Every once in a while, this column may not be able to supply all the help and advice you need about business travel.

That’s when it’s time to take a look at guidebooks, in bookstores or over the Internet, that are designed to help business people travel smarter and with fewer hassles. Whether you are new to business travel or a veteran road warrior, you may learn some things from the guides.
This may not be quite as simple as it sounds, however. Despite the fact almost half of all airline passengers are making business trips, far fewer titles aimed at the business traveler are published compared to those for the vacationer. Just take a look in a large bookstore and try to pick out the business travel guides from those about destinations. You won’t find many.
One of the easier ways to browse for business-travel guides is to look at a large book retailer’s Website, such as Amazon.com, borders.com or barnesandnoble.com
A generic search on the sites for “business travel guides” may turn up quite a number of titles also aimed at the leisure traveler, such as Zagat’s Miami/South Florida Restaurant Survey as the second www.borders.com listing. But scroll through the first 50 titles (out of 20 pages offered) and you’ll find quite a few that are targeted to traveling business people.
Many of the guides available are aimed at helping international travelers navigate their way through the social and business customs of particular countries or regions of the world. Popular books on this subject are “Dos and Taboos Around the World” and “Dos and Taboos Around the World for Women in Business” by Roger Axtell, and two by Terri Morrison, “Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands” and Dun & Bradstreet’s “Guide to Doing Business Around the World.”
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