Customer Reviews

The Subway: A Trip Through Time on New York's Rapid Transit, Revised Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a Brit with a passing interest in the New York subway system I purchased this book and one other as a way of finding out more about the network.

This was the poorer of the two books that I purchased, in that it seemed to be more anecdotal in nature, with few hard facts about the system. Some sections seemed to be a bit strange, such as that reviewing each line from a tourist/riding point of view.

However, I don't want to appear totally negative about the book - it was an interesting read but not quite the definitive tome that I was looking for.

A good book if you want to know the histery and running of the subways. Many little known facts also line the book pages. This is a wonderful update of the orginal book and suggest that you order it.

If you are looking for a dry historical litany of the subway, this book is NOT for you!

This book recounts tales of subways in NYC. It is very well written in a story-telling way. There are amusing antidotes, like "Smelly Kelly" who sniffed out old elephant dung in a tunnel as well as chilling descriptions of accidents like the Malbone street accident. This accident was so bad they changed the name of the street.

As a true subway lover, I enjoyed the descriptions of the lines. In fact, when I was little we had the original version of this book. We once spent an entire trip in NYC taking all the subway lines, reading this book out loud as we did so.

I didn't care for this book much.

Whether it is poor editing, or poor understanding of the subject, I found it confusing and vague whenever it got anywhere near technical detail. For example the book seems not to understand the fairly fundamental difference between a subway car and a subway train.

On the other hand, if you like good, flavorful tabloid writing, you will like the accident descriptions with their descriptions of the screams and groans of the injured.

Otherwise well-written, but poorly edited revised edition of Stan Fischler's previous subway book. Includes line-by-line rides & rankings, historical information, and anecdotes.