4 comments about Lonely Planet New York City Encounter.

1. I was recently in the area for a business trip and had a couple days to spend in the City. LP's "NYC Encounter" book was invaluable as a quick resource for addresses, the subway map, and highlights of the more touristed Manhattan districts. To its credit, and unlike many other guides which believe visitors have no business leaving Manhattan, it also included a brief overview of some Brooklyn sights. For a short visit I found New York City Encounter perfect, but when I return for a longer visit a more detailed guide would work better- hopefully with more coverage of the other boroughs.



2. Very Useful Guide to the Big Apple, it includes pretty much all you need: metro maps, street maps, major attractions, descriptions, and properly selected Tips. Unfortunately no real insider news.
   The chosen listing into different districts is great since it shows detail maps for every sightseing spot shown in every district, a rip out full fold map of manhatten is included though too.
   Negative:
   The suggested "hot clubs" are the common meat markets of the city. The recommended "harlem soul food restaurant" disappointed as well Nothing special...
   
   Buttom Line:
   
   For a short trip to NYC this Book is all you need. Major phone numbers, sight seeing, tips to save money, culture, arts, shopping you'll find it all! To find the really sneaky places you have to talk to the locals!



3. It is a small book, but it did a pretty good job in providing readers necessary information on where to go with clear metro map on the back. I found the color-coded pages are quite easy for me to scout a district. The only drawback may be it's a little bit official.



4. It includes information about museums, etc, divided by zones, but I think not so good restaurant and bar choices.

5 comments about Jenny Goes to Sea.

1. I read Jenny and the Cat Club as a child, but never found any of the other Jenny books until now. This book did not disappoint! If you are a Jenny fan, this is a must have.



2. Copyright 1957. Jenny Linsky goes to sea at a time that was sweller than now, presuming you were a well-birthed white male or knew your place. Jenny knew her place. She has a member of the civilized Cat Club and no stanger to adventure. Look out for mysterious predictions, an epic poem, and the brave deed! Life was simpler then, and, frankly, I occasionally enjoy being spared the social redeeming values of more modern fiction. Pickles the fire cat even makes a cameo appearance. Averill's simple illustrations and charts nicely augment the short novel. A good read. The balance of Esther Averill's work as well as other publications by the New York Review Children's Collection are also worth looking into. Don't miss The Fire Cat. Enjoy.



3. Esther Averill, is the author of a wonderful series of children's books involving a small, shy black cat named Jenny Linsky, of which The School for Cats is one. This story, and all the others in this series are very sweet. They remind me of the other wonderful, classic children's stories such as the Beatrix Potter stories. While the Jenny Linsky stories were written in the 50's, I think children today would still find them very entertaining. Any parent or child who loves cats and cat stories will love these stories. This is a story that kids will want read to them over and over again.



4. My girls love all the Jenny Linsky adventures/stories. This one does not disappoint and is so well-written that it appeals to all ages.



5. After reading Esther Averill's The Fire Cat and Jenny and the Cat Club, my daughter has become an avid fan. She giggles at the tales of Jenny's adventures with her brothers and the other cat club friends. These are timeless tales which are perfect for early readers because the stories have enough depth to keep children interested but are simply told making them ideal for those starting to read on their own.

5 comments about AIA Guide to New York City.

1. I have been a New Yorker all my life and thought I'd known it all. There were buildings/structures that I knew to be older than most and probably landmarks, but never got around to checking them out. Then I picked up the AIA Guide to New York City sometime in 2001. Ever since, I have kept it with me at all times: in my back pocket, my briefcase, my jacket... Sometimes I go to some of these places in advance, with the intent of looking at them after I'd read about them. Other times, when on my way to or from work or lunch, I will see a building, stop, and look to read about what it is. My hunches aren't always correct, of course: not all the buildings I think are landmarks are. But I always keep this Guide on hand to find out.



2. What can we say about New York that hasn't been said? It's an awesome place, and its architecture is truly astonishing in scope, diversity and importance. This book is a selective catalogue of the City's most beloved historic buildings, with a sprinkling of important modern structures as well. I say "historic" because this guide just happens to be that way. There are some conspicuous gaps in the presentation of important modern buildings, which probably reflects the artistic preferences of the editors, but all of the most well-known modern architects are appropriately represented.
   
   This is a book for architectural historians, curious cultural tourists and general readers. The entries are many, so the words included with each are few. Readers are not treated to long narrative histories of imporant landmarks but, rather, to a book that is exceptionally wide and quite shallow. This is what one generally expects from AIA-sponsored guides, so there should be no surprises. There are tiny monochrome photographs with almost every entry, but their small size limits the reader's ability to get a good mental image of the building. Buy this book to take New York's lovely historical architecture with you wherever you go. And by all means, go to see it! No city on earth even comes close.
   
   Latest edition is 2000, so World Trade Center towers are included.



3. This book is the benchmark for books of this type. It doesn't just focus on Manhattan, it does justice to the wonderful architecture in the other buroughs. It is just amazing how many great buildings this city has, the book just goes on and on. The quality of the book is first rate and the pictures, though B&W, are crisp, though understandably small. The latest update was 2000, so the World Trade Center is mentioned as extant, and some of the newer buildings in N.Y., like Time Warner and Bloomberg are not mentioned, but that is for the next update I suppose, New York is ever changing.



4. This guide really opens up a perspective of Manhattan with tons of information on architecture and building styles. It gets you thinking about the structures that you see every day. I am learning a lot from it.



5. This book may seem like nothing more than a tourist guide to New York City, but that assumption could not be further from the truth. This book is insightful, interesting and very eye opening, even to myself who has lived in NYC for some time. It helped me appreciate this city as a living work of art, a place where every style of architecture comes together on a truly unique canvas.
   
   A real selling point are the walks outside of Manhattan that this book offers. This shows off a side of New York hardly ever covered by other book or looked into by tourists, and it is very interesting.
   
   The pictures are few and far between, and not large enough to give you an in depth look at the buildings described, but the walks layed out in the book are well organized, easy to follow and very interesting.
   
   Buy this book and go explore one of the greatest city in the world!

3 comments about Exploring Niagara: The Complete Guide to Niagara Falls and Vicinity.

1. After reading over a dozen books about Niagara Falls and the region (a hobby of mine), I found this book to be the best of the lot - for a tourist. It's well organized, offers excellent photos and maps, and I especially enjoyed the chapters regarding the Erie Canal in the U.S. and the Welland Canal in Ontario, Canada - both within a 30 minute drive of the falls.

   The autors offer a number of suggested tours for the tourist - with helpful info on how long each will take.

   For a more in-depth historical perspective on the falls and the Niagara region, I would recommend Pierre Berton's history of Niagara Falls.




2. The subtitle "The complete guide to Niagara falls and vicinity" is misleading.Its far from being a "complete guide". Many of the Niagara Falls area tourist attractions are omitted, and there is no reference to lodging or restaurants. The book is excellent though, in its nature and historical content. I suggest that a more appropriate subtitle would be "A guide to Niagara's parks, museums and natural resources".



3. If you are planning to go to Niagara Falls (either US or Canadian side) but do not know what to do after observing the Falls then this is the book for you. The material on Welland Canal, Niagara on the Lake, wineries and the botanical garden were very helpful.
   However the book is not perfect: maps that covered both pages were lost in the middle, detailed maps are missing, no restaurent/hotel recommendations.

3 comments about Wallpaper City Guide: New York (Wallpaper City Guide New York).

1. Wallpaper Magazine --- the bible of all that is cutting edge in international design/fashion/travel/interiors --- is celebrating its 10th birthday.
   
   And how better to show off its grown-up status --- at ten, a magazine is old enough to drink and smoke and Lord knows what else --- than by rolling out a slew of travel guides that are exactly as hip as the magazine?
   
   These make no effort to be complete. They're 100+ pages. Paperback. Smallish: 6" by 4". With photos that sometimes fill two pages.
   
   In other words, these are not travel guides for first-time travelers. (You want a primer --- start with a guide like Fodor's.) These books are a whole other game. Indeed, they're so of the moment that they probably need to be junked and massively revised every year or two --- the cutting edge has a way of cutting the throats of hip restaurants and shops. And the thing about architecture is that there's always more of it, and the new stuff is (or so the media would have it) just a bit more exciting than last year's.
   
   To judge these guides, I selected a city I know well (Paris) and the city that's been home for most of my life (New York). Talk about surprising! No, make that mind-blowing.
   
   Wallpaper's Paris Guide doesn't fall for the lie that the city never changes. It sees "constant, if sometimes, gentle, upheaval." Yes --- if you are 25 years old and have spent quantity time haunting the chic arrondissements. If, like me, you have a family and plunk yourself down in the 6th or 7th, this guide is a revelation.
   
   I loved the cheek of this praise of the Marais: "These streets...are as near as Paris gets to signs of life on a Sunday." I was happily surprised to learn that Sacre-Coeur was "built as a monument to failure" (in the Franco-Prussian War). But after that...everything was new. I was especially agog at the hotels --- the photos are so exquisite they're hotel-porn. Who could afford these rooms? Why did I know so few of them?
   
   For that matter, I'd heard of half the restaurants, none of the clubs, few of the buildings. Shopping? Spas? Getaways? Zip. Zip. Zip. It got so that I frowned when I came across a recommendation for a known entity --- like Joel Robuchon's Atelier. Clearly, Joel's super-expensive, no-reservations eatery must be on the way out.
   
   Wallpaper's New York Guide was equally full of surprises. I live uptown --- clearly, everything worth seeing or doing is way downtown. (Though it was bracing to see the Paris Theatre, at 5th Avenue and 58th Street, listed as the city's best art-movie cinema.) I've never heard of the beautiful Matsuri Restaurant (in the Maritime Hotel), or Thor, or Public, or Odea, or En, or Morimoto. And that's just the tip of my iceberg of ignorance.
   
   But here's the thing: Nowhere in these guides do I get the feeling that the writer is sneering at me. Or, that if I go to these places, the proprietors will look at my preppy blazer and graying hair and frantically look for a velvet rope to bar me. The exclusionary factor here is money --- bargains are not a Wallpaper priority.
   
   But, hey, you're on a vacation. A little splurge won't kill you. And if you cherry-pick the suggestions in these guides, you're sure to have an adventure you can share with the folks back home. But you'll have to excuse me now --- I'm off to visit New York



2. It's a good City Guide, Good places to visit and a better syntesis of new york best places to go.



3. The publishers are kidding, right? I was so disappointed in this book. I recently moved to NYC and was hoping to find some places to visit that I might not have thought of.
   
   If I had several hundred dollars to spend on dinner or a designer frock, or access to private health clubs, spas, and pricey hotels, I might have been in luck.
   
   Also, a big chunk of the book is devoted to places well outside of NYC, so "city guide" is a bit of a misnomer.
   
   I took one look through this book (page by meager page), and dumped it in the garbage.

2 comments about Afloat (New York Review Books Classics).

1. "Afloat" does not resemble anything else written by Maupassant. It is a true story (as indicated at the end) and is based on his personal travel. It has some amusing descriptions of the French Reviera and Monaco, but also contains some grim philosophical thoughts that explain some things about Maupassant, not the least of which is why he ended up in a mental hospital.



2. As a sailor I read this little book like reading a yacht's log book. The device is fresh and alive. Much of how he wrote it captures the feeling of being with him on that yacht with the wind taking Guy, you and a wide range of thoughts anywhere on a whim. You are always brought back to the "Bel-Ami" itself to move forward-book as yacht. It has been said that to understand the French you had to read Guy de Maupassant. Well, to understand the spirit of the sailing life it doesn't hurt to read him either. Delightful.

No comments about Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City's Best Unusual Attractions.

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 DogFriendly.com's East Coast Dog Travel Guide: Includes New England, New York, the Mid-Atlantic States, Florida and the Southeast.

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.