If You're Thinking of Living in . . .: All about 115 Great Neighborhoods in & Around New York

This book provides a wonderful overview of New York City and gives honest information regarding living choices. Raising children in a big city can be a difficult task and this resource makes selecting a kid-safe neighborhood easier.

For all New Yorkers anticipating moving to the suburbs and for all out-of-towenrs anticipating moving in the city or in the metropolitan area -- this is an excellent guide to some of the more significant communities in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. It provides short descriptions of towns and communities within the mretropolitan area -- by reading the book one takes a journey, which leaves a much richer impression of New York and the surrounding area than one would have having just visited Manhattan.

For many individuals living or planning to move to New York City or its' neighboring suburbs, getting to know the characteristics of the area's many diverse neighborhoods can be very difficult. Moving into the wrong neighborhood can often be both dangerous and unproductive for many outsiders (and even natives) who want to move to due to reasons relating to crime, finances, or proximity to jobs.Well the New York Times has compiled a book of essays about the area's best communities to live in, which should make the job of choosing the right neighborhood much more easier. "If You're Thinking..." provides plenty of statistical and residential information that will prove helpful to anyone looking for new communities in the city. Although the book is very outdated when it comes to rents (a 2 bedroom in story has shot up to $1,200 in 1999) and the author doesn't really cover the recent changes in the ethnic compositions of some neighborhoods (Astoria, Queens is becoming heavily Brazilian, Colombian, and Mexican; Riverdale in the Bronx has seen a huge influx of Dominican immigrants; Inwood in Manhattan has also a huge Dominican population; etc..).Overall this is a good book to review your choices before moving to the area, however I feel that an updated version is needed in the market. If you want to check out updated neighborhood information, then search on the web, however read this book to get a good picture of life in the suburbs (most of the info in the book is still up-to-date).

It's unclear whether I'm moving to New York at this point, but I didn't want to wait to find out for sure before I got a head start on knowing where I would want to live. I was so happy when I stumbled upon thisbook. Not only does it list neighborhoods in New York, but also in N.J. and Conn. And for each neighborhood, it tells how long it takes to get to Manhattan, so "outsiders" have a point of reference. The only thing lacking in this book is it doesn't contain pictures, but the descriptions are so vivid and thoughtful, it doesn't matter that much. There are, however, some detailed maps, which makes getting used to the geography easier. I highly recommend it.

PLEASE NOTE:...if you want to move to New York, this book would be a great place to start. It tells you everything you'd want to know about the hundreds (115, to be exact) of places you can choose to live here, with information on schools, recreation, commuting, house prices, history, and community atmosphere. The perfect book for anyone coming to New York or contemplating moving around in New York