Seattle Survival Guide: The Essential Handbook for Urban Living [Paperback]

Theresa Morrow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996

From traffic shortcuts to library hours, crime statisticsto top executive salaries, parks to schools, this fully updated,revised and expanded edition of Seattle's most comprehensive guidehelps you cut your way through red tape and make the city work foryou.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books; 3 edition (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570610894
• ISBN-13: 978-1570610899
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,428,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good guide but a bit outdated, July 22, 2001

By 

Elisabeth Keating (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seattle Survival Guide: The Essential Handbook for Urban Living (Paperback)

I used this book when I moved to Seattle four years ago, and it was extremely helpful in acclimating me. I especially liked the overview of neighborhoods. But, a friend who is moving here just got it, and in checking out her version, I am surprised the data hasn't been updated the past few years. A lot has changed.

Ballard, for example, is not a blue collar neighborhood anymore. It's become quite yuppified and expensive. There are not many housing bargains (rental or ownership) to be had there anymore. There also needs to be updated info on up and coming neighborhoods -- like Columbia City.

I think any book on Seattle needs to address the earthquake hazard. Some neighborhoods are safer than others. For example, the 2001 earthquake made it pretty clear that Pioneer Square, which is built on landfill, isn't where you want to be when the Big One hits (unless you fancy brick showers.) If you have the time, it might be worthwhile to wait for the next edition of this book which will hopefully contain 2000 census stats. And do some more research on the seismic issues-- try to live in a place built on bedrock.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A decent book for a broad overview of Seattle, November 20, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seattle Survival Guide: The Essential Handbook for Urban Living (Paperback)

This book is meant for people relocating to Seattle, not for tourists. It's filled with a ton of data about Seattle taken from the last census. Unfortunately, this data is a little stale, especially given the city's explosive growth over the last several years. Nontheless, the overall trends in the book still remain accurate.

The book devotes a little attention to the East Side, but is definitely lacking in this regard. As such, I would recommend this book only to those who will be relocating to Seattle itself, not the greater Puget Sound area.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Seattle guidebook without too many details, September 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Seattle Survival Guide: The Essential Handbook for Urban Living (Paperback)

I recently visited Seattle after moving away some 7 years ago. I wanted a book to refresh my memories and to reacquaint myself with the city and whatever changes it has gone through. This book does give a lot of information about the City, and yes, the Eastside communities are not discussed in depth (but, who cares? if you're going to live in the area, Seattle is the place to be!) The data, for me, wasn't enough though. I was looking for even more demographic-type information and couldn't find any other book that came close. The data is from 1996, so things have changed somewhat. With the latest census 2000 data, I would hold out for the next edition of this book, should one be forthcoming. One complaint from me is the graphics. The image of the city is used in many graphics with shaded elements refering to city extremes. These are often hard to decipher and leave many of the areas of the city without coverage. Overall, the book was the best sourcebook of those I found in many of Seattle's great bookstores.