Counter-tourism : a pocketbook

The subtitle - 50 Odd Things to do in a Heritage Site (and other places) - says it all.

This is a book to take with you next time you visit a historic or heritage site.

Its 50 'tactics' are designed to transform the way you look at these places and to get you thinking about the way the industry packages 'heritage'.

It's also an interesting and provocative present for parents, grandparents and anyone else who becomes a tourist from time to time. Although you're encouraged to try them anywhere, many of the tactics work best in a castle, stately home or similar 'attraction'.

Among the ideas, you'll find 'Photograph all the stains' and 'Visit heritage sites as if you were a member of a bomb disposal team' - some come with more elaborate instructions but others are as simple as that. The 'tactics' are interspersed with thoughts and commentaries that appear on blue plaques.

These soon reveal that the Pocketbook is just the tip of the iceberg.

There's a whole radical philosophy underpinning Crab Man's approach to heritage, which has its own 'proper' book (Counter-Tourism: The Handbook). Counter-Tourism is definitely not about 'sneering at tourism'. While the Pocketbook does collect some of the best 'Heritij' cliches and nonsense (including "Explore England's England" and the fabulous "Hop on one leg in beautiful surroundings"), we're encouraged to "Embrace the cock-ups and the accidental poetry - they may tell us much more - than yet another information board or guide in a three-cornered hat".