AA Guides in general

I've just come back from the Scottish Highlands using my new road atlas. I travelled over 1000 miles on the Highland roads so feel reasonably qualified to comment on this new book. My main reason for an upgrade was to get a map with a larger scale - my old AA road motorist was 4 miles to an inch and I was alsways having trouble following the map because there was insufficient detail. So when I found the 2001 edition in a 3 miles to an inch version I more or less cried "Eureka". However I soon found out that ther are some disadvantages too. Firstly at this scale you find yourself driving across the page quite quickly, even on ...

This guide was a free gift when I booked a holiday to Istanbul. I wouldn't have chosen to buy it, but found it surprisingly useful. It's a slim volume aimed at providing "All you need to know", with the emphasis on *need*. Most useful for the visitor with little time in the city (presumably this book's target audience) is the Istanbul Top Ten section, providing information on ten major sights. The list is not wildly original, but is well-chosen. The main section is an alphabetical list of sights by area, with small explanatory paragraphs. In the middle are two pages of lists, again a kind of checklist for the weekend ...