Birnbaum worked as a managing
editor for
Fodor's travel guides, and later created his own series of guide books, the Birnbaum Travel Guides, which up to the time of his death had encompassed 36 books. At the time of his death, he was
Good Housekeeping's travel editor, and the author of a twice-weekly travel column that was
syndicated by
Tribune Media Services and published in several U.S. newspapers. In 1976, he became a co-owner of the then three-year-old
Diversion magazine (ISSN 0363-4825), a now-defunct, monthly travel and leisure magazine for physicians. The magazine was sold to
Hearst Corporation in 1984, but Birnbaum remained its editorial director until his death. as well as the official guide for
Disneyland. ==Personal life==