Guide Books..What do you expect from them ?
 

Recent questions about guide books on a number of forums prompts me to ask..

What exactly do the readers of guide books expect them to contain? or what would be, or is gained from their use?

I am of the pick them up look at the pictures and put them down unread brigade. Others have shelves full of them and believe every word contained in them even when they contradict each other?

A list of the possible main sites to see. A list of good driving routes. Perhaps a bit of the history. The things that don't really change year to year.

Interesting but not accepted at face: hotels, restaurants, pricing, opening hours, festival dates,etc..

I've used some good guides (Michelin Green comes to mind).

Same answers as Michel_Paris, but I'd add maps. I like to see where I'm staying in relation to the sites I'd like to see. I tend to keep them as souveniers as well~I make notes about some of the things I saw, what I'd like to see next time.

I use them when planning a trip where I'm taking someone not familiar with the country. I hand them a stack of books and request a list of things they would like to see/do and then pare it down from that. Even better if I can get them to list in order of preference. "Who cares, we'll be in Ireland!" is not conducive but can be considered to give me carte blanche in the planning.

I always use guide books when planning a trip but mine don't have many pictures in them. I like that there is a lot of information in one place - history, famous people, sightseeing, restaurants, maps, transportation, basic vocabulary, pronunciation, music, movies, shopping, sports, average temperatures.

I love the small Fodor's 25 Best guides. They have the best pullout maps and public transportation maps.

Same as Michel_Paris, for the most part, for the "standard" guide books. Some books have good walking tour descriptions.

For a food-oriented book, up-to-date descriptions of the restaurants.

For more history- or art-oriented guides, I look for a huge amount of information and detail. The Blue Book series, for example, which is definitely not for everyone.

Guidebooks are dated at time of printing and quality

varies widely... I choose only reputable folks like

Fodors the Gold Guides recent publish date best..

This is for moderate upscale travel.

The authors matter too worth a check...

LP used to be best for shoestring but BBC bought them

cut everything so info VERY dated...

So I use amazon check all available select only after

careful research... Many have amazingly bad incorrect info

Having read a number of answers on a number of forums I have come rightly or wrongly to some conclusions.

Hotel and restaurant sections in guide books are a waste of paper because no one takes them seriously and their shelf life is extremely limited.

No one wants to be told where to go, just a bit about what is there when they arrive.

What people do want to know is how best to get somewhere and the transport arrangements to get them there.

Guide books are mainly used for reference and macro rather than micro planning.

Everyone has their favourite but some use different ones for different aspects.

The main conclusion is that if some one asks me which is the Best guide book for Ireland? I need to know which details of their trip they want it to cover and then point them at people who actually read them.

Perhaps I should give Dean Koontz a rest and start reading something from the reference library.

Many thanks to all who have contributed to my enlightenment ;-)

I find the internet much more useful than guidebooks for trip planning. Normally, we plan our trips using the internet and then take the Michelin Green Guide (we add notes) with us on the trip. The Green Guides are best for history, detailed descriptions and background of the places we visit and helpful maps of cities. I don't like to use guidebooks for restaurants and hotels. Word of mouth, including this forum, works better for us.