Moon Handbooks South Pacific available free to read online

David Stanley's Moon Handbooks South Pacific is available in it's entirety free to read online at Google Books. This is the best guidebook for the region.

I must admit that it kept on crashing my browser when I tried to get past the first few pages but YMMV.

As Stanley says on his blog, "Downloading, copying, saving, or printing out pages from Google Books is restricted as Moon Handbooks South Pacific is protected (by) copyright."

Thanks for the link! It is indeed very slow, which may be what causes the crashes for you. I have a very fast connection, and patience is still needed for the pages with photos/graphics (ie, click to advance page, then don't do anything until the page is completely loaded).

.....

Several minutes later, and after browsing through the book, I finally realize that '8th Edition' is in fact at least three years old, judging by some of the info that was becoming out-of-date just after my own visit. For example, Susie's Plantation Resort in south Taveuni no longer exists. It was sold and turned into a boutique resort in 2006-2007; the resort at Leleuvia has undergone a major overhaul, etc etc.So readers should take this into account.

I checked out, Auki and North Malaita in Solomon Islands. Although some attempt has been made to update, much information is way out of date. Jack Inifiri has not managed Auki lodge for several years, and Solomon Airlines and the ANZ bank are in a fancy new building.
Prices are rising fairly rapidly, too.
For Solomon Islands, the LP guide has better information.

Yes, David has decided not to update the guidebook. At one point he asked me if I was interested in taking it on, but it's a LOT of work and I'm getting a bit lazy in my old age!

So, I am extremely glad that everyone can now see it so easily!

Keep in mind that it has not been updated in at least three years for most places, and four or five years for others.

But, the culture, history, orientation, general way of approaching each country, areas to go, things to see, customs to respect, etc., are all still excellent info for anyone heading to the South Pacific.

The change in air routes has really affected this type of guidebook. For instance, one can no longer do the usual LAX/Tahiti/Cooks/Fiji/New Zealand route on one relatively cheap RTW or RT ticket anymore. Lots of inter-country links are disappearing, and it will only get worse as fuel prices soar.

It may come down to picking just one country, maybe two, for each trip one takes to the SP. So, South Pacific Handbook is still probably a great read for those who are trying to pick where to go, etc. And once that choice is made, it's still a good starting point for planning where specifically to go, etc.

Edited by: Raro

Even the culture comments (or maybe especially) are out of date for Malaita - things have changed considerably since I first went there in 1991, and the guide Book hasn't kept up. I wonder when was the last time he (or one of his authors, if there is a group) were in Solomon Islands, and especially Malaita.
I will check out Honiara next.

David did all the writing himself, no group authorship like the LP guides. But he did rely on lots of locals to update islands etc he could not get to as often. Yes, I think he concentrated more on Polynesia, as the US was the main market for the gudebook, so Melanesia probably is the oldest area for updates, as you indicated.

I think his website (www.southpacific.org ??) has a way for readers to add updates on specific areas, but I'm not sure.

I've now been through all the general Solomon islands introduction, and could make the following comments. (I think I will keep a copy of this and , if possible, post it on the website Raro suggested).
Population: at least 20% growth since the 1999 count.
The maps are good, and don't use outdated names like Florida for Gela, or San Cristobal for Makira.
I picked up a discrepancy in the number of people still practising kustom religion (5,500 in the intro for the whole country, and 10.000 in Malaita). I think the former figure is more likely to be accurate.
I have never seen any cattle anywhere on Malaita. There were some in Makira and those on Guadalcanal were eaten during the tension.
Titiana, the Gilbertese village on Gizo Island was destroyed in the 2006 tsunami.
The Solomon dollar is now between 6:1 and 7:1 Australian.
Banking has changed considerably. When the National Bank was taken over by the Bank of Hawaii, most of the rural agencies were closed. It now belongs to PNG-based Bank South Pacific.
ANZ, on the other hand , has introdiced mobile banks on Guadalcanal and Malaita, and introduced more ATMs, in Honiara, (Including the airport international terminal) Gizo and Auki, at least.These are easy to use if you have a Visa card.
(Note, a friend couldn't use her Australian ANZ card, even though the Aussie bank assured her she could).
Qantas, and other international carriers, haven't code-shared with Solomon Airlines for 10 years.There is a new airline offering daily flights from Brisbane, SkyAirWorld.
Malaita shipping company went belly-up years ago, and I haven't been subjected to a kung-fu video on a ship for years (thank goodness).
If you are going to Malaita or the West, the "Express" boats are a faster option.

Ozzie - have you considered making your own Solomon Islands web pages? (More extensive than your linked page.) Or contributing to someplace like wiki travel? The Solomon Islands page there is pretty much blank. http://wikitravel.org/en/Solomon_Islands
I think that with the apparently changed approach of guidebook writing and the internet age that is where travel information is going, back to the home made guide.

I use a guide like the above for reference. I'll see a post on TT about say Kiribati and look it up to see whether I should be going there.

I haven't really thought about it except in the Exploring Solomons section on Wikispaces.
I didn't even know there was another wiki site.
If I do, then I would be commenting on everywhere except the Western Province (although I might go to visit friends who have returned to Munda), and most things other than diving.
But then, those are covered by practically everyone else who posts on Solomon Islands.