The best thing about this book is it's size it fits handilly in your pocket. Planning a visit to New York in February 2002 i did hope for more from this guide. Its size limits the entries to a few lines which is the books main problem. The Bars section may come in useful but Virgin will have to do better if they want to rival Time Out's NY guide.

I was very disappointed with this edition. I had seen some of the older Virgin guides and was impressed with their hipness and reviews of places that aren't mentioned in the standard guidebooks.

This pocket edition is very small (maybe 2/3rds the height of a standard paperback and less than one inch thick), consequently the listings are, shall we say, sparsely worded. Even the longer "reviews" are only one or two sentences.

Beware also that this book includes only places to eat, drink and shop. The hotel section is laughable - only a few pages long and one sentence per hotel. Hardly enough info on which to base a decision.

That's the overall problem with this book - it might contain the same number of individual listings as the larger version, but they decided to rip out the content (text) in order to make it fit into the pocket size.

Not recommended.

I bought this for my friend who moved to NYC from Portland, OR and she's used it to make a place for herself in that ever changing and ever confusing city! We also used it to pick places to go out to when we went clubbing and out to eat during my visit.

I only hope they put out an updated version soon - what was cool in NYC a year ago isn't always so "hot" now!

Who is this guy Margulis? He ought to be writing self-defense books! This is a "low-conscience" offering that disregards the ecosystem, uses other undocumented sources, and is pretty hard to use in the field. I can't recommentd anything about it.

This book is part of the problem, not part of the solution for increased access to mountain bikers. It ignores park management rules and regs (tons of illegal trails were listed in the first edition), and it totally peaved the local mountain biking community organizations (GORP, the Gunks OFF ROAD PATROL, and HUMbVA..the hudson Valley Mountain Biking Association)for harming some of the advocacy work they'd already done in the valley. Irresponsibly authored and represented. Needs major work.

Ok, if you live in NYC and always go to Lake Placid on holiday then this is the guide for you. If you want a guide to NY state then forget it- it really does only cover the south east and the north east, about 25% of the state.

Since central NY is so chock full of trails it has not occured to me to get a guide, I just get on my bike and explore. I was given this book for christmas and looked with interest to see if there were any trails within a couple of hours drive that I might try for a weekend change of scene. This book contains nothing of interest to those who live outside NYC.

The book has some good photos, but the printing is poor quality and the layout and design are sloppy and confusing.
Whole sections of the text are lifted directly from Vincent Seyfried's "The Long Island Railroad: A Comprehensive History." And the source of some of Brian Merlis' photos must be questioned.

having grown up in sheepshead bay, I couldnt say no to this book. Pictures and history are quite interesting, but they arranged somewhat haphazardly and the history is not in chronologic order. A good book if you are from the area

there are bars with wrong addresses and bars that have been closed for months. Jazz standard clsed 4 months ago, Iridium moved 3 months ago, and Astor Lounge changed it's name a year ago....that's just a start....hope this years restaurant guide is better than their nightlife product.

Whoever did the research on this bar guide did not do their homework....there are bars with wrong addresses and bars that have been closed for months. Jazz standard clsed 4 months ago, Iridium moved 3 months ago, and Astor Lounge changed it's name a year ago....that's just a start....someone at Zagat should be fired or...tested for their inability to fact check, let alone review....hope this years restaurant guide is better than their attaempt at a nightlife product.

Simply, this amazing guide is a must for anyone young and in love with NYC.

This book could not have been very well researched. It looks more like an attempt to take your money from the money grubbing Zagats. How could this posible be published for New Yorkers.....

Did they just steal their own restaurant reviews? MOst of the places in here are not really bars, they are restaurants. They must have been in a hurry to put this out. Zagat's top choices are pretty bad if you want go out and drink. Great if you want to eat at a top 10 restaurant though. Stick to what they know. Food surveys.

I happened to visit their top bar -- Angel's Share-- and if that's the top bar, I'm afraid what they thought of the other bars. It makes me wonder how they compiled the ratings.

This seems to be a rehash of the other guidebooks I own. The trails have changed considerably since this book was written, too.

The Lewis's have quite a routine: move into an area where there is already a plethora of good guide books, borrow the research and trail information, change it round to suit their niche (hiking with kids), provide no acknowledgement or recognition of their sources, no bibliographic matter, no reference lists, and bingo, an "original" book. This formulaic approach to authorship is in many respects dishonest, infringing, and presumptuous. As for guidebooks in general, there are much better ones around.

I've generally had good luck with the hikes described in this book, and have taken my children on several. As with other hiking books I've used, though, 8 years (from the time of publication) can make a big difference in the condition of trails, for better and/or worse. An update might be helpful. We've discovered some really cool places with this book (I like the emphasis on what kids would like about a trail, not just what the adults want to see) and the time and distance estimates are accurate. Nevertheless, I plan to avoid the Taconic Trail mentioned by the previous reviewer . . .

The locations are wonderful, and there is some very interesting historical background about the towns, but the maps are very vague and confusing. I have gone on four of the hikes, and have managed to get through most of them without getting too lost, mainly because of using supplementary maps.

There are several errors in directions (go left instead of right, for example!) and they tend to be a little vague. I would recommend trying the trips only with a good map, and perhaps some help from another book such as the New York Walk Book. However, it is helpful to have information on public transportation, and overall the trips are very interesting.

We followed this book to Cold Spring for a day-trip but ended up lost in the woods. It took 8 firefighters to rescure us from the mountain. According to the firefighters, we were the third group that got lost this year because of this book.

While this book provides a well-designed day-trip routes, it lacks a detailed map for inexperienced travelers to follow.

Only use this book to plan your trip but ***DO*** use a comprensive map from NYNJTC(New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, for each locale.

Having brought along two guide books on several weekend trips throughout New Jersey this summer, I found "New Jersey Day Trips" by Barbara Hudgins to be a much more comprehensive guide to the Garden State's main attractions and hidden treasures than "Away for the Weekend."

I was excited when I saw this book in the Washington Post's Food Section and ordered it immediately but its not very good. Spend your money elsewhere.

Problems include:

1) It's way too preachy. There are many, many, essays that basically have the same themes: eat local produce and meats; small farms are good--large farms are evil; eat organic. Great, BUT if I bought a book about using local products then I probably buy into that already. I need more information less preaching.

2) The real information provided is too little and too disorganized. There are basically 6 pages with what's in season. One page each for Spring,Summer,Fall, and Winter, plus two pages in the back with the seasonal availability of some produce and meats. Very little information on how to get the most out of each season or what to look for when shopping for the best produce or meats.

3) The recipes. Mangos, Coconuts, and Vidalia Onions are not from the mid-atlantic but you'll find recipes in this book that feature these ingredients. Likewise, there may be a regional source for local prosciutto and Gorgonzola, but I think I'll keep buying mine from Italy.