Customer Reviews

Time Out Book of New York Walks (Time Out Guides)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I like this book very much. I was in New York City for four days, and I did one walk each day. Each walk (there are twenty three walks in total) is written by a different author, who has memories, passions, or experiences with a particular neighborhood. As I was walking in one neighborhood, I was trying to find the old pickle shop; in an other neighborhood I was looking for the cabaret theatre/restaurant. I did all the things written in the walk chapter I was reading. I ate the desert in that French cafe and I bought some cheese from the shop mentioned in the chapter. This book is, I think, for people who love history, life, art, people and food. I recommend reading the particular walk chapter in advance, and then reading the same chapter piece by piece as you do the walk.
Next time I will do the next four walks that I already chose.

I thought this book was terrific. Unlike a lot of travel books that are fairly impersonal and concentrate on the historical aspects, this book has 23 walks written by historians, novelists and journalists who have lived in the city long enough to know it from personal experience. It's great to hear little anecdotes about various places as you go through the walks. The Dorothy Parker walk takes you through all her old haunts as well as talking at length about her life and that of the other members of the Algonquin Round Table. A great introduction to a city that can seem impossibly hard to get to know during a short stay.

The several walks that I tried were awful. They were prepared by people with some personal link to a particular neighborhood, and were unbelievably self-indulgent.

I believe it was walk 12, "Jagged Symmetries", that consisted largely of the author pointing out homes and restaurants where he had once hung out with Andy Warhol. The Peter Singer walk involves him pointing out buildings where he had offices when he was writing various books. Virtually no architectural information, or interesting historical information. Just personal reminisences that would have been best shared only with close personal frieds.