Books to read if you're planning a vacation in "Mid West", sorted by average review score:

City Tripping Los Angeles: Your Guide to Restaurants Nightlife, Shopping, Culture, Fitness, and Hotels
Published in Paperback by City & Co (June, 1900)
Average review score: 

Makes sense of LA's tangled messWhen I landed in LA, it took me a good 3 months to find a series of haunts, owing simply to the sheer size of the place. This book breaks it down by neighborhood, "scene," and type of venue, so that the only other guide you need is a Thomas guide (the ubiquitous, highly detailed road map that occupies the back seat of every car in Southern California). Great insider info, seedy backstories, and a dead-on dissection of the various scenes make this a great introduction to America's most puzzling megalopolis. Fodors would be hard pressed to top this.
Great bookGreat book, especially for the young and young at heart. Unlike most other city guides I see this one really appears to be written by insiders who genuinely seem to know what they're talking about. Useful for both visitors to the city as well as people who are already in LA. The book is well structured with separate sections on eating out, nightlife, shopping, culture & arts, lodgings and many more. If you want to know where the current "in" places are and the real inside information on LA then this is the guide for you.

Let's Go 2003: New York City
Published in Paperback by Let's Go Travel Pubns (01 December, 2002)
Average review score: 

best nyc travel guide i have ever readThis book is amazing. It's written in a user-friendly style and combines information useful to both people moving to NYC and visiting it for the first time! The maps and subway directions are ENORMOUSLY improved and so much more accurate after the relaunch!! This will give lonely planet a run for its money.

Manhattanville: Old Heart of West Harlem
Published in Paperback by Arcadia (April, 2002)
Average review score: 

Magnificent history of a fascinating slice of New YorkMr. Washington has managed to summarize the rich, diverse history of a small yet fascinating section of the northern half of Manhattan which has consistently been ignored by virtually all writers on urban culture. His prose is terse and informative, and his photographs are truly stunning to anyone familiar with this neighborhood. This concise book is a precious piece of primary historical research which provides evidence on every page of the thought and effort that went into its creation. Whether you live in this neighborhood (as I have for twenty years) or are simply interested in the social and economic evolution of urban areas, this volume will provide you with a living, breathing history of an incredibly diverse slice of a continually evolving city. I urge you to read this fascinating tale of a truly unique part of our city and country.

Mobil 1999 Travel Guide Mid-Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia West Virginia (Mobil Travel Guide)
Published in Paperback by Fodors Travel Pubns (February, 1999)
Average review score: 

great travel bookI own several of the mobil travel books and I have found them very useful. I have tried some of their restaurant recommendations and places to visit and I have been very happy with the results. Try, other Mobil travel guides too.

Watching Nature: A Mid-Atlantic Natural History
Published in Paperback by Smithsonian Institution Press (June, 1997)
Average review score: 

A fabulous book!This book really made the mid-Atlantic region come to life for me! I wanted to grab a day pack and head out for a day hike. I'm sure that any serious nature lover would really enjoy this book.

Flyfisher's Guide to Pennsylvania (Flyfisher's Guide Series)
Published in Paperback by Wilderness Adventures Press (10 January, 2000)
Average review score: 

flyfisher's Guide to Pennsylvania by Dave WolfIf you are looking for a book to give you general knowledge on better known trout fishing streams in Pennsylvania, then this book will meet your needs. Unfortunately, the author does not do a good job of covering remote streams in many parts of the state that are excellent producing streams and beautiful places to fish. I was especially disappointed in his lack of coverage of streams in McKean and Warren County. I would not recommend this book to an avid Pennsylvania fisherman. The book is adequate for an out-of-state fisherman who is looking to fish some of the more popular streams in PA.
Flyfisher's Guide to PennsylvaniaBook covered all of fundamentals of Pennsylvania fly fishing.Good for novices and out of town people. Gives needed information regarding lodging and services. The book does fall short in the amount of streams visited. Many wild trout and stocked streams went unmentioned. This was a big miss.
Let this be your guide!This comprehensive book on Pennsylvania waterways and fishing holes is a must have for any fishing person and nature lover alike. Dave Wolf includes highly detailed maps, hatching dates of every type of fish alive in Pennsylvania plus advice on the best methods of catching those fish. Not only that, he gives you listings of local hotels and restaurants, hospitals, car rentals, airports and fly shops.
Best of all, this guide book is gleaned from years of personal experiences fishing in America's rivers and streams. It is filled with detailed advice and information which proves invaluable to fishermen and lovers of the great outdoors.

Old Rockaway, New York in Early Photographs
Published in Paperback by Dover Pubns (August, 2000)
Average review score: 

Great to see the old neighborhood!I would probably have given this book 5 stars if the Belle Harbor section (where I grew up in the 60's and 70's) had been better represented, but still, it was great to see the neighborhood I left as a teenager in 1976!
For those that live --or lived-- there, especially if you spent any amount of time in Far Rock, you must get this book.
To the authors: issue a revised edition with a more emphasis on everything West of Beach 116th Street... and I'll go 5 and a half stars in my next review!
Old Rockaway, New York, in Early Photographs.Simply the only printed information available about the Rockaways of yesterday. It seems that everyone has roots in this once grand seaside community and this book gives you hundred of old postcard views of the towns along the beach. There's not much left there from the old days and even fewer people left in the NYC slum who know how to read or right. So we'll bet that most of the sales of this book will be outside of Rockaway. But if you're heart's at the seashore, then Vincent and William's book should be in your library...
EKG, (escaped to Long Beach, NY)
A wish to time travel to 1880's Rockaway.Old Rockaway, New York in Early Photographs, exceeded my expectations! I thought it would provide a photographic history of perhaps the 1930's and 1940's. I was pleasantly surprised to find nineteenth century photographs of the peninsula in its true heyday. Having lived in Arverne during the 1960's and 70's, I was amazed to see that the rich and famous visited this area very similar to the way the rich and famous today visit the Hamptons on the east end of Long Island. As you view the postcards from this early era, you can actually see the unspoiled landscape of sand dunes and bay marshes that no longer exist. And the magnificent hotels and homes that graced this once popular resort prove to me that the City of New York truly mis-managed the development since the 1930's.

Germany and the Germans: The United Germany in the Mid-1990s
Published in Paperback by Penguin USA (Paper) (June, 1996)
Average review score: 

shut up ardaghI have been reading this book all semester long, and I find that the author is the most predjudice author I've ever read from. Sometimes he says the wrong thing at the wrong time, and for that I do not like the book. I don't think it is one that someone who has an inch of German pride in them....they may get offended and go get this guy. I can't believe some of the things he says in the book. However, I do think it is a book for those who just are interested in Germany. Those using it for academic purposes or moving to Germany, etc, may get in trouble if they believe all the things he says in his book. Plus, I think Ardagh needs to get some facts straight.
Very insightful bookI read this book at the beginning of my six month stay in Germany while working. As I became more familiar with the Germans and their culture, I realized that this book absolutely right about so many things!
Any foreigner going to live in Germany should read this book!
Sehr gut!Very thorough and honest
look at the German society from
almost all different aspects. A must read for those interested in the country.

Away for the Weekend - Mid-Atlantic: Great Getaways Within 250 Miles of Washington, D.C. in: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey (1996)
Published in Paperback by Crown Pub (June, 1996)
Average review score: 

wonderful for planning that quick getawayIncredibly handy for those times when you decide on Saturday that you want to do "something different" this weekend, but have not a clue what are your options. Divided into activities appropriate for each season, the book suggests a wide range of trips around the area, from historic exploring to art appreciation to communing with nature. I had an old version of this book that I lent out and lost, and I loved it so much I'm buying another copy!

Recommended Bed & Breakfasts Mid-Atlantic States: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginai, West Virginia (1st Ed)
Published in Paperback by Globe Pequot Pr (November, 1997)