Picking the Right Guide

When you go to pick out a guidebook, there's always a risk. While you expect to be getting a fantastic compass to help you navigate your travels, you could end up with a poorly-written, out-of-date, or worse, completely fabricated disaster. Luckily, travel writer Andrew Evans, who has written several guidebooks, is here to um, guide us through the buying process.

In his recent book “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” a very smug Thomas Kohnstamm confesses to accepting bribes, plagiarizing text, and not even visiting the countries he was covering for travel publisher Lonely Planet.  One man’s publicity nightmare is another man’s royalty check, yes, but where does this leave the traveler? How reliable is any one guidebook and how can travelers avoid buying fiction when they’re looking for facts? 

For starters, the popular conception of the travel writer is a myth. We do not run around the world with limitless corporate credit cards getting free spa packages and business-class upgrades. How does it happen? For a new title, I usually travel for at least two to three months in the country, spending 10-12 hours a day doing intensive research. Everything is research, whether I’m noting how long it takes to walk from the train station to the beach or remembering the cleanest bathrooms. Obviously, it’s impossible to see and do everything, but I try my best since nothing beats writing about a place firsthand. As backup, I collect every scrap of paper I can find on-site:  tourist brochures, café menus—even phone books. The Internet is a great secondary source once I’m home and writing things up. 

No (gasp!), guidebooks are rarely fact-checked—at least not in the way that magazines and newspapers get fact-checked. Authors are contractually liable for the information they submit so the onus is on us to get it right the first time. Proofreaders and regional experts will review the manuscript to check for inconsistencies and blatant misrepresentation but they can’t vet every phone number or hotel review. Instead, sections of the book are spot-checked to get a sense of the overall level of accuracy. If it passes the test it goes to press. 

Enter you, the savvy traveler in search of the perfect guide. Here’s a few tips to help you find what you’re after:

Be a Picky Eater: Guidebooks are like restaurants—sometimes the better ones are harder to find. Resist the temptation to grab the first thing you see. Before you head to the bookstore, check online to see every title that's available.

Check the Sell-By Date: Start with today’s date and subtract one year. That’s about the last time the author was in country for any given title, even the ones with next year’s date on the cover (e.g. France 2009). Always check the date of first publication on the inside cover and verify if subsequent dates represent actual updated editions of just reprints or partial updates. A quality guidebook has a lifespan of two to three years, after which it usually needs to be fully updated.   

How Many Travel Writers Does It Take To Screw In a Lightbulb? Just one, sometimes two. Generally, the more writers involved in a single guide, the lower the quality. Varied experience and different voices mean that a separate editor has to massage the text into a single book and risk losing authenticity. The exception to the rule are multi-author books to huge countries like Russia, China, Brazil, or Indonesia—in which case you should really consider buying a region-specific guidebook. Avoid the thick, 1,000+ page tomes that are too “all-inclusive” to carry any sustenance. Most of these are cut-and-paste jobs gleaned from smaller guidebooks.

Loyalty is Not a Virtue: Instead of going with the brand you know, choose the best guide for your destination. When it comes to guidebooks, everything depends on the individual writers. You may have trusted a certain brand in one country only to find it severely lacking in another. Remember that different brands cater to different types of traveler and that your own needs fluctuate depending on where you’re going and what you want to do.   

Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover: Good photography covers a multitude of sins—it’s amazing how many travelers get misled by a flashy cover. Remember that for guidebooks, it really is the inside that counts.

Read Between the Lines: A guidebook can be entertaining but should also be informative and easy to use. If all you get is jokes and anecdotes, the author is likely overcompensating for a lack of knowledge. Another good litmus test is to flip to the section on the country’s second largest city or attraction. Do you like the prose, and how does the coverage compare to other titles? 

So, Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? No, not all of us, Thomas. But if you think you might be headed there, let me recommend a great guidebook written by this Italian guy. He didn’t actually visit the place, but his descriptions are fairly accurate.    

Andrew Evans has written three books for Bradt Travel Guides. You can reach him through his website, walkedandwalked.com.

Photo: Janelle Nanos

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Comments

[pam]

Call me crazy (and sorta cheap) but I really like to check out guidebooks at the public library before I buy. It's hard to get the latest, but you get a good sense for tone and style by browsing what's on the shelves - and you can take them home and try before you buy. Then, if I like what I see, I buy the latest edition.