3 comments about Moving to New York City: The Practical Companion to Your New City, from Settling in to Stepping Out (Moving to... Series).

1. I just moved to the city and this book was witty, insightful and held my hand through my crazy urban move. Ms. Walsh is my first friend in the city! I highly recommend this one, even for people who already live here especially if you're moving from one neighborhood to another. Many thanks for this great book!



2. i wish this book would have been in print when i moved to manhattan 3 years ago. the book is exceptionally well researched and very helpful. a must-have for anyone moving to the city.



3. I'm sure this was a good book when it was written back in 1996!!! 5 years later, this book is very outdated and very unhelpful.

No comments about New York's 50 Best Places to Find Peace and Quiet: 3rd Edition (City and Company).

1 comments about New York Walks: The 92nd Street Y (Henry Holt Walks Series).

1. Get this if you already live in NYC or intend to visit, you will not be disappointed. I loved the detailed info on the architecture of the Woolworth building and the history behind the folks in buried in Trinity Cemetary. I enjoyed the facts of who used to live in what buildings in the Village. When covering the 5-Points Section, what is now the Federal &State Courts area & Chinatown, was absolutlely fun trying to hunt down these old sites still visible for myself. All the info on the history of some of the street names was curious such as Mott, Pell, Bayard & Baxter streets were named after the butchers in the area when that area was a stinking mess. The lore surrounding Wahington Square Park, especially the "Hanging Tree" was fascinating. I'm still trying to figure out which tree it is! All the semi-hidden small cemetaries mentioned in Manhattan is worth a look; knowing that these still exist especially when the real estate here is so astronimical in price. I hope people make good use of this guide when showing off the City to visitors & I'm sure tourists will get a kick out of an insiders tour of NYC.

5 comments about Empire City.

1. this book is a masterpiece for anyone on the search. if you are one of those lower east side hipsters who thinks theres no success like failure, but failure's no success at all, then this book is for you. it leans into the kernel, and asks the right questions from beginning to end. get ready to strap on your conceptual goggles and prepare for some authors intention. from joan didion's "goodbye to all that" to walt whitman's "crossing brooklyn ferry" this book keeps the faith all the way.



2. I bought this book as soon as it was in stores because David Dunbar, my former teacher, wrote it and he is a GENIUS. Reading the essays and stories between the covers was an even greater experience than owning the work of a friend. It now sits on my coffeetable, waiting for my next trip to Dobbs Ferry, where I will ask David to inscribe the title page with his autograph. Each essay is packed with all the feeling and emotion to be found in the city, in all of its people and buildings and history. To read this book is not simply to follow words on a page...It is to experience the greatest city on Earth. From Joplin to New York and back again, this book, and CITYterm, have together been one of the most enlightening opportunities I have ever had.



3. Editors Kenneth Jackson and David Dunbar have amassed an enormous collection of essays, letters, diary entries, and poems about New York written by New Yorkers and visitors to the city from the dawn of the modern age (ca. 1600) to just after the ravages of 9/11. While an overwhelming majority of the pieces are pro-Gotham, I was glad that Messrs. Jackson and Dunbar had the wisdom and integrity to present some works that express anxiety and doubt about New York's status. The result is an extensive, celebratory, sometimes warts-and-all biography of the world's greatest city. As Mr. Jackson remarked in the 1999 Ric Burns New York Documentary, New York is not a stagnant, static thing: "New York is always becoming". He and Mr. Dunbar are to be congratulated for reminding us that New York's biography is long, and with a lot more greatness to come.
   
   Rocco Dormarunno,
   author of "The Five Points, A Novel"



4. Superlatives seldom meet the mark, except EMPIRE CITY. This is a book of superlative moods, the city of true night and day, and of gifted writers meeting on Gotham's every old and new corner. Each in their own time, they're overwhelmed by the city's human vastness, its diversity, even attracted to its loneliness - the city's unique ability to confer absolute privacy in neighborhoods and buildings that rise into the sky.
   
   To paraphrase, one writer said, "No matter the hour, there's always something exciting happening in New York." Like rubbing minds with Jack Kerouac, or going uptown with Federico Garcia Lorca, and James Baldwin - or rooting for the Yankees with Bruce Catton. Last night I sat ringside at the Polo Grounds for the Firpo/Dempsey fight; the day before I broke my back as a laborer on the Brooklyn Bridge; tonight I'm taking the ferry to see Whitman's leaves of grass. And after that, supper at Delmonico's. If I have energy enough come morning, it's off on the Half Moon to discover Manhattan - and you're welcome to come along.
   
   I haven't even scratched the surface, because there's always something wonderful to do in Jackson & Dunbar's superlative collection, EMPIRE CITY.



5. Here's a wonderful collection of diverse writings about New York City ranging from an account of Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage down the river that took his name to a very poignant piece about 9/11 by a member of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's staff. Articles by such well-known writers as O'Henry, Theodore Dreiser, Herman Melville, Stephen Crane, Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck (all who have lived in the Empire City) are included. Each selection has a brief introduction packed with interesting facts about the City and the writer of the piece. A great read and reference.

5 comments about Eating Like Queens: A Guide to Ethnic Dining in America's Melting Pot, Queens, New York.

1. This book is really quite something. It is jam packed with recipes, restaurant information, and unforgettable facts the likes of which I have never come across in any other cookbook or restaurant guide. This book fills a niche that has been empty far too long.



2. Organized by ethnic cuisine, this book is a wonderful guide to the vast restaurant scene in Queens, which is underrepresented in both restaurant guides and the New York media. The author has included descriptions of the various cuisines and dishes, and also contact information and easy to follow directions for how to get to each restaurant. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves to eat and wants to get to know New York better.



3. In a city that offers thousand of possibilities for food lovers, one needs a very talented and focused Suzanne Parker to separate the wheat from the chafe.
   Ms. Parker did a great job in unveiling the cuisines of so many nationalities, and also included excellent recipes for those among us who dare to try.



4. Excellent book, beautifully printed, with fascinating information on the foods of many different countries. As Queens County (in New York) has over 150 different ethnicities (the most ethnically diverse county in the US), this is a very welcome addition, and quite obviously a labor of love. Even though it originally came out in 2005, it is still worth purchasing for the great food descriptions of various cultures and the recipes included at the back of each chapter.



5. Excellent book -- tons of great restaurants, classic ethnic recipes to make when you get home, indexes by ethnicitiy and locale make places easy to find, explanations and introductions are interesting and informative. If you live in or will visit Queens, this is a great book to have.

2 comments about Frommer's Wonderful Weekends from New York City, Fifth Edition.

1. We have been using Marilyn Wood's Wonderful Weekends Copyright 1984, 1987 and enjoyed it very, very much. Right from the first trip, we knew we had a winner. The paperback is dog earred, paperclipped, underlined in red and there are pencil and ink notes in all the margins. It is a truly wonderful book but needed updating.

   We purchased the "All New Fourth Edition!" of Wonderful Weekends thinking it would have the best of the previous edition, plus new places to explore minus the places that are no longer there.

   Not so! Several of the areas that we looked up included restaurants that have not been there in 2 or 3 years. One of the B&B's has had new owners for years and the listing shows the old owners' story and names.

   We will stick with our original 1984-l987 version and use the new one for backup with each trip. Hopefully, there will be some New information in this Fourth Edition.

   This was a lesson to me that when I look for updates for books of this type, it would be a good idea to find out the date of the update before making a purchase.




2. Aside from the listings that are out of date there are errors about what took place when and who was born where. If you simply must visit the site of a certain event or birth place of a famous person, you had better check another source before making a three hour drive.

2 comments about Laminated New York City Streets Map by Borch.

1. I have been stranded too many times in foreign cities by inadequate maps. This series of maps simply does it right - no improvements needed.

   The B & B Map is laminated and can easily be folded many different ways. It shows every street, no matter how small. It lists bus lines, subway lines, and even buildings, such as the Met Life building and the Mid-Manhattan Library. Another cool feature of the map is that major areas of Manhattan receive their own little section. There are zoomed-in maps of Midtown and the Financial District with amazing detail. Best of all, it is inexpensive.




2. Berndtson maps are jam packed full of information, yet easy to read and legible thanks to its clean modern layout and judicious use of colors and icons. On the main map, Manhattan is shown from downtown all the way up to 86th Street in 1:15000 scale with Subway stations pinpointed along with major landmarks, churches, and museums. The back is printed with 1:9000 scale focus maps of the financial district, and another one of midtown. There is also a 1:240000 map of the tri-state area. Easy to fold, and to store away, the maps are also thickly laminated allowing you to mark it up with a china pen, then wipe off the marks when you are done. rkchin. more map reviews at http://www.nychinatown.org/bookstore/index6.html

No comments about Streetwise Southampton Map - Laminated City Street Map of Southampton, New York - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated LIRR tracks & Jitney stops (Streetwise (Streetwise Maps)).

No comments about Lonely Planet Nueva York (Lonely Planet. (Spanish Guides)).

No comments about Welcome Back to Brooklyn.