Frommer's San Antonio and Austin [Paperback]

I have had good luck with Frommer's Guides for locations all over the world and welcome their recent appearance as Kindle books. In the past, I have cut out maps and sections of the paperback books to take with me on a trip so I could have a list of dining and sightseeing choices. With Kindle versions of the Frommer's guides, I can now take the entire book with me. However, Frommers first attempt at moving to the electronic book world falls a little short of ideal. The guide seems to have the same content as the print version, but not enough effort has been made to take advantage of the electronic format. There is no index because there are no actual pages in the eBook, but an index with active links to the text would be even easier to use than a paper index. Cross references in the book could also benefit from active links. The table of contents is set up with links, so this somewhat makes up for the lack of an index. Also, all website URL's in the guide have active links to your web browser, and this is very useful. The biggest disappointments for me are the maps. Only low-resolution bit-image maps are imbedded in the text. Much of the map is unreadable, and a pinch zoom on an iPad just gives a magnified view of the low-resolution map. Frommers does have zoomable PDF versions of the maps on their website, but this requires downloading the maps and moving them to iBooks, followed by a sync with a desktop computer. It works, but I would prefer the PDF maps to be imbedded in the text. An even better improvement would be an active link of each landmark to Google Maps. The Frommer website did not have the San Antonio - Austin PDF maps when I looked for them, but they put them up right away after I sent Frommer's an email pointing out the omission.

The Kindle version is a welcome improvement over a bulky paperback that has to be added to luggage, and its content for San Antonio and Austin is just what I expect from the excellent Frommer's Guides. However, it could be even more useful if it took full advantage of its electronic format. This deficiency may be in part to the constraints of a Kindle version, but the best medium for travel guides in the future is clearly the electronic book format.

This book does not have any colored photos. Half of the book contained information on Austin, Tx. Austin is not part of our vacation plans so this half of the book was useless for me personally.
It was helpful with the information that we needed on transportion in and around the city, but found it not complete when searching for restaurants. Ex. Big Lou's featured on Diners , Drive-ins & Dives. Hotel reviews are easier to get on-line and with more choices.
I personally was not pleased with the layout of the book either.

Good overall view of area. Not enough of lesser known spots. Charming descriptions and selection of sights. Would definitely recommend.