The New Rating Guide to Life in America's Small Cities (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: rates Cookeville, TN (dog killing city) as #1
Review: Apparently this book rates Cookeville, TN as the #1 small town in America. This is the place where an innocent family was pulled over, dragged from their car for no reason, and had their pet dog shot to death in front of them.

Rating:
Summary: Great for market research
Review: The title of this book is extremely inappropriate, but I guess if you need to sell a large number of books it's wise to go with something that sounds mainstream-marketable. If you're looking for "vacation information," or for a guide on where the best place to relocate your family might be, you will be extremely dissappointed. If, however, you have any type of occupation that relies on consumer spending and lifestyle habits, this is a great addition to your market research shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Provides a certain core of info
Review: This book provides an excellent compendium of statistics that would be hard to otherwise come by. I found its point rating for different aspects of climate valuable, for instance. But that's just scratching the surface; there are stats for community infrastructure, educational commitment, newspaper and radio viability as well, just to mention a few of the aspects the author has compiled. At first, I was a bit surprised at the lack of "subjective" information here, but that's not what is promised. Anyway,why would you trust someone else's opinion on the flavor of a town without examining it yourself? This book provides the essential background to a place that we can't find by our own brief examination, and I realize now that this is a true service.