This book delivered everything a 'travelholic' like myself could wish for. It detailed the highlights of every country in the world plus a few interesting facts, and for particular destinations picked out a few snippets on food, music, customs and recommended films and books. An ambitious undertaking, successfully achieved. Just a couple of tiny niggles. Some of the writing was a bit too self consciously 'hip' and to an old fogey like myself sometimes jarred. This is a criticism I would level at Lonely Planet in general. There were also diagrams illustrating interesting breakdowns of the population of the vast majority of the countries featured. However they needed a bit more colour as I found it challenging differentiating between very similar shades of blue and grey. However my 'to visit' list has grown ever longer after reading this book-I'm sure this is precisely what the editor's had in mind. Job done! ( )

Overly ambitious, but a neat flip-through with at least two pages on every country in the world and a little sidebar about the local cuisine. More of a gateway to additional guidebooks than an actual travel takealong. ( )

An excellent travel guide to the world, plenty of detailed information, plenty of pictures Basically provides the basic information that you need to know the most. As a traveler I really like the amount of information supplied about each country in the book, not too much information to bog you down and over saturate your mind, just enough to inform you of the important aspects, the book gives a brief description about most countries in the world, if this is not enough depth for you, you can always find other more in-depth, detailed books. But I am a big fan of the “Lonely Planet” book series, have used them for many years, and will use them for many more. I have made my decision to travel to countries based on the information provided in the lonely planet books. If you like to travel, or just enjoy reading about other countries, then this Lonely planet “The World Book” is perfect for you. Loads of guides at www.lonelyplanet.com that can easily plan your tips. The lonely planet travel series is well worth looking at and considering if you are a traveler. ( )