Which book should I take?

There is a large selection of different guidebooks to take on any trip. Lonely Planet, Let's Go, the Rough Guide, Frommers, Fedors, Michelin are a few of the brands available. Some companies publish a country guidebook as well as a regional guidebook to add to seemingly large category of books. For example, The Lonely Planet publishes a guidebook on Thailand, as well as a regional guidebook on Southeast Asia. The regional guidebook is a better value as they contain information on several countries, whereas the country guidebooks have in-depth information on a specific country. Books range from $20 for a country specific book and $30 for regional guidebook.

For my situation, I need a regional guidebook on SE Asia. After reading a few of the guidebooks, I'm leaning toward taking a copy of the Rough Guide for Southeast Asia with me. I could bring several country specific books on my trip; however, weight and cost becomes an issue for me. The Lonely Planet, Let's Go, and the Rough Guide are brands that tend to focus on budget and backpacker traveller. These brands are of particular interest to me. To help narrow down the choice, I like to skim through each book at the bookstore, or take a bunch out from the library. Availability becomes an issue when using the library especially if urgency is an issue. Other than that, using the library is one of the better ways of skimming through books for free, and without feeling rushed. The library carries recent editions of all the popular brands. At home, I reserved a bunch of books using the online catalogue on the library website, then I had each book transfered to the library a few minutes away from my place. http://www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca/. I accumlated a nice collection of guidebooks to skim through after a couple of weeks.