2 comments about 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: New York City: Including northern New Jersey, southwestern Connecticut, and western Long Island (60 Hikes within 60 Miles).

1. You would think that a hike in New York City would take you from say Central Park to Battery Park along the sidewalks. To my surprise, the Brooks have found all of these hikes within a reasonable distance from the city. As a for instance, the Pelham Bay Park is 2,766 acres in size with 13 miles of shoreline. It's also reachable by public transport. (Take the #6 train followed by the Bx29 bus.) The hiking there is flat, shoreline and all that. Or there's Norvin Green where you'll need sturdy hiking shoes, and find multiple deep-water streams to cross in a 9.3 mile up and down trail. Other hikes include wildlife refuges, state forests, national recreation areas, swamps, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, ocean shores. You can get away from the concrete.
   
   As a book, the layout makes it easy to find things. The overall maps lead you to the general area you may find interesting. The descriptions of each of the 60 hikes includes a description, a detailed map of each, elevation profile, and directions - usually by automobile and public transport. As the back cover says, If you live near NYC, get it.



2. Christopher Brooks surely did his homework in writing 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: New York City: with northern New Jersey, southwestern Connecticut, and western Long Island. The details on the many hikes in the Tri State area are very helpful. One can easily trace around the suggested trails that Brooks provides. Also Brooks adds a little history to many of the recommended trails.
   
   He gives equal emphasis to New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island, and the Hudson Region. Also a comprehensive index is provided so the reader can easily distinguish flat hikes from vigorous climbs to ones to bring the children on. Every base is covered as this book is a fantastic guide for anyone looking to explore new hiking trails in the New York area.

5 comments about My New York: New Anniversary Edition.

1. I thought that this was an excellent book. The pictures are great. I read it to my kids before visiting New York and after reading the book my kids could not wait to see all of the places that we read about. My daughter was especially thrilled to ride the same horse on the central park carousel that the little girl in the book rode.



2. The pictures are colorful, very detailed, and are a lot of fun to look at. It's narrated by a little girl who's venturing the famous sites of NYC. I had fun reading it and I'm
   sure kids will like it. I got the new anniversary edition. I really recommend it. NYC may change years from now. This book captures and reminisces our exciting city during our time...2002.



3. Bought this for my little cousins overseas to help them understand where we live. Apperently their mother likes it more than them! Now they know where I'm talking about when i say we went to Central park today or the zoo. i'll be buying more for my friends children as gifts. Great book.



4. By PHIL
   
   I'm happy I read this book because there are many cool things in this book. It explains all the cool things that you can do in New York City. It has the whispering room in Grand Central Station. You whisper into one corner and someone whispers at the other and you can hear each other.
   And lots of things like that. It is mostly for kids 7-11 years old but adult tourists will like it to.
   
   ...Story Board...
   
   It's about a girl that made an agreement with her mom to go on trips every weekend. The girl's name is Becky. She and her mom go to places that are fun in New York.
   
   On one trip they go to Radio City Music Hall to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Her friend Martin comes with her. In the book, she describes how the orchestra rises out of the floor in the beginning and then goes back in. I went to this show with my parents and this really does happen!
   
   They also go to the New York Public Library, Central Park Zoo, the Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Times Square and other cool places.
   
   I recommend this book to any tourist trying to find fun stuff to do when visiting New York City.
   
   This Book Is So Darn Cool!!!



5. The idea of the story is very cute. A letter is written to a friend that will be coming to NYC. The pictures, though, are wonderful. The are very colorful and take you all over the city. Love this book!

2 comments about Michelin Red Guide 2008 New York City (Michelin Red Guides).

1. The Michelin Guide is a standard in the restaurant review business. It has a pedigree that is much more revered in France than in the United States. Personally, I feel Zagat tried harder and won. Ideally, you should own both red books and consult with each before planning a dining experience but inevitably, the one that you would resort to most of the time is Zagat, not Michelin.
   
   Michelin is not laid out in a cohesive user frienndly manner. It is divided by neighborhoods which is fine if you suffer from agoraphobia and your primary goal is to seek out a restaurant in a small definitive radius.
   
   Usually, when one dines out one is looking for a particular type of restaurant i.e. a romantic restaurant, a before theatre prix fix, a small tapas place, an over the top restaurant to max out your expense account, etc. To identify these restaurants and many many more, Zagat is the top choice. Michelin confines their reviews not only to particular neighborhoods but to a small number of particular restaurants as well! It only chooses to review what they consider Michelin worthy.
   
   If you're interested in only THE top restaurants, Michelin is for you. You will learn which restaurants, mostly French, in Manhattan have earned the coveted Michelin stars. However, if you want to have a glimpse of each and every restaurant in NYC from the pizza place downtown to the 5 star establishment in midtown... buy the Zagat.
   
   Go ahead... if you're like me and want to have the best of both worlds, buy both!



2. The Michelin Red Guide is the most respected Restaurant Guide in the world. There have been chefs that have committed suicide when they lost a star. They have exacting standards or service and understand haute cuisine better than any one else in the world. And this is precisely why they are almost totally irrelevant to Restaurants in New York City. They do not understand that American standards of service are different, not worse, not lower, just different. Nor can they understand cuisines that do not fit into their narrow concepts of haute cuisine. So chefs like Mario Batali and Yasuda-sama will never do as well as they should.
   
   You are better off with the Zagat's guide.

4 comments about A Time to Keep Silence (New York Review Books Classics).

1. "A Time To Keep Silence" is travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor's beautifully written account of visits to a number of European monasteries (Benedictine and Cistercian) and later to the ruins of an even older Turkish desert community in his efforts to understand the continuing appeal of the monastic way of life. An outsider, Fermor frankly acknowledges his contemporary bias, making it clear he's a man of the world whose direct intention is not to seek a believer's purification of soul. Instead, he wants to discover why an initially unattractive way of life, one that must strike a big-city dweller like himself as filled with deprivation and sadness, has continued through the centuries to exert its appeal upon men, men of a sort he discovers through his own experience to be not only psychologically balanced, but largely happy.
   
   The telling insight Fermor receives from his initial stay at St. Wandrille's, one reconfirmed after visits through the years to other Benedictine abbeys, is that hidden within abbey walls is something truly magical, "the slow and cumulative spell of healing quietness." Whereas the abbey had struck him first as a place about as exciting as a "graveyard," it becomes one where he discovers, after a painful adjustment, that he can dispense with interfering trivalities and begin to look at life steadily and whole. Not surprisingly, when he returns to the outside world, he has to adjust once again, the world now seeming after his monastic stay "an inferno of noise and vulgarity entirely populated by bounders and sluts and crooks."
   
   Fermor's insights in this book are equally matched by his extraordinary descriptive powers. Like any true poet, he is enough a lover of the world's body to give it a memorable description. When he speaks of the long sleeves of monks' robes brushing the floor, for instance, he says they are "like the ends of elephants' trunks." And describing the arid desert location of the long since abandoned Turkish monastery, he talks of "lion-colored uplands" and "biscuit-colored villages." Far from simply telling what he sees, Fermor through stunning word painting allows his readers the pleasure of seeing with him.



2. Another great book by a great travel writer. This is a very quick read, but absolutely stuffed with erudition. For all but the most educated, it wouldn't hurt to read this with Wikipedia as a companion piece. As with his other travel books, the mix of architecture, history, linguistics, and an obvious personal touch lend an air of familiarity which, in the end, help give the impression that you have experienced these things yourself.
   
   I once read a review which stated this book concluded that the vow of silence and other retreats from secular life were not effective or warranted in some circumstances. In my opinion, this conclusion was not reached by the author. The opposite appears to be true - Fermor's return to secular life seemed to be more traumatic than his adjustment period during his first visit. His understanding is remarkable and serves as a good lesson to the casual reader - his hosts honestly believe they are suffering in order to atone for the sins of the world, and they ask for nothing in return.



3. The other night, needing a calm book after an agitating day, I re-read this short but typically-- granted this author's ability to convey much depth in a few pages-- account of the famed travel writer's visits to monasteries. His simple account focuses on a long stay at St Wandrille's in Belgium, a bit of Solesmes, more at La Grande Trappe in France, and the journey later among the ruins of Cappadocian foundations in Turkey.
   
   Fermor knows his limitations in retreating to such places in search of solitude to work on his own manuscripts. He tries to take on the mystery of the call to silence even as he tries to put it into words, to account for its appeal to a few and its strangeness to many of us. The results may not please all readers, for Fermor submits to the difference he encounters, and so by his lay status must remain too at the margins of what the monks take decades to live within. Writing well before Vatican II, Fermor conjures up an astonishingly austere regimen that he glimpses among the Trappists at their motherhouse; the Belgian Benedictines, by contrast, earn much more time for study and scholarship.
   
   I wondered, in the decades since, how many monks remain at such European houses. Fermor provides us with efficiently told summaries of the past depredations and recoveries of such venerable communities, and one closes Fermor's depictions of life as it was lived there a half a century ago with a realization of how close it was to observances centuries older. Again, such a description leaves me to ponder how much as been altered and how much remains the same given the enormous shifts in Catholic practice and the decline in vocations since then.
   
   This reflection leads to the comparatively short glimpse of the biscuit-colored mountains, with their pyramidical, anthill-like terrain, that housed some of the first monks in Christianity. The photos, as the one on the cover show, of this forbidding terrain remind me of an objective correlative for La Grande Trappe. The caves, the few remains, the hostile environment present, it seems, Fermor with a sense of an otherworldly terrain in more ways than one.



4. I'm a big fan of Fermor's writing and this little gem of a book is a departure from the classic travel works he has given us. In this short book, Fermor describes life in several monasteries where silence defines the world of the monk. Fermor stipulates that as a guest in these places he will never achieve the level of faith and monastic practice that the monks do, but he shines a light on their world, giving the reader a glimpse of an existence we've always wondered about but rarely got to know.

No comments about DogFriendly.com's East Coast Dog Travel Guide: Includes New England, New York, the Mid-Atlantic States, Florida and the Southeast.

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.

No comments about ZAGAT New York City Shopping 2008 (Zagatsurvey New York City Shopping).

5 comments about Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies.

1. I grew up in Niagara and still visit about twice a year. This book covers a topic I know very well and I still learned a lot. Not only is it a great read but this book really captures Niagara.
   
   Niagara of course has great physical beauty: The falls themselves, the islands in the upper Niagara River, the lower Niagara with its gorge and rapids, and of course the great lakes of Erie and Ontario are all spectacular. However, this book also captures the darker side of Niagara. Maltreatment of Native Americans, Love Canal, disposal of toxic waste and Niagara's major role in the Manhattan project are all discussed here. Many other lesser known but important and fascinating aspects of Niagara Falls are described here.
   
   If you are looking for a detailed scholarly history then this is not the book for you. This book does not deliver extensive explanations of Niagara's geology or natural history. Nor does it give deep technical explanations of the engineering behind the modern day harnessing of Niagara for power.
   
   The author visited Niagara and became fascinated with the place. She started learning more about it and discovered Niagara had a rich, layered and sometimes bizarre history. In this book you accompany the author as she peels off the layers of the history of Niagara Falls.
   The focus here on the American side of the falls. Niagara's history is tightly interwoven with American history as a whole. Niagara has a major role in the French and Indian war, war of 1812, Underground Railroad, WWII, industrialization and urban renewal.
   
   If you want to learn more about Niagara Falls, its history and why it is the way it is today should read this book. Anybody planning to visit Niagara would be well served to read this book as well. For that matter, it is a good read period.
   
   P.S. Go to the author's website for more photos and information: www.gingerstrand.com



2. If you live in the US or Canada, I would imagine that you would be in the minority if you say that you have never been to Niagara Falls. According some sources, over 2 million people visit the Falls every year. But what you see is just a small portion of the area. Ginger Strand, in her book, Inventing Niagara, shows you Niagara Falls and the surrounding area in a way that no travel guide will; She debunks the myths, shows you the environmental damage, takes you behind the scenes of the massive power plants, and introduces you to the many people that have shaped the area. And when I say "shaped," that is exactly what you see - men who have turned a natural wonder into something fake. At the end of the book, you have to wonder if Disney had something to do with the Falls, as what you see is manufactured realism.
   
   Contents:
   Introduction: Down the Memory Hole
   Chapter 1: White Man's Fancy, Red Man's Fact
   Chapter 2: The Eighth Wonder of the World
   Chapter 3: Skipper the Two-Legged Dog
   Chapter 4: The Other Side of Jordan
   Chapter 5: Free Niagara
   Chapter 6: King of Power, Queen of Beauty
   Chapter 7: Sentiment in Liquid Form
   Chapter 8: The Bomb and Tom Brokaw's Desk
   Chapter 9: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
   Epilogue: The Voice of the Landscape
   Sources and Acknowledgements
   Index
   
   Starting the book with a critique of the "Maid of the Mist" mythology, Strand moves along to other historical figures such as the early explorers, the indigenous Indians, and the developers. One of the stories that amazed me was the spectacle of the schooner Michigan, which is curiously omitted from all current guide books. In 1827, two businessmen contracted to have the schooner Michigan towed to currents above the falls with a crew of caged animals. At the appointed hour, the schooner was cut loose and a crowd of up to 20,000 watched as it plunged over the falls and was smashed to bits. Only a bear and a goose survived the ordeal. As time moves on, things don't get better for the area. As men realize the unlimited hydroelectric potential of the falls, water is diverted from the falls, reducing the flow to the minimum for the tourists. The resulting factories dump their toxic chemical and radioactive waste into the Niagara River. Or they create Superfund sites like Love Canal (Love Canal is but one Superfund site in the area, there are many others). Or they create giant landfills. The memories that travel guides omit are brought to the light by Strand, made more compelling by her interviews with people that actually lived on the land or worked in the factories.
   
   From the opening pages, you understand that Strand has an obsession with Niagara Falls. And it is a good thing, too, as she has written a very good book on the dark side of the falls. While 99.9% of those 2 million visitors only look at what is in front of them, enjoy the casinos, or the tourist mecca that is Clifton Hill, there is much more to experience and know. Not all of it equals a happy and relaxing visit, but it is a view of the real falls. The fact that only a small percentage of the Niagara River flows over the falls and is controlled and manipulated very carefully by the power authorities is just as amazing as the history of Goat Island and the American Falls. You finish the book realizing that what you see isn't real, it is man-made. This book hasn't deterred me from visiting again, it has shown me some sites that I would like visit. And it puts into context why you see what you do. Knowing that, I can still have a pleasant visit, but it will not be spent only on the Canadian side of the falls. There is too much to do on the American side and it will be important to share those sites with the family. I can't wait to relate to the family the history of the Robert Moses Parkway or how a small band of Indians lost their land because they didn't do anything with it (this is a point that probably has some merit in today's society). The only issues I had with the book are probably trivial: Strand's overuse of the word "sublime" and the casual tone. But it is a very enjoyable, interesting book.
   
   Be sure to read the Sources and Acknowledgements. Strand adds more personal tidbits amongst her sources, especially an anecdote concerning Norm Stressing, supervisor of operations at the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant.



3. This book, although well-researched, doesn't give the whole story of Niagara. It focuses great indignation upon the abuse of this natural wonder in the name of such evils as progress, commerce, and electrical power generation. The author's fascination with her own thought process, and her diary-like recounting of her everyday experiences in researching the book, does little to advance the cause.
   
   On the positive side, I felt the book was factually honest, and it's probably useful, and certainly convenient, to have this material gathered in one place. Hence, three stars (a neutral, not a negative rating) overall.



4. When most Americans conjure up an image of Niagara Falls what most likely comes to mind is artist Frederick Church's iconic 1857 painting. In those days the Falls really were wild and wonderful and although a certain amount of development had already begun to take shape in the surrounding area those who loved revelling in the spendor of nature were likely to make a trip to Niagara a top priority. But unbeknownst to most of us what we see today at Niagara Falls is largely a mirage. The powers that be in New York state and Canada literally have the ability to turn the Falls completely off if they choose to! Just what has occurred over the past two centuries that has led this venerable natural wonder to be degraded so dramatically? Ginger Strand has had a lifelong fascination with Niagara Falls. In "Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power and Lies" Strand traces the largely unknown and unreported history of this national treasure. What you will discover will likely surprise and greatly disturb you.
   I certainly had no idea of the long and diverse history of Niagara Falls. Although my wife and I have visited the Falls twice in the past 15 years we were totally unaware of just how much of the scene we were observing was being manipulated. For nearly 200 years vastly competing interests have been vying for economic advantage at Niagara Falls. In the pages of "Inventing Niagara" you will be introduced to many of the key players in the ongoing saga of the Falls and the adjacent communities. With the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 the Falls area immediately became a popular tourist attraction. It was fun reading about so many of the offbeat amusements that sprang up in the area during the middle of the 19th century. One of the most popular attractions was a colorful high wire artist named Blondin who wowed audiences for several summers with dramatic jaunts across the gorge. You will also discover how the long lost mummy of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses I wound up in the popular Niagara Falls Museum. A fascinating story! Another important slice of Niagara history is that Harriet Tubman ran her Underground Railway System from Niagara before the Civil War. Later on in the nineteenth century a group of well-heeled individuals emerged who had other ideas about how to best utilize the enormous hydro resources at the Falls. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing and power was badly needed to turn the wheels of industry. Soon chemical factories appeared all over the area spewing their toxic fumes and waste and forever altering the landscape. Sadly, in the 1940's thousands of workers at these plants were exposed to radioactive materials as they unwittingly did work on "The Manhatten Project" for the U.S. Department of Defense. You will also learn how the Army Corps of Engineers and an assortment of other state and federal agencies and private industry interests would come to be involved in altering and reshaping the Falls.
   Author Ginger Strand brings a boatload of important new material to light in "Inventing Niagara". Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews she succeeds in bringing to life the checkered history of this once beloved region and speculates what the future might have in store. It turns out that Niagara Falls was so much more than merely "the honeymoon capitol of the world". This is a book that grabbed my attention in Chapter One and just would not let go. I simply could not put it down. One of the surprise hits of 2008! Highly recommended!



5. Ginger, I am being quite informal here, is a self described fanatic about Niagara Falls. So am I. Thus, while reading her book I felt like I had found a long lost friend. We could converse (although she could not hear me!) the many subjects about the lost Niagara, the damaged Niagara,the changed Niagara, the abused Niagara; well I could go on and on. (I wish someone could force the power companies, for one lousy day, to let the water flow naturally but I digress......)
   
   Here's what I suggest. If you are one of these people that goes to Niagara Falls and can look for a few hours and be content to move on to the casinos or Clifton Hill entertainment (ie Ripley's, haunted houses, water slides) then you are not going to appreciate this book very much. However, if you really want to know some real "geeky" (my kids word for me, alas) stuff about hydro power, chemical landfills, misplaced mice killed by radiation, etc. then you will probably adore this book, as I did. The book scores on many levels.

3 comments about Michelin Green Guide New York City (Michelin Green Guide: New York City English Edition).

1. 
   I had an older version of this guide when I lived in NYC. It was great. That was 30 years ago. I'm going back next week. After reviewing all the guide books, I still find this one the most useful. Wish me a good trip.



2. I purchased the Michelin Green Guuide New York City after borrowing it from the library several times. It was a worthwhile purchase, if only for the subway map. It gives a tourist all the information he/she needs to plan a trip to NYC, how to chose places to see, subway information and restaurant suggestions in the area of the attraction. The other plus about this guide is the shape, which fits into the pocket of cargo shorts or into a tote bag.



3. My husband bought me this guide as a gift for my first trip to New York. I must say that I could not have gotten along without it. Even though my traveling companion had been to Manhattan several times - she even lived there for a period - we were constantly consulting the manual. In particular, the subway map and the map of Central Park were very helpful. As an infrequent traveler, I also found it useful to have the expected gratuities spelled out of me.
   
   I will continue to use the guide to help me sort and identify the many photographs I've taken during my trip.
   
   This is a very valuable tool and the best of the many guidebooks I've come across.

4 comments about City Walks: New York: 50 Adventures on Foot.

1. What a great idea. 50 adventures that you can stick in your pocket and enjoy without looking like you are a tourist. I pulled out a few cards written about parts of the City I know and love to see if the author knows her stuff. Take card 15 - the Ms. Fay touches the high spots: Abingdon Square, Ottomanelli's, Zito's, Murry's Cheese, Rocco's Pastry and more. Walk these streets led by her map and prose and you'll have a wonderful visit. Flipping through the cards, I think every significant neighborhood has been captured. I know in warmer weather, I'll use a couple of her cards to explore Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens - boroughs that are a lot more of a mystery to me than Manhattan. Naturally, with a map on one side of a 4X5 card, there isn't much room left for text. Having said that, I wish we had more detail about each area - a small complaint. Maybe in V.2.0 some folded cards?
   
   I collect anything NYC oriented and I am happy to add this pack of cards to my library but I wondered what the market is for these cards. My guess is that locals will use them to learn about streets outside their sphere. Out of towners will be able to stick one or two in a pocket and stroll through one of the most fascinating cities in the world. If you are a NYC fan, you need to get your copy of City Walks New York.



2. We've spent a lot of time in NYC, and I can attest from experience that each walk is well worth taking. The format is easy to use, with a master card showing the location of all the walks, and clear directions in the cards.
   
   Each card has red circled numbers and letters on the maps, and NO explanation of what the numbers and letters signify. Are they bus and subway numbers? Are they points of interest? I'll figure it out when I'm there next week, but it would be nice to know ahead of time.
   
   The boroughs are an important omission. We've been to Manhatten three times, and intend to concentrate on Brooklyn (the 4th most populous city in America, if it was a city unto itself) this trip. Many of the 50 Manhatten walks could be consolidated, to allow 10 walks for Brooklyn, and 5 each for Queens and the Bronx. Brooklyn has Prospect Park and Park Slope, Coney Island, and so much more I'm unfamiliar with.



3. I bought this to give as a Christmas gift. It arrived in used condition although it was sold as new. There was no wrapper so when I removed it from the shipping box, the contents spilled. There was a barcode sticker placed over the original barcode on the bottom of the box. As far as I can tell the contents are intact. This is the first time I have received anything from Amazon that was less than expected. I hope you don't have any similar experiences.



4. Our family recently returned from a visit to Manhattan. We used 5 or 6 texts as well as this boxed set of walking tours. The set consists of 50 3-3/4 by 5-1/2 inch heavy stock cards and a folding master card that shows all the walks in the context of a five bouroughs map.
   
   There are 5 walks in Central Park, 8 Midtown, 3 north of the park and 19 south of the Flatiron Building. Two walks cover The Bronx, two are in Queens, 5 in Brooklyn. Each walk card shows a map on one side, of about a square mile, complete with Metro stops and a trail marked out; on the other side the text (which is smallish, but I'm glad for that because there's such a wealth of information one could fit on each card!) that points out historic buildings and architectural features and tells a few stories about the character of the area as well as its characters.
   
   It was very convenient to grab a few cards as we went out the door. Also, after we got back and looked at pictures, it was easy to find that tour and get some information about it.
   
   The only complaint is predictable. Each walking tour could handle a booklet, so a few hundred words is, of course, inadequate. There is no information about restaurants; again, that's understandable, but maybe more information could be included on the maps?
   
   I would buy them again.