South American Handbook 2010By Ben Box, Footprint, £22.50
This is the 86th edition of this handbook, which was first published in 1921, so Footprint has had plenty of opportunity to get it right.
The book covers all the countries of mainland South America, as well as sections on the Galapagos Islands and the Falkland Islands in just under 1,800 pages.
What’s initially surprising is how much is squeezed into what is a relatively small package.
The hardback cover should survive a good few months in the rucksack, and the ultra-thin pages mean it doesn’t take up too much room. The pages are practically heaving with words, and there is reams of information here to wade through.
The style of writing tends to be more informative and perhaps more formal than the usual Lonely Planet and Rough Guide competitors, but that has always been Footprint’s hallmark.
This is not a book loaded with author picks. Ben Box, who has done an extraordinary job in covering so much ground on these pages, tends to present a wide variety of options without making very strong recommendations.
This book is more for travellers who wants to make up their own minds.
If you’re happier with a guide that does all the thinking for you, then perhaps you should look elsewhere.
Again, the concentration of space means pictures are few and far between, and the maps are not as strong or as detailed as those in many rival guides.
But for concrete information and remarkably comprehensive coverage of an entire continent, it’s difficult to imagine anyone stealing a march on this Footprint edition.