One Potato Review

There are so many reasons to buy this and Sasek’s other books, and keep them on your shelf, and refer back to them in twenty years, but first, the price. This book costs twelve bucks, and looks like it should cost ninety. So art-full are these illustrations, and so elaborate; the text so packed with information, both historical and how-to, you would be wise to actually bring it with you to New York if you are visiting – it’s really that timeless. A couple of details are no longer quite practical – tokens gave way to Metrocards a few years ago, and you can’t go skating at Wollman except in the winter – but the book is still accurate in its larger observations about the big-ness and busy-ness of everything New York, indeed the very best reason to cherish this book is for its gee-whiz enthusiasm. It’s like talking to a really geeky ten-year old: his enjoyment is contagious. Here is a book where even the tourists look like they’re having a good time.