Good tips for urban exploration
584993
A pretty good read about the author's own experiences with urban exploration and infiltration. He goes over the how and why you should explore places you're not supposed to go and gives some tips to keep you out of trouble while you're at it.
277658
Personally, I liked the style of this guide.  It included detailed information on how to find lesser-known or hidden sites, using local landmarks such as signs, telephone poles, mileage markers, etc., rather than just general directions or street signs.  The occasional humorous comments made me chuckle, and the guide to pidgin brought back memories of when I lived on Oahu back in the 70's.  The maps were very helpful for locating specific sites mentioned in the book.  The hotel and resort guide was very helpful and it was nice to read objective comments about them, revealing both the good and the bad.
There were several comments on how to lessen the chances of having your car burglarized, which is important when driving a rental car.
This is a great guide for visitors who like to go off the beaten path, especially all the detailed hiking information.  I will definitely take this guide with me and refer to it often.
3801103
If by New York City Lonely Planet means Manhattan, this is a nice start.  There are various sections for that part of Manhattan where the tourists go, with many hotels and restaurants listed.  But this isn't the entirety of New York City; it's just the touristy parts and for a first-time visitor, this is a decent book to carry because of its smaller size.  Pack it in your backpack and this will take you to the big sights, but I always recommend you also do internet searches for events happening around the neighborhoods.  Prices and opening hours will always change.

There are many smaller maps in this book showing various neighborhoods, and a pullout map of Manhattan.  The photos are nice and the sections are colored in different colors.  New York is divided by five boroughs and Manhattan is the featured borough, but there is plenty more to see and do in this great city.
903985
This book is so compact it fits nicely into a pocket.  But why would you want to keep it in a pocket?  Of course you should use it before coming to the Big Apple for a taste of what the city offers.  But once here it is a wealth of small tips on shops, restaurants and cultural places to see.

Keep in mind that its focus is on Manhattan, which by and large is what someone visiting New York City wants to tour.  There is a section on how to plan a 3 day tour of the city as well as other types of tours.  There are tips such as how to hail a cab (walk to the curb and put up your arm....just like on TV) and what to do if you are on a side street with few cabs coming down.

While you may not have the resources to shop Tiffany's, Macy's, Bloomingdales, you should plan to walk through these flagship stores.  There is nothing like experiencing them and the throngs of people shopping.  Of course this book also talks about Century 21, the huge discount store.  As well as the main Public Library (huge, huge, huge), St. Patrick's and museum row.

There are plenty of larger books on the city that never sleeps.  This one you can easily take with you and not worry about what you have to leave behind in the hotel room.

For what it offers it is a wonderful, compact resource.
1025862
The Rough Guide to Taiwan had many good suggestions in it for Taipei and a lot of spots that local friends recommended to us were covered in the book. However it doesn't have one good comprehensive taipei city map in it which made it harder to use on the go. The chapter on taipei is really organized topically (teahouses, restaurants, night markets, temples etc.), not geographically, so it took us a while to get an idea of what sights, restaurants, activities were in which part of the city and we ended up criss-crossing the city a little more than I'd like to. All in all it was helpful but I wished I had spent more time beforehand delineating things that we definitely wanted to see and other sites nearby (for example the shilin night market and the national palace museum).
2878362
I found this guide helpful for its concise introduction, history, sights, and practicalities to the city. This 2011 edition does need an update, and I would like to see a simple map to show where the neighborhoods are. A better table of contents would make navigation easier. For the price, I think it is worth getting.
45157
I recommend this guide book if you are looking for something to get you around Boston and Cambridge.  If you're looking for much beyond that, like all the other neighborhoods of the city, then this might not be for you -- it has some details, but is really focused on the main part of the city and environs.  The included maps are definitely helpful, and it's nice that they give a tear-out AND print some info on the inside back cover too.  The guide is really helpful for finding a lot of the [MANY] tourist spots around town, and giving some of the history around them as well.  It is well put together and definitely a great guide if you're looking for one book to get you around town on a visit.  Also, I love that it's in full color as well -- unlike some other guide books you'll find, plus it really isn't too big and bulky like many, and can be carried around without weighing a ton in your bag while walking around.  Definitely recommended.
2720506
There is a lot of detailed information about Venice in here.  As Venice is SO crowded, it is almost imperative that you avoid the typical venues during peak hours.  I enjoyed his guided walks and his suggestions made the trip much more enjoyable.  We downloaded this on an IPad mini and referenced it often during our days out wandering around.
761606
Being a lifelong resident of the Chicago area, I was curious to check this book out to see if there were any hidden gems to explore with my family.  And this book did not disappoint!  I've got a list of activities and places to visit with my wife and kids to get even more from what this great city has to offer.

Two places that immediately jumped out to me were Burnham Park, as my kids are really into skating (and biking) and love hitting up new skate parks.  I never knew this even existed, but will definitely be checking it out.  The other place that appealed to me was Kuma's Corner for some music and good food.

One great feature of this book is the links to maps of each attraction or activity.  That will be a great help in finding where to go and will be a handy reference.  There is a lot to explore and the author has provided a number of ideas even for people that have lived in or around Chicago for quite some time.  Highly recommended for visitors and locals!
1621520
In this text, Gratz and Mintz set out to establish guidelines and tips for city leaders, community activists, businesspeople, and regular citizens who seek to improve the status of their communities. They carefully outline what works, what does not work and why. Anyone interested in revilatizing downtown areas, setting up shop in a city, or running for office in an urban area should read this book as it will undoubtedly be helpful in creating a better understanding as to how cities can thrive in a new modern era.
42870
I was on a business trip for the first time to Tokyo and stayed over the weekend to do some sightseeing. Since I only had limited time I found the "Don't Miss Sights" section very useful, did most of what the guide had recommended and was very satisfy with their recommendations.

I found the guide in general very informative on what to do, but don't rely on it to get you there. The major attractions are fairly easy to find but if you are looking for a specific restaurant, bar, club, etc., the map doesn't provide you with enough street detail and the addresses are only in English. My recommendation is to get a map in both Japanese and English to get you around.

Train and Subway are the best way to get around, but the stations can be quite overwhelming. Again, the guide only provides station maps in English. You can purchase a pre-paid card in 1000yen, 5000yen and 10000yen for travel on the subway lines so you don't have to try to figure out how much to pay for each trip (most are between 160yen to 190yen). For JR lines, you will also need to purchase a separate pre-paid card at the station ticket offices. I heard from locals that there will be a common pay-as-you-go card (like Suica) you can purchase for both JR and subway by summer 2007.

I ignored the sarcastic comments from the author since I did not buy the guide to get insight on Japanese culture. But it does make for some interesting reading on the subway/train.
1406960
This book helped me plan my sightseeing in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and I'm planning to use it again when I can spend more time in the country. The photos are fantastic and interesting points are broken out in boxes. I didn't really use the book for selecting hotels and restaurants or shopping because I was working with the locals, who showed me around, so I can't comment on that aspect.
4581321
Great Details as well as good suggestions on places to stay and good cafs. I enjoy how the book is broken onto cities.
4015827
This is a great book for ideas on how to approach the vertical aspect of expanding your limited space in a urban area.
2398391
James Mitchell has created a good guide to trails and gems of Northern California. This guide has a lot of locations to go to and the maps are very good. The author also notes historical information to many locations that make the places interesting. There are many black and white photos as well as colored pictures of gems and rocks the author has found to help you identify different stones. I live near quite a few of the locations and have found the information in the book very useful. Not only can you get a good idea of what gems you can find in certain locals but you can get a sense of the history and do futher looking in local museums and other landmarks that the author recommends in different places.

The guide also has lists of tools to use for the beginner and warnings of locations such as certain places might be impossible in winter, or scorching hot in the summer so you can get an idea of how to prepare or plan for an excursion.

All in all this book has a lot of useful information about different places in Northern California and includes really good maps of each place and landmarks to look for. If you want to get out and hike around and maybe find some really neat rocks such as jade, quartz, obsidian, agates, crystals, serpintine and even fossils you can check out this book for a lot of useful information. There are many listings of places and the types of rocks that can be found at each location. This author has provided a very useful tool for places to go. Many areas are easy to get to but the locations do vary. This is a book you can use for a long time to come if you are interested in the history and places in Northern California to hunt for rocks and get out for a nice hike in some beautiful country.
4405985
The first thing I did after receiving&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Lonely-Planet-New-York-City-Travel-Guide/dp/1742208827/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Lonely Planet New York City (Travel Guide)</a>&nbsp;was to scan the barcode from the rear cover and do a little exploration online.  There are a lot of resources available there that were interesting.  I then looked at the fold out map inside the rear cover and was pleased to see that it is easily removable so I can take the map with me and leave the book behind when necessary.  This map helped me visualized New York City as a big picture while I looked through the book.  I've always found the Lonely Planet books to be easy to follow, but this one is even more improved than the last I looked at a few years ago.  There is so much to see and do in NYC that condensing it in a small book is quite the feat.  The  photographs are current and despite the information being accurate for the most part now, I would not accept certain details to be so on the day I intend to visit the location.  This is a good resource that I will be using very soon.
4834444
A wonderful guide. I've had this book and used it for many year hiking the stairways of SF. I continue to enjoy new walks whenever I have extra time in the City. I like it so much that I bought this copy for a friend. We live about 1 hr away from San Francisco, but make day trips there often. This book is a great way to fill in some spare hours between other activities. Gives you a chance to get some exercise, see great views and little known corners plus learn something about the history and culture of various neighborhoods.