No comments about Zagat New York City Restaurant Survey (Zagat Survey: New York City Restaurants).

4 comments about Zagatsurvey 2000 New York City Nightlife (Zagatsurvey : New York City Nightlife, 2000).

1. The blurbs they use for this type of book don't really work well. Zagat is good for restaurants, but for bars they seem to lack any edge. Nobody really cares whether a beer is 4 or 5 dollars. They want o know what a place is really like, and this guide doesn't do that. If you are 40 years old and looking for a safe spot to eat and drink, this is the guide for you. There are better choices for this median available.



2. I happened to visit their top bar -- Angel's Share-- and if that's the top bar, I'm afraid what they thought of the other bars. It makes me wonder how they compiled the ratings.



3. Did they just steal their own restaurant reviews? MOst of the places in here are not really bars, they are restaurants. They must have been in a hurry to put this out. Zagat's top choices are pretty bad if you want go out and drink. Great if you want to eat at a top 10 restaurant though. Stick to what they know. Food surveys.



4. This book could not have been very well researched. It looks more like an attempt to take your money from the money grubbing Zagats. How could this posible be published for New Yorkers.....

3 comments about Storied City: A Children's Book Walking-Tour Guide to New York City.

1. With clarity and affection born of familiarity and delight, Marcus covers over 200 places and spaces in New York that have made an appearance in books for children and teenagers. He tells you how to get there and what you will see when you do. It is a lovely size, easy to carry and to hold, and it will take you on a virtual journey even if you and your children can't do a real one.



2. Leonard Marcus hit upon a great idea and developed it perfectly. As a teacher, it is difficult to teach history or literature to the young and make the readings come to life. "Storied City: A Children's Book Guide to New York City", besides being a charming idea, is also a handy tool for parents and teachers. With this extremely convenient guide, you can walk the kids through the neighborhoods they've read about and enliven their reading experience. And, most importantly, Marcus writes in a way that doesn't talk down to children, and that's a tremendous asset.



3. We recently returned from a visit to Manhattan, having used this guide (along with several others); we found it enjoyable and useful. There are eleven tours: Lower Manhattan, Greenwich Village/East Village/SoHo, Flatiron District/Gramercy Park/Chelsea, Midtown Manhattan, Central Park/Upper East Side, Central Park/Upper West Side, Harlem/Northern Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island; each tour includes a map of the tour, an introduction, readable text concerning authors, book settings and the history of New York City, small pictures and line drawings, and lists of additional authors connected to each area. There is no information about amenities along the way (restaurants, bathrooms, playgrounds). We found a wealth of information and many literary references -- it would be smart to read this ahead of time so you can select and read some of the referenced books before your trip.

5 comments about Babe Ruth Slept Here: The Baseball Landmarks of New York City.

1. Resisler uses crisp, clean prose to lead us on a fascinating tour of New York City sites relating to baseball--from Lou Gehrig's birthplace to where Billy sunday preached to where Rusty Staub served ribs it all here in a great book.



2. In amusing vignettes, the author takes us from place to place, and from one era to another, in the annals of baseball. Each page opens the reader to entertaining narratives of baseball's interesting locations and exciting personalities. A grand slam.



3. Having borrowed the book from a friend and having read it with great pleasure, it has been placed on my Christmas wish list. It will provide me with a guide on future tours into New York to see the many sites related to baseball events that Reisler has done such an excellent job of describing.



4. There is a lot of history in New York City and the surrounding area, much of it baseball and the author certainly covers it well. Although much of what is in the book can certainly be found in other baseball books it is still a worth while read. I realize it would have added much to the size of the book, but I would have liked to see more pictures such as of the present site of Lou Gehrig's birthplace on page 162 and of The Lambs' Club on page 212. I found a few errors of which a few are inevitable, I suppose. On page 196 the author says Bob Friend was the winning pitcher after the Giants' last game in the Polo Grounds (1957) and nine years later he was the winning pitcher in the first game at Shea Stadium (1964). This would be seven years. On page 73 the name of Billy Jurges was spelled "Jurgez". The most glaring mistake, however, came on page 80 when it is mentioned that Lou Gehrig was honored at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1940. The correct year, of course, is 1939. I would give the book a tough three stars, maybe even closer to four, but that Gehrig mistake really bothered me.



5. This is a very unreliable book. I'll offer one example: the article on the original Polo Grounds at 110th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. The article gets that location right, and that's about all. (1) Contrary to what the author says, the Metropolitans played at the Polo Grounds from the beginning of the club. (2) The author hasn't figured out which team was which. Jim Mutrie did not call the Metropolitans "giants," and they did not become the Giants. The Giants were a separate team, also organized by Mutrie and his money-man Day. The Mets were around for three years (1880-82) before Mutrie and Day founded the Giants, getting them a slot in the National League while assigning the Mets to the American Association. The Giants started out being called the "New Yorks," or the "Nationals" for their membership in the National League; and they were the ones Mutrie or Day called "giants" and who acquired that as their name. (3) So it's wrong to say that "It turned out that the Polo Grounds also served as home to another local team of note, the Nationals." The Nationals were the same team as the Giants, and they didn't "turn out" to play at the Polo Grounds too--Mutrie and Day decided to have both the Mets and the Giants play at the Polo Grounds from the moment they founded the Giants. (4) The park wasn't a "rectangular sliver of land," which makes it sound much skinnier in one dimension than the other. One side was the crosstown block from 5th to 6th Avenues, one eighth of a mile. The other side was the two uptown blocks from 110th to 112th Street, totalling one tenth of a mile. That is, the park was 528 feet in one dimension and 660 feet in the other--a 4-5 ratio, which isn't much of a sliver; it's not all that far from a square. Elsewhere the author refers to the park's "vast expanse of land," which is correct but makes "sliver" sound even stranger. (5) Further on he tells us that the Mets "joined the American Association in 1882 and the following year, at about the same time they became the Giants, joined the National League." Dead wrong, as we've already seen--they were two separate teams in two separate leagues. (6) Finally, he tells us "A more unfortunate fate awaited the Polo Grounds, which burned down in 1889." This is false. The Polo Grounds met its demise when New York City decided to complete the street grid in that area--much of which had only existed on maps before this--and sent city inspectors to cut down the Polo Grounds fence to make room for 111th Street to pass through. Day and Mutrie fought the city and even got the state legislature to pass a bill granting the Giants a variance and suspending the construction of 111th Street; but the governor, an advocate of local rule, vetoed the bill and the Giants lost their home. This was early in 1889, and it was in that season that the Giants moved uptown to the new park at Coogan's Bluff, which was named the Polo Grounds after the old park even though polo would never be played there. The only Polo Grounds that burned down was one of the versions of the Coogan's Bluff park, which burned in 1911, twenty-two years after the original Polo Grounds ceased to exist. Clearly the author has done some cursory reading in the sources on the old Polo Grounds, but he's misunderstood or forgotten most of what he read, and gets almost the whole story of this first park of the New York Giants wrong.

No comments about Vado a vivere a New York.

5 comments about Insideout New York City Guide (Insideout Guides).

1. Before my trip to New York City, I have looked at many guide books. This one is the most unique. It could fit in your pocket. It has two fold out maps of Manhattan (Midtown-South,North-Midtown). It has a pen inside. That's right I said it has a ink pen inside. It also has a working compass in the spine. The packaging is totally unique and effective. Inside it gives a general overview of goings-on in the city. With many of the descriptions of places it includes a website address. It is relatively cheap ($11.95) It is very cool. The Map Group has several books in this style for other cities as well.



2. Ok, I'll admit it: I've been to New York over a dozen times but I still can't find my way around perfectly. Its nothing to be ashamed of, the place is enormous. So I needed a good map of the place without blatantly looking like a tourist. I had tried a few others, and this one was definetly the best.
   
   There are two maps: one of all the streets and then a subway map. The map of the subways is easier than the ones provided at the subways, which is nice because since I refuse to step into a taxi. Then there's a basic map, with important places written directly on it.
   
   The second half of this has recommendations and locations on places to check out. Museums, food, shopping, etc. The food isn't really that helpful simply because there is soooo much to gorge on in NYC, and I recommend the Time Out NY Eating and drinking guide for that. Other than that, its nice to have all the big locations in one booklet.
   
   It also comes with a compass, which is fabulous (if you've ever been deposited off Canal st. and can't figure out which direction to go in, you'll understand). It has a pen too and a spot for notes, but I can't really comment on that since I bought mine sans pen. I'm sure its great though. Best thing of all, it'll fit in your clutch. None of those horrible maps you've got to unroll and unfold and turn this way and that, this one's a pop-up. Just be careful with it though, if you close it wrong it'll take you a half an hour to close it right again.
   
   I definetly recommend this to anyone who is new or semi-new to the city, and you want to check out all the great things the most fabulous city in the world has to offer.



3. My sister in law gave this book to all the attendees at her wedding in Manhattan. I was living in Brooklyn at the time and found the book to be fantastic. I have always pulled it out when I am going someplace new or when I have visitors. I have several guidebooks for NYC and this is the most used.



4. COMPLETE with a subway map, street map (+ sights to see), compass, pen, light, and guide book. I love it! Received as a gift; highly recommended.



5. I used "Inside Out San Francisco" on a recent trip and it helped tremendously! It's concise, small enough for a small purse yet very readable. I can't wait to use in NY.
   
   The perforation on the fold did rip a little bit- a little bit fragile.

No comments about City Dog: New York City (City Dog series).

No comments about Zagat 2008 Long Island Commuter Pack (Zagat Packs).

1 comments about All Around the Town: Amazing Manhattan Facts and Curiosities.

1. It's been said that New York is a city of countless stories, and this book manages to cover a couple thousand of the more interesting ones. This is the "story" of New York City and not your typical history book. The tale is told through neat trivia and short anecdotes that are sure to come up in conversations beginning with "Hey, did you know that..." And, the wonderful black and white photographs and illustrations really make the people, streets and events come alive. It is clear throughout that the author truly has a passion for his subject. If you've got all the other big books of New York City history, get this one for all the interesting stories you'll really remember.

No comments about The New York Book of Tea: Where to Take Tea and Buy Tea & Teaware.