Rating: 
Summary: Better luck next time
Review: Admittedly, it's the first time out for a whole-USA guide from those Australian backpackers, but this guide has a long way to go. Fine cultural information, but this book's write-ups are ambiguous at best, treating the best hostels in the USA the same as the very worst. True, these books are accurate, if by accurate one means "not listing any hard information so that the hard information can never be wrong."
Rating: 
Summary: VERY LITTLE IMPROVEMENT OVER THE LAST EDITION
Review: As somebody who has a good knowledge of U.S. Geography (and History), I will not condemn this book too much. However, I will not rate it high. Its "updated information" is more or less superficial. Except for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, there is no grounded addition or remarkable improvement over the last edition. I was disappointed to observe that most other updatable facts and figures remained unchanged. Anyone who already has the previous edition shouldn't consider buying this one. Donate the dough to charity; or do something else with it. 'September 11' is the only big deal here!
Rating:
Summary: What does this book inform the readers?
Review: Do you want to see if America is still out there? Then this is the book to avoid. I've used Lonely Planet Guides before and really wanted to like this book. The truth is, you'd do well to purchase instead Jamie Jensen's Road Trip USA (avail thru Amazon) which is the best guide out there right now.Typical of Lonely Planet, only very pronounced in this volume, writers' comments are often riddled with sarcasm and condescension, and worse--are too often incorrect. These writers will have you looking for places that may have existed years ago, and it is now clear to me that their reissues are not carefully updated, but reprinted with new covers. If you've used Lonely Planet Guides before, you've probably noticed these qualities, and while a travel guide cannot be perfect in all directives, it surely can be much less rude and lazy than this one. I left their East Africa book in Tanzania as its lack of accurate information was a complete joke, and although the book made for a pretty coaster, it became a burden. The purpose of a travel guide is to guide readers to highlights of each place and to inform and educate at the same time. One quickly learns to read between the lines (for example, if a particular hotel is given rave reviews, it will probably be crowded by others with the same travel guide), but it is difficult to forgive L.P. writers their holier-than-thou attitude. I found in this volume that they are too quick to insult and degrade even the most sacred places. Stay away from this book--unless you just want to see a lot of pretty pictures, which is the primary reason I gave it the one star. They do make one of the best travel series on televsion. Maybe they should apply some of those talents to their written guides. It's been a long time since I noticed them being conscientious in their travel guides--which is a real shame, especially for such an expensive guide. There are a lot of better, more accurate guides out there.
Rating:
Summary: Use Any Other Guide
Review: Do you want to see if America is still out there? Then this is the book to avoid. I've used Lonely Planet Guides before and really wanted to like this book. The truth is, you'd do well to purchase instead Jamie Jensen's Road Trip USA (avail thru Amazon) which is the best guide out there right now. Typical of Lonely Planet, only very pronounced in this volume, writers' comments are often riddled with sarcasm and condescension, and worse--are too often incorrect. These writers will have you looking for places that may have existed years ago, and it is now clear to me that their reissues are not carefully updated, but reprinted with new covers. If you've used Lonely Planet Guides before, you've probably noticed these qualities, and while a travel guide cannot be perfect in all directives, it surely can be much less rude and lazy than this one. I left their East Africa book in Tanzania as its lack of accurate information was a complete joke, and although the book made for a pretty coaster, it became a burden. The purpose of a travel guide is to guide readers to highlights of each place and to inform and educate at the same time. One quickly learns to read between the lines (for example, if a particular hotel is given rave reviews, it will probably be crowded by others with the same travel guide), but it is difficult to forgive L.P. writers their holier-than-thou attitude. I found in this volume that they are too quick to insult and degrade even the most sacred places. Stay away from this book--unless you just want to see a lot of pretty pictures, which is the primary reason I gave it the one star. They do make one of the best travel series on televsion. Maybe they should apply some of those talents to their written guides. It's been a long time since I noticed them being conscientious in their travel guides--which is a real shame, especially for such an expensive guide. There are a lot of better, more accurate guides out there.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be a lonely backpacker skip the book, talk to others
Review: Don't be a lonely backpacker skip this book and talk to other backpackers instead as you travel. You will get much better and more accurate information from people who have just been there.... This book doesn't include everything it should and has been drastically thickened with a lot of [info] backpackers don't need to know and more importantly do not want to carry the weight of those pages around. Who cares about restaurants, hotels and other places backpackers are unlikely to go. More supermarket listings would be more helpful and pointing out when what is listed is a 7 Eleven, Spar, Quix type place and not actually a supermarket would also be good as these places aren't budget friendly. The information on the actual towns, cities and national parks listed is ever increasing which is good but the number of places is fast declining especially the limited Canadian ones it has (a lot more pages used to be devoted to Canada).
If it's just background information you want to plan your trip you may be better off getting a version from a few year ago. ..For an overview of the USA and Canada this should concentrate on having as many places as possible not just the main ones. The whole differentiation of backpackers from tourists is that we see places package tours don't go. Who is going to carry around 50 or so Lonely Planet books and for the money spent on the books you will spend more than your entire trip. While this book is good to find the location of hostels that's about it. Prices of course go up the day after the book is published. ...you're better off to go by word of mouth from other backpackers to find quality hostels. ... Buy this book if you know nothing about where you are going and read it on the train/bus before getting there but don't have it out when you arrive or you'll be hassled by homeless people and be a target for thieves. You should always look like you know exactly where you are going when you arrive somewhere, it's way safer that way.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be a lonely backpacker skip the book, talk to others
Review: Don't be a lonely backpacker skip this book and talk to other backpackers instead as you travel. You will get much better and more accurate information from people who have just been there.... This book doesn't include everything it should and has been drastically thickened with a lot of [info] backpackers don't need to know and more importantly do not want to carry the weight of those pages around. Who cares about restaurants, hotels and other places backpackers are unlikely to go. More supermarket listings would be more helpful and pointing out when what is listed is a 7 Eleven, Spar, Quix type place and not actually a supermarket would also be good as these places aren't budget friendly. The information on the actual towns, cities and national parks listed is ever increasing which is good but the number of places is fast declining especially the limited Canadian ones it has (a lot more pages used to be devoted to Canada).
If it's just background information you want to plan your trip you may be better off getting a version from a few year ago. ..For an overview of the USA and Canada this should concentrate on having as many places as possible not just the main ones. The whole differentiation of backpackers from tourists is that we see places package tours don't go. Who is going to carry around 50 or so Lonely Planet books and for the money spent on the books you will spend more than your entire trip. While this book is good to find the location of hostels that's about it. Prices of course go up the day after the book is published. ...you're better off to go by word of mouth from other backpackers to find quality hostels. ... Buy this book if you know nothing about where you are going and read it on the train/bus before getting there but don't have it out when you arrive or you'll be hassled by homeless people and be a target for thieves. You should always look like you know exactly where you are going when you arrive somewhere, it's way safer that way.
Rating: 
Summary: A good travel guide
Review: Gives much more than directions and information. The history of the region, culture and geographical information added a lot of value to my understanding of the U.S.A. The approach and treatment of the subject is much more "warm" than those of other guides like Let's go U.S.A. A good addition to the LP series.
Rating:
Summary: comprehensive and helpful guide
Review: I bought and use this book during a recent trip to DC and NYC. Advices and directions were right and extremely useful. Map quality has improved since earlier guides. Maybe, it lacks details about passes for local transportation (eg NYC) I recommend it over other guide books.
Rating:
Summary: New edition is better
Review: I just wanted to point out that most of these poor reviews are based on the first edition. The new one is obviously more up to date and is more polished than the last edition.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best Lonely Planet for travelling in the US
Review: I took several Lonely Planet guide books with me on a 6-week drive across the US, and I'm very glad I did. The *regional* volumes (Lonely Planet Southwest, Lonely Planet Deep South, and Lonely Planet California & Nevada in particular) pointed me to some interesting little spots that I never would have found on my own or with a more traditional guidebook -- small-town festivals, outstanding small museums, breathtaking spots in national parks that the tour buses don't visit, fun alterative driving routes through the mountains. I also brought along this book, thinking it would be useful for the areas not covered in my other books. It wasn't. The entries for each city are so short that all it really offers is a brief history, the major tourist attractions and a couple of (often outdated) hotel/restaurant recommendatations. I highly recommend the regional Lonely Planet guidebooks for US travel, but don't bother buying this one.
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