4 comments about 200 Waterfalls in Central and Western New York - A Finders' Guide.

1. "200 Waterfalls in Central & Western NY" is an especially well organized and presented recreational guide to a dazzling, beautiful, sometimes unexpected but always memorable assortment of natural waterfalls in NY. Maps, directions, time and effort required to reach them, as well as distinctive features of each waterfall are listed in this handy, convenient and highly practical vacationer's guide. If you are an outdoor enthusiast and planning to travel through the central and western regions of New York State, then begin planning your excursion's daily itinerary by browsing through the pages of Rich & Sue Freeman's "200 Waterfalls in Central & Western NY."
   The Midwest Book Review - Buhle's Bookshelf



2. Rich and Sue Freeman have come out with another must-have Finger Lakes guide book. This one, called "200 Waterfalls in Central & Western NY," is a well-done guidebook of accessible waterfalls complete with driving directions, access trails and photographs. Their descriptions include information and some historical notes. Whether a year round resident with out of town visitors or a summer resident, you will find this book a fine reference for area waterfalls. Mark this book as a good gift too.
   Leona Jensen, The Observer



3. 200 Waterfalls In Central & Western New York is an especially well organized and presented recreational guide to a dazzling, beautiful, sometimes unexpected but always memorable assortment of natural waterfalls in the New York area. Maps, directions, time and effort required to reach them, as well as the distinctive features of each waterfall are listed in this handy, convenient and highly practical vacationer's guide. If you are an outdoor enthusiast and planning to travel through the central and western regions of New York State, then begin planning your excursion's daily itinerary by browsing through the pages of Rich and Sue Freeman's 200 Waterfalls In Central & Western New York.



4. Well written book, nice to see Rich and Sue are doing well, I used to work with them at Eastman Kodak.

1 comments about Zagatsurvey 2008 New York City Gourmet Shopping & Entertaining (Zagat New York City Gourmet Marketplace).

1. Don't let the size of this gold mine cause you to think you can stuff it in a hip pocket and walk Manhatten from one great experience to killer shop as an instant expert. There are way too many opportunities and options for that. A little prep with this puppy--say 10 to 20 hours (a night a week for 10 weeks BEFORE you get on the plane)--and you'll not only go to good places, but you will see the great places that you want to see.
   
   I got my money's worth. In only 4 hours research I avoided a half dozen friend's "Oh! you have to see this..." got addresses and ranked some places so they were targets of opportunity between other things we had planned.
   
   My wife and I went 3 for 3 on the top stores on my short list. We caught three other "unique spots" on the Madison-Ave-Zag's-in-the-hip-pocket-Walk. Bad part we walked a block from an Only-In-NYC retailer, that sounds light years ahead of anyone on the west coast...I read about it on the plane coming home...there is always next year.
   
   But next year I buy the Zag's in May, map out a day of 57th to 34th before July and our '08 NYC trip will have about 10 new Must-Sees and a day of WOW in the midst of everything else that is wonderful about New York.
   
   Not the only book on shopping and seeing NYC. Just the best.

5 comments about Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City.

1. Fabulous! Leslie Day's passion for nature is evident in this beautiful guide to NYC's surprisingly abundant natural resources.



2. Leslie Day possesses an extraordinary, singular talent for inspiring enthusiasm and a life-long passion for learning and for the natural world around us. Dr. Day has been our children's science teacher since our now 17 year-old son was in her class in Kindergarten; and in order to be her students, our now 14 year-old twins commuted for six years, starting the day before 9/11, from the island of Manhattan across the Washington Bridge to the Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, New Jersey. Her Field Guide is a beautifully-written, gorgeously-illustrated and very smartly-organized celebration of big-city nature. A naturalist's version of "I Love New York", it provides pathways and subway directions to thousands of acres of magnificent parks and nature preserves that even most New Yorkers don't know. Now, in addition to knowing of Central Park, Broadway Theater, Carnegie Hall and our 157 museums, visitors and New Yorkers - including the Mayor (who wrote the introduction)- can always have a ready answer to that proverbial, weekend question, "what shall we do today?". This is a great read and a must-have.
   
   Paul Tobias, New York City



3. BTW, I was born Brooklyn in 1926. My family "emigrated" to Staten Island in the early 1930s. Having last lived on rural Lighthouse Hill on Staten Island in 1951 I am well-acquainted with Staten Island's flora and fauna.
   
   The best endorsement I can give is the fact that I originally bought this book for a friend who is an avid birder in Connecticut. She was so impressed with it that I bought one for myself. Now I am a birder (albeit, an old bird!).



4. 
   Leslie Day describes her book perfectly in the first chapter:
   
   "Today the city is a complex ecosystem, the result of its tumultuous history. Hundreds of species of birds inhabit its streets, parks and waters. Insects, worms, crustaceans, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds,mammals, trees, wildflowers, and mushrooms are within walking distance of virtually every apartment building, house, and hotel. The city has more than 500 miles of coastline, some fringed with saltwater marshes, such as the islands of Jamaica Bay in Queens. New York's 37,000 acres of parks contain hundreds of species waiting to be discovered, identified, and appreciated by the reader. This guide is designed to make the natural world of New York City accessible by revealing the living and diverse, and ancient geological treasures the city has to offer."
   
   She describes it beautifully with the help of well done drawings by Mark A. Klingler and a number of color photographs. Day is a keen observer: we've fed dozens of mourning doves over the years, but I've never noticed the color of their eyes. As she told a "New York Times" reporter: "If you look closely in their eyes, they are blue. It's startlingly beautiful." (During the same interview walking around a single block, Day identified several trees and a lichen: Willow Oak, Honey Locust, Sophora Tree (aka "Eve's Necklace"), three Callery Pears, Mulberry (with two types of leaves: some egg-shaped, others lobed), London Plane, several Lindens, and, of course, a Gingko.)
   
   Day writes in a simple, yet informed style. You'll understand why she is so effective teaching young people about nature and continuing to do so with adults. One of the best features: she maintains an interesting website devoted to the Guide, and posts short, informative, well illustrated updates on new developments in New York City. The last few entries included a Harp Seal at the Boat Basin on 79th Street (where she lives on a house boat), Winter Weeping Willows, and Canvas Back Ducks.
   
   This is a very human view of one of our greenest cities.



5. "What a wonderful resource NYC has in Leslie Day. I purchased her recently released book (hardcover edition) Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City, and was so impressed by her knowledge and intense communion with nature. This book is a work of art! Illustrated by Mark A. Klingler and containing many photographs taken by Dr. Day herself, it is a piece to be treasured. It is so complete, comprehensive and beautifully edited. It is also amazingly user friendly. Thank you Leslie Day for your dedication to NYC and the enlightening of nature lovers everywhere."

3 comments about Only in New York: 400 Remarkable Answers to Intriguing, Provocative Questions About New York City.

1. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in New York City trivia and facts. The book covers all types of trivia from history to pop culture. The Q&A format of the book makes it an easy read, and easy to read if you only can read it a couple of minutes at a time (terrific bathroom reading material). It is a must have for any fans of the Sunday New York Times City Section, this book is a must have. It is a great book for anybody interested in a broad range of not-your-typical New York City trivia.



2. This is a wonderful font of fascinating, little-known information about New York. The little stories are just the right length for bathroom reading. Some are funny, others are outrageous, and still others are quite disturbing. Everything you ever wanted to know about New York, but never thought to ask.



3. I bought this book for a friend of mine who loves NYC trivia and is changing careers to become a NYC tour guide. She loves this book and has already used some of the information on some tours that she is in training for. Easy to read and very interesting informtaion.

1 comments about New York Vertigo.

1. This book, which comes in a case with a magnetic closure, is perfect for fans of the urban environment and especially for New Yorkers. There are only a couple nature shots, with the focus on the reflective properties of our glass boxes, the juxtaposition of art or nature or squalor with these behemoth skyscrapers and the ornamentation of the buildings themselves. The photographs span the past decade and there are a couple photographs of the intact World Trade Center. The final page contains 3 photographs taken on Sept. 11, 2001 (Setboun was in Lower Manhattan that morning). I appreciated the focus being on intact, vibrant New York, rather than the tragedy we see over and over again.

5 comments about Old New York in Early Photographs.

1. This book features 196 carefully chosen photos from the New-York Historical Society, arranged by neighborhood from the Battery to the Bronx (though the emphasis is on Manhattan). These superb photos document the changing face of New York City -- not only the buildings (from mansions to shacks), but the people, clothing styles, and modes of transportation. A succinct description accompanies each, pointing out features of interest. Some focal points are presented in several photos taken years or decades apart. An excellent book for anyone who wants to really get a sense of the times.



2. If one desires a book of page-size, sterile photos of substantial structures (with minimal captions) this volume will certainly fill the bill. If, however, one prefers historical snapshots of people amidst the buildings or scenes of shacks or tenements, be forewarned that these are few and far between. Also, in number, the later-in-time pictures tend to predominate. Thus, if the viewer is looking to gaze a la Gangs of New York, some of the wordier texts provide much more appropriate photographic fodder.



3. The print quality of the photos in OLD NEW YORK IN EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS is quite good, better than most. And the quantity of the photographs is equally impressive. And that's about it for the positives.

   Arranged by neighborhood, the photos have little else to do with each other. There is no unifying theme holding the photos together. Not that every collection ought to have a theme as powerful as Jacob Riis' HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES, but these photos seem so haphazardly arranged. The scanty text doesn't even attempt to explain how the individual vignettes came about, or how it relates to the particiular time in New York's history that the photo was taken. And, of course, Manhattan is the only borough represented here. I suppose the citizens of the other four boroughs had yet to climb down from their trees and build fires, never mind operate cameras.

   Rocco Dormarunno from ooog-ooog Brooklyn




4. This was a good Old whatever book. I had been reading Edith Wharton and really wanted to see the old mansions of the wealthy New Yorkers. I did not see much of this in the book. But I enjoyed the pictures and the text.



5. Pictorial books like these are glorious time machines and invaluable primary resources. We are so fortunate that these pictures exist. The prints are crystal clear and detailed in that way only black and white photography can be. There is no greater joy that going down to Manhattan and finding the places photographed and seeing if anything has survived.

1 comments about We're There! New York City.

1. I have yet to see my kids be so happy and content traveling.
   They had so much to do and were so engaged in what we were looking at. Buy one for each of your kids and let them see who can find what they need first.
   Traveling with my kids would not be the same without this book.
   Thanks to Elizabeth Skinner Grumbach for making my travels and my childrens travels easier and more fun.

1 comments about Streetwise Downtown Manhattan Map - Laminated Street Map of Downtown Manhattan, NY - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated subway station locations (Streetwise).

1. If you think you'll ever find yourself in Manhattan, do us all a favor and buy this map. You don't want to look like a tourist fighting with that huge copy of the NYC subway map that they hand out for free. I'm convinced that the MTA has some sort of deal with the muggers to hand those unnecessarily large maps to mark the tourists.

   This is by far the most comprehensive Manhattan map I've seen packed into an easy-to-carry, laminated package. It has all the essentials that would be valuable to the casual visitor or the local yokel who would never admit they don't know where Essex crosses Rivington.

5 comments about New York: 15 Walking Tours.

1. This is the best guide of its kind which I have seen. Wolfe is thorough, engaging, sometimes funny and a joy to read. As a tour guide I have read many books on NYC, and this is one of my favorites. Unlike many other authors, he pays more than lip-service to the outer boroughs, and also offers a good guide to Roosevelt Island.

   Let's see an updated edition!!!




2. There is only one word to describe this book: Sloppy. So sloppy that you have to ask yourself if the author has ever taken his own tour.

   I don't know if the blame falls to the author, or publisher McGraw Hill, for failing to edit this book.

   I pulled a page (142) from a neighborhood I happen to know something about and found these errors on a single page:

   # 21 "The former Metropolitan Savings Bank", opened in 1867 not 1868. He uses the apprehensive phrase "attributed to Carl Pfeiffer." A newspaper article about the grand opening day of this building as a bank reports it as May 21, 1867, and declares that the builder is Carl Pfeiffer.

   Then he repeats an urban myth from a discredited revisionist "historian" that McSorley's Old Ale House did not open in 1854, but in 1862. He goes on to describe the items "on the grimy sheet-tin walls." The bar has no tinned walls. (With the exception of the lavatories) Step inside if you are going to describe the inside!

   Save your money. McGraw Hill did when it came to hiring an editor to check his facts. Buy the AIA guide and make your own tour. Although the old photos are pretty good, they are not quite enough to be the saving grace here. Wolfe gets the addresses right, but if this one page is any indication., no one checked his historical facts, and that makes me even more surprised by the American Heritage review of this work.




3. I learned more about Manhattan's Lower East Side in this book, than any other in my collection. As a licensed, NYC tour guide, this is now the first book I go to, the ultimate reference. 15 neighborhoods are highlighted with solid information on the architecture of hundreds of buildings as well as nuggets of fascinating stories. Read about how one now defunt NYC Dept. store shipped an albino elephant to one skeptical customer. All true! Anyone studying for the NYC sightseing exam needs to have this book in their collection.



4. I took my first walk today, taking one of the tours in the book, Greenwich Village. Although the book led me through a nice, interesting tour, it committed an unpardonable sin. At one point on the tour, the map did NOT match the textual guidance. It was only a few blocks off, but this is a mistake that should be caught prior to publishing.



5. "15 Walking Tours" is a treasure trove of information about New York City. It is heavy on neighborhood by neighborhood facts, nearly to the point of overload. There are virtual building by building narrations! "15" is also loaded with historical anecdotes. The author seems immersed in fascination with old NYC department stores from the halcyon days of the "carriage trade". That was when New York was really New York! The text is also buttressed by some wonderful old historical photos. Serious work went into this publication and it shows. There are some factual glitches: The text misstates the tenure of former Mayor Wagner (it was 1954-1965) and misdescribes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial next to 55 Water Street. The plaza has been upgraded substantially in recent years. It had fallen into disgraceful disrepair. There are other slips but this reviewer would give the author a pass here. This is New York and there is so much to keep track of. The question here is who will use "15"? This is not for the casual tourist. Only the most dedicated need apply. Potential applicants for becoming a licensed tour guide come to mind! This reviewer is awarding 4 stars based on the serious nature of the text and the amount of research involved. "15" has been around since 1975; silent testimony that many have found it useful, if not casual reading.

2 comments about New York's 50 Best Places To Take Children, 3rd Edition (City and Company).

1. Awesome book with great suggestions- well written, easy to use! We and the kid loved the suggestions.



2. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars if I could.
   
   Buy this if you want to get to know NYC attraction if you live in New York. It made me excited about getting to NYC. Buy another book if you want a resource that can help plan where to go during a vacation stay.
   
   I bought this book along with another well known travel book. I liked reading this book a lot more as it was much better written. It suffers in comparison with the other book because it's just not that useful when in NYC.
   
   Regrettably, it wasn't up to do date -- like recommending the USS Intrepid while the attraction is closed. That's okay -- just not great.
   
   Moreover, as a book for vacationing, it wasn't much use when we got into NYC. A map would have been great. It's best for reading ahead of time and thinking about places to go but not for planning on the go or working out things just a day or two in advance.