New York: The Photo Atlas

Rating:
Summary: I've Always Wanted This!
Review: After using the internet for aerial views, I had dreamt that such a book would come out. When I saw this book, I had to have it. Beautifully detailed aerial images of ALL NEW YORK CITY! The outer boroughs are included. See your house, or use the book to research the route of mass transit lines. I use the book primarily for that, as I am a train buff. But, if you just want to get a bettrer idea of your neighborhood and your city, you must get this book. Thick, glossy pages, and made wonderfully. Kudos to whover allowed this book to be released, especially in these times we live in.

Rating:
Summary: so cool
Review: I got this as a gift for a friend who left New York for the west coast. I ended up just loving every picture on every page -- the detail is INCREDIBLE, you can see your own apartment, famous buildings, everything -- so I kept it for my own coffee table and ordered another one for my L.A. friend. Basically anyone who loves New York will love this book. . . . Who doesn't love New York?!

Rating:
Summary: Worth keeping
Review: I was full of excitement when this book came out and immediately ordered one. The major focus of the book is on Manhattan and important places like Statue of Liberty and airports where they're shown at a larger scale than residential neighborhoods.

1. Not so important areas are shown at about 1/5 the scale in comparison to the scale shown for Manhattan.

2. Another disappointing fact is that these images are almost seamlessly patch together with computers. Because of this, the different perspective views of two images patched next to each other made me dizzy and uneasy looking at it closely.

3. Print outs of any one area are available for purchase, but it costs more than the book itself.

4. Overall, although somewhat disappointing it is nonetheless a great book to have and keep as a photo record of New York from above.

Rating:
Summary: I love my homeland!
Review: Some people would have us believe that a book like "New York: The Photo Atlas" is such a threat to America's "homeland security" that it should never have been published. To them I say, page through this book and revel in the glory of your homeland. Those who would prevent us from enjoying views of our country in the name of "security" are trying to destroy our way of life as much as any supposed terrorist. Bravo to the publisher for this brave gift.

Rating:
Summary: Great in concept but flawed in execution
Review: The book is complete and unique, in that it depicts all of Manhattan as well as the other boroughs. Still, it was a bit of a disappointment, especially after reading the other reviews. The book could have been much more user-friendly with two changes.
* The aerial photographs are laid out according to latitude and longitude. For Manhattan, this means all plates feel "crooked" and disorienting in comparison to the usual layout on street maps. It also means that you need to flip more between pages to see certain sections of town in their entirety.
* The book has two separate sections: photos and street maps. The maps would have been more helpful if they had been displayed on the opposite page of their corresponding aerial photos. That way they could serve as a legend to the photos.

The book is so large and heavy, I suspect the shipping costs would mean it is hardly worth returning, which is my main reason for keeping it. But if you want to look at New York from up above, there are a number of existing books that are far more fun, even if they are not quite as complete as this one.

Rating:
Summary: See Everything, Simply Everything
Review: The first thing I did was to look up my daughters house in Astoria. It was there. And I've always wondered what the streets between the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the tunnel to New Jersey looked like. And in crossing from Staten Island to New Jersey on the Outerbridge Crossing it looks like there are a couple of sunken ships just to the north of the bridge. You only get a moment to look before the railing blocks the view. They're pictured here too, page 306.

This spectacular book consists of aerial photographs of the entire city of New York. Photographed in color from a height of 5,500 feet, during the summer of 2003, on perhaps the clearest day in history; the photographs are both beautiful and current. Combined with the photographs are standard maps that serve as a reference to the photographs. Finally there's an index of streets that will take you to either the maps or photographs.

It's clear that the people putting this together had a pretty good idea about how to do such a book, and it shows.