Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat Much Over Very Little
Review: * INVISIBLE FRONTIER, by L.B. Deyd and David "Lefty" Leibowitz,
is subtitled: "Exploring The Tunnels, Ruins, & Rooftops Of
Hidden New York." As I have an interest in constructions of
various sorts and their histories, this sounded interesting.In reality, INVISIBLE FRONTIER doesn't really give much of
the nitty-gritty on the history of these constructions so much
as it is a narrative of the activities of "Jinx", a
New York "urban exploration" club, as they try to get into
various places where they're not supposed to go. On reading through this, I am left with the belief that
urban exploration is a fun hobby. In terms of its general
interest, it's probably a bit ahead of "fox hunting" -- a
radio amateur game in which somebody hides a transmitter
and everyone tries to use radio direction finding to track
it down. I find it less interesting than, say,
one of those DISCOVERY CHANNEL programs in which people
do things like go to a junkyard and assemble some strange
device out of the stuff they find. So writing an entire book (admittedly not a long one) on
"adventures in urban exploration" I would judge to be
overkill. It might be a topic for a mildly interesting
magazine article at best. On top of this, the mindset of
the authors is that they're doing something tremendously
cool. I am sure they find it such, otherwise nobody
would go through such bother to do such things, but the
same could be said about people who go to sci-fi conventions
and dress up as Klingons. I am at the age where such pretensions seem sophmoric. They
might be irritating if they weren't simply silly. OK,
maybe it's a bit of a put-on for them as well (I HOPE so),
if so it's belaboring a weak joke for too long. The authors
do try to inject interesting background details into the
story, but they go off on too many tangents and, because
of the general slacker style of this book, it's hard to
take them seriously. I think this is the sort of book with an appeal to any
reader with a mindset similar to that of the authors.
It is of little interest to anyone outside of that group.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent urban exploration in NYC
Review: A very cool book. If you're into urban exploration or if you are just excited about the idea of climbing bridges, getting onto rooftops, finding underground tunnels etc. then this is right up your alley. It's all in NYC and the book is basically a compilation of stories of different "missions," including trips to subway tunnels, the top of the George Washington Bridge, the top of the Queensboro bridge, a couple of abandoned buildings, and a water tunnel. The info on getting in places isn't always specific enough to be able to follow it to get into the same place-- this is an adventure book, not a guidebook-- but at least you know from this book that it CAN be done, if you have the guts, and you might be able to pick up some pretty good ideas. The stories are full of NYC history and bits of philosophy, the whole thing gives you the impression of an indiana jones adventure as written by E.L. Doctorow. Definitely a fun read and most of all an inspiring book if, like me, you think that the city is really just a big playground.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: How often do you find a book that really inspires you? Since reading Invisible Frontier I haven't been able to look at my city in the same way. Instead of seeing the dull surfaces of the streets and buildings, I see through them into the structures beneath. The steel skeletons of row houses, the intestine sewers, the soaring bridges and skyscrapers all seem vivid and enticing. I want to see more. What you have to understand about Invisible Frontier is that it's a series of explorations layered on explorations. The phyisical discoveries and adventures are woven into intellectual discoveries and adventures. The reader follows our heroes into the ruins of Riverside Hospital, but also follows them into the past, when Typhoid Mary was quarantined there, and also into the churning chaos of the river that surrounds her island, and into the mathematics that govern that chaos, and into the agony of the shipwrecked souls who died just offshore in that turbulence. The authors bring a light touch to their narrative. Their criticisms of contemporary life are trenchant and hilarious, but no more acerbic than their self-assessments. They frankly admit their doubts, and the absurdity of their conceits. It would have been easy indeed for them to leave out the failures, such as their inability to penetrate the Trilateral Commission headquartes. By leaving the failures in, they greatly enhance the thrill of their successes, and lend a gravity to their adventures. I enjoyed their misses as much as their hits. I won't leave off without mentioning that their last chapter is the best bit of writing about 9/11 I have yet read. It is light, subtle, but deeply moving and beautiful. Don't miss this book.
Rating:
Summary: Much Ado Over High School Trespassing Dares
Review: I too heard about this book in the New York Times and thought it would be right up my alley. I bought it immediately and after skimming the chapter titles thought it would be perfection. They claim to be an Urban Exploration group that through their adventures try to reclaim forgotten bits of New York from obscurity. You see, many people tend to look at the city as a fixed entity and don't realize that behind every building and location there is history stretching back hundreds of years. There are unused tunnels, old abandoned train lines, and ancient buildings right under our noses as it were. Through their adventures, supposedly, they will search out these forgotten locations and tell us about them and apparently "bring them back to life" or something. Except that half of their adventure trips don't "work". They try to get into the UN "Trilateral Commission" but are stopped at the front door of the UN and sent away by guards practically laughing at them. They try to explore the old City Hall subway station but can only lamely take the 6 train on its return loop through the station as it heads back uptown (a stunt anybody can do including a couple of tourists who took the loop with them). They try to find the rumored elevator in Grand Central Station that is able to lift entire train cars directly from the tracks and into the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, but only wind up jumping onto the MetroNorth tracks and wandering around for a while before leaving dirty (they did "discover" a hallway though). For some reason they feel that doing these exploits with absolutely no planning or research is a mark of, um, I don't know. Its laughable to read about them standing around in the current City Hall Station looking for a secret door or passageway to the old station not knowing that indeed all you have to do is take the 6 train downtown and there it is. When they finally clue into this you'd think they discovered King Tut's Tomb. To read about these exploits it is clear that in their minds they are the craftiest secret agents the world has ever seen. They are Manhattan's version of the French Resistance. They are Morpheus, Trinity and Neo awake and aware while the rest of the city is still captive to the Matrix. Now this would be all well and good if indeed they did accomplish what they claimed to set out to do, even once, but just trepassing isn't all that amazing. A few chapters are actually interesting. The climbs up the two bridges and the walk through the old Croton Aqueduct. But again, that is just daring trespassing - something drunk high school students would do, and have done, for when they walk through the Aqueduct there is plenty of evidence of other people being there before them. And climbing a bridge is not uncovering anything forgotten or lost at all, its just daring. Meanwhile, as they write these chapters, they disgress into so many tangents its staggering. They don't just mention Dante's Inferno as implicitly compare their stunts to a trip through Hell itself. Fine, so they are grandiose and a little braggadocio can be fun. But to imitate a typical section, coming across a penny on the sidewalk can get them going on about the invention of electricity, seamless nylon stockings, acid rain, horse breeding, compact discs, 17th century herbal tea recipes, the contents of George Washington's foot locker, the strengths and weaknesses of using toothpaste as an antacid, sand, cloud formations, Indian love songs, and how the riddle of "which is heavier a pound of feathers or a pound of gold" actually unlocks the secrets of the universe when viewed through non-euclidean geometry. Now someone sitting out there just coming across these topics for the first time may find this a fascinating display of intellectual pyrotechnics, but it really is just a stream of verbal diarrhea used to pad chapters and hide the fact that they are not coming close to achieving any of their stated goals. To put these guys in the light they deserve, and to pop the bubble they have created around themselves and their website, just compare them to the "Open House New York" movement started by Scott Lauer a few years ago. Instead of trepassing on interesting sites, Scott goes up to them and ASKS if he can see what is behind the door. They usually say Yes. Not only that, but he organized a weekend in NY (October 11-12 this year) where dozens of these sites will be open to the public all at once (like the Pratt Institute's 19th century power plant in Brooklyn and the underground vaults in Greenwood Cemetary). There will be guides, tours, and information available to boot. For two groups with the same stated goal, Scott and a couple of his friends have accomplished much much more than this silly group of "Jinx Agents" have done or will do. For more information check out......
Rating: 
Summary: Urban Exploration Farce
Review: I was so excited to receive this book, and can not believe how dissapointing it is!! The people aren't urban explorers (UErs for short) - they are children who dress up in costumes and give each other "gang" names and then proceed to perform daredevil-like stunts which are not very impressive.
The book starts out talking about two of the teams failures - City Hall Place and the Croton Acqueduct, which makes you want to put it down and watch grass grow instead. I've been past City Hall Station many times on the downtown 6 train, even with my Mother, it barely even qualifies as daredevil. Their train stops while looping through the station and they are standing right there, but decide not to jump off - don't write a book about it then!! Croton acqueduct is equally as sad - they walk through the tunnels for hours, then stop before the actual bridge (the goal) because they are tired - go back the next day and do it right, or don't write a book about it!!
Any yes, there are no pictures, although they refer to their pictures all the time.
The writing is pretentious and annoying and pointless for the most part - I want to read about "Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York" not about your evening spent in twin donuts looking like freaks and scaring people!!
Do yourself a favor and don't buy this book - there are better books about urban exploration, particularly ones about the NYC area.
Rating:
Summary: an engaging adventure through the hidden city
Review: Ignore the naysayers - Invisible Frontier is a fascinating tour through the hidden infrastructure of the city. The urban explorers go everywhere you could hope for. They search for the mole people and graffiti culture in Riverside Park's Amtrak tunnel. They explore the lost history of the Croton Aqueduct. They re-discover the deserted North Brother Island and visit the gothic ruins of the Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island. In the heart-pounding last section they climb to the tops of the Queensboro and George Washingon bridges! And they entertain and enlighten throughout with fascinating asides about the history and culture of forgotten New York. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A breath of hope
Review: Invisible Frontier is a masterpiece. Leibowitz and Deyo are brilliant writers, thoughtful historians and powerful philosophers. The book provides a well-needed source of dignity and pride for a generation of lost and humiliated souls. Invisible Frontier gives meaning to our nameless era, turning Generation X into Generation JINX. I thank them both for honoring a city and an era.
Rating:
Summary: my favorite book I've read this year
Review: Just wanted to let anyone out there know that this is indeed a wonderful, well-written book that's great fun to read. It's so exciting to think about all the secret locations that surround us, and how adventure and exploration can still live in this day and age. It's inspired me to stop taking my hometown of Kansas City for granted and to start my own explorations here. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: my favorite book I've read this year
Review: Just wanted to let anyone out there know that this is indeed a wonderful, well-written book that's great fun to read. It's so exciting to think about all the secret locations that surround us, and how adventure and exploration can still live in this day and age. It's inspired me to stop taking my hometown of Kansas City for granted and to start my own explorations here. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Invisible Frontier
Review: Lefty Leibowitz and LB Deyo, the writers of this great adventure book, are amazing eccentrics in the underground world of urban exploration. This book made me look at New York City in a whole new light. For anyone that loves the bizarre, the intellectual and the adventurous this is the book!! I read about them in the New York Times, picked up the book and then could not put it down. I do not know where these real life characters came from, but I am glad their likes are prowling about the cities of the world recording decaying history.
| 
