Customer Reviews

Not for Tourists Guide to Boston, 2004/2005

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I fell in love with this guide after unhappily perusing the Lonely Planet, Time Out, Let's Go, and other assorted guides to the city. I'm in the proces of moving to Boston, so I didn't want chapters and chapters about hostels and tourist meccas and Boston history (for that, I'll buy a real book). Mainly, I wanted something I could use to get myself around the city and figure out the neighborhoods (looking for an apartment from a few thousand miles away isn't that easy, let me tell you, espcially when you have no idea where all the places are, and the local bookstore wasn't stocking any 'Moving to Boston' books). So this little black guidebook, hiding out behind Frommer's guide to New England, was a blessing.

The main difference -- and advantage -- this guide has over the others is that it is map-based rather than text-based. Each section of the city has about three maps in the book, one showing essentials (banks, hostpitals, landmarks, libraries, schools, and of course, donuts), one showing Sundries/Entertainment (bars, coffee, copy shops, gyms, liquor stores, movie theatres, restaurants, and shopping), and a final covering transportation (subway, bus lines(!), car rental, and parking); of course, all the streets are labeled as well.

This alone would have made me buy the guide, but behind these maps, the guide discusses the parks, convention centers, ballparks -- and provides floorplans for them if you ever want to buy tickets for events. It has listings for universities and colleges, it explains the commuter rail, Amtrak, how to get to the stations. It has a full page of 24-hour services!! (Something I've found severely lacking in other guides) It lists libraries, hospitals, police stations, Boston movies, books, songs, art galleries, it has floor plans of theatres!! Three pages of bookstores! A full street index (like in the best city maps, London A to Z), a fold-out highway/driving map of downtown... gasp. This is possibly the most perfect guide to Boston I could think of, the guide I would have written and designed if I were a guidebook writer.

And one of the best, coolest things is that there is a little elastic band on the back cover so you can hold the thing closed (and, by extension, put stuff in the book and then keep it there so it's not falling out, like in a Moleskin notebook, if you know what I mean. Very useful for notes and reservation sheets and tickets).

The book itself is extremely compact, probably 5 by 7 inches (?), which means that the type is very small (I'd estimate about 7pt?), so that might be the one thing some people might have a problem with. Myself, I am a big fan of the size (of the guide and the font) because then there's just that much more you can fit into a small space.

I bought this book off Amazon and was a little ticked off when it came because:
A) It was so small
B) Half of it was maps

However I have come to love this little book for precisely those reasons. It's the ultimate walking around the city book. It's small enough to fit in your pocket, yet the maps are detailed enough to show every street. The authors accomplish this two ways: there are a lot of map pages, and the guide doesn't try to cover too large an area. If you live in Medford or Arlington, you're out of luck. Somerville is as far north as the guide goes.

Since each map page covers such a small area, you have to turn pages fairly often, but this is not a big deal because:
A) The authors let the map pages overlap considerably, so it's easy to orient yourself on the new page.
B) The maps cover neighborhoods, using logical boundaries. For example, one map page will stop at the charles river, and the next will pick up on the other side.

By devoting three map pages to each neighbourhood (essentials, entertainment, and transportation), the book can convey a lot of information without being cluttered.

Since it fits in your back pocket, this guide is best suited to those taking public transportation. It covers probably ~85% of the T's network (some outlying areas are excluded) and also includes bus routes.

I have been using Rand McNally's street guide boston when I drive around. It's great in the suburban areas. Since its pages are big and is spiral bound, I can keep one page open in the passenger seat. However since it uses a grid system, the positioning of the page boundaries is arbitrary. Since there is no overlap between the pages, navigating around the page boundaries can be a pain.

If you move to Boston, you will need some type of map. There is no rhyme or reason to the streets here.

As a new Bostonian this book has saves me a million times already. If you are newly moved to Boston, this book is a definite must have. There is no rhyme or reason to the streets of the city. Boston was made before the grid pattern existed. Streets constantly change names and directions. Half of the time there is no street sign, and if there is it is microscopic. This perfect compact book fits nicely in your purse or pocket so it is extremely portable and easy to carry with you. It is filled with maps of all areas of Boston and also includes some surrounding areas. It is mostly a map book but also lists entertainment, nightlife, schools, liquor stores, grocery stores, restaurants, banks, etc. Has multiple maps of each area including a public transportation map and a key map. Maps are very user friendly and easy to read. I have gotten lost multiple times and this book has always helped me find my way. There is a street index in the back and an elastic band that you can use to hold the page you need. A small price to pay for your sanity while navigating the city!

I first picked up the NFT guide for New York City in May of 2006 when I was looking for a tourbook for a long weekend trip I had planned. I now have the Chicago and Boston books as well.

These books are the ultimate guide to a city and are not just for people new to the cities. They provide EXCELLENT coverage of the public transportation systems and numbered nieghborhood maps. As well as the locations of resturants, coffe shops, bookstores, edcuational instutions, hospitals, shopping and more.

The design of the books; compact with a black elastic band to either hold your place in the text or to keep items secure within the book, easy to read, and somewhat sarcastic demeanor; is a joy.

If you like to travel, these books are a must.

You cannot put a price on how many hours this book will save you! Has every possible side street. You will never get lost!

This guidebook's title is right on: it's not for tourists. It's for those of us who are moving to Boston and need good maps, information on T-stops and bus lines (very helpful, as no other guidebook I've seen shows bus lines), restaurants, bars, etc. We don't need information on fancy hotels and the Freedom Trail- for that, a different guidebook might do. But this is the one worth buying and keeping tucked in your purse or bag when you're out and about in the city.