Amsterdam (Eyewitness Travel Guides) by DK Publishing - Comprehensive, user-friendly and with beautiful images. The first pages, "Four great days," offer itineraries for varying interests. It also manages to squeeze history and lots of descriptions into a relatively small handy size, easy for carrying around.
Joe Pauker's Get Lost! the Cool Guide to Amsterdam (Get Lost) - If you consider a hip visitor, ready to take on everything that this city of vice has to offer, remember to get yourself a copy of this book. Joe Pauker's Get Lost! the Cool Guide to Amsterdam delivers exactly what it promises - Not meant for regular travelers, this book covers what traditional travel books don't bother often don't cover enough: sex shows, coffee shops, and places to get free cheese samples, to just mention a few.
Lonely Planet Amsterdam - Lonely Planet Amsterdam is a safe choice for a travel guide to Amsterdam. Comprehensive, reputable and accurate - if you want a reliable guide, this is the one you are looking for. The traditional Lonely Planet formats can be a tad uninspiring, but it still features in our top ten for being thorough and reliable.
Amsterdam Made Easy - If you are looking for a slim book you can carry around while you walk around the city, this is the one. This might be too small and narrow in scope for someone spending weeks here, but if you are here for a day or two and would like to see the city on foot, this is the book for you. It features directions for great themed walks around the city, along the canals and,even what they call the "naughtier" parts of town.
Frommer's Irreverent Guide to Amsterdam - The book description of Frommer's Irreverent Travel Guide reads - "wickedly irreverent, unabashedly honest, and downright hilarious, and provide an insider's perspective on which attractions are overrated tourist traps and which are the secret gems that locals love." It is like being taken around by a local who doesn't bother to hide the truth - if that's your cup of tea, go for it!
Streetwise Amsterdam Map - Technically not a guide book, but this is a must-have to supplement a bigger travel guide. Its small (it can fit into your pocket!), lightweight, laminated (a useful feature to survive unexpected Dutch rains), and with almost all the detail that most visitors need - with all major roads, tram lines and metro stops clearly marked out, with even the major tourist attractions penciled in, this would soon be your trusted guide.
Rick Steves' Amsterdam, Bruges, and Brussels - With its good coverage of most sights in Amsterdam along with the usual useful tips of where to stay and eat, how to plan your itineraries by day and how to get in and around, I can understand why Amazon would claim that "Rick’s time-tested recommendations for safe and enjoyable travel in Europe have been used by millions of Americans in search of their own unique European travel experience". And you get a bit more than Amsterdam - if you would have the time to get out of Amsterdam and visit the surrounding cities of Bruges and Brussels, this book is definitely what you are looking for.
Amsterdam: A Traveler's Literary Companion - If you want to get to know Amsterdam and is not the typical tourist satisfied with the travelguides above, this anthology of original essays would just be the book you are looking for. Arranged by the different areas of Amsterdam, it is a rich collection whose contributors include Cees Nooteboom, Simon Carmiggelt, Martin Bril, Remco Campert, Marion Bloem, Maarten 't Hart and Geert Mak, to name a few. If you would like to dig a little deeper than the glitter and glamour, the red-light district and the cannabos, and get to know the real life that happens in this beautiful city, this is the book to get your hands on.
My 'Dam Life: Three Years in Holland - For those of you who are looking for the offbeat kinda of travel book, this just might be the one. Funny and irreverent, this is the story of a thirty-something couple who have just moved to Netherlands, have no real jobs and are desperately trying not to get deported. Peppered with funny anecdotes and snappy writing, this is a great read, even if you don't visit Amsterdam.
Amsterdam (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides) - We, at this site, obviously have a fascination with picking out the top ten. Even if you are not so particular about knowing the best ten, this book is a great companion if you are pressed for time, and really need to prioritise what you would like to see in this city that offers so many delights. There are lists of top ten sights, top ten museums, top ten Churches, top ten bars, top ten clubs and also, lists for each geographic area of the city.