Customer Reviews

Not for Tourists Guide to New York City

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

From nycartsandentertainment.com
What attracted me first to the Not For Tourists Guide to New York City (2009 now on-sale) was, frankly, protecting my status as a New Yorker. OK, so I'm a transplant and maybe on permanently shaky ground, but nonetheless here 20 years and I still want to know everything I can about the city I love. Other guidebooks may help you know the city by suggesting "Walk north up Fifth Avenue from Rock Center and pass big-name stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, the NBA Store, Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Bergdorf Goodman, FAO Schwarz, and The Apple Store. You'll also see Trump Tower from the popular Apprentice TV series" (Frommer's), but I've already got the 101 material under my belt. I understand such guides serve an essential purpose (and I've used more than my fair share in other locales), but here my interest was piqued by the "sightseers verboten" selling point of the NFT Guide. It seemed to promise that I wouldn't have to hear about The Apprentice.

What was also on my mind before I dipped into the handbook was the question of whether the ancient technology of a book (instead of the internet via my pda, laptop, or desktop) was still the way to go. I love books as much as ever, but this kind of reference material was supposed to be the first casualty in the book's alleged decline.

So, I got started, took it with me as I walked to work, on the weekend when I went out with the wife & kids, kept it at the ready on my bedside table. Let me first say, regarding the "Tourists Need Not Apply" aspect, it's wonderful for any kind of user, whether you take pride of ownership over the City or not. On my second question, it simply is richer and more helpful than information you could try to cobble together in an hour at your computer, plus it can answer the unexpected questions that arise when you're on the town. Its size makes it almost as portable as my Treo and it is made with durable covers and an elastic band (to bookmark or keep it neatly compact). The interior contains full color maps and charts.

There are detailed street maps for all Manhattan, parts of Queens and Brooklyn, and Hoboken and Jersey City. All other areas (including the Bronx and Staten Island) are covered more quickly and with broader maps. The thorough maps cover the city in a grid format, with (for example) Map 14 detailing the Upper West side from West 59th to West 86th, Central Park to the Hudson. Accompanying Map 14 (and every other map) are lists of essentials in the neighborhood, be it coffee stops, banks, farmer's markets (with schedule), 24-hour pharmacies, hardware stores, etc. This aspect of including "points of interest" that relate to daily life is what especially makes this a city dweller's guide.

After the neighborhood break-down, there are themed sections on Parks, Sports, Transit, "General Information" (again, with resident-friendly information, such as locations for post offices, hospitals, libraries, FedEx, and Wi-Fi hotspots), and Arts & Entertainment (restaurants, shopping essentials, and museums, among others).

OK, so it's comprehensive and user friendly, which is reason enough to recommend it for you and your out-of-towner guests. But one particular reason I really like this guide is that it's a great source of information about what I'm looking at, walking by, and living near. On my shelf at home I have a copy of The Encyclopedia of New York City by Kenneth T. Jackson which I frequently consult at random or on a particular question. Though it's obviously not the case that the NFT Guide could supplant that kind of resource, it helped me experience the city with a similar spirit of discovery. It gives basic information about the city's history. It made me realize that I could go by the Old Police Headquarters while easily making a stop at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, and helped me figure out the names (and other details) of buildings I walk by several times a week. The information is necessarily brief, but the Not For Tourists NYC Guide for 2009 really opens up so much of the city that may have been hidden to you, whether it is of a practical, intellectual, cultural, or entertaining nature. Who would have thought that such brevity could unlock such richness? --Thomas Murphy, News Director
www.nycartsandentertainment.com

I surprised my sister with a weekend trip to NY (neither of us bad been before), and this book was the perfect purchase to accompany that trip. I have to admit, I bought it simply because of it's size (it could slip easily into my purse or coat pocket), and I was pleasantly surprised when I received the book and found out how much information it held.

Out of all the books I looked at for visiting NY, this one was the best. It's chock full of easy to read maps, subway information, places to visit, eat, tour, shop, etc. I couldn't have wished for anything more comprehensive or easy to understand. Add it's small size and inconspicuous black cover (because who really wants to look like a tourist?) and this is the perfect book for traveling to NYC.

This is a great little book. It has information in nearly every category -- museums, sports and theater, neighborhood maps, top NY books and movies, great fold-out map. The restaurants are listed by neighborhood, but there are no reviews or detailed descriptions (if there were, the book probably wouldn't fit in your pocket). Would like to have seen a "top ten" list of sights, restaurants, etc. The book is so dense with information, that this may even be in there, but I haven't seen it yet. Lots of great reading for your subway ride!

The only thing that beats NFT is a Maps enabled smartphone. Frankly, I use them both.

NFT New York has great fold-out subway and bus route maps. These are indispensible and help to really teach a traveler how to move around the City. I think the guide would be equally useful for NYC residents. The guide has information on the major tourist attractions but also has a great deal of information on finding the important things in life: drugstores, pizza, quality bagels, etc.

Most importantly, the organization of NFT into neighborhood sections makes it extremely easy to use. I don't visit the City without it and I'm about to leave on my fifth trip in 18 months.

One word of caution: NFT New York City is Manahattan-Centric. There is plenty of information and map data on the other boroughs, but much more coverage of Manhattan. Don't let that stop you from buying it, though.

Want to ride the Subway like a New Yorker? Buy this book!

I have made numerous trips to NYC so I only needed something that would help me navigate. The size of this book is great. The print is very tiny, so if you are of the age that needs a little help with small print, you may want to keep a pair of readers close by. If you already have a general grasp of the city, then this book is extremely helpful to fill you in, section by section on where things are in the city.

We are making our first trip to New York City in nearly 10 years, so we know that some things have changed. We purchased Not For Tourists, along with a Frommer's Guide. So far, we haven't seen a thing in NFT that wasn't described in the more readable Frommer's Guide. Of course, we may have missed some good entries, because the print is so small, we've had to use a magnifier to see it at all. We know that the NFT fits in a pocket or purse, so it won't brand us as tourists if we carry it around with us...until we have to go stand under a very bright light with a magnifier to see it. Also, from what we can see, it's not all that informative. There's a list of stores for each area, but no description of the store's specialty; restaurants with no price range or specialty. It wants to be clever: an entry for the Skycraper Museum indicates only that "it's the place to learn what's up in New York City." There is a website which is free and readable and where the irony is somehow easier to take. Save your money and [...]

I thought I was buying the 2011 version, when the 2009 showed up I was a bit disappointed. The link I clicked on from the main search results didn't exactly make it clear that I was checking out an older version, it looked like it was just a cheaper price. The set up of the book is good, just with all the businesses that change over in NYC, it probably isn't as accurate as what I was hoping to get.

I bought this to replace my earlier "Flash Maps" for NY City which apparently are no longer revised since several years ago. NFT has more detail about various items in NY such as restaurants, libraries, etc. than is contained in Flash Maps. The size of the NFT is square and designed to fit in a pocket, while Flash Maps which is still compact, is rectangular which makes larger maps easier to view without flipping through mutlitple pages while still being easily portable.

With the various maps and guide info. now available via downloads on smart phones, there is less of a need for Flash Maps and NFTs. I am a bit old fashioned and still like to look at hard copy maps when planning my trips when not sitting at a full size computer screen. Therefore, I miss the handy Flash Map size since it is easier to use its maps than the maps of the NFT. However, if you want a hard copy guide for some useful information about NY City in one compact format, the NFT is good option.

The size of this book allows you to carry it in a jeans pocket and the detailed maps make this very worthwhile for tourists. I used it throughout each day of my recent trip.

I bought this book for a friend who was meeting me for their first visit to the big city. I wanted them to have an idea of what was near the sights that he wanted to see. This book was an awesome tool for helping him see the types of restaurants and shopping that were near the galleries and attractions he already knew he wanted to visit.
Also, as a vegan visiting the city, this book is amazingly helpful for finding new restaurants that I may overlook on a normal day of strolling from one place to another.