This book has very detailed information about the base cities it chooses, usually one per country, and specific time tables for trains between the base cities. It also includes a description of the train stations for the base cities, how to navigate and what facilities are offered (shopping, dining, money exchange, luggage storage etc.). For the cities that are designed as "day excursions" from the base city, there is only information about what to do there, nothing about where to stay. There are only country maps, no city maps. There is no index to help you find cities in the back, but the counties are alphabetical so the book is fairly easy to use. Also, there are as few as 5 cities covered in some countries such as Finland, Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Plus, the recommendations are not very budget oriented. For example, the hotel the recommendation for Amsterdam is a 4-star hotel that costs over 300 euros per night. The book is kind of large to carry around.
As a budget traveler staying in many different cities, this book was only occasionally helpful, I looked to Europe by Rail far more often.
If you are not on a very tight budget and you plan to stay in main cities and make day excursions to cities near by (which is a comfortable way to travel, I did this in Brussels and Florence) then this book would be very useful.