Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to and Living in Atlanta: Including Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Cherokee Counties (Paperback)

~ Shawne Taylor (Author), Wendy Dunham (Contributor), K. Shawne Taylor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

New 3rd edition includes Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Cherokee counties!

The city of Atlanta is home to some 425,000 people, but the entire metro Atlanta area boasts a population of 4.7 million, with newcomers arriving every day. Recent growth has centered primarily in northern counties of the metro area, although there has also been a resurgence of interest in the more urban, intown neighborhoods surrounding downtown Atlanta. Long been considered the commercial capital of the South, the Atlanta area is attractive to both established companies and entrepreneurs. Recognizing that many new arrivals both live and work entirely outside of Atlanta proper, and indeed outside the perimeter, this third edition extensively covers communities from Alpharetta to East Point, and from Marietta to Lawrenceville. The third edition also presents essential sections on Finding a Place to Live, Moving and Storage, Money Matters, Getting Settled, Helpful Services, Childcare and Education, Shopping for the Home, Cultural Life, Sports and Recreation, Greenspace, Weather & Climate, Places of Worship, Volunteering, Transportation, Temporary Lodgings, and Quick Getaways. A calendar of metro Atlanta events, a listing of Atlanta-related guidebooks, fiction, and nonfiction, and a directory of useful phone numbers and web sites round out this indispensable book. Three maps (Atlanta proper, neighboring towns, and surrounding counties) guide the reader to communities, freeways, and points of interest. In addition to being thoroughly fact-checked, updated, and revised, the third edition includes such new material as:
Cherokee County communities, focusing on Canton and Woodstock
An Immigrant Newcomers section
A Literary Life section
A thorough discussion of intrastate and interstate moves and consumer complaints

From the Publisher

Table of Contents Introduction Local lingo, history Neighborhoods & Communities Map of Atlanta neighborhoods City of Atlanta - Fulton County Downtown, Castleberry Hill, Fairlie-Poplar West End/Cascade Heights, East Point Buckhead, Brookwood Hills, Peachtree Hills, Peachtree Battle, Garden Hills, Brookhaven Midtown/Ansley Park Virginia Highland/Morningside, Lenox Park, Poncey-Highland Little Five Points Inman Park Grant Park City of Atlanta - DeKalb County East Atlanta, Kirkwood, Gresham Park Candler Park/Lake Claire Emory/North Druid Hills Neighboring Communities Map of metro Atlanta North Fulton County Sandy Springs Roswell Alpharetta DeKalb County Decatur Avondale Estates Stone Mountain Lithonia Chamblee Dunwoody Cobb County Marietta Smyrna Vinings Austell Gwinnett County Lawrenceville Norcross Cherokee County Canton Woodstock Additional Counties Map of Atlanta and surrounding counties Finding a Place To Live House and apartment hunting in metro Atlanta, rental agents and online rental services, tips on what to look for in an apartment, details about leases and security deposits, insurance, tenant resources; buying a house or condo, real estate agencies, financing, inspections, closing Moving and Storage Truck rentals; interstate and intrastate movers; consumer complaints; storage; moving with children; moving-related tax deductions Money Matters Banking: financial institutions, credit unions, savings and checking accounts, consumer complaints; credit cards; credit reports; taxes; starting or moving a business Getting Settled Utilities; internet service providers; garbage and recycling; automobile registration, safety, insurance, purchasing, and parking; print and broadcast media; voter registration; driver’s licenses and state IDs; passports; library cards; finding a health care provider; pet laws and services; safety and crime Helpful Services Domestic services, house cleaning services, pest control, mail and shipping services, consumer protection; services for people with disabilities, immigrant newcomers; gay and lesbian life Childcare and Education Referral services for childcare, daycare, babysitting, nannies; child safety; public and private schools, homeschooling Shopping for the Home Shopping malls and districts, department stores, household shopping; hardware, paints, wallpaper, and garden centers; second-hand shopping: antiques, flea markets, thrift and vintage; groceries, farmers’ markets, and health food stores; ethnic food districts Cultural Life Tickets; performing arts; museums; culture for kids; literary life; higher education Sports and Recreation Professional and college sports; participant sports and activities; health clubs Greenspace City, state, and national parks Weather & Climate Weather in the Southeast; air pollution; insects Volunteering Getting involved once you are settled; contact information for area causes Places of Worship Contact information for area churches, mosques, temples, and other spiritual centers; profiles of historic or otherwise noteworthy centers of worship Transportation Getting around: by bike; by car; by MARTA, including bus and light rail; Amtrak, Greyhound; airlines and airports Temporary Lodgings Reservation services; luxury, mid-range, and inexpensive lodgings, bed and breakfasts; hostels and YMCAs; short-term leases; Quick Getaways Nearby destinations for day or weekend trips An Atlanta Year Annual Atlanta area events An Atlanta Reading List Useful Phone Numbers and Web Sites

Product Details

• Paperback: 367 pages
• Publisher: First Books Inc; 3rd edition (August 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0912301619
• ISBN-13: 978-0912301617
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #695,715 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting... but only if relevant to you, January 29, 2006

By	FN "fredericknoronha" (Goa, India 403511) - See all my reviews

Newcomer's Handbook For Moving To and Living in Atlanta
Including Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Cherokee Counties
First Books, Portland, OR
ISBN-13: 978-0-912301-61-7
ISBN-10: 0-912301-61-9
2005 US$24.95
Travel/Relocation
Reviewed by Frederick Noronha [e-mail]
http://goabooks2.blogspot.com/

Another book in the "Newcomer's Handbook" series from First
Books warns us that the United States has "a population so
big and so diverse" that making general statements about it
is "almost impossible". This title fills us in with the
specifics of Atlanta, Georgia.

First Books, now in its third edition of this guide, calls
Atlanta "a city that combines downhome southern charm with
cosmopolitan ambiance". It's probably better known worldwide
as the city that was birthplace to an unlikely trio --
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, Coca-Cola, and CNN! This was
also home, a generation ago, to my first American pen-friend;
Mandy Burr, are you reading this?

There are ten other titles in First Books' 'Newcomer's
Handbooks' series. Atlanta's begins with a useful
introduction to the local lingo and history. Lingo includes
the pronounciation of "at-LAN-ah" (dropping the last "t"), to
concepts like The Bravos (the nickname for the Atlanta
Braves), CDC (the Centre for Disease Control, located near
Emory), the Concrete Campus (Georgia State University), Emory
(pronounced EM-ree, to refer to either the university or
hospital), and other locations, sobriquets for newspapers or
streets, and more.

For those wanting to know the background, there's an
all-too-brief background of how a Creek Indian settlement
called Standing Peachtree became a progressive and
influential city by the early 1970s, and is now battling
out-of-control urban sprawl and increased traffic congestion.

But this is not a history book. It's real utility comes out
of chapters dealing with the different counties of Atlanta
and its neighbourhood. Much value also comes from pages on
finding a place to live, childcare and education, shopping,
cultural life, locally-available greenspace, weather and
climate (including air-pollution and insects), and even
volunteering.

There's a good chance that those needing this book might find
the section on 'temporary lodgings' useful too. If maintained
accurately, the listing of useful phone numbers and web-sites
also come as a boon.

One's earlier review, of a newcomer's title to the USA as a
whole was more fulsome in its praise. This being a bit narrow
in its target -- meant exclusively for those settling in
Atlanta -- the appeal is obviously more specific. But surely,
there is quite some information of a useful nature here too,
provided your target is this city that attracts "a multitude
of newcomers".

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly organized, not worth reading., June 1, 2007

By	Ben Ostrowsky (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Newcomer's Handbook frustrated me repeatedly. Had I looked at it in a store, I never would have bought it.

The book is very poorly organized; while there are chapters, the index makes it difficult to find what you're looking for. The editors seem to have assumed that the reader intends to read the entire book from beginning to end; it's not usable as a quick reference guide.

Worst of all, the book fails to mention any other written source of information not already published by the same company. If the Newcomer's Handbook for moving to the USA is this bad, they're doing their readers a terrible disservice by mentioning it.

I strongly recommend the Not for Tourists Guide to Atlanta 2007 (Not for Tourists) instead. The real estate agent we worked with told us that it's one of the best, and I agree. See my review for that book for more information on why.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very good but could be better, July 16, 2007

By	Doc Dave "Doc Dave" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

I really like this book, and I was glad to see that they included a bit of the rich histories of the neighborhoods of Atlanta. I wish, however that they had included more neighborhoods (no Cabbagetown? Reynoldstown?) and more detail on each of them. Also it might be helpful for newcomers to know more about crime rates by area, ratings of school systems, etc. than is included in this book.