “things one may not know or understand “. It’s not exactly a guide book, but one can use it to have some adventures. I am so happy to stumble on to it and read it. In a complicated place as Beirut....it really helped bridge some areas and explain life there.

[okyrhoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This edition didn't live up to my expectations. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who's not yet visited Beirut.
There are some interesting and innovative segments - the pinball version of Dahiye being one outsanding example - but overall the collection is weakened by slipshod editing. It is frustrating to be reading about one thing and the accompanying photographs on that page or on the facing page to depict something different altogether. This happens too often to be ignored. Also, the hand-drawn maps contain errors (of scale/distance as well as in the placement of specific landmarks, buildings, businesses, etc.). Even though authenticity of the map as an 'artwork' is an issue, I would have preferred for there to have been corrections or clarifications, so that a first-time visitor to Beirut won't end up on a wild-goose chase.