We used Rick's "Amsterdam, Bruges, & Brussels" city guide book for our trip to (you guessed it) Amsterdam, Bruges, & Brussels (with a few days in Paris with that guide too) this spring. We like using his books. They are what they are and you kind of have to like his style. The books are somewhat opinionated (with his liberal views) which does lend to a more personal feel. Personally, I think they're geared towards the slightly older traveler (30's and 40's) that are ok traveling relatively simply (though not roughing it) and want to see the sights and try to experience the culture a bit. The guy spends half the year in Europe every year and put out an updated book every year so the info is probably as good as you can get in a book. And updated info/corrections can be found submitted by readers on his website.

One of the knocks though is that we've gone to a few of the restaurants he's recommended and occasionally didn't feel the same as his reviews. The restaurants (and other businesses) know an entry in his book is a cash cow so I think they pull out all the stops for him and his tours. When the average Jay appears at the restaurant with his guidebook out of sight, the experience may be hit or miss. (That's also a time when the feedback on his website comes in handy.)

Also check out Let's Go. Definitely geared towards the college crowd. We haven't taken it on a trip with us but have scribed a few bits of info while browsing through it at the bookstore.

We've also used Frommer's and Lonely Planet for a number of our trips. Checked out but never bought the Eyewitness and Fodor guides. For Europe, we pretty much only buy and take with us a Rick book but obviously check out other books and web sites before we go to supplement the info in Rick's guides.