I bought this map/book because I was looking for a detailed map of the city. It's a good map of downtown , but it doesn't get down to complete street level, and it cuts off a good part of the outlying neighborhoods that Chicago encompasses.
If you're going to make a map of Chicago, you should really include the whole thing. Let's Go, Inc. cuts off parts of wicker park, ukrainian village, and logan square, and parts of the north side. It concentrates too much on the near downtown area, and forgets about some worthwhile neighborhoods that people might want to visit or look for homes in.

I like this pocket guide because it folds easily, won't rip after staying in your back pocket during the long El ride from Downtown to O'Hare, and is small enough to hide for those times when you want to blend in like a Chicagoan.

The catch is, it's more of a handy map than a traveller's guidebook. I wish the maps had scales (guides to indicate, for example, that 1 inch equals a mile). Other than that, I'm happy with the book.

This "guide to living and working" is also a guide to shopping in Chicago, but the cover wisely avoids the dreaded s-word in an effort to attract wanna-bes of every artistic persuasion. Langer's guide provides lots of contact information for schools, groups, and companies: in short, stuff you can get out of the phone book, as well as a lot of snide commentary, which you can't get out of the phone book. He also interviews some promenent people (the Smashing Pumpkins' D'Arcy, for example), focusing on daft questions about the "Chicago scene." Many pages are given over to questionable "must-haves": because I am a writer, he thinks I might be interested in aspirin, coffee, a dartboard, a vintage bicycle, and a nice place to play pool, in a thinly disguised, not very clever attempt to advertise hip North Side stores and bars. There's a section in back on "where the artists are" which might better have been titled, "where the pretty people hang." Here's a listing Langer didn't include: the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State, where this book may be best perused but not bought.

This is an excellent book if you're looking to live and work in Chicago as an artist.

The chapter called "Where the Artists Are" is a terrific guide to the neighborhoods of Chicago. I collect Chicago guidebooks, and this is by far the BEST look at Chicago's neighborhoods. It is honest and informative. It does tell you where artists tend to clump in Chicago, plus alot of other helpful info. Heck, it actually helped me to decide where I live now.

The section "A cross-section of galleries that every artist should know about" is well-written and even includes a snob rating for each gallery. Although it doesn't list all the galleries in Chicago, it does include alot of the major and minor players. Plus, that snob rating just cracks me up, but it really is incredibly helpful and insightful.

"Getting schooled" has a good listing of art schools (if ya want to take a class in the summer, or any other time). His reviews aren't as informative, but they are still funny and honest. (Look forward to artiwu publishing a more detailed guide to chicago art schools soon.)

The compliation of "Publications and Other Resources" is one of the best and very definitive.

There are also sections for writers, actors, dancers, musicians, and filmmakers. But they don't water down the book. The section on the fine arts is definetely worth the money.

Overall, this book is a pure gem. It has lots of great information for the artist starting out in Chicago. The humorous writing and jam-packed info will make you want to read it. I rate it a 5 out of 5, "An absolute buy."

I was hoping to photograph some old ghost towns in the U.P. so I felt this book would help direct me to interesting sites. I hate to be so negative about a local topic but it did not even start to meet my expectations. The book is not easy to read even as interesting history. The book will not give you many details on how to find ghost town artifacts. Most of the book details the growth and death of towns. However, most of these are very short in length and are very dry in the telling. Many of the book's details leave off in the early 70's.

This is a good, informative book which is primarily a listing of ghost towns existing in Michigan's misunderstood Upper Peninsula, but also includes pictures and interesting facts about most of the towns. It offers a pretty good history of the region.

When well done, the Moon handbooks are excellent. One that I have used extensively is the Maine handbook. Accurate, lots of detail and very useful. In contrast their Michigan handbook is a disapointment due to its shallow treatment. NW and NE Michigan are so lightly done that the material is of little use in trip planning. It needs to be redone in depth. Until then, I would not recommend it.

If you're thinking about a MI vacation this year or just a few weekend outings in the state, get a copy of this book. After living in the state for 26 years, I thought I knew MI pretty well. But, on a recent trip to the UP (Upper Peninsula), this guide showed me new stuff every step along the way-----and it's fun to read.

This book is not my usual genre, but thought I'd stretch a bit. A few chapters in, I felt that I should not be reading Barbara's private diary. Several chapters later I was wondering WHY I was reading Barbara's private diary. Several more chapters in, I was wondering why Barbara felt we all should be reading her private diary. I am confident that Barbara got more out of writing this book than I got out of reading it.

While I was aware that this was a memoir, my assumption was that something interesting must have happened to the author, or her immediate family, or her friends, or her neighbors, or her not so immediate family, or ANYONE! But that was not the case. While Barbara does a very good job of recalling various parts of her childhood, the reader is not really provided any reason to care about any of the characters. Unless you grew up in the Midwest, or were divorced once or twice, or had a parent die young or commit or attempt suicide, there was no real "hook," no connection to the author or her life. We don't really learn anything or take anything away from this book, nor do we learn that the author learned anything but a few missing facts about her past. We don't get any inkling of how that information and/or revelations will benefit her or the reader.

Despite her inclusion of geographic maps and genealogical family trees I had no idea who was related to whom, nor which generation was involved with which other generation. I'm sure it all made sense to her extended families, but to the moderately engaged reader it was very disjointed.

Though this volume was self-absorbed and narrow, Barbara's other volumes may be worth a read assuming that she has an actual story to tell in them.

i thoroughly enjoyed this book. i am not an expert critic, but i found myself wanting to go"home" again after reading her book. very nostalgic and bittersweet.

Even though I am a beginning gardener, I found this book to be too basic for my needs. Most of the information can be learnt from watching 2 or 3 episodes of any gardening show. It would however, be helpful to someone who has never planted anything, nor has any prior gardening knowledge. The format was easy to read as it was similar to a bullet style, with 2-3 sentences per item.

This set of things to do is in the format of a deck of mini cards, each of which contains a different Chicago experience. While there is certainly plenty of choice in this product, the content is very ordinary except for the traveler who has never been to Chicago before.

The area reviewed is one of the most beautiful in Wisconsin. However the book had no pictures. Maps would help orient one to where they actually are in the area. Descriptions of places ommitted important information. An example was the description of Hotel Chequamagon - the book ommitted the fact that this hotel is located right on the shores of Lake Superior. Price ranges for all lodging, eateries, etc. would be a help. There were no website addresses. With some updating this would be a much better reference for this lovely place.

When I purchased "Backroads of Minnesota," I was under the impression that it would have detailed information on where to venture for hidden treasures in terms of getting away from the big city. Well, what I got instead was a beautiful "picture" book chocked full of wonderful photography of various areas in Minnesota. So, I was disappointed and delighted at the same time. It's not what I was hoping for, but it compliments my library quite nicely.

Don't get me wrong, there are a few descriptions here and there, but don't expect to use it to find various places, but rather, to know what to you might be able to expect if you explore areas near where the photos were taken.

It's a good investment if you understand this premise.

National Parks, State Parks, STate forests, National Forests, Wilderness areas . . .

The public lands of Michigan encompass over one million acres. IN these jewels are thousands of campsites, rivers, forests. This book gives you a thumbnail of each. A good start to planning a trip. Some information out of date.