The world is full of different kinds of coffee-table. But one is at a loss to imagine an appropriate kind of table — or coffee, for that matter — for this book, which calls itself a coffee-table book and a “compilation of travelogues”. The preface to Urmi Popat’s DREAM DESTINATIONS (Manas, Rs 2,750) asks, “What glazes the eyes and refreshes the mind in the midst of work?” and goes on to answer, “It’s your dream holiday, of course.” This book is a Popat family album of several dream holidays made to various parts of the world. The family’s last book was about their trips to the Arctic and the Antarctic, where the Popats were apparently the first Indian family to plant an Indian flag. (The book was presented by the Popats to the Indian president.) This book is a large, heavy and ridiculously expensive version of a tourist brochure in which the photographs are very large, very colourful, and very full of memories that must be of particular charm to the family, who are frequently present in the pictures.

Urmi Popat usually does “years of research” before she travels; the bibliography to this book lists Wikipedia and Lonely Planet, apart from the Iceland Tourist Board, the Jewish Virtual Library and a couple of clubs and museums. The chapter names and summaries are unflagging: “V. Brazilian carnival: Sun, sand, surf; the depths of the Amazon and the tips of high-heels, can there be more to life than this? VI. Greece at a glance. VII. Salsa in Spain, party in Portugal. VIII. Tantalizing Turkey. IX. Israel — a journey into the soul: War-ravaged and yet profoundly positive; floating on the Dead Sea is the essence of Israel’s never-say-die spirit. X. Iceland: blowing hot — blowing cold: A never-ending drama of natural forces — volcanoes, geysers, glaciers, multi-coloured mountains and molten lava.”

Left is the Golden Drawing Room of the Hermitage in St Petersburg (“Uuf! Even writing seems overwhelming! Imagine the spin of being there!”); top right shows Chinese street vendors; bottom right is the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet (Popat writes of crossing into Tibet after going through “the de rigueur of Chinese immigration” — her bibliography does not include a dictionary); bottom centre is Cappadocia in Turkey. Urmi Popat is an architect, and the rest of her family are trekking enthusiasts. The best advice on what to do with this book is in the legal tag after the publisher’s details: “This book is prepared for the purpose of sharing the experiences of the various global travel destinations by Ashvin Popat and his family. It is our understanding that it is to be used solely for this purpose and we do not intend that its contents be relied upon by anyone for any other purpose.”