Dame Traveler by Natasha Yakoub (2 stars)

Dame Traveler: Live the Spirit of Adventure by Natasha Yakoub

This was so absolutely weird. Why would you want to look at an instagram in book form? The pictures were very pretty, but I would rather just follow the instagram, which I did. Maybe this makes more sense not in a Kindle edition, like a nice coffee table book. As far as the actual content of the writing goes, it was pretty bad. The book was divided into the sections Architecture, Water, Culture, and Nature, which is just… what? There’s a small part about safety which is really basic and condescending (is this written for teenagers?) and the second section is literally directed to men which just seemed a little abrupt and strange in a book about women who travel. The book was useful for finding cool locations or places to visit but some of the blurbs felt like paid advertisements, especially the hotels. It was cool that they at least included some diverse people including an account that talks about what it’s like to travel as a plus-sized woman.

For a book entirely about solo female travelers, every single one of the pictures was taken of the women from a distance away, so it would’ve made sense to include information on how they did that, and the safety of using tripods with timers, etc. That would’ve been actually useful if you were trying to recreate this.

I am fairly active in female solo traveling groups so it struck me as odd that I had never heard of this account in the first place. I guess that if I had to recommend this book to anyone it would be to people who want to know some Instagram-worthy locations while traveling, but it’s not like the book is arranged by location at all. Honestly, calling it a book feels wrong. It was just pictures and captions and instagram handles.

The only reviews on Goodreads are all 5 stars, and I honestly just have to assume that they’re all people who were featured in the “book”.

2/5 stars.