Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day 2003

Rating:
Summary: Easy-to-use, for the perfect Economist
Review: I just love this travel guide to New York City. Written with a spirit of discovery and frank commentaries, one can't find a better budget guide book than this. The book is categorically divided into different segments representing different activities from dining to places-of-interest. The range of choices in food, accommodation and travel hot spots will tickle your desire to go on a trip to NYC but immediately. It offers a wide array of prices and quality of products to expect in NYC: from posh Plaza Hotel that "looks like a cake sitting opposite Central Park" to the economical Sweet Hill Intl Hostel in North Mahattan; from cheap F&B to the mouth watering French cuisines; from free Staten Ferry rides to the elite class' pastime of scaling the Empire State Building - Frommer's got it all there. It's a all-in-one book with a free map and subway notes. BUY IT!

Rating:
Summary: A New Yorker is impressed
Review: I'm an editor at Frommer's Travel Guides, and I worked on this book; I can tell you that Cheryl Farr Leas is a thorough, dedicated REAL New Yorker, with attitude & skills. This edition of the book required a lot of new information about how transit was affected by 9/11, updated security measures, and the latest (as we went to press) about what was open, and the latest information/predictions about what is going to happen at and how to visit Ground Zero.

This is a book I've used for reference because even we New Yorkers don't know every neighborhood, every dining bargain (though we like to think we do).

When friends are coming to town, I go to this book to recommend hotels that they'll particularly like because the descriptions really give you a feel for the ambience of the place, who would be most comfortable there (and places some people WOULDN'T be comfortable in).

New York is one expensive town, and I particularly appreciate the tips for low-cost (and free) entertainment: bars with no cover charge where you can hear live music, ways to get breaks on theater tickets, a list of when some cultural institutions have free admission. It's a good book to have around even if you don't have friends coming to town!

Rating:
Summary: Tattoo it , pin it, handcuff yourself to it.
Review: Very thorough, full of info on prices, how to get around, what to see and do. all guide books do that i guess, but this covered a lot of ground and didn't seem to be written just for mom and dad and the kids. it saved a lot of time and guess work and pointed me in the direction i wanted to go.