Land Development Calculations: Interactive Tools and Techniques for Site Planning, Analysis and Design

Book Description

"It is the kind of simplified tool that many of us in practice sorely need" - Jamie Greene, AICP, AIA, Principal, American Communities Partnership

*The first computational tool for land development and site planning analysis and design
*Real-world case studies, with photographs and plans, illustrate how alternative development options would affect the project results
*Includes a CD-ROM containing 30 interactive spreadsheets that can be used for every type of land development scenario

Customer Reviews:

Not much on Retail... and pricey for what you get........2007-05-14

A bit dissapointed that there was very little targeted toward Retail, specifically lacking in the areas of shopping center and out parcel development... but the formulas were interesting, and the concepts that were explained... were done so in great detail.

Extremely valuable tool.......2002-10-07

"Land Development Calculations" provides an excellent and innovative strategy for working towards sustainable land use and development. The models for varying land development strategies can assist local government land use decision makers and planners as well as developers determine the carrying capacity of land within realistic thresholds. The accompanying spreadsheets for the development scenarios on the CD-ROM are extremely user friendly and do not place an undue burden on the user by requiring what may be hard to find or to collect data. All of the data required just is typical of what is necessary to make appropriate land development decisions. As a local government planner, I am working towards incorporating the information received from the models in to the zoning and development code as part of the approval process by using it to further assess suitability of the property for the purposes proposed (a zoning consideration required in accordance with the State of Georgia Zoning Procedures Act). I strongly encourage other land planners and developers to read "Land Development Calculations," because of its highly practical and very timely material.

Author Delivers Valuable Techniques and Tools.......2001-10-18

This is a terrificaly valuable technical reference for practitioners who need an efficient method of performing land development calulations. The book and its companion set of spreadsheets enable users to answer two key questions: 1) how much can be built on a given piece of land; or 2) how much land is needed to accommodate a given use? The material is clearly written and well illustrated, especially a series of worksheets leading through the method. Another strength is its comprehensiveness and detail, including all major land-use and micro site conditions.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Average customer rating:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

Whoa!
An okay book - required textbook
Dull disengaged preaching
Photographically splendid. The pictures are breath - taking.

Site Planning - 3rd Edition
Kevin Lynch , and Gary Hack
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0262121069

Book Description

This new edition of Kevin Lynch's widely used introductory textbook has been completely revised; and is also enriched by the experience of Lynch's coauthor, Gary Hack. For over two decades, Site Planning has remained the only comprehensive source of information on all the principal - activities and concerns of arranging the outdoor physical environment. Now, new illustrations double the visual material and one hundred pages of new appendixes cover special techniques, provide references to more detailed technical sources, and put numerical standards in a concise form.

An introduction summarizes the site planning process. This is followed by a case study of a typical professional project and ten chapters which provide new materials on user analysis, programming, site planning for built places, housing tenures and their planning implications, cost estimating, mapping, the reading of air photographs, site design for housing in developing countries, design strategies, environmental impact analyses, and many others - all illustrated with in-text photographs and line drawings and with Lynch's characteristic marginal sketches.

Kevin Lynch is Professor Emeritus of City Planning at MIT and à partner in Carr, Lynch Associates. Gary Hack is Head of the Department of Urban Studies and planning at MIT

Customer Reviews:

Whoa!.......2003-11-29

I'm amazed that people didn't like this book more... I am also a Land Arch student who had it as an assigned book that was rarely actually assigned. I was thumbing through it in hopes of generating ideas for another class and was amazed at the amount of usable information it contained. Perhaps it is better digested in chunks instead of the whole. I found it great as a reference book.

An okay book - required textbook.......2002-01-10

Being a new student of a landscape architecture program, this was a required textbook for one of my classes. After reading between the lines and through the wordiness of the book, I finally understood the point the author was making and found the point interesting. It took a couple of times to finally understand what he was saying, but it was interesting once I understood it. It was on the dry side.

Dull disengaged preaching.......1999-06-12

The book is much weaker than Lynch's classical piece "The Image of the City". Text sometimes gets dull and too dry, like in many of reference books. In fact, the "referential" quality of "Site Planning" is the only positive feature of the book. When authors pursue the singular goal to create a comprehensive textbook, the liveness of arguments suffers a lot. The book becomes rather a dull close-minded disengaged preaching that requires a lot of effort on the side of a reader to understand and utilize it.

Photographically splendid. The pictures are breath - taking........1999-02-21

It was the best book I have ever read. I recommend to people who are involved, or want to be involved in the field of landscape architecture.

Average customer rating:

Reply to A Blunderous Attempt
A good book for introduction of Land Development
A Blunderous Attempt

Practical Manual of Land Development
Barbara C. Colley
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0071448667

Book Description

The first choice among land development engineers, this edition is newly updated and expanded. It is required reading for young engineers and a convenient reference for experienced engineers. This is the essential book for civil engineers in land development and provides helpful information for all land development professionals including feasibility studies and cost estimating. Practical Manual of Land Development provides step-by-step instructions for design, including formulas, tools, technical data, guidelines, and checklists to make your development project run smoothly. The Forth Edition emphasizes efficient usage of computers and now includes specifications for ADA and NPDES. It is presented in metric as well English units. New chapters added and charts up-dated.

Customer Reviews:

Reply to A Blunderous Attempt.......2005-10-25

I haven't read the book, but as a production manager for a publishing company for a number of years, I can only say that it is not the author's responsibility or fault that there were errors. It is the copyeditor's responsibility to make sure that two plus two equal four(even in artwork), and the proofreader's responsibility to make sure there are no misspellings. It's nice if the author can catch them, but they rarely do--that's why we hire copyeditors and proofreaders.

As to metric--don't know. Is the author or the book publisher European? The rest of the world uses metric, although there are some in the U.S. that use metric (CalTrans, for instance). All I can think of is that the editor was pushing a metric book to be the first on the block, or to sell to a bigger European market....

A good book for introduction of Land Development.......2003-12-09

I got this book just one month ago. This book is very good for the introduction of Land Development. As for the units, I think that some engineers don't like S-I Units (especially the engineers in the east coast). But in the future, all the people around the world will use it.

Anyway, we can use this book for the introduction material. There are a lot of regulations and codes waiting for us to read.

A Blunderous Attempt.......2000-09-10

The author makes a poor effort to even proof read her work. Several of the examples of design are filled with mathematical errors that someone with a professional license should not be making. With most of the professionals in the field of land development using English units, the author's insistent use of metric makes her work difficult to examine and even less useful as a design guide.

The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City

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The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City
Wango Weng , and Yang Boda
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Housing As If People Mattered: Site Design Guidelines for the Planning of Medium-Density Family Housing (California Series in Urban Development)

Average customer rating:

Actually full of useful information!
A very useful book

Housing As If People Mattered: Site Design Guidelines for the Planning of Medium-Density Family Housing (California Series in Urban Development)
Clare Cooper Marcus , and Wendy Sarkissian
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520063309

Customer Reviews:

Actually full of useful information!.......2005-09-29

It seems that a great number of architecture books of this type exist solely to promote the author's personal design philosophy. This book, however, is full of design guidelines based on feedback from residents of both public and private high-density housing. Many (if not most) of the guidelines could be applied to almost any housing type (from low-income public housing to high-end private developments.) At the very least, the book gets designers thinking about how people use and perceive the buildings in which they live.

A very useful book.......2001-05-17

This book is both a call for better designed medium density housing and a source book on how to achieve that end. The great thing about this book is that it provides simple design and layout advice for housing projects based on detailed research and post occupancy evaluations. This book sets out what works in housing design. I think every planner or designer should have this book close at hand.

Secret New York: The Unique Guidebook to New York's Hidden Sites, Sounds & Tastes (Secret Guides)

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Secret New York: The Unique Guidebook to New York's Hidden Sites, Sounds & Tastes (Secret Guides)
Robert Sietsema
Manufacturer: ECW Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1550223747

Book Description

There are dozens of published guides to New York City, nearly all of them covering the same well-trodden territory of pricey restaurants, major hotels, and shopping at pick-your-pocket prices. Here's a tourist guide with a difference. New York insider and Village Voice columnist Robert Sietsema has assembled a topic-focused book: Secret Metrocard explains how to get the most bang for the buck from this new transit card. Explained are how to turn a free transfer into a free round trip and how to exploit the 18-minute secret grace period.

Secret American Indians divulges where to find a hidden Indian cave right on the island of Manhattan.

Secret Cheap Eats reveals where to get a delicious, multi-course meal for less than five dollars.

Book Description

Renowned photographer/police officer John Botte was given privileged access to ground zero in the hours and days following the tragedy of 9/11. Here for the first time–and for posterity–are his breathtaking photos, securing Botte's status as the Mathew Brady of 9/11.

NYPD police officer and photographer John Botte was assigned by the police department to document the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. He spent countless hours at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after the attacks, and was given privileged access to the behind the scenes rescue and recovery efforts of 9/11. On a personal level, Botte calls Aftermath "a permanent tribute to the people who shaped me as a person and professional–to the friends I lost and the ones I never got a chance to make." On a universal level, his collection of photographs is a haunting reminder of the events of 9/11 in New York City and an important document for the ages.

On the fifth anniversary of the attacks, the author will finally share his intimate portraits of the aftermath of America's unforgettable tragedy. With more than 150 haunting black & white photos and captions by the photographer himself, the book memorializes the unforgettable images we all recall from those first days–and captures countless scenes previously known only to the few who worked the scene so tirelessly. The result is an extraordinary historical record that stands to become the definitive photographic retrospective of September 11.

Customer Reviews:

Impressionante!.......2007-05-28

This book contain hard and touching images about the aftermath in New York city.

The Tragedy of 9/11 in Picture Form.......2007-05-26

Former officer John Botte has done a wonderful job putting together images of the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The black-and-white photos show both the tragedy and hope of the people involved in the rescue -- and later, simply the clean-up -- of this horrific event.

The only thing I would have enjoyed more would have been captions for all of the photographs. As it stands, only about one in ten of the pictures has any type of explanation.

A Fitting Aftermath to 9/11.......2007-04-03

This book meets the criteria of the film noir movies of the 40's and 50's: oneiric, strange, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel. Well, not erotic. And unlike the films of those days, the pictures here, and the stories that they tell are true.

This is a book composed of pictures made in the days after 9/11. They were taken in black and white, and are somewhat grainy. The photographer, John Botte, a police detective and world-class photographer, was assigned by the police commissioner to document the aftermath at the World Trade Center. He was there, day after day, breathing the dust from the concrete, the insulation, and everything else - getting a lung condition that almost cost him his life.

Out of the thousands of photographs he too, he has selected this couple of hundred and created captions that sometimes explain, sometimes just comment on what is being pictured.

It is indeed a fitting AFTERMATH to 9/11.

DECENT PICTURES.......2006-11-11

IF you have been collecting books, videos and material about 9/11 [I'm a history teacher]
this is a nice addition. The copy is more interesting than the pictures that we've all seen,
sadly.

Good book.......2006-11-10

I think it was a well done book - I could have done without the close ups of Bush and Cheney!

Average customer rating:

A Landmark Guide -- in More Ways Than One
The best walking tours of Manhattan
I always keep it handy
A pleasant surprise

Guide to New York City Landmarks
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471369004

Book Description

Five boroughs rich with history-and one guide to it all
The official and only complete guide to New York City's landmarks, this beautiful Third Edition has been updated to include 128 new individual sites and sixteen new historic districts. Mayor Michael Bloomberg opens this treasure trove of historical discovery with an elegant Foreword. What follows are insightful descriptions of more than 1,000 individual landmarks and 84 historic districts. Everyone will feel like a native New Yorker when they quickly point out landmarks with the help of 80 easy-to-read maps. This new edition also features new photographs, enhanced maps, and more than a dozen themed sections that make it easy to create a customized sightseeing experience.
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (New York, NY) is the agency responsible for identifying and designating local landmarks and historic districts. Established in 1965 in response to the destruction of the original Penn Station, the agency is comprised of eleven members appointed by the mayor and a professional staff.

Customer Reviews:

A Landmark Guide -- in More Ways Than One.......2007-05-05

Profusely illustrated, filled with informative and fascinating text, and sporting great sidebars on key points of NYC history and architecture, this volume will aid and bedazzle tourists, students, and history buffs -- perhaps even getting the most jaded of New Yorkers to see their neighborhoods in new light!

The best walking tours of Manhattan.......2007-03-23

Excellent resource. Has detailed descriptions and appraisals of New Yorks most important historical landmarks and buildings. It is critical in helping us plan our trip to NYC.

I always keep it handy.......2004-03-15

What I said about the AIA GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY is the same I have to say about Guide to New York City Landmarks by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. I have been a New Yorker all my life and thought I'd known it all. There were buildings/structures that I knew to be older than most and probably landmarks, but never got around to checking them out. Then I picked up the Guide to New York City Landmarks
by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission sometime in 2003. Ever since, I have kept it with me at all times: in my back pocket, my briefcase, my jacket... Sometimes I go to some of these places in advance, with the intent of looking at them after I'd read about them. Other times, when on my way to or from work or lunch, I will see a building, stop, and look to read about what it is. My hunches aren't always correct, of course: not all the buildings I think are landmarks are. But I always keep this Guide on hand to find out.

A pleasant surprise.......2000-01-21

Sober, readable and comprehensive, all the matters are dealt with competence. A good beginning for people interested in the architecture and in the development of the city.

Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York

Average customer rating:

Horrible, horrible book.
disappointing
Well, there's four hours of my life I'll never get back.
Urban Exploration Farce
Minimal pictures

Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York
L.B. Deyo , and David Leibowitz
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0609809318
Release Date: 2003-07-22

Book Description

In the shadows of the city waits an invisible frontier—a wilderness thriving in the deep places, woven through dead storm drains and live subway tunnels, coursing over third rails. This frontier waits in the walls of abandoned tenements, hides on the rooftops, infiltrates the bridges’ steel. It’s a no-man’s-land, fenced off with razor wire, marked by warning signs, persisting in shadow, hidden everywhere as a parallel dimension. Crowds hurry through the bright streets, insulated by pavement, never reflecting that beneath their feet or above their heads lurks a universe.

Led by its two founding agents, L. B. Deyo and David “Lefty” Leibowitz, Jinx is a stylish urban adventure out?t known for its daring—if sometimes ridiculous—forays into the hidden wonders that lurk above and beneath America’s greatest city, New York. In Invisible Frontier L. B. and Lefty chronicle Jinx’s dramatic—if sometimes absurd—exploration of a Dante-esque New York, from the depths of the city’s underground Hell (abandoned aqueducts and subway tunnels) to the pinnacles of its Paradise (rooftops and bridges) and everything in between, capturing the genius of the city’s engineering, the vibrancy of its found art, and the elegiac beauty of its ruins. Here is a true series of wittily narrated adventures into the hidden world beneath a great civilization.

Customer Reviews:

Horrible, horrible book........2006-09-28

As someone very interested in urban exploration (especially in the subways) I wanted to check this book out upon hearing of it. After reading many of these Amazon reviews though, I opted out of a purchase, and took it out of my Bronx library instead. Thank goodness as I only wasted valuable time, and not any money.

This book is a sham. It is obviously mostly fiction. And it's boring fiction at that. The book is divided into chapters, each chapter a new "adventure."

I read the subway one first, where the "explorers" take the 6 train around the loop at the end of the line, to see the City Hall Station, which opened in 1904 (NYC's first station) and closed in 1948. The station is located on the loop of the 6 train, that makes the southbound trains go back up north after the last stop, Brooklyn Bridge. First of all, anyone can go on this "adventure." Just stay on the train at the last stop, Brooklyn Bridge, and that's it. Despite the author's attempt to make this sound risky, no conductors walk through the train to see if anyone is on (like they really care), just sit down. The author created some "European tourists" that inadvertantly stayed on the 6 after the last stop, and the author even tries to create some mystery by saying "are we on the wrong train?" Well, unless all those huge "6" signs that are lit all over the train are difficult to read, then you probably got on the correct train. The author also fails to mention that the MTA used to give public tours all the time through this station (and others like the 18th street on the 6 and more) but stopped after 9-11. This chapter was a joke. (UPDATE: The MTA now gives tours through the original City Hall station again.)

I started reading the other chapters, and saw they were no better. I then started to breeze through the book. One thing that is very obvious - no photographs of the adventures are in the book at all. This, despite the fact that on page 67 the author states, "Josh takes out his camera and snaps away at every pipe and puddle..." But no photos of their "adventures" are in the book. Why? Because it's fiction.

There are photos of what they are supposed to be exploring, sure, that's easy. There's even one pic of one of these clowns hopping some fence somewhere, ooo. Buit no pics of the actual "adventures." I guess "Josh" lost all those pictures when he went to CVS to have them developed.

The funny thing is, you can save yourself a lot of time by just going online and viewing pictures of these things for yourself. Especially the City Hall station, there are tons of pictures of it available from the people that were in there during the tours.

Just stay away from this sham of a book, it's really a huge waste of time.

disappointing.......2005-07-13

If the writing and adventures could match the inflated perceptions that the authors have of themselves, this would be a great read. Unfortunately, the writing is downright pedestrian and the urban adventures are either lackluster and/or poorly described. Also, the flow of each chapter is interrupted with uninteresting asides and juvenile commentaries on a scattershot laundry list of topics.

A typical example of this is the uninspiring breakin of an abandoned Harlem row house. The author starts off with a truncated textbook-like history of Harlem that lasts a few paragraphs. Once that boring bit of exposition is done with the writer and his friends drive around a little bit and then enter an abandoned building. They look around a little bit (not exactly thrilling) and then attempt to leave via the fire escape. Here, we are presented with a another aside about the author's 'love' of fire escapes.. "What, in fire escapes, do I admire?... their constancy... firm as Gibraltar... like Ulysses to his barque.. supporting, as Atlas, the gravid snows of winter". Ugh, at times like this you wish the author would have consulted with an editor.

Not everything is terrible. Things pick up here and there, there are a few interesting tid-bits of history, but overall the book does not live up to it's potential.

Well, there's four hours of my life I'll never get back........2005-02-22

This book was a tremendous disappointment. Many of the "missions" are laughably boring and/or carried out in a stunningly inept fashion, much of the writing is markedly narcissistic in its tone and yet inconsistent in content, and perhaps most disappointing the descriptions of the places where the authors go are remarkably poor.

First, the missions. The mission to the UN mostly involves trying to get inside by asking for an interview. Wow, it's like working for my high school newspaper all over again. Once they're shot down, one member of the team briefly sprints past a barrier and `explores' a plaza outside the building for less than a minute (the main point of which is to hold up the Jinx flag while his friends take his picture). Another involves staying on the subway even after the conductor announces passengers should get off! - oh the bravery and cunning!. This is made all the more ridiculous when two non-English speaking tourists inadvertently do the same thing and when the authors do not even get off the train once it's stopped at the abandoned subway station they had planned to explore. Later, they go into an abandoned house, where they discover that a lot of other people have also done this over the years.

Second, the writing. Much of the text focuses on how cool they look in their "uniforms" (dark suits and sunglasses), how cool they look walking to their missions, how cool they look on their missions, how cool it is when they all get together and how everybody else in New York are mindless zombies who don't appreciate what is around them because they are trapped in their sad, meaningless lives. The whole uniform thing is particularly stupid. There's one throw-away sentence explaining that they wear these uniforms because otherwise "scientists" and "philosophers" will not take their "empirical data" seriously, but you simply can't shake the feeling that they just want to look like they're either in "Reservoir Dogs" or "The Matrix" (particularly when the ridiculous `uniforms' keep attracting attention when they're trying to sneak into some place.) Throughout the book the authors bounce between stressing that they explore places for the scientific, empirical value of doing so and that it is not at all for a sense of adventure, only then to talk later about how much fun the adventure of it all is (including one author's admission that he believes the other has a death wish and that is why he engages in so many dangerous activities while exploring). In addition, much space is taken up with various diatribes on the evils of modern life (including a particularly passionate rant against the United Nations that comes totally out of nowhere), and all the horrible twenty-somethings of the world who spend their lives drinking iced coffees (which is a particularly hollow complaint when - a few pages later - the Jinx crew sits down to iced coffees after having screwed up the UN mission). You almost get the sense that after trying in vain to improve the writing, the publishers finally decided to spin the writing as "witty" and hope that people fell for it.

Finally, the descriptions are no better than what you'd get if you wrote down what you think the locations look like without ever actually going. The Croton Aqueduct is dark and slippery. An abandoned subway station is eerie. When you're on top of the George Washington Bridge, the Hudson River looks a long way away. And that's about as good as the descriptions get.

Don't waste your time or your money.

Urban Exploration Farce.......2004-08-15

I was so excited to receive this book, and can not believe how dissapointing it is!! The people aren't urban explorers (UErs for short) - they are children who dress up in costumes and give each other "gang" names and then proceed to perform daredevil-like stunts which are not very impressive.
The book starts out talking about two of the teams failures - City Hall Place and the Croton Acqueduct, which makes you want to put it down and watch grass grow instead. I've been past City Hall Station many times on the downtown 6 train, even with my Mother, it barely even qualifies as daredevil. Their train stops while looping through the station and they are standing right there, but decide not to jump off - don't write a book about it then!! Croton acqueduct is equally as sad - they walk through the tunnels for hours, then stop before the actual bridge (the goal) because they are tired - go back the next day and do it right, or don't write a book about it!!
Any yes, there are no pictures, although they refer to their pictures all the time.
The writing is pretentious and annoying and pointless for the most part - I want to read about "Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York" not about your evening spent in twin donuts looking like freaks and scaring people!!
Do yourself a favor and don't buy this book - there are better books about urban exploration, particularly ones about the NYC area.

Minimal pictures.......2004-08-01

Very interesting subject; wish authors had provided more substance. Very disappointed with lack of photos especially with constant reminder of photographers who were amongst group of explorers. I too also have my doubts regarding editors/publisher of this book.

Would NOT recommend purchasing.

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