5 comments about The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir.

1. Anyone born in the 50's can relate to the experiences of Bill Bryson. I began reading this book on an airplane and was laughing so hard, the people around me were smiling. Bill Bryson uses excellent humor to bring his story to life. You feel as though you know him or someone like him. Memories of my own childhood came flooding back. Excellent read. Never dull.



2. Bill Bryson writes of bygone days during his middle-America, middle-class childhood in the 1950's. Many hilarious vignettes sparkle, including "the toidy jar," getting permission from the teacher to go to the bathroom (Number 1 or Number 2??) and his friend Willoughby who ran the scan involving bugs and pond water in his restaurant food to get free meals.
   
   There were times I was doubled over in laughter. You may get a few belly laughs too, especially if you grew up in the 1950's.



3. There are over 200 reviews for this book that attest to really how good it is.
   
   What's most enjoyable is that if you lived during the 50s, Bryson has brought back to you many of the memories all of us enjoyed. This book is laugh-out-loudable while tickling your memory. If you enoy Jean Sheppard and his tales (A Christmas Story), then you are guaranteed to enjoy the Thunderbolt Kid. I was there wish there was a sequal... there certainly was back in the day!!



4. As I finished this amazing book Des Moines made the news by flooding today. Even though I have never been to Iowa, I felt sad due to having just read this memoir of Bill Bryson's who is from Des Moines. This is a wonderful valentine to Iowa and to Bill's childhood growing up in Des Moines. It is so funny that you will find yourself laughing so hard and so loud. I was born the same year as Bryson and could relate to everything he recalls while growing up in the strange world of the 1950's. He brings back what a very strange time the 50's were. How did we ever become such an interesting generation after a decade of jello,black and white westerns on TV,Dick and Jane books, sci-fi badly made movies and a long list of ridiculousness that our parents and government held up as rules for the good life in America. Bryson's talent of looking at things that at first seem funny(ha-ha) but underneath those events or things lie a lurking dark side of reality that is anything but funny.



5. I was very fortunate to grow up in this period in a small town. It was amazing that the kids in Iowa were doing the SAME dumb stuff as we did in Texas. I had the electric football game and never could figure out how to have fun with it. We went to the local fair and got into the stripper tent at age 15 (true). The stripper in Texas was probably on a circuit that went to Iowa. All in all, a fun book to read for anyone of that era. All the buildings are now gone, but the memories still remain. Bill did a great job bringing those back to life.

5 comments about A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail).

1. Bill Bryson is hillarious. The first few chapters contained bits and pieces that had me laughing out loud, which is not something I come across often in literature.
   
   The book details a hike that Bryson and his friend (an out-of-shape character's character!) took on the Appalachian Trail. Both "older" gentleman aren't exactly in the best of shape... neither is a very experienced outdoorsman. Yet they both appreciate the signifigance of the trail, and are able to hike a good bit of it without mishap.
   
   The way that Bryson writes is just invigorating. He's just so funny, and describes people in the most beautiful way. He's also managed to get quite a bit of back-story on the Appalachian Trail into this text, so the book is not only entertaining, but also somewhat educational. It made me want to jump on a plane and start hiking the trail!
   
   After reading this book, I'm definitely going to search for more of Bryson's work. He's a good author, and this is a good story.



2. This is actually a review of two books, one old and one new. Both are nonfiction, and both are intended for grown-ups. There's nothing in them that kids will find objectionable, but they may find them boring. I found them to be funny, poignant at times, and thought-provoking.
   
   The first is called A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson, published in 1997. The second is called Scout's Honor, by Peter Applebome, published in 2003. Bryson is a writer and journalist who decided to walk the Appalachian Trail at around age 50, and Walk is the story of his adventures on the AT. Applebome is a writer and a journalist who decided to become a Boy Scout dad at around age 50, and Honor is the story of his adventures with his son's Boy Scout troop and with Scouting in general.
   
   I read Walk several years ago, and just discovered Honor last week. Reading Honor reminded me of Walk, so much so that I couldn't review the former without talking about the latter.
   
   Bryson and a friend decided, almost on a lark, to hike the AT which they had heard so much about, but Bryson was so inexperienced a hiker that he couldn't tell a Nalgene from a North Face. In fact, his introduction to backpacking and hiking occurred in a sporting goods store. He and his friend started at the southern end of the AT, in Georgia, on a snowy autumn day, and ended, with a few breaks, at the northern end in Maine several years later.
   
   Bryson's writing is self-deprecating and intentionally funny. He plays for laughs, and he gets them. By poking fun at himself, he gives himself license to give all the other characters on the trail the same treatment he gives himself in his writing. The book is funny throughout. But just as Mark Twain and Will Rogers gave us lots of food for thought in the middle of their humor, so Bryson writes a series of thoughtful essays between the lines of his funny stories: lessons about people's character and behavior, about greed and status, about environmental awareness and social responsibility, and about what Thoreau called "the need for wilderness" or something like that. (Yes, Thoreau talked about it before John Muir did.)
   
   When you finish Bryson's book, you will be as satisfied with the conclusion as he was with the end of the hike. You may also come away with a renewed appreciation for wild places and with an awareness of the personality flaws that make you similar to the characters Bryson writes about. It's definitely a book I would read again.
   
   Applebome, like Bryson, knew nothing about hiking, camping and backpacking, until he moved his family from Atlanta to Chappaqua, New York, and his son wanted to join the Boy Scouts. He was reluctant to get into the hiking and the canoeing, the knot-tying and the sleeping outside on the hard ground surrounded by rain, snow, wind and critters. He had hoped that his son would express an interest in Little League baseball instead, but, wishing to score some Good Dad points with his son, he went along with him to the Boy Scout meetings and outings.
   
   Even before he started, Applebome had anti-Boy-Scout leanings -- but as he became more involved with his son's troop, that changed. Interweaved with the funny and poignant story of his own adventures with his son's troop, Applebome tells a balanced, thoughtful, well-researched and honest story about the history of Scouting and its founders, its awkward attempts to adapt to social change, and the recent controversies surrounding it. The book isn't all narrative -- it includes a lot of reporting, exposition and editorializing -- but it's definitely worth reading.
   
   Applebome comes the end of his book grateful for having been able to share the experience with his son, the troop leaders, and the other Scouts and their dads. He himself grows considerably through his experiences, and he faces a huge crisis of conscience when the Boy Scouts win the Supreme Court judgement in their favor with respect to gays in Scouting. The crisis of conscience occurs because he feels that the corporate organization that is the Boy Scouts of America is dead wrong on at least one of the "three G" issues (gays, God, and girls) and not faithful to the wishes of Scouting's founders, and yet he sees that the local organizations of Scouting, the councils and troops, are a powerful force for good in their communities and are getting a raw deal by both BSA headquarters and the left-wing liberals who get all over Scouting's case because of the three Gs.
   
   Being a reporter and a problem-solver at heart, he takes a long, hard look at what Scouting could be (and should be), compares it to what it is, and makes several really good recommendations for fixing Scouting. One of the most interesting things he says is that the Scout Oath and the Scout Law, the moral foundations for Scouting (in the U.S.A.), are rock-solid and it woud be a very good thing if all boys (and men!) lived by those tenets. He also says (either himself, or quoting someone) that the Boy Scout Handbook, any edition, is just the kind of "advice to boys" that people have been longing to give to boys today.
   
   Unfortunately, Scouting is increasingly irrelevant in a society which competes so heavily (and so much more effectively) for boys' attention with sports, video games, and so on. Applebome laments this turn of events, and yet he asserts, with his primary evidence being the members of his own son, that Scouting appeals to a certain group of boys who really don't care if other people think it's uncool, and that Scouting (practiced the way it should be) really is a Good Thing in the boys' lives and is a major influence in turning them into the kind of men this world needs. (Those are my words, not his. He said it differently.)
   
   Scout's Honor is written to and for three groups of people: former Boy Scouts who are now adults; current and former Boy Scouts; and current and former Boy Scout leaders. It's high-energy food for thought for all three groups.
   
   A Walk in the Woods is written for everyone, and will be especially enjoyed by those who love or hate hiking, backpacking, camping, wilderness and the fools they find there. Although it contains more mental junk food than food for thought, it will open your mind and is definitely worth reading.



3. This book is hilarious!
   
   Bryson's sense of humor and his sense of adventure is very funny. Even a couch potato would love this book.
   
   My husband and I plan to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in 2010, and I bought this book as research for our hike. I couldn't put the book down!



4. I had a long history as a streetwalker. Yes, a streetwalker. But, I never had even spent the night outdoors. However, when I read Bill Bryson's book I immediately decided I wanted to thru-hike the entire 2,175 mile trail.
   
   There is a lot of criticism on the AT about Bryson's book, but one thing is undeniable. With his mass following and inimitable humor, he inspired legions of previous hiking virgins to attempt the AT. And that can only be good, as this mountainous wilderness trail holds wonders that your average American can only dream about. I definitely rate it as one of the top experiences in my life.
   
   Better yet, it inspired me to write a book myself, called Skywalker. There is only one Bill Bryson when it comes to writing. However, it was easy to dissect his success. He wrote a book that appealed to the non-hiker, as much as the hiker. Further, he avoided the plague of so many trail narratives that get trapped in the day-to-day diary format, written by experts, for other experts, in a narrow "hikerese." Rather, he told a tale that is at once earthy, serious, lighthearted, but informative.
   
   It may not be a classic, but it has increased the population of hikers on the AT, and in this day and age of anxiety and hyper-materialism that can only be to the good.
   
   Skywalker '05 author Skywalker--Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail billwalker52@hotmail.com



5. There are 2 parts to this book. Part 1 is awesome! It is a great story of 2 men hiking part of the Appalachian Trail and the ups and downs they had doing it. It's funny, witty and well written. Part 2 however lags a bit. The author drives part of the trail and walk parts of it in day trips, not nearly as exciting as part 1. The only thing in my opinion that save part 2 is the history and facts the author talks about. Especially about Pennsylvania and the Delaware Water Gap. Overall I gave it 4 stars. It could have been so much better if he hiked the whole thing, but overall was still a very good read.

5 comments about The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food.

1. Jennifer Lee answers many mysteries in this book that may have interested you. (Where do all those Chinese people come from who work in the restaurants? How did fortune cookies get started? Who writes the fortunes? What is the real origin of Chop Suey?) For those answers, it's worth reading the book.
   
   Her lens is a most unusual one: She visits Chinese restaurants where lottery winners got fortunes that gave them the numbers they used to win an unprecedented number of second prizes.
   
   What she learns is that Chinese food as prepared and eaten in the United States says more about Americans than it does about the Chinese. She also shows how self-organizing principles (from complexity theory) apply to explain why Chinese restaurants are so similar.
   
   Ultimately, this book describes what it means to be human and to want a better life. In that sense, it's very life affirming.
   
   I found that the book had two major drawbacks. First, Ms. Lee chooses to tell you the story of how she tracked down her answers rather than cutting through the preliminaries. I found much of her research reporting to be less interesting than the punch lines when finally reached.
   
   Second, I wondered how competent she was in doing this research. She seemed to rely a lot on interviewing people face to face. Surely, a lot of answers could have been gotten in other ways. Where I became most skeptical was in her section on picking the best Chinese restaurant in the world. One of her criteria was that lots of Chinese people eat there. I have Chinese-American friends who take me to many superb, attractive (as opposed to "hole in the wall") Chinese restaurants where my wife and I are the only non-Chinese Americans in the place. None of these restaurants were mentioned by Ms. Lee. She didn't even visit the cities where our favorite Chinese restaurants are such as Honolulu.



2. The opening chapters of this book by Jenneifer 8. Lee have a merry verve. Who invented chop suey, a dish unknown in China? Who was this General Tso, anyway? (A Chinese Colonel Sanders, perhaps?) Can it be true that Japanese invented the fortune cookie? (Gasp!) But there's more to this book than Kung Pao chicken, chopsticks, and zodiac calendars.
   
   Chapters on Chinese immigration and the movement of immigrants around the nation to work in restaurants are told in a lively reportorial style that still provokes thought. They give stale discussions of immigration policy a human face, and her visits to China bring alive such abstractions as "push" and "pull" factors.
   
   Sprightly chapters on the business side of restaurants and supplies -- and "The Soy Sauce Trade Dispute" -- deliver a lot of commonsense economics in a most agreeable way. The economic side of the book culminates in a theory of "open source" economic adaptation that is, to this reader, quite fresh.
   
   Finally, the book has a lot to say about America, our history, and our culture. Lee even proposes a new metaphor to replace the old "melting pot" and the newer "salad bowl." Our nation is "stir-fry," she writes. We'll see whether the new label gets a larger market share among academics and pundits.
   
   Finally, an advisory: Reading this book is like watching the Ang Lee film, "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman." As soon as you put it down, you'll have a strong urge to drive to the nearest Golden Dragon, Peking Gourmet, or Hunan Garden and order too much.
   
   -30-



3. This is a breezy and entertaining foray into the world of Chinese/American cuisine diaspora. Lee writes well. This book, however, would have benefited from better editing. Some parts of the book resemble a chop suey. The book contains several typographical errors that should have been corrected during the editing process.
   
   Ex:
   p. 183. "Robert Borgas." Lee means "Robert Porges." Lee should have asked Seth Faison for his comments before the book was published.



4. Jennifer Lee has written an engaging book on the phenomenon of Chinese food in America. It is filled with factoids that most likely you did not know before, such as the fact that there about twice as many Chinese restaurants in America as there are McDonalds.
   
   She delves into such arcana as the origin of General Tso's chicken, the history and anatomy of fortune cookies, the making of those trapezoidal carry-out food boxes, why Jewish people especially love Chinese food and a stroll through the best Chinese restaurants in the world.
   
   It would be tempting and a cliché to say that, thirty minutes after reading it, you're hungry for more. Alas, that line has apparently been taken by a prior reviewer.
   
   If you enjoy Chinese food, you will enjoy "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles."
   
   Confucius say, "You have a fun reading ahead of you..."



5. As others have said, Ms. Lee writes very well, and most of this was really interesting. But she has a total blind spot about fortune cookies, and for me, there was WAY too much stuff about trying to research exactly who invented them. When I realized that I was starting a THIRD chapter on this same subject -- which she'd already covered exhaustively in two previous chapters -- I groaned inwardly and just skipped to the next chapter. OK, we get it: fortune cookies are not Chinese, any more than General Tso's chicken or chop suey. Except for this one flaw, the book was a lot of fun.

5 comments about Roadfood: The Coast-to-Coast Guide to 700 of the Best Barbecue Joints, Lobster Shacks, Ice Cream Parlors, Highway Diners, and Much, Much More.

1. As usual the Sterns have published another delicious book. They list eating places all over the 48 states. These are those road food diners and joints where you might not stop, sometimes because you wonder what might lie in wait for you behind that door. This even includes new ideas for places you might not have known about in your own area. With this book you can have confidence that here is real food, not that processed, frozen brought to the building and warmed up stuff that passes for most food you get when traveling or even eating locally; but food like your mother - if she was a fantastic cook would have made you. It is true you can get this information and more on their web site, but this is so wonderful to carry in the car. I have never been to a place that they recommended and been sorry. In fact sometimes the places we have stopped have led to the highlights of a trip. We have met locals, gone down roads and stopped at spots we would not have traveled to. It has been our experience that when we enter these mostly beloved local eateries, we are welcomed and we know we are visiting the real America.
   With this edition some much needed corrections have been done; there were a couple eating places that had been closed for a long time before their previous edition.
   I do wish that more of an effort was made to review and include places that are nearer well traveled tourist sites, so we can avoid the chains and the same restaurants we could eat at while at home. There is a huge lack of information for central Florida and that would have been very welcome. There is almost nothing for traveling along the east coastline in ocean areas and the Outer Banks area with the exception of along the Maine coast; and some western states especially have very little listed. I know it would add to the effort and bulk of the book, but some more directions from interstates would really be nice.



2. Roadfood This book may be great on paper, but it's not usable in Kindle. That's too bad, because this is just the kind of book you'd like to be able to take along on your travels without being burdened by the physical book.
   
   The organization of the book is by geographical region, with the smallest unit being a state. So if you're using Kindle to look for a restaurant in a particular city or region, you must page through all of the restaurants in the state, which are listed in alphabetical order by restaurant name. If the region bridges states, your problem is compounded.
   
   The paper edition uses maps for indexes, with the names of featured restaurants in a particular area listed on the map. You thus go from the map to the alphabetical listing of the restaurants. Unfortunately the map pages are not legible on Kindle. They were simply scanned, not adjusted for screen size, and, as graphics, they do not respond to a change in print size.
   
   Once again the transition to Kindle is thoughtless, taking no consideration of the practical need of the user to navigate the book.



3. Although I am a serious home cook I tend to eat out a lot due to my busy travel schedule. I am always looking for the out-of-the-way places that only the locals know about. This book is my inside guide to those hidden treasures.
   
   First I checked out the cities that I know best and was amazed at how many of the small, jewel-like restaurants that I have visited in the past were included in this book. However, some cities get a lot of coverage and some equally deserving cities got little or no reports. I live in San Antonio and although some of the surrounding cities have restaurants that are included in this book, San Antonio, one of the largest and most unique cities in Texas, gets nothing. Same can be said for many other cities, especially in the Northeast. I understand that no book can adequately cover a subject as broad as this and still please everyone, but I would pay three times as much for a more extensive tome.
   
   I have this book in the Kindle version and though I wish I could get to specific cities quicker, I am not as unhappy as other Kindle version reviewers.



4. We recently purchased the new edition of 'Roadfood' to take along with us on our recent road trip through the Southwest. In the course of the trip, we tried three places recommended in this guide. The first, the Nevada Dinner House, had been acquired by new owners and our dinners bore little resemblance to those described in the guide. The second meal, at Pasqual's in New Mexico, was excellent. Unfortunately, the total bill was not the $30-40 predicted by the guide, but rather $100 dollars for three diners (including tip). We ordered no alcohol, shared a dessert, and one of the diners was a child. Our final shot with the guide, at Old Smokey's Diner in Arizona was also a miss. The guide described the excellence of the five varieties of bread, along with a number of sweet breakfast bread options included with the breakfast or available for sale by the loaf. In actuality, the restaurant's bread was the standard store-bought bread, available at any Denny's and NOT for sale by the loaf.
   
   While I'm sure that all of the places mentioned in the guide were at one time as wonderful as described, it appears that the authors may not be doing careful research on the continuing quality of some of their old favorites.
   
   Despite this, I'm still giving the book two stars because it is excellent, mouth-watering reading. I wish the places they described actually existed, though!



5. My wife and I have been using this guide and it's predecessor for about 4 years now. This guide still is our first reference when taking a trip. The first 3 years, eateries were very good and mostly as advertised. Lately, and especially on a recent trip through Nevada, Colorado and Arizona it was hit and miss. Some of the reviews in the book are not up to date regarding the prices and food. We missed on 2 out of the three that we visited. We also figure that we are batting about .500 in our home area, San Francisco. We will continue to use the guide as we really enjoy finding good food on the road and there is little else to help us decide. Maybe a little more personal followup is needed before putting a restaurant in this guide.

5 comments about Frommer's New York City 2008 (Frommer's Complete).

1. Whenever I plan a trip, I want information about the place and what to do when I get there. I've bought many Frommer's guides over the years (National Parks, Hawai'i, San Francisco) and have never been disappointed. I suppose one criticism might be that it tries to be too comprehensive, but on the other hand, this gives you a lot of choices. It might be nice, say, to review fewer hotels and restaurants but to give more in-depth information on the one's they do review.
   
   One thing I really appreciate about Frommer's is that you know that if they mention it in the guide that there's already something to recommend about it. If a hotel isn't mentioned, then it's probably not worth mentioning for one reason or another. A good example is the Grand Hyatt near Grand Central Station. It's not a bad hotel, but it lacks character and, judging from the pictures on their website, it's very much like every other Hyatt/Grand Hyatt in other cities. You're, likely, paying a lot of money to visit New York so you ought to at least experience New York. That being said, we will probably spend a couple of nights at the Grand Hyatt because we will save a little money and get Hyatt points. :-) But, we'll go to another hotel for the remainder of the stay because it's more fun and we'll get to stay someplace that isn't like another hotel in another city. I got that information from this book and followed it up on line.
   
   And, for me, it's nice to have a book that covers all of the bases. I've never been to New York, so I want to do all the "essentials" like see Times Square, a Broadway show, the "big" museums, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, etc. This book does a good job of giving me the information I need to get that done.



2. This guide is very useful even if you already are familiar with New York City.



3. I'm satisfied with the book, but I haven't had the oportunity to try something out - we are going to visit New York at the end of the year.



4. I spent about a month before our vacation reviewing this book. I highlighted, tabbed,and turned the corner down on pages that I thought I would use frequently. The section on suggested itineraries was an excellent "check list" for visiting the hot spots of New York. I was a little disappointed in the restaurant reviews- apparently my family's palate didn't correspond to Frommer's. However, the price rankings were very helpful. The fold out map was indispensable; and be sure to spend some time acquainting yourself with the sections of the city. Once you get the hang of uptown, downtown, west side and east side - and the transporation system - you'll do great! And New Yorkers are EXTREMELY helpful if you get lost or can't find that terrific landmark you are actually standing in front of. This guide is definitely worth purchasing.



5. I bought this guide as a second book when I was planning a short trip to NYC. It has good suggestions for things to do, also has many suggestions for hotels and restaurants. I used it primarily for things to do and see, as I used other guides for food suggestions. If this is your first time visiting NYC or if you are traveling with your family, this is a good resource. It also includes a folding map. One drawback is that it lacks depth, as it includes so much information. I do recommend it as the first book you look at when you start to plan your trip, then you can branch out to more detailed guides. It is a little bulky in shape, and doesn't fit so well in a pocket.

5 comments about The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips.

1. Wonderful, wonderful book. It gave me details about places that I have never seen but would like to someday. The details are great and they all sound like wonderful places to visit. I fantasize about the places when my day is going bad and transport myself to a better place. Definitely buy it.



2. This is a good and simple guide to the principle things to see and how to do it. Recommended for family travel



3. I love to travel and this book will be a welcome reference for your road trips. Beautifully bound with gorgeous pictures, this book will please you for years to come.



4. This book is a great help to make beautiful trips trough the country! Good descriptions and maps of the drives. You can search tours in all 50 states. Beautiful pictures!



5. Looking for a combination of Drives to get the best out of a Touring Holiday in the USA - you need this book! It is easy to link together many of the "120 Spectacular Road Trips" to form a fantastic itinerary to see the best scenery and sights the USA has to offer. It's better than the more specialised "Route 66" and "Lincoln Highway" drives for visitors to the USA who are wanting to experience a broader cross section of US history and its stunning geography. Maps are clear, colour photography whets the appetite and cultural and scenic highlights are picked out in the commentary. Combined with the use of a simple Tom Tom style GPS system the book would provide the solution for visitors planning a Touring experience of the USA - from the smallest local scale to an epic journey covering the best of the nation.

5 comments about National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States, 5th Ed. (National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States).

1. Es una guia fantastica, para recorrer los parques nacionales de EEUU y disfrutar al maximo lo que ofrecen.



2. Good book of national parks. Good practical information for the short term visitor (how many people have the vacation time to spend 2 weeks anywhere? not many i think) which is welcome to see. I'd recommend this book if you'd like to get a feel for where you'd like to go, what you might see when you're there and where you might stay. Once you've figured that out you might do well looking elsewhere for some detailed information, but for the casual visitor the basic information (10 - 20 pages per park) is great. I'd recommend this book if you're either someone who's like to visit a few parks or someone who's trying to work out which park to go, or someone who'd just like to flick through to see if there's something you hadn't considered before.



3. Totally awesome guide that rolls through the U.S. geologic areas and the parks occupied within. Nice 5-10 page look at each park, great photos, plenty of details regarding attractions, square miles, trails, fees, etc.
   Also includes historical details, geologic history, animals and habitat, tips on high traffic vs. low traffic tourist spots, etc. Wonderful book!



4. This book includes all the national parks in the United States (as of mid-2008). Note that there are a few non-traditional parks in the system such as Hot Springs, which nonetheless get the same treatment. It even has the national parks in US territories (i.e., outside the 50 states), although the park for American Samoa barely gets two pages.
   
   All in all, the guide is pretty good at giving you overviews of each park, with maps and information on each. It tells you usually what the main things to do in the park are and what you can do in a day or more. It is not a substitute for making your own plans, though, so do not rely on it completely. Someone suggested that web information is lacking, which is true, but it might be better to rely on the parks' web sites for up-to-date web information anyway.
   
   There are also excursions listed for many, but not all, parks. This makes sense because some NPs are close enough to each other that you'd be listing the same excursions. I would note that the distance to excursions varies greatly. I also wish they weren't so skewed in favor of national forests and wildlife refuges (not much emphasis on state parks), but these are nice to have.
   
   I would finally note that sites such as national lakeshores, seashores, preserves and monuments that would be of interest to readers of this book are not covered as it only covers national parks. Some of these are covered in a one-paragraph excursion description, but because this is a book on the parks that is all they get. My point is that there are many places in the US designated as other than national park that are worth visits, and to find out more about those you'll have to look elsewhere.



5. We just purchased our first motor home and received a nationally known camping guide as a gift. After looking through it, I realized I needed more information on the National Parks. This book is fantastic. It tells you what you need BEFORE you make a reservation. If you are going to stay at National Parks, this book is a must have.

5 comments about Streetwise Manhattan Map - Laminated City Street Map of Manhattan, New York - with integrated subway lines and stations - bus map.

1. I rate this as number three of the four references I purchased to help me navigate NYC. It's sturdy, compact, light weight and packs in all the information you might need to navigate Manhattan and hit the tourist spots.
   This is the map to buy if you want to travel light in Manhattan.



2. don't waste your money. just because its laminated doesn't make it a good map. Not all streets are on it and sections of manhattan are missing. I wouldn't count on this map to help you out if you don't know the area and have things memorized before you get here. WE got lost on more than one occasion trying to use this thing.
   Get the NFT black book of nyc instead. It has all you need and is small enough to fit into your purse or pocket.



3. I use these maps on every trip I go on! They are so accurate and easy to use. The map is durable for every type of weather and small enough to stick in a small bag. There is a streetwise map for every major city we have gone to and we love them! It's a great "memory keeper" as well.



4. This is a great map of the city, easy to carry around. It's plastic, a big plus when it starts raining or if you spill anything on it. My only complain is that it does not include a Subway Map. It has Subway Routes in the map but with all the streets, etc it get a little difficult to make out.
   Overall, great map. A must have for tourist or anyone new to the city.



5. I purchased this map to use on a short trip to NYC. Although it is laminated and folds up to pocket size, there were better maps in the guide books I purchased. On the trip, I didn't use it very much.

5 comments about Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own.

1. Where can I sign up to take a road trip with this woman?? This book was so good, and I have since passed it on to a co-worker who, twenty pages in, is loving it as well.



2. This is one of those great summer books that you can read and laugh along to while turning the pages. When two shrinks and their pets set out for a year-long adventure across the country in a converted bus, you just know fun is around the corner.
   
   Whether letting it all hang out in a nudist camp or hiding under a restaurant table during a hold-up, Doreen Orion makes it all seem like an adventure. And what an adventure it is!



3. The Mortalist
   
   Doreen Orion's new book, Queen of the Road, truly rocks on down the road. It's the styling way to motorhome, told from the size-8 Blahniks of a former New York sophisticato, an indoor girl who loves her Western paramour enough to brave the highway. Brave it, that is, in a towering electronically-tricked-out block-long luxwagen that made at least one non-styling reader more than happy to climb up into the driver's seat and share their varied and manifold misadventures, on a ride that goes from ironic to heartfelt to wise.
   Road Trip meets Chick Lit meets Diesel Hip (the last genre now a subset of Gas-Price Porn): something for everybody who wants, at least from an armchair, to once more hit those long, rolling, horizon-bound lanes.
   --Barry Burnett, MD [...]



4. I grabbed this book and headed for my RV, parked in the driveway...(an RV my husband purchased on the sly). This book had me laughing with glee and anticipating the next adventure Doreen and Tim would find. I dont remember the last time I had such fun being by myself and enjoying a book so much. As another self-described "shut-in", I think I'm ready to get this RV on the road instead of using it as my personal lair. Thanks Doreen for a wonderful trip around the states with you and your family.



5. I loved this book, particularly the recipes! The writer manages to capture your attention quickly and keeps it from start to finish. This is one of the few books I have not been able to plow through in one sitting because it is so well-written and funny. A must read for a beach trip, long weekend, or anytime you want to relax with a nice cocktail.

5 comments about Not for Tourists 2008 Guide to New York City (Not for Tourists: New York City).

1. Best guide for business person traveling to City on business. The longer there or more travel in area the better the value. Not for the tourist.



2. I wouldn't recommend this for a first time traveler to NYC as the maps can be a little difficult to follow (broken up into smaller neighborhoods). It was handy to have in our backpack because it had almost every restaurant that we could think of listed in it, along with their phone numbers, address, time they were open to, and a brief comment on the food there (including which places to avoid). If you're from out of town and need to find the nearest branch of your local bank, it's in there. If you're looking for a coffee shop other than Starbucks, it's in there.



3. I purchased this for both NYC and Brooklyn and it's been a life saver. This book tells you where to find the things you need when you live in a city. Laundrymat? Banks? Coffee shop where the locals hang out? History and maps of the neighborhoods? It's all here. Also very small and easy to carry with you. One of my friends who visited for a week, prefered to carry this over the traditional guide books, due to the size.



4. This book was great. I just returned from my trip to NY and I can tell you this book was a great help. I even got one for a friend who lives in NY and thought it was an excellent guide. It's easy to use and it size its really practical. You see people walking around NY with big maps or books, but this one fits in your pocket and has all the information you need. Other guides are just full with information, which is helpful but makes it really cumbersome to find things while you are walking around.



5. I checked this book out from the library and dropped it in my suitcase without looking at it right before a trip to New York. I assumed the title was pandering to every person's belief that they are not a tourist--that's everyone ELSE. Well, I didn't need to find any hardware stores or pet supply stores so this book never left my hotel room. I am sure it's a great book but don't think of it as a travel guide. So my 3-star rating is an average of 4 stars for what it probably is, and 2 stars for what I thought it was!