Most of these I haven't read, but I'd put a solid vote behind An Hour from Paris -- with the caveat that some of her directions don't always make a lot of sense. You'll get there, but sometimes she either takes you a long way out off of the most direct route or something equally inane. Other than that, it gives terrific ideas.
Rick Steves -- not so much...he's great as "training wheels" to get people to try independent travel, but he tends to stay aimed toward those same people...who've never set foot in Europe and need to be taken by the hand at every step of the way.
I'd suggest substituting the Eyewitness Guides printed by DK Publishing (www.dk.com) -- they're excellent guides, especially for France, with not only entries for what's there to see, but photos and diagrams and WHY you might want to see it. They have one for France, one for Paris, and a Top Ten Paris for the short and sweet.
I own most of the DK library on Europe, and refer back to them again and again...and have had to replace a couple of them because they were just loved to death (broken bindings, dog-eared, a few mementos of a picnic or two....)