This is a review from the standpoint of a travel guide enthusiast. If you love the NYT 36 hours then go ahead and get it but if your looking for an actual travel guide this review is for you. The title should read: "Young Hipsters Guide To Alcoholism And Pedantry." This book is a good guideline for an itinerary but nothing more. I got it for its coffee table flair really. Anyone who actually follows these itineraries must be dead for the amount of sugar, alcohol and comfort food it has you consume at the expense of seeing real sites. It's not a travel guide at all. It is exactly what it said: the NYT's list of what it's editors and writers would do on their weekends off down to the hour.
So you see the type of crowd it draws and you get the sense that the only thing it recommends is itineraries for the overly touristy type or people obsessed with looking cool and fashionable rather than experiencing a city. I love DK eyewitness guides over this but the book looks great and enticing on a table or shelf and is a great read for a tipsy guest who needs some perusing time before he plans his next social move at your house. Otherwise, as a personal read to spark the traveling bug in us all, it falls flat many times making the itineraries sound boring with poor choices of photos that make you glad you have used up all your vacation days already or happy your not traveling to said place. You find this out by checking the itinerary for your own city to find how it sounds like the worst way to spend 36 hours in "_____ City." Some itineraries are great but then again, you didn't buy this book for just some itineraries; you were hoping it would have a great aid in making a short weekend entertaining at all the locations in the US instead of thinking that the best weekend that a location has to offer is candy stores, cocktails and overhyped restaurants.
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