Saturday, January 23, 2010

One Star!

I noticed a new review of Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City's Best Unusual Attractions on amazon.com. Then I noticed that it was for one star. The last time I received a less than stellar review, the reader complained that the book only had weird and unusual attractions. I was curious what the problem was this time:
I was actually looking for places "off the beaten track" but this book had nothing you could not get off the net or regular tourist book. It's basically a listing of museums and churches. Very Very disappointing

I'm very intrigued by this. Partly because I don't agree at all that it is a list of museums and churches that you can get off the internet (without searching pretty damn hard, anyway - you can get anything off the internet with a little effort) and definitely most places are not in regular tourist books (although some are, and I put an unusual aspect of the place in my book, like the vertical tour of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine). Mostly I want to know what the person expected the book would be about. It has parks, restaurants, museums (some inside people's homes), a former airport, forts, churches, stores, and monuments. Aren't those what constitute "attractions?" I'm not asking to be defensive, I'm asking because I genuinely want to know for next time and there's no way to contact this dude and ask. Any thoughts?

5 comments:

  1. they obviously didn't get it because it's not 'basically a listing of museums and churches'
    how can it be just a listing when you've got all those details? and they aren't run of the mill guidebook attraction.

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  2. That dude is a moron.
    -Steph

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  3. Reading reviews - and sometimes blog/news site comments - makes me realize that a goodly portion of the population have a hard time comprehending what they read. They get SO FAR off base. I wouldn't take it personally.

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  4. This person is stupid. That said, there are always idiots who post reviews and comments on things. Including me!

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  5. Perhaps I am biased, but you are not someone I think of as an idiot. :)

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