The Mini London Essential Visitors' Guide from Explorer Publishing is the iPod of London guidebooks, packing the city into 224 pages that would fit in a shirt pocket.

Explorer Publishing, based in Dubai, recently launched themselves on the guidebook scene with a series of Mini Guides to the world's greatest cities. These go alongside a smaller series of activity guides, and a series of Residents' Guides, which are huge and thorough books aimed at people living in or moving to a city, but useful to tourists too.

The Mini London Guide describes itself as The Essential Visitors' Guide, and its 224 pages and compact size means it will slip easily into anyone's pocket or handbag. Other Mini Guides on the market from Explorer include Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Dublin, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.

The London guide begins with the usual overview of the city, its history, a timeline, followed by a paragraph on each of the main West End areas. Then comes the entries on the attractions, beginning with Buckingham Palace. This merits 11 lines of text, one of which explains that the Queen's Gallery was re-opened in 2002. Do we need to know this in 2007? Is it relevant? When space is tight, writers and editors really need to question every inclusion. Instead of being told that this gallery was re-opened five years ago, it would be more helpful to the reader to know when the Changing of the Guard takes place, or how to find out when the Palace is open to visitors. (In fact you can find out by clicking here.)

No opening hours or prices are given for any of the attractions, just a phone number, nearest tube stop and website if there is one. Nothing gets more than one potted paragraph.

If you're looking for a cheap London hotel then the Mini Guide is not for you. Nine of the city's most expensive hotels are listed, and one of these, the Savoy, is closing in December 2007 for a long period of refurbishment. Each of these pricey hotels gets a paragraph write-up, while Budget accommodation is squeezed onto half a page, with phone numbers and websites (but no write-ups) given for just three Bed and Breakfast places and three inexpensive hotels.

*

Explorer London Guide: The Authors

One thing I always like to know about a guidebook is who's written it. As a guidebook writer myself I know there are some writers who are better than others, and if it isn't written by someone whose name I know, I like to see how well they know the destination. Unfortunately the Mini London guide doesn't tell us. There are credits at the back of the book for the Publisher, Managing Editor, five Lead Editors, three Deputy Editors and two Editorial Assistants. We even learn the names of the Warehouse Assistant and the two Drivers for the Sales and Marketing team, and the Driver for the Finance and Administration team (Rafi Jamal). But no writer.

*

Explorer London Guide: The Maps

Maps are important parts of any guidebook. Series like Rough Guides and Lonely Planet are popular because they show readers (even in their pocket series of books) where every restaurant, hotel and attraction is located. There are only one or two area maps in the pages of this book, with a fold-out map at the back. It's glued into the book so can't be detached like the ones in Lonely Planet's similar-sized Encounter series. Unfortunately it's nowhere near as good as that, and only covers the central areas of the city. If you want to find a restaurant in an area that's outside the map, the listing only gives you the nearest tube station so you will need to buy a London A-Z too.

*

Explorer London Guide: The Quirks

This Mini London guide is rather old-fashioned, and not always accurate. It refers to the great British tradition of the Sunday roast lunch, and says it dates back to World War 2. Not so, I'm afraid. It dates back to at least the time of the Industrial Revolution.

The guide also tells us that fish and chips are still sold wrapped in newspapers. I feel like I'm just being picky, but it's a long time since I bought fish and chips that were wrapped in a newspaper. Most fish and chip shops these days wrap fish and chips in plain white greaseproof paper, to keep it warm and stop any excess oil from leaking out.

The book also talks about Cockney rhyming slang, which is something you hardly ever hear on the streets of London. Everybody knows about it but no-one uses it these days, and hardly ever did. You may as well talk about London fogs, which are also a thing of the past. If you're going to publish a compact guide like this, it's a waste of space and superficial to talk about rhyming slang and Sunday roast dinners when London is such a modern, vibrant and ever-changing city.

*

The Verdict?

The Mini London Guide simply cannot compete with other pocket-sized London guides on the market.

*

The Explorer London Mini Guide costs £5.99 in the UK, $11.95 in the USA and €8.95 in Europe. Further details on the Explorer Publishing website.

*