Where To Ski and Snowboard Worldwide: The Reuters Guide

Rating:
Summary: Meticulous detail, entertainingly presented
Review: Whether or not this book will be useful to you depends on what type of skier you are. This doesn't mean what ability level, but whether or not you cherish the same things that the writers of the book do: good snow, good trails, good atmosphere ("charming village"), and most amusingly, good lunches. (Maybe it's because they're Brits, but these guys love a serious meal in the middle of their day and will mark it as a real minus if the resort has bad food!)
Basically, the book is fantastic. It's well organized, well laid out, and crammed full of carefully researched descriptions. If they don't have info about a particular aspect of a place, for example, the ski schools, they will say so upfront. But this is a rare occurance; usually they have clear, concise and dead-on accurate information about resorts literally worldwide. They know their own preferences well enough to state them clearly, so that you can easily figure out how your take on things compares to the authors'.
As another amazon reviewer suggested, reading the reviews of resorts that you've skied will give you a standard from which you can guage their perspective. They review trails for all levels: beginner, intermediate (see below) and expert. They are particularly good at breaking up that catch-all term "intermediate", and describing trails at different resorts as appropriate for the "aggressive" intermediate or "timid" intermediate.
I would not suggest reading this book on the fly; there is just too much information in there. Read through it before you plan your trip, if you want to get the most out of your time and money.