I have to say, I read this book cover to cover. I was surprised how up to date it was. I've been motorcycling for a few years for general transportation and fun. I started getting interested in adventure motorcycling this past year. I like to get off the normal tourist routes when I travel and adventure motorcycling looked like a great way to to see some parts of the world.
The book does a good job of covering all the major topics - picking a bike (it reviews 10-15 of them), what to wear, items to bring, how to pack, gear, typical mechanical issues to expect, safety, border crossings, etc. It also covers popular routes in different regions of the world. These sections are okay, but they really didn't have enough depth for me to decide where I might want to go. It only acts as a stating point. Then again, I'm sure there's TONs of routes to take per country, so I can't imagine it would be easy to add more detail to any level of comprehensivness. If the author reads this - a set of top 10 routes might be nice, especially if it included a rating system for different attributes. The second half of the book is made up of 2-5 pages short stories or diaries from riders. These stories were the best part of the whole book. I wish there were more because they're very interesting and you learn from those as well. They really leave you wanting to go out and hit the road.