Discovering Queens [Paperback]

Steve Reichstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2000

A useful guide to Queens, New York. The book has 3 major sections. Section 1 lists the 50 best restaurants in Queens and describes the food and expected cost of a meal. Section 2 describes the 50 best places to play, the museums, performing arts centers, interesting parks, tennis centers, golf courses, and other attractions. Section 3, the major part of the book, consists of photographs and a description of 28 residential areas-all visually interesting. For each area there is an introduction which summarizes the areas characteristics and amenities, followed by subsections on Real Estate, Transportation, Shopping, Education, and Recreation. An appendix contains additional information on Libraries, Parochial Schools, and Private Schools.

Editorial Reviews

Review

He's Write On Target in Queens---It took a guy from Brooklyn to write a guide to the best of Queens. -- Daily News

Offers unstintingly glowing descriptions of where and why to rent or buy a home in Queens. -- New York Times

The book drives a gourmet path that starts of at the romantic East River setting of the water's edge restaurant... -- Queens Tribune

About the Author

Steve Reichstein born and raised in Brooklyn, now lives in Queens received his B.A. from Hunter College and a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: H & M Productions; 1st edition (September 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882608240
• ISBN-13: 978-1882608249
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,703,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not such a useful guide, October 24, 2002

By 

"bronislawmalinowskijr" (Fresh Meadows, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discovering Queens (Paperback)

I really expected more from this book. The title, "Discovering Queens!" suggests that is is for sightseers and tourists. The subtitle, "A Useful Guide to Queens, New York," suggests it has fairly complete and thorough coverage about the history, geography, infrastructure, politics, ethnic makeup, and social problems of the borough, among other things. For an author to describe his book as useful in the title, it behooves him either to make it clearly and generally useful, or else to say up front exactly HOW it is useful. At the bottom of the cover (featuring the Unisphere, as you would expect) is the small print: 28 places to live, 50 places to play, 50 recommended restaurants, 82 photographs. So there you have it. The book isn't totally useless, but it isn't worth its cover price.

Essentially, this book is a not-so-detailed guide, current when it was written in 2000 and decreasingly relevant as time goes by, for persons seriously interested in buying a single-family house (preferably a classy and expensive one) in Queens. A few apartment buildings are thrown in as a sideline, but mainly, it seems to address the former sector of the market...The other kind of reader, who wants to learn about the ins and outs of Queens, will find this book disappointing.

First off, the list of neighborhoods is highly selective. Second, the author puts the best face on everything, like a PR man. Example: discussing a junior high school, he writes, "Its reading scores place it in the the top 55 percent of all public middle schools in New York City."...Clearly he leaves out anything that isn't a selling point, focusing only on those beautiful houses that some people got when they were cheap and that we all wish we could afford now. Most of the borough is left out.

Two pages are devoted to the history and development of the borough. The list of restaurants is 13 pages long, and the sections on things to do in Queens is 12 pages long. There is one map, and it's a lousy one. There are lists of public and private schools as well as public libraries, that anyone could get off the Internet. There is no index.

I don't recommend this book...

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Useful, December 5, 2002

By 

Stephen Suckenik (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Discovering Queens (Paperback)

Looking for guides to the outer boroughs of New York I was surprised to find that while Brooklyn and the Bronx had a number books devoted exclusively to them, Queens only had one. Discovering Queens!, is mainly for two groups of people. The first group are people who are living in New York or are interested in living in New York and want relatively affordable (compared to Manhattan) housing in good neighborhoods within an easy commute to Manhattan. The second group would be people living in the borough who are unaware of what the borough offers in terms of places to eat or things to do. The writer selects 28 neighborhoods that he considers the best in the borough in terms of the quality of the architecture, schools, and commuting time to Manhattan. He describes the neighborhoods providing a written description and photographs of the area. He also includes the local school ratings, shopping and restaurants. The book in total contains 50 recommended restaurants and 50 places to play. I found the book well written, informative and useful. The only minuses I would say is that the real estate prices are out of date though considering the exploding real estate market no print book would be up to date. The map provided is poor. If you are looking for a book that provides a comprehensive view of the history, politics and demographics of Queens this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a good place to live in Queens, eat or visit then this book is for you. In fact, at present, it seems to be the only book.