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A useful book if you're planning a trip, know where you're going, and want to add some very old, off-the-beaten-track sites. If you're planning a trip and trying to figure out what part of Scotland to visit, another guide such as the Michelin is probably more useful as the latter guide differentiates better between the must see sites and those of only modest interest.

This book was simply wonderful. I purchased this book to help me plan a trip to Scotland this year, and I am so glad I did. The authors give a detailed descrpition of each site and give it a rating to help you, the traveller, prioritize. They also give some pretty handy directions for locating the sites as well (we found every one we looked for, even some that were far off the beaten track).

There were so many wonderful sites I would never have found without this book, and it reeally helped to make a trip that I will never forget.

Another handy use for this book is that after I got the pictures from the trip I wanted to make a journal of my trip. The information and history provided in the book was hugely helpful in filling in the mental gaps and refreshing my memory of the visit.

An excellent resource. Don't tour ancient Scotland without it.

If you're off to Scotland in search of ancestral roots or the remains of them and want to travel the roads less taken, IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT SCOTLAND may prove useful. Gerald and Dorothy Ruzicki have collected material about Scotland from web sites and references guides (listed in an appendix section), and their own travel experiences, and created a somewhat unique guide.

The guide is organized into eight regions in Scotland and every site within each region is rated with 0-3 stars. The focus of the guide is historical places 5000 BC to 1700 AD, so Culloden Moor, for example, is not included in the 'Index of Sites'. Included selections are organized along a time line in an appendix so that if, for example, you only wanted to visit only Medieval places you could do so. Appreciative of the popularity of "Braveheart" the Ruzickis include a good deal of information about Stirling and Bannockburn and other locations associated with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Apparently, Stirling has much to recommend it beyond the 'Braveheart' connections, not the least of which is an easy drive from Glasgow or Perth.

What may be of great interest to the traveler with an "antiquarian" bent and plenty of time to drive to more remote areas, are ancient sites such as the 'Standing Stones of Callanish' (Calanais) that rival Stonehenge; 'Dun Trodden' and 'Dun Telve' in the Northwest Highlands; and 'Mousa Broch' that can only be reached by ferry across a temperamental sea. Later period sites closer to the central cities such as Jedburgh Abbey founded in 1138 by David I; Traquair built in 1107 AD and continuously inhabited since; or the ruins of Castle Tioram where Robert the Bruce once lived are also identified.

There are many interesting and useful books on Scotland, but if you're brave enough to travel independently and hankering to find ancient sites not always included in mainstream publications, check out this book. In addition to the "where to go" and "what to see", the Ruzicki's include much practical information about traveling independently, including a chapter on driving in Scotland.