This is the book that helped me prepare and carefully plan out my solo trip in California. National Geographic has the best tourist guides out there, because they have a lot of pictures, explain regions and cities in detail and even include separate pages with explanation about different themes, such as California history, cuisine, cinema, Mexican folk art and so much more. They even give tips on road trips, what to see along the way and what to see in a city depending of the number of days you are staying there. At the end of the guidebook they give practical advice like where to stay, eat or the best means of transportation.
I also have National Geographic books for Romania, Spain, Portugal and Italy. I definitely recommend it more than Lonely Planet because it helps you learn about the regions and cities in case you don’t know anything about it. Lonely Planet is a very fast and efficient guide that tells you where to eat, sleep and visit, but you have to know your destination already . In case you don’t know where to go and what there is to see, and you just want to be informed about everything, the National Geographic Guides are the best way to go.
REBS MEDIA 
Thanks for sharing this! I’m always looking for good guides!