Customer Rating: 
Summary: A comprehensive reference for students, but not travellers
Comment: Though not entirely meant for the college student, the information the book provides is certainly skewed in that direction. This book used to be something of a de facto bible in the study abroad community. I'm curious why there have apparently been no new editions since this twelfth one, published in 1994 with information current as of 1993. The format of the book is direct and concise. For each country, there's about a page on the culture, and where to read more about it. Then there's statistical information, such as population and basic weather patterns. Then finally the bulk of each country's entry is divided into, unsurprisingly, work, study, and travel sections.
I'd be especially wary of the utility of the information given in the 'work' and 'travel' sections, as this information tends to be the most volatile over time. Still, there are literally thousands of addresses given by this book, and if even half of them are still valid, the book will probably have been worth the purchase price for you.
Certainly, there's no other book on the market which has as exhaustive a selection of countries from which to choose. There are, however, better sources for individual countries--embassies an even Lonely Planet guides being just the most obvious of them. Where the book excels is in its superb, even comprehensive, reference for study abroad programs. Though now probably somewhat outdated, I remember thinking in 1994 that the book had seemingly every address of every major study abroad program that earned credit with an American university. These programs are organized not just by country but by subject area, so that if you want to, say, find art history programs in Belgium, it's dead simple.
This is therefore a particularly useful purchase for the student who already knows which country or subject matter she wants to experience. It's also highly valuable for college Freshmen who know they want to have a significant experience abroad, but they don't know quite what they want to do. Where it's less useful, I think, is for the serious traveller who's looking for current information about work conditions in various countries. And it's certainly almost entirely useless for anyone hoping to use its contents for casual travelling.
As of March 2000, a far more appropriate title for the book would be, simply, "How to Study Abroad".
Customer Rating:
Summary: Provided invaluable options on how to go about living abroad
Comment: I've bought more than one edition of this fantastic book. If you've ever wanted to live abroad as a student or whatever, this book lists a lot of possibilities. What's more, it is realistically geared to the American student/traveler so as a result, there is important information regarding travel/work visas for Americans.
