2 comments about Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to and Living in New York City (Newcomer's Handbook).

1. This book is mediocre to say the least with many reviews that are more objective than fact-based. The problem isn't so much the specific book, but First Books as a company, which is run in a manner that cheats and deceives writers who end up working for below minimum wage. If you oppose sweat shop labor, First Books is the publishing equivalent.



2. I moved to NYC in 2005 and used this book frequently as a resource while I was looking for a place to live.

5 comments about Forgotten New York: Views of a Lost Metropolis.

1. A must read for visitors and newcomers to this town, as well as native New Yorkers. Can't wait for Part II.
   
   mp, a lifelong Brooklynite



2. Although I live in a small town in Nevada, my daughterlives in New York City. She's an actress, and if you want to act on stage you almost have to live in New York.
   
   We were in a book store and found this book. In flipping it over I found a really neat looking German style beet garden. I asked her where it was, and it was just around the corner, down a few blocks from her apartment. In looking at the book we found all kinds of neat places to go visit, far more than the conventional guide books.
   
   Since she started rehersals while I was visiting, I took the book and did a great deal of walking around the city. One thing I found was an amazing amount of wreckage that you wonder why someone hasn't taken over, built something that uses the wreckage as art and developed into very expensive housing.
   
   Basically this book is a collection of literally hundreds of interesting little tidbits from the past. They are broken down into five general categories:
   
   Quiet Places
   Truly Forgotten
   History Happened Here
   What is this Thing
   Forgotten People.
   
   As the author says, all you need is a metro-Card and a good pair of walking shoes.



3. Every large city has its famous landmarks & signature structures which define it in the eyes of the world. For New York, the statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, Times Square and, after 9/11, the absence of the World Trade Towers. These are the sights that travellers and tourists want to see, and having seen them, think that they have "done" New York.
   But they have surely missed the best part.
   
   The real New York, the soul and spirit and humanity of old New York is not so obvious, although it is everywhere around. It is found in its quiet corners and intimate spaces, on its avenues and in its old neighbourhoods with names like Flatbush, Canarsie, Vinegar Hill, Spuyten Duyvil, Flushing, Astoria or Greenwich Village. It is found in the vestiges and the relics of New York's disappearing past.
   
   "Forgotten New York" is a wonderful guidebook to 300 years of colourful personages, events and architecture found throughout all five of the City's boroughs, a guide to memories hidden in plain sight. These include many parks, alleys, doorways, gates, theatres, statues, fountains, clocks, lampposts, views, bridges, a lighthouse, signs, plaques, museums, homesteads, facades, monuments and even some ornate iron ventilation shafts.
   
   It is profusely illustrated with photos and numerically keyed maps which make it easy to discover dozens of little gems of history right around the corner from where you live (you Lucky New Yorkers!) or not-so far from those cousins in Queens or old friends in Brooklyn you always meant to visit.
   Even for a retired armchair traveller like myself, this book is a passport to rich and vibrant world far removed from the stereotyped New York we thought we knew.



4. I found out about this book through the author's extensive website. I'm not even from New York and I found it to be really interesting, and I'd definitely take the book with me if I were ever to visit town. Of course, this is just a sampling of what this author is capable of - the website is amazing, and in many ways I hope that some of the material from the site could make a commpanion volume. Great work from everyone involved.



5. This was a gift for a very dear friend of mine. I am very satisfied with the book and with the service. Thank you.

5 comments about Not for Tourists 2008 Guide to Brooklyn (Not for Tourists Guidebook).

1. I was rather disappointed by this "guide"; it's simply a collection of names & addresses, a teeny bit of commentary, and a map printed on not-very-durable paper.

   I would suggest passing this "guide" by; get a copy of "The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn" for history & background, and a "Streetwise Brooklyn" map -- or just use Google.




2. This guide is....NOT FOR TOURISTS. There isn't supposed to be history or commentary. It's for those of us who live here who wonder if our bank is in this neighborhood, etc.



3. As a person that somewhat knows their way around Brooklyn and has recently moved there, I found this book to be grossly incomplete in content. I was expecting more, as far as the area that it covered. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the NFT Guides, they are usually a great resource for locals (please know that I also own a copy of NFT Guide to New York City, which I LOVE, and find extremely useful). As vast and expansive of an area that Brooklyn is, this book only covers a mere seven little neighborhoods along the west edges of Brooklyn (Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights/Downtown/DUMBO, Fort Greene, Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill/Carroll Gardens, Park Slope/Prospect Heights, and Bay Ridge). Unless you frequent one of those neighborhoods of Brooklyn, don't bother buying this book. As well put together as the NFT-NYC guide was, I expected this one to be just as information-packed; however, it failed miserably by giving info for only a few select areas of a borough that would be the 4th largest city in the U.S, if it stood alone as a city, and is home to some 2.5 million residents. Hopefully, NFT Guide-Brooklyn editors will think about the rest of us that live in the many other neighborhoods of Brooklyn when they come out with their 2nd edition.



4. While the alleged intent of this Guide is commendable, it only covers recently gentrified neighborhoods. Unfortunately for Brooklyn and for true Brooklynites, what is important to the onward and upward group of society is not a true measure of what this great borough is really about. The only good part of the book is the map; otherwise, a BIG disappointment!



5. After purchasing both the 2007 and 2008 editions of this book, I can definitely say that it is a good source about learning about the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and the borough as a whole. I docked this guide one star since it could do a better job correcting mistakes from edition to edition (although updates are made), and, like another reader said, there are more neighborhoods to cover, although this guide does cover a large chunk of the borough.

5 comments about New York City For Dummies (Dummies Travel).

1. This book was very helpful. I enjoyed the brief history of NYC and the simple easy descriptions of different sections of NYC.

   They have very good suggestions on Cabs, Subways, Buses, Eating, where to stay, suggested itineraries, etc. Loads and loads of contact information for museums and sights to see.

   Easy to follow index to look up anything you might want to do or need info on.




2. We loved this book! We especially liked the author's opinions. Our hotel was right on and so were the restaurants. We appreciated the fact that the author was opinionated.............who needs another book that simply lists all to see and do. We actually felt like real New Yorkers and not just tourists. Kudos Brian!



3. Make it this one if you are going to NY. I bought several books and this was the best laid out of all the books and it doesn't try to be a resource for ALL restaurants or ALL stores - it just gets to the best.
   
   I loved nearly every recommendation. The only one that I had a beef with was the "Kid friendly" rating of Mickey Mantles. Not sure how a small bowl of pasta for $10 and no sides is "kid friendly."



4. This is a terrible excuse for a guidebook. Its maps are blatantly incorrect: the subway map is a ballpark approximation, at best, and things in Central Park are not located where the map says they are, among others. Its attraction descriptions neglect crucial information about the details you actually need at the sites (the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty in particular), and the restaurant descriptions do not show the complete picture. I don't throw out books I dislike, but this one is going straight to the recycling bin.



5. Great book if you've never been to New York before. I found it extemely helpful in planning our trip with lots of advice and "secret" things I would never have seen or planned on. Has a lot about prices, places and pitfalls. The only thing I would have liked to see was some information on travel from the ports.

4 comments about New York: 365 Days.

1. A thick, 744 page book presenting the flavor of the world's premier city. Though the title suggests a visual year it is more a selection of photos arranged round themes: sports, travel, markets, the weather, construction, entertainment, civic events, personalities etc. Each gets a few pages with some images going back to the nineteenth century though most are from the thirties onward.
   
   I thought the selection was quite impressive, there is something for every New Yorker here. Some of the names of the fifty-one photographers in the index will be familiar to readers of the Times. Neal Bonenzi, Sam Falk, Vincent Laforet and Ernie Sisto get the largest showing. Two of Laforet's are particularly stunning: his night time Manhattan skyline from July four 2005 with the sky alight with fireworks and the amazing shot from January thirteen, 2001 looking down on two workman repairing a colored light at the top of the radio mast on the Empire State (I was always curious about this photo because neither of these guys are wearing hard hats). An unfortunate omission, perhaps, is any work by Weegee. He brilliantly captured the lives of the working class over the years but his photos only appeared in the down-market tabloids.
   
   The landscape format of the book works perfectly, the photos (with some in color) are either one to a page or one to a spread, and all have comprehensive captions. This is a fascinating book, dip into it anytime to remind you of the rhythm of the city.
   
   *I wonder if the publishers will do similar versions using the photo libraries of other great metro papers like the San Francisco 'Chronicle', Chicago 'Tribune' or the Washington 'Post'?
   



2. 
   Nice book, not very expensive, mixing old and news photographs of subjects
   about New York.
   A good journalistic panorama.



3. This is just an amazing collection of fascinating photographs from the archives of the New York Times. Gay Talese offers a brief introduction, but the stars of the production are the incredible photographs drawn from the turn of the 20th century to the present, one for each day of the year--with some in color. There is no table of contents; it is best to just start thumbing at random. Common topics are: personalities; buildings; neighborhoods; music performances; subways; bridges; contruction; weather; immigrants; sports; and politicians. Each picture is captioned and has a short write-up, often a brief excerpt from the NYT story where it originally appeared. Some fotos I found especially moving: returning World War I troops marching past the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1919; early shots of the lower East Side; LBJ and John Glenn in a tickertape parade; JFK visiting the city; plus a 15 page collage of sunsets, morning with fog, and sunrises. The common theme is people living and interacting in the city. Beautifully printed by Abrams, there is an index to the pictures and photographers. I can't think of another book that so artfully conveys the essence of NYC as completely as this inexpensive volume.



4. I gave this book to my sister because her dream is to go to New York and she was extremely happy with it.
   
   The book contains beautiful pictures from many different years (the book includes many black-and-white photos) and many different places and gives a very good overview of how fantastic New York is.
   
   I've never been in New York, but once I'll go there, maybe together with my sister?

5 comments about My New York: New Anniversary Edition.

1. This is a beautiful book, full of detailed illustrations kids love to explore. Parents should note that not only is it littered with promotional messages, but that several of them promote Scientology/L. Ron Hubbard/Dianetics.



2. 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.



3. 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.



4. 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.



5. 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 comments about Italy: The Best Travel Writing from the New York Times.

1. The book is beautifully photographed. It has pictures of some out of the way places that some of the other brochures and books don't touch on. If you are looking for information, this is not the book for you.



2. I got this beautiful book for two dear friends, brilliant musicians, who will be traveling to Italy soon. They were entranced, and have thanked me several times, saying the book makes them feel "as if we are already in Italy."



3. this book is superb. plenty of great photos and informative writing. if we get to italy we will feel comfortable in a foreign speaking country as we will have learned heaps about the people and more about this interesting destination. this book covers all the areas from top to bottom and places in between. thanks to amazon for this purchase as i could find nothing like it in new zealand with such interesting information ! yes it is a must weather you get to italy or not and has pride of place in the travel section of our library.



4. There are many interesting articles in this wonderful collection of travel articles from the New York Times. This great book covers Italy from top to bottom and it includes articles of some well known cities such as Rome and Venice as well as some unknown villages and islands. This book shows how diversfied a small country such as Italy is. The photos are gorgeous and the writing is superb from the many different talented writers. I highly recommend this book to any fan of Italy or of travel. This is much more than a coffee table book. Also, a great price through Amazon!



5. I was unprepared of the size of this book. I expected a medium-sized volume of writing, but found myself with a heavy and BIG book which consists of an equal portion of photography. The writing is selected as to cover the whole peninsula, but I still felt that it's somewhat haphazardly assamblied. But then, you can't cover everything. My point is that a single writer selects topics/places more consequently, after some principle(-s). But it's interesting reading and mostly well-chosen photography.

No comments about Central Park Map (Streetwise).

5 comments about Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, a Town and the Search for What Matters Most.

1. I like the "come find yourself in a small town" genre and I like the Guinan family the author writes about. I even love the Wall Street Journal, where she is a writer on staff. We lived in nearby New Jersey when the terrorist attacks happened and lost some friends and neighbors, so I've lived through a bit of what she went through. But...the book was missing something for me. Even though Gwendolyn Bounds writes in detail about the pub on Garrison's Landing and the family who runs it, I just didn't feel the connection to the characters--she wrote more matter of factly than from the heart. I understood that she cared deeply about them, but she didn't make me care. She did make me curious and maybe I'll go to Guinan's someday. Well, that's my take on it. I'd give the book 3.5 stars, and recommend the book with the aforementioned reservations.



2. Wow, I feel like I missed the boat (or the train as it may be) on this one. I see all the posts from back in 2005 and wondered why I hadn't seen this book before. Now in August of 2007 I just finished reading this book (for the second time). What a superb tale, timely, well written and very touching. I live not far from Garrison and feel compelled to stop in at Guinans and have a beer.
   
   Thank you Wendy Bounds for telling this story. I am going to look for more tales from Ms. Bounds. Hope to see some soon.
   
   Must read for any one looking for a great story.



3. I couldn't think of a better title to my review, then to sum it up with my feelings after reading this book. THANK YOU Wendy for sharing your experiences at Guinan's with us. For introducing us to the wonderful cast of characters - human, animal, logistical. Your writing placed me right at a stool at the "chapel", or on a wind swept hill overlooking the Hudson. Thank you for forever memorializing this place and time and people. Grand job!



4. I enjoyed this book very much. The author did a beautiful job describing the area and I felt like I knew the patrons and Jim by the time I finished the book. A very nice read!



5. Probably the most "quiet" post-9/11 book I've seen, this is a touching tale of a woman's senses being awakened and values shifted by being immersed in completely new surroundings. More than a fish-out-of-water tale, it's a thoughtful exploration of the way a tragedy can prompt you to re-think the course your life is taking. But even without the 9/11 connotations, it's a rich, rewarding read. Highly recommended.

3 comments about City Lights: Stories About New York.

1. It's the Sunday before Christmas. First thing this morning, pre-coffee, pre-bowel movement/ablutions, pre-church, I went into the front yard to retrieve my copy of the New York Times. I knew the pages would be filled with column after column of depressing dispatches from Darfur, Wichita, Whereveristan, mass homicide, sub-prime scandal, suicide bombing, official doublespeak about why torture is a crime except when practiced by CIA/Blackwater, the inexhaustible ineptitude/fathomless arrogance of the Bush administration, and opposing platitudes/feckless fulminations by Frank Rich.
   God's mercy on us all.
   I didn't rescue the Times from pelting rain and soot-ridden snow, however, in order to batter my wounded/aged soul with the alarming/ deteriorating condition/direction of our country/world. My intent was to turn immediately to Dan Barry's latest report from the homeland/ hinterland and to see what redeeming/enlightening observations had come from the pen/laptop/PC of the single-most powerful, poetic, sublime columnist at work at this moment in these Disunited/Dispirited States. (And, caveat lector, Dan Barry is not to be confused with satirist Dave Barry.)
   I wasn't disappointed by what I read. One again, I was amazed. (I almost wrote "astounded," except that the end piece in the NYT Book Review of several months ago by Joe Quinlan--a satirist every bit as good as Dave Barry and a lot more savage--has rendered that word verboten by anyone attempting a review.) Here in the face of yet another merciless deadline, Dan Barry had managed to pinpoint a revealing angle on a familiar story (check it out for yourself, "A Place Just like Every Other Place. Only Not," 12/23/07) and produce a precisely chiseled, exquisitely faceted journalistic gem of finely cut reporting and lyrically evocative writing.
   My original introduction to Dan Barry's writing was in his "About New York" columns, a selection of which is reproduced in his newest book, CITY LIGHTS. Barry's predecessors in this spot included the newspaper equivalent of Gerhig/Ruth or Mantle/Maris (Yankee fans, take your pick)--the inimitable Meyer Berger and the nonpareil Francis X. Clines. Barry has not only matched their achievement but set a whole new standard, producing column after column that exposes/celebrates/ investigates/ mourns/explores the incessant/inexhaustible tragedy/comedy/ soap opera/ burlesque/masque that unfolds in New York each and every day.
   I'm sure that I read every single column in CITY LIGHTS when it first appeared in the Times. But as I read and re-read this book, I'm astounded (sorry, Joe Quinlan) anew by how utterly fresh/invariably perceptive/carefully observed each and every article is. Years from now, this book will be taught in journalism schools (if such institutions still exist) and devoured by historians (if such a profession still exists) interested in what life was really like in New York during the first decade of the 21st century. Those who are neither collectors nor teachers nor historians will simply keep it by their bedsides, reading it over again, a story at a time, to remind themselves of the dignity/ intensity/complexity of life as lived by Gotham's extraordinary/ ordinary people.
   Attention book collectors: At some point, Dan Barry will be awarded the Pulitzer Prize--why he didn't get it for his reporting from New Orleans on the consequences on Katrina, eludes me--which will make this book especially valuable. Non-collectors also take notice. If you simply love great writing, buy this book. If you're fascinated by New York, buy this book. If you're bewitched/bothered/intrigued by the human condition, buy this book. And if none of the above categories applies, but you love to read anything by Alice McDermott, buy this book. Her introduction is worth the price of admission. CITY LIGHTS will endure as long as New York does.(And if journalism ain't your cup of tea but you want to imbibe THE BEST memoir to come out of suburban New York, get a copy of Barry's PULL ME UP.) Thank you, Dan Barry.



2. Whenever I read the NY Times over the past few years and became despairing of the state of the world and humanity, I always knew I could turn to Dan Barry to "pull me up." Barry's collection of columns are really prose poems, filled with soul and spirit of the Hidden New York City: cello playing bus drivers, workin' stiffs, everyday Janes and Joes, whose lives Barry illuminates with a style that is a pleasure to read again and again. These columns were my daily vitamins. Rereading them in this collection is truly a revelation that the spirit of the common people is what gives NY and America its uncommon soul. Buy this book. Then buy another and give it to a friend. Read it and feel renewed. It will "pull you up" too.



3. Dan Barry writes about New York as if it was a village. Its size is not as important as the individuals who live there, the people who inhabit it, make it the alive, vibrant and wonderfully alluring city it is.
   
   This is not about New York, the city. It is about the flesh and blood of the city, about the people and characters of the city, and it's hard to imagine a city anywhere that has more characters and color to write about than New York City. Dan Barry does a good job of capturing their individuality, their uniquenss and their inevitable ties and bonds to the city.
   
   Obviously, this review is written by an unabashed lover of NYC...and from Alabama, too.