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There is enormous coverage in this book. Maybe that is its main drawback. There is just so MUCH to Great Britain, that it is impossible to go into great depth. HOWEVER, what it does it does extremely well.

The house style of the Eyewitness guides is very attractive - beautiful pictures, cutaways and good maps.

It is not the sort of guide that is very comprehensive in restaurant and hotel suggestions - but in the UK there is such a good network of tourist offices that you rarely need a huge accommodation listings book. Each tourist office will book accommodation in any price range or category.

I wrote a rave review of the London guide. I suggest if you are spending an extensive time in London, it is worthwhile buying that book instead. And if you are spending significant time in Scotland, consider that book.

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Summary:
Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!

The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.

But, the really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
............Very complete
............Easy to read
............Beautifully and artistically completed
............Good shopping, safety and other tips
............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.

Summary Negative:

The country books are too general to really satisfy all your needs in any given location. So, if your entire trip is spent in Wessex, for example, you will also want to get the specific guide for that city (but, the London Section is fairly good)

Guide Specifics:

The guides are organized as follows:

How to use this guide
Introduction to Great Britain
............Portrait of Great Britain
............History of Great Britain
............Great Britain Through the Year
London, Area by Area
Great Britain by Region
............Southeast England
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............West Country
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Midlands
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............North Country
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Wales
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Scotland
........................Specific Cities / Towns
Travelers Needs
............Hotels
............Restaurants
............Shopping
Survival Information
............Practical Info.
........................Police, safety, buses, trains, etc.
............Travel Info.
........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.
............General Index
............Phrase Book

Discussion:
The book begins with "A Portrait of Great Britain", including a complete map, a review of Great Britain, it's history, and Great Britain's History (very interesting), and Great Britain though the Year - including events, etc.,

Region with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of Cities / Towns, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.

Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.

The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on resorts, hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions

The books are so well thought out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.

Negative:
The country-wide guides are by definition more general than the specific city guides. So, if you are going to Scotland, get the specific "Scotland" guide (another great guide). If you decide to get the "Great Britain" guide for your 3, or 4 city tour of England, understand that this guide may be a little to general for all your local travel needs.

Conclusion:
As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location.

First of all, for all those who are not familiar to the UK (Great Britain)the Britain this guide try to show you has not excisted since the end of the 1950's. The images are buetiful, in fact I will complement it on selling such a romantic vision of contemporary Britain. But alas this is all false. Verging on 99.9 percent of the UK's people have never eaten cream-cakes or had tea and crumpets with the Queen in Buckingham Palace, likewise nobody in the country speaks like the Queen (sorry to tell it like it is.) Roads are concrete and Burger King & McDonalds lurk in every town. I can say as a UK citizen that this guide is giving out mis-information. I would recommend reading this book if you are planning on visiting the countryside or a museum but otherwise they are selling you a vision of Britain that has been dead for nearly 60 years. If you buy this guide, belelive what you read, and visit the country you will (and we see this happening on a regular basis in Britain) walk into the roughest and most run-down area of London for example, ask the first person you meet in a bar for scones and tea and then you and maybe your partner will be beaten to pulp and have your possessions stolen. By no means is Britain a hell-hole, but its far from the Britain shown in this Travel Guide. Sorry to tell it like it it.