I'm a big fan of the Lonely Planet series of books and maps - but the maps run the gamut of good to bad (see my reviews on Paris and London). This map was a very helpful tool in getting around Brussels with the very handy LP walking tour. Given a long weekend and this map and the matching LP book, you can cover Brussels fairly well.

Mr. Kossmans technique of comparing and contrasting The Netherlands and Belgium in dual contrasting chapters is brilliant. The reader will gain understanding a better understanding of these countries which share a similar culture and history, yet are so different.

Once you've bought a Michelin map you'll never go back. Country names are offered in multiple languages (including the native language of that country as well as English). I navigated all over Germany and Austria with this map and we didn't have a single problem. Now I keep buying more and more of them and refuse to use any other brand. Michelin maps are printed one sided (which you may see as a plus or a minus).

I recently spent 4 days in Belgium, staying in Bruges and visiting Antwerp. (I stopped in Brussels briefly and used the internet to plan my few hours there.)

The small size of this guide gave me concern that it was too superficial. To the contrary, it provides a surprising amount of information by focusing on only the sites that could be covered during 2 days in each city. In 2 days, I covered all the recommended Bruges sites. In one day I covered about half of the Antwerp sites. I supplemented the information with books and audioguides available at the museums, as I would have done anyway, even with a thicker guide book.

In terms of contents, the guide provides a brief but useful overview of the region and for each of the three cities a city map (the usual great Michelin quality), listing of must-see sights (usual Michelin star system), and descriptions of those sites, even with several good pictures. It also provides an abbreviated list of hotels and restaurants, but these are not budget recommendations. (You'll probably need another source to find a hotel - I found mine on the internet.)

Best of all, this book is compact and light, and really does fit in any pocket you have.

Before I moved to Belgium from the US, I had heard that "you can consistently eat better in Brussels than you can in Paris." They were right. Belgium, and especially Brussels, has incredible food and this guidebook only adds pleasure to the search for the perfect waterzoi!

This looked like the best road atlas on the stateside market. I am going to use it for geocaching.com while I am in country, and I don't want to get lost in some Belgian farmland, as I suspect is easy to do. I will update if the real world, and the atlas world don't add up. This one is nice, if just for the amount of detail, and the city close ups. Durability is good, with the spiral binding.

This is history as it ought to be told: with exhaustive, detailed research, telling the known facts with a bright freshness and presenting fascinating new information and links, Hendrick Hooft has been able to credibly portray the enormous importance of the Dutch democratic movement. It is one of the ignored moments of history that nevertheless created our world: these young democrats, who preceded the French in pressing for a popular voice in government (and achieved it entirely bloodlessly), and were a source of intellectual inspiration for the American Founding Fathers. Hooft writes anecdotally, interspersing historical fact with lightfooted and elegant fiction. Truly a delightful read as well as being an important historical document. A definite recommendation.

amazing, written by a historian with an extremely fresh approach, knowledgable, highly readable, covering the topic from all relevant angles, may they be social, religious, cultural or economical. I am writing a book about 2500 years of Spanish jewish history and have among all the material I have gone through not found anything remotely as interesting as this book which may have a non-inviting title but reads like a thriller. Of course I am grateful to mr. Swetschinski for confirming my being a descendant of 4 out of 10 of the first jewish heads of families settling in Amsterdam, but I won't let that distract me from reviewing the book objectively. This is a must-read for anyone who want to understand the development of past-1492 jewish life in all its glory. It also lays a foundation of pride under presentday sephardi life in Israel, if only the sephardim there would share the knowledge available through masterworks like RELUCTANT COSMOPOLITANS..............

I have read several guides to Dublin and the Rough Guide is the best by far. It is packed full of information in, and unlike many of the other guides, it includes information on off-the-beaten path destinations and day trips outside of Dublin.

It has lots of practical information that the first-time traveler to Dublin should know, like what buses you can take from the airport, the (new) location of the Dublin Tourist Office, and the costs of public transport.

The style of the Rough Guide is very enjoyable as well. Instead of just a few recommendations for rooms and restaurants, the guide includes many suiting virtually all tastes and budgets.

Highly recommended.

I bought several Streetwise City Maps and this one is the best -- about the size of an envelope (accordian folded with 9 sections/folds). It is very detailed in the city center, public transport, and the larger urban area. Highly reccommended.

Most place names are in French + Flemish.