"Rise up — in your own time, of course — against the culture of speed and global uniformity. Look upon a cloud, join a game of Trugo, holiday at home, meet local artisans, pluck a ukelele, buy greens from a farmer, inspect a scarred tree and, for goodness sake, do slow down and smell the roses."

You guessed it. This is one of those books that the new agers might lovingly place between their 'blessed be' angel statue and their oil burner. The message here is the latest one making the rounds; go slower, all ye stressed out office slaves, the world is passing you by. Full of insipid entreaties to 'be', mixed through with quotes from the usual suspects such as Thoreau, as well as Chinese proverbs, Winnie the Pooh and even someone's Grandpa, at times I was almost too nauseated to continue.

Have to say though, I'm glad I did. Once I'd waded through the vomitous sludge of well meaning marshmallow, I did actually discover some interesting facts about my home town. For example, did you know Freddo Frogs were invented in Melbourne? They started off as chocolate mice until one chocolatier said to another: 'Hang on a mo, the ladies are afraid of mice! Better make it a frog.' Luckily Little Britain wasn't screening back then.

This book asks Melbournians to take a good look around their city. Not just a quick glance over their kebab at lunchtime as they scurry across the road, but a big, deeply-breathed look around, complete with feeling, tasting and smelling the place too. The book divides itself into chapters devoted to each of the senses, and then some extras such as 'nurture', 'gather' (ie shopping) and 'small', which is the kiddies section.

Martin Hughes is the main author and developed the idea for the book. He and Simone Egger have written for the Lonely Planet, and you could say this book, minus the guff, is a bit like a Lonely Planet for people who actually live in Melbourne. I just wish it was more like a Lonely Planet for people who live in Melbourne. I don't need to be told to jump in a puddle (p 120), but I was actually interested to know where the nudist beach is, and where the best ice cream shops are. The businesses that get a plug in this guide are the ones that come a bit closer to the Slow movement ideals of organic, artisan and small scale production. Not that there's much mentioned about the huge international Slow movement which started with Slow Food in Italy. Standing on the shoulders of a well documented and hugely popular movement, Martin Hughes still manages to introduce the book like it's an idea he came up with all by himself.

Through the book are a number of essays; two or three page stories that are often quite interesting. Martin Hughes describes a day 'twitching', which apparently isn't when your dealer cuts your methamphetamines with talcum powder, but when you go and see how many different species of bird you can see in one day. His expert twitcher friend Sean took him off to Werribee Sewerage Farm, where, thanks to a bit of a whiffy smell, the people stay away and the birds can play.

Simone Egger wrote about her 10 day vipassana meditation course, and Kelly Chandler describes the Saturday market at CERES, an environment park in Brunswick that teaches the community how to live more sustainably. The tone of that essay was again a little 'let us now pray' which made me wriggle in my seat a bit.

But, this is a rather useful book to find out about places like CERES. This book lists farmers markets, sustainable fish shops, organic butchers; it tells you where to go for dancing lessons, yoga classes, and where to admire some good Melbourne architecture. It lists some of the best op shops to visit, which I thought was fantastic, and there was some interesting info on the well loved La Mama theatre and good old 3RRR and 3PBS. I found myself many times thinking 'oooh, I must try that/go there/tell my mates about that one!'

The other thing that makes this book are the black and white photographs by James Braund. They're just beautiful. My favourites are a shot of the Shrine through the fog that is eerie and peaceful, and a photo of an outdoor swimming pool with a couple of people doing laps in the bright sun.

If your stomach starts to settle looking at the photos, fear not, there are these bits in the book called 'slow — mo'; little half page sections of suggestions on how you can achieve your heart felt need to 'be'. Some of these include:

Imagine yourself the director of the quintessential Melbourne movie. Scout locations and light at different times of the day, then start directing a film in your head.
Stop and smell all the flowers, crush herbs and even leaves in your hand and breathe in the scent. You might not always smell anything but when you do it'll put a spring in your step.
Picture your travels in Melbourne over the last week, imagining the ground you've covered shaded on a map. Like most of us, you probably took the same routes to the same places on the same days by the same means. Perhaps during your undeviating week you imagined a holiday — after you've cleared this busy period or that frigging debt. But why not take a holiday right now, spend some time with yourself and discover Melbourne anew? Block out slow time on your calendar, negotiate a mental health day from work, embrace Melbourne as if for the first time.

That last one had me gasping. Frigging debt? You mean... it wasn't debt the universe provided to open up the opportunity for me to grow and be one with the cosmos? Oh dear me, I'm a cynical old bat with no patience for all this waffle, but I'm sure there are some people who would suck it up with a big ole straw and love every bit of it. My recommendation is to buy this book if you live in Melbourne and use it as a reference. Want to know where a good bakery is? Go to the index, look up bakeries, flip to the page, get what you need and close the book hastily again. Look at the pictures. Enjoy the view.

More information can be found at slowguides.com.