Review
“Provides solid advice for foreigners living in any developing nation. Filled with gems normally not found in the living-in-another-country genre.” — – Jeffrey Van Fleet, The Tico Times, February 17, 2006
This book helps you take advantage of the opportunities Nicaragua has to offer. It gives investment ideas, advise for starting a business, tips for buying property, tax savings for foreign residents and much more.
…
Buy Christopher Howard’s Living & Investing in the New Nicaragua at Amazon
Tim Rogers has condensed his 5+ years of living in Nicaragua into an easy to read and comprehensive manual for aspiring expats and investors. Written directly to this audience, Tim mixes in humorous quips and uses authentic examples taken right out of his daily experience to educate the reader in what can sometimes be a crazy set of norms. Although I have lived and invested in Nicaragua for over 3 years there was a great deal of new information for me, the content largely resonated with my experience here. Note: this is not a tour book, but folks planning to visit Nicaragua might enjoy this insider’s perspective as a complement to a good tour guide as well.
Having spent a fair amount of time in Nicaragua, and considered living there, I would say that this book contains accurate information and probably helpful perspectives on many things. If you are thinking about living and/or investing in Nicaragua, I would say this would be a must-have. Even one little piece of information or advice could make a big difference. Its a valuable resource.
That said, this is the worst-written book I can remember reading. Ever. It was badly in need of an editor, although the writer, Tim Rogers, claims to be an editor himself. Incorrect spelling and poor word choices and sentence structure abound. If there were any similar books on this topic, I would not recommend this title.
Also, the book is pretty heavily padded with filler. For instance, the verb conjugations used with ‘vos’ are useful to have. (I’ve never actually seen the rules written down anywhere before, as most Spanish textbooks don’t discuss ‘vos’, but it is used all the time in Nicaragua.) But do we really need a list of elementary Spanish vocabulary, which anybody who has even a prayer of actually having a conversation in Nicaragua would already know? It could have been left out. And the metric conversion chart? That is basic reference material, hardly necessary in a specialty book like this. Similar examples could be multiplied. The ultimate example of padding is the fact that entire paragraphs are simply duplicated, appearing in two different places in the book.
In spite of its deficiencies, though, this book seems to be accurate and useful for English-speaking/reading people considering moving to or investing in Nicaragua. I didn’t come across anything that I knew to be incorrect. It matches up with my experience in the country. I recommend this book for the time being, but somebody could easily write a better book on the subject. And they oughta.
First off, this is not a guidebook with information about hotels or restaurants, BUT it is a helpful guide for people thinking about living/investing in Nicaragua and who want to learn what to expect as an expat.
Good insider info from Mr. Rogers, who is an American journalist living in Nicaragua writing for an English-language newspaper and the Miami Herald.
The book is funny, too. A recommended read for people who are seriously interested in Nicaragua, and for people who already live there.