<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Never had a bad Let's Go
Review: Hey Barry, I'm thinking that by now your incessant and bothersome needling to the people at Let's Go is amusing to them, hence they don't want to change their "Big Apple" falsehood just because they know it irritates you. Relax man, why don't you go down to Bowery Bar and have a Manhattan! Other readers: check out the comments by Barry A. Popik to understand what I'm talking about. Anyway, regardless of this small detail, I've traveled with many Let's Go books and have never been disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Hey Barry...
Review: Heyyy, Barry ... I haven't checked out this book yet, but I do know that there is no "c" in "Baedeker." So maybe you shouldn't get so worked up about other people's mistakes if you can't even correct your own.
Rating:
Summary: Helped a country bumpkin get around the Big Apple
Review: I am untravelled, unexperienced with city life, and un-financially blessed. Let's Go was my bible in NYC last winter and I had a grand ol' time. Between my pals and I we had like 800 guide books, and Let's Go had by far the most readable, most helpful maps. The fact that its written by poor students (with wit and style) helps too. A good mix of traditional tourist activities with "undiscovered" budget happenings.
Rating:
Summary: great intro to nyc
Review: I bought this guide after looking at numerous others, and this is still the one that I liked the most. Maybe it's b/c I'm a college student on a tight budget, but the Let's Go guides are lifesavers. I skimmed thru the Frommer guide before buying this one and that was just too boring for my taste. Let's Go tells you the truth and what you would really find in nyc. Before your trip, you can use it to map out your entire schedule if you wanted to, which was great b/c it included sites that ppl like me would actually want to visit.
Rating:
Summary: great intro to nyc
Review: In 1997, I dedicated "Big Apple Corner" at Broadway and West 54th Street. NYC is called this because of John J. Fitz Gerald's horseracing columns in the 1920s. Almost all other guidebooks have this correct. I have personally mailed and e-mailed LET'S GO for over four years! For getting "Big Apple" information wrong for the fifth straight year, this gets a one star review. Please, LET'S GO, e-mail me, correct your work, and I won't have to write this again next year!
Rating:
Summary: A must have...
Review: The Let's Go NYC guide is intended for the backpack traveler on a seriously cramped budget. The guides are heavily marketed in Europe, where the tradition of young folks backpacking around the world for a year is strong. For this reason, much of this guide focuses on how to eat, sleep, and get into museums and cultural attractions for cheap or free; and what to do, say, or think about when you get there. Also, great attention is paid to things like hospital locations, public transport systems, police phone numbers, etc. - things you may not plan for in advance, but are very grateful for when you end up wanting them. And Let's Go also offers information for alternative travelers such as gay/lesbian resources, music/club-o-philes, a list of used bookstores, and so forth.It's written entirely by Harvard students: each summer, a skeleton crew of harried researcher-writers, paid a pittance, go out and physically check every listing, every year. They report back to the main office in Cambridge, MA periodically, where a team of underappreciated editors compiles their reports into next year's book. I was the researcher-writer for Hawaii in 1994, and so I can confidently attest to the merits of this system. It's based on the real experience of a live college student trying to do the stuff that's written about, and that sense of fun, frustration, and whirlwind tourism comes through in the writing. When I came to NYC this guide was the first thing I bought. I'd encourage you to do the same!
Rating: 
Summary: Updated every year? Really?
Review: Three years ago, Mayor Giuliani signed my Big Apple Corner (W. 54th & Broadway) bill into law. It's now generally accepted that John J. Fitz Gerald (who lived there 30 years) called NYC "the Big Apple" in the 1920s, and that jazz musicians used the term in the 1930s. This is correct in LONELY PLANET, BAEDECKER'S, and COMPLETE IDIOT'S NYC guides. Let's Go consistently gets it wrong! I mailed them the info! I e-mailed ten times! Never even a response! And this book tells you how to write and e-mail Let's Go to correct outdated information! I don't like doing this, but they're going to get a "one star" review from me every year until they get this right--or at least RESPOND to me! If they screwed up this--how can you have faith in anything else in the book?
Rating:
Summary: Love it/Hate it
Review: Usually my problem with Let's Go is there's so few changes from year to year. This time, they've totally revamped the format, but the result is unorganized and less informative. It just seems like there's less *stuff* in it. Some lame pictures, arranged largely by topic instead of neighborhood (boo!), some walking maps that don't indicate mileage. That said, it's still the best choice if you're looking to travel cheap or if you're younger, or both. A major improvement is more extensive coverage of the boroughs outside of Manhattan. It's still worth its small price, but I'd get another, more traditional guide book as well.
<< 1 >>
|
