However, this survey is not just for Americans visiting Switzerland. I was quite surprised to discover that there were so many corners of that fair city to which I was a complete stranger, and I was pleased to explore some of them with the help of the travel guide. In general, all of the surveyed literature was of good quality, each speaking to a certain type of traveler. I asked several locals if they had ever heard of the Minster or of the Cathedral of St. Vincent and none had, not even my Swiss friend who lived just a hundred meters down the road from the M nster most of her life. One hopes, therefore, that the poor English speaking tourist doesn't have to stop and ask directions with the wrong guide book in hand.
British guides contain a bit more culture and history, as a general rule.
Though writers received assistance from tourist agencies and from personal contacts, as well as their own travel experiences, none of the surveyed guides appear to have been written by a Swiss person. All guides contain useful indexes, although such things as currency exchange rates are constantly in flux. In other words, despite the high quality of most of the guides, no first time visitors should feel free to neglect doing a bit of homework on their own. Some of those travel titles are now out of print, while others have reappeared in new editions. Reviews are updated periodically as publishers make their new titles available to us for review.