Malcolm Campbell's book is a must for anyone who lives in, or visits, New England and loves to hike, explore, and just basically get away from it all. The research is amazingly detailed yet the book is brimming with character and wit, unlike many of the mass-produced guides that are on the market today: freed from the constraints of a "template," Malcolm has written a guidebook that's very much "Malcolm" while remaining extremely useful. Play Hard, Rest Easy is sort of like combining a really detailed guide with Bill Bryson's wit and panache.

cool, fun, very useful and user-friendly. thanks for being a great guide!!

If only all travel guidebooks were this COOL!!! This book blows the lid off other travel guidebooks!!! Most importantly, it is intelligently written!! Malcolm W. Campbell is obviously a travel aficionado, however, he is also a REMARKABLE WRITER with an OUTSTANDING SENSE OF HUMOR!!! This book is for travel aficionados who enjoy taking "ACTIVE VACATIONS" (such as hikes that deliver you to breathtaking, awe-inspiring, "TOUCHED-BY-THE-INFINITE-UNIVERSE"-feeling-type views; to mountain biking through former "carriage paths" from turn-of-the-century Golden Age vacation playgrounds which happen to be in fabulous, Spruce, Christmas-tree-scented forests of Acadia National Forest near Bar Harbor, Maine; to river kayaking in the White Mountains--just to name a scant few mentioned) but it's also for travel lovers who enjoy the pleasures of sleeping cozily in down-comforted and pillowed beds in nostaligic, cedar shingle inns (with the windows open at dawn) AND who take pleasure in the celebration of true Epicurean delights of fine food and drink on one's odyssey. There's also a cool "Kick Back" section in every chapter that offers more "chillin'" ways to experience the day. I particulary enjoyed the "Historic Wanderings" sections as well as every "Cool Movie Houses" section. (Did you know there's a 10,500 year-old Native American village in Connecticut?) Along with the author's strikingly unique and funny wit, this book also packs much SOUL...I guess the two are related. You could read this book as a novel even if you never intend to travel, though with such descriptive prose and keen observation of the Living World, I bet it would move even the deepest stick-in-the-mud personality. I look forward to future writings -- TRAVE GUIDES **OR** OTHERWISE -- by Malcolm W. Campbell and his unique voice. DON'T MISS THIS BOAT!!!

I have bought other titles in this series when on vacation in the States, so I was delighted to find this book in a bookstore on a recent visit to Boston and Cape Cod. The descriptions of peri- and post-glacial geology were particularly illuminating as I walked beaches and trails on the Cape and Islands. Comparing these descriptions with older books on the geology of the Cape it is amazing how much detail is encompassed in a small number of pages. Similarly, descriptions of other areas familiar to me, such as Cape Ann, Boston and the Concord/Lexington area, all gave me a much better understanding. I look forward to visiting unfamiliar parts of the state, with this book in hand. It is not just for residents, but is a must for the vactioner interested in the natural history or landform of Massachusetts.

James W. Skehan's Roadside Geology Of Massachusetts will please residents of Massachusetts and any with a special affection for its local geology, providing a geologic history of the mountains and rocks of the state. An organization by area makes it easy to locate the part of Massachusetts which is of particular interest, while geologic facts assume no prior scientific knowledge - lay readers will relish this guide.

This is a very nice work, written so anyone can understand it, with a lot of information delivered succintly, loads of rides around Boston, and good maps. It is an excellent starting point for enjoying the geology of Massachusetts. My only wish would be to make it longer.

I adore the lower part of Midtown (under 34th St.) and this book is what I was looking for. Quick, concise but at the same time rich and precious is a work that covers comprehensively some of the most fascinating Manhattan's neighbourhoods. From the elegant Gramercy Park to the fashionable Chelsea, Touring the Flatiron is an amazing experience either for the native either for the visitor.

This author is incredibly well known in NYC as a city historian and has a supreme knowledge about the area. The book is organized in a logical manner and the photographs are excellent as well as interesting. A must have for anyone planing to tour, or live in lower manhattan. makes a great gift/Housewarming present! I look forward to her next book about the lower east side. I hear the photo research for that is amazing as well.

My grandma worked really hard on this book,and it is very good. The pictures are wonderful and it is very interesting with tons of facts and stories.

Our family has owned a patch of shore/forest land in Wisconsin for 20 years although none have been birders. With this disk we easily learned to identify species and discovered the diversity that we never noticed previously. The call/naming/call format of this disk is excellent for new birders and the numbers of species covered is ideal. I use the Stokes disk set as a reference but the name/call format and large number species covered does not facilitate learning the calls.

John Feith's Bird Song Ear Training Guide is a unique and impressive CD audiobook providing instructions on how to recognize songs of birds common to the states of the Midwest and Northeast (including Wisconsin where almost all the bird songs were recorded and the post-production work was done). Each distinctive bird song is followed by a mnemonic or a short description. The bird is identified and a review sound is played again that fixes the song's identity in the mind of the listener. The Bird Song Ear Training Guide is enhanced with a quiz format which will aid the listener to focus on learning how to identify the bird songs. A complete list of bird species and mnemonics is included in an insert. All profits from this enthusiastically recommended CD instructional for birdwatchers will go to the Nature Conservancy and the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

Actually you'll find it useful and accurate too. Fun to use, lots of songs, and my two feline birders went bananas. Who would know better? Good value for the money and the proceeds go to a good cause.

This book is wonderful. There is so much information packed into this book, I find my self reading it over and over again. I had his first weather book in the late 1970's and this has more information. Being from Cleveland I can remember many of the weather events that happened and those that I heard about. Highly recommended.

For those of us who must endure the hodge-podge of weather here in NE OH and have come to depend upon and trust the weather guru, Dick Goddard, you'll love his book. Chock full of valuable month-by-month info and stats, as well as loads of interesting weather stories from our area and from around the world. Also contains lots of amusing cartoons by Goddard himself. If you are interested in the weather, you'll be sure and find something of interest in Dick's book. Enjoyable and informative reading.

Let's face it! Northeast Ohio weather sucks! Earthquakes? Yeah, we've had them! Floods? Them, too! Hurricanes? Yep, really! And tornados and sunless months that rival Seattle's and of course, lake-effect anythings... BUT...! NOW we have Dick Goddard's Almanac! So while it may be in the 100s or in the minus 20s out there, we can seek comfort that Dick Goddard has said once, not too long ago, it really was a lot worse! What a marvelous work Goddard's given us! It's a true gem in the crown of NE Ohio's premier weatherman! The rest of the world? Suffer your pestilences without clues! We've got The Word from Goddard to guide us through them!

If you have every been a New York tourist, cluelessly wandering the streets looking for a cool bar in which to hang out only to end up in a cheesy "Night at the Roxbury" reenactment, you must buy Shecky's. The guide has never failed me. You can find a bar for any occasion or mood, with helpful information such as which places sell the strongest drinks. I only wish they'd write one for San Francisco!

Shecky's Bar, Club and Lounge Guide is the greatest. Before SHecky's, there was no guide to drinking in NYC, and lets face it, NYC is a nightlife, drinking town. All of Shecky's reviews are right on, funny, hip and always accurate. The icons are great as well as the lists in the back of the book. All of my friends love the guide and we all live by Shecky's Bar, Club & Lounge Guide.

I once was lost but now I'm found.Accurate, outragiously funny reviews. A must have if you're going to assume the overwhelming task of finding the best spots in town. Great value if you're looking for the perfect gift.I Love Shecky's!

Skip the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty! Mittelbach and Crewdson know their stuff and their share it in all the fun and interesting details you could want. This is the "big apple" down to the core. I used to live in New York and was excited when this book came out.

This is, hands-down, the best book I've found yet on the non-concrete parts of this concrete jungle I call home. The illustrations are 1st rate, the maps are very helpful, and the travel directions even help you get there --- like most New Yorkers would --- by public transit. All five boroughs are included, and the book is chock full of tasty morsels about the City's natural side.

Whether a native New Yorker or visiting from out of town, if you have the interest or the inkling to find hundred foot trees, tidal pools, salt marshes, Native American caves, hilltop vistas, or even just learn which wildflowers grow between the sidewalk slabs or which trees are tough enough to stand up to the stress of city life, this book is for you.

This book is a must have for anyone who has ever lived in or visited New York. It is extremely well-written, witty, and as well it is filled with interesting facts about New York.

This Eyewithness book is up-to-date and very practical. It contains a lot of pictures which is extremely usefull if you are planning a trip. When planning the trip it makes the book in a way easier to use than for example the Lonely Planet of Boston since you got a clear picture of the surroundings.

I live in New England and this is another of my favorite books from this region of the country. DK has always published quality books in their Eyewitness Travel Guides and they have done an excellent job with this volume on Boston. Unless you visit Boston on a frequent basis it is easy to get disoriented. I really found this book quite useful and the colorful layout of this book with maps, illustrations, photographs and text really inspired me to delve into its pages and check out one of New England's premier cities. The historical information on Boston was invaluable. I never realized some of the things I used to walk past. I think it is also very informative, not only from a historical perspective, but also as a point of reference for sightseeing, travel and enjoyment.

The Eyewitness Travel Guide to Boston was recommended to me in a bookstore and it was perfect for a recent 5-day trip to Boston. The guide is laid out by area, so you really get a feel for what else is around you when you are at a particular destination. The overall maps are very good and well detailed and the book is chock full of great photos. It also includes great history and background info. My Boston friend kept asking me "how do you know all this stuff?"

I found this book exceptionally helpful for planning our vacation with our dogs. The places listed are great for taking your dog, and the book contains a variety of subjects: places to stay, places to eat, places to go have fun (hiking, beaches, etc.), and also lists events that are happening in the area. The only problem I had was that some prices have changed, and that there was some inside information omitted; for example, the beaches in Gloucester are leash free after the life-guards have left, even though the signs at the beach say "no dogs allowed." We missed out on some serious beach time because we didn't know that tidbit until the end of our visit. Just make sure you follow up (they include phone numbers for every spot listed) if you're counting on price or hours or something.

As a resident of Connecticut, I found it a daunting task to find places where my dog was accepted. This book took all the guess work out of who allows them and makes life a LOT easier! I was also surprised to find a few eateries in my own town which allow patio eating with my furry friend, which is a welcome surprise. Definitely, any dog owner who lives in New England or is planning on a visit here needs this book. It is much more extensive than most other dog travel guides, including a ranking system and descriptions of all places included, as well as some cute anecdotes of the authors' own experiences with their pooches at these places.

Like most people we love new england and especially the berkshires (lenox,stockbridge,ect)or a gettaway up to maine. I was always jealous of people that I meet with their dogs, and always yearn to go on vacation with our pets instead of worrying how they are doing at home with a petsitter or in a kennel somewhere. now, thanks to this book I never realized how many hotels and b&b's allowed pets! this book makes travels with your fido so much easier and they wont just be sitting in the hotel room bored, either. There are so many places for them to go to that are mentioned in this guide book, they can enjoy themselves as well. (after all, they are on vacation too, right)?
My dogs and I thank would like to thank the authors of this book from the bottom of our hearts! thank you, thank you!!cant wait to buy your new edition about New York!

This is one of my favorite books ever. Really. I moved to the D.C. area with my lab three years ago, and while we were used to having dozens of places to go for various reasons or times, I didn't know where to begin to find good places to take her around our new home. This book was a godsend for finding fun places to go, especially because I found the reviews to give a me a very accurate idea of what sort of place we were going, including what sort of "feel" it might have for dog-friendliness. Some of the features of the book I have found extremely helpful are:

* Birds-eye maps showing where the reviewed locations are in the counties covered (perfect for finding a park near odd places that I might run errands)
* How strict the leash law is followed (this is a biggie for me -- while the authors point out excellent reasons to use the leash, they very helpfully suggest where we can get away without it)
* Rough idea how crowded the area in question might be, and how easy or difficult to get to (varies of course by time of day and season)
* Whether there's a place for doggie swimming

In my area (Sterling/Ashburn, VA) I've found the book to be amazingly comprehensive for my local and outlying areas, and find that the park descriptions have always given me a pretty accurate idea what to expect. The book covers a wide enough range (including some pseudo-local vacation destinations) that I've used it on countless occasions to find nice stopover while on short trips outside my "home turf". Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys finding varied places to visit with their pups.

I bought this book when it first came out for a friend of mine who was moving to Baltimore with her dog. Two years later, I borrowed it from her when I discovered I was moving to D.C. I found it enormously usefull for choosing a dog-friendly neighborhood with good access to parks. The authors understand the basic qualities of a good dog park: safety, space, a group of 'regular' neighborhood go-ers, and access to a good espresso bar for weekend dog walking. Overall, the writers do an excelent job.

I have only a few complaints. One - due to the impossibility of visiting every park in this populous region more than once, I've found that the park's ratings can heavily reflect the day and time of the visit -- not necessarily what the park is like on a typical weekday at 6pm. Also, some park ratings reflect a nice place to go with a small dog on a leash, you won't necessarily have the same experience with your massive Great Dane tugging at every new smell. The writers also disapprove of dogs being off-leash, and rate more lowly some parks that are true jems for those of us with larger dogs that require more exercise.

Overall, a great guide, and certainly unique. A must for all dog owners in this area, particularly if you moving to this region.

I highly recommend this book to dog owners who love to take their little four-legged friend(s) everywhere. It is well organized and the writing style used is perfect for dog lovers.

It covers almost all the parks in the Washington D.C., Virginia and Baltimore. Have you ever looked up a park on a map and it looked huge and perfect for your dog, and when you got there, you and your dog were very disappointing with the park? Well, the review for each park is quite accurate. With this book on hand, you can look up a park and find out if it is suitable for your dog before driving there. It covers important information that a dog owner needs to know about the park/area - such as the poop scoop law and the leash law.

It also contains information (ie. hotel, restaurant, pet stores, etc...) that is very useful for dog owners who like to take their pooches on vacation with them.

Embedded into the book, you will find dog adoption information. The book encourages suggestions from readers. I've already written to the publisher suggesting to include information on various rescue organizations and local animal shelters - a way to help promote pet rescue/adoption.