I have to disagree otherwise. The earlier editions of LP by Robert Storey have been criticised by many. The more recent editions are a great improvement and provide coverage of many more places.

I think LP has a target audience and long-term residents of Taiwan probably aren’t a major part of it. They have the ability to find out information that most people won’t in a short visit. Also lots of information is now available on the internet which simply didn’t exist a few years ago.

By contrast, the LP Taiwan 7 doesn’t really have any of that stuff, and seems to be written for short-term visitors and casual tourists. But I’m not sure if it’s even useful for them, since I discovered–only after buying it–that it includes absolutely no information at all about the city of Ilan (宜蘭市)!? Moreover, it’s clearly geared towards non-backpackers who are supposedly more interested in understanding a bit about local culture and spends most of its time telling you which touristy restaurants and sites are best for a tourist like yourself. For example, Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum gets one complete sentence: “The level of work on display is impressive.” Yeah, probably a few museum pieces in there even.

In sum, if you’re a long-term expat or back-packer, I wouldn’t recommend buying this new edition–not enough information and will be of little use if you are here for more than the time alotted you on visitor visa.