today's haul from amazon.de

[nibot]

To be honest, I am only a grudging patron of Lonely Planet these days--their guidebooks have gone so mainstream that they can change places as much as they describe them, and any place mentioned in a LP guide will be, by virtue of its publication, no longer "off the beaten path". But I reluctantly admit that they are still pretty much the best for getting your feet on the ground -- I haven't found any better series -- even if they won't usually help those feet leave the backpacker/tourist ghetto.

It's always a delight to find a one-off independent guidebook or travelogue written by someone motivated only by their enthusiasm, personal interest, or unique experience. One such gem is András Török's "Budapest: A Critical Guide," sporadically in print and with an idiosyncratic website at pergolam-budapest.hu.

Comments

[serrano.livejournal.com]

There's a great old book called Central America by Chicken Bus from the nineties, too.
Also you've seen Vagabonding the Axis of Evil, right?

[serrano.livejournal.com]

Also a ton of older hitchhiking how-to books, and the inimitable, self-published Hopping Freight Trains in North America by Duffy Littlejohn, former assistant DA of Alameda county, and pretty up to date.