Discover Long Island: Exploring The Great Places From Sea To Sound
Written: Dec 08 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very descriptive of some destinations. Good photos
Cons: Should not have bothered with restaurants. Not an easily followed format.
The Bottom Line: The text, pictures and detailed information makes this a book every Long Islander should have nearby for resource on what to see and do on Long Island's diverse shores.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Discover Long Island: Exploring The Great Places F... |
I have lived on Long Island for over 40 years since my parents moved to Levittown from Manhattan when I was first attending middle school. As a traveler who enjoys the great outdoors and history buff I have gotten to know the island well but I'm always seeking more information and places to visit. I have thumbed through and read many books searching for the one book that gives good solid Long Island Information. One I have found and can recommend is Discover Long Island: Exploring The Great Places From Sea To Sound.
The Author and Publisher
This book is the work of Newsdays' (our local and award winning newspaper, though I disagree with their politics) international travel writer Barbara Shae who was asked to explore Long Island and write a book from the view of a "traveler's eye on the nearby world". What Shae created was a comprehensive, but not overly word-filled book that shares so much of what Long Island offers in just 320 pages that includes maps and over 150 colour photographs. I don't want to call her text concise because she does give excellent and extended detailed information about many sites that delves deeper into the destination than just basic blurbs or a couple of paragraphs. On the other hand many descriptions of some destinations are done in a line or two only.
The book is the size of a National Geographic Magazine in soft cover and was published by Newsday in 2002.
What's Included?
This book has information in reference to many aspects of Long Island including parks, beaches, vineyards, museums, restaurants, schools, churches, historic sites, famous and notable people, towns and villages and more.
Layout
I was a bit perplexed as to how the author decided the flow of the book. She has 42 chapters in alphabetical order but one might not find a particular destination easily by her method. She decided to include popular destinations as a heading that also includes many others places of note in that chapter only because they are nearby. As an example I'll start with her opening chapter Atlantis Marine World. Shae gives good information about the aquarium, nearly four pages of it, but then the chapter works the geographic area around it and what can be found there. Information about Riverhead is given noting a local sweetery, a few museums and parks. The next chapter jumps from this Suffolk County east-end destination far west to Nassau Counties, Belmont Park. Here Shae tells us of the popularity of the track and good information about it then extends to other sites in that geographic area.
If I wanted to get information about Long Island's Children's Museum I would have to find it under the chapter that headed Cradle of Aviation Museum.
Fortunately there is an excellent index in the back that is an easy source to places you know names of.
Though I am negatively noting the initial layout of the book, this format is helpful once you know what area you are exploring. More later.
In each of the chapters after information of the heading destination are two boxed areas that are helpful to a traveler exploring an area. The first is At a Glance. It's here where the author has placed a simplistic map noting the high-lighted destination and the names of route numbers and nearby parks and preserves.
The chapter "Sweet Sipping on the Vineyard Trail" has 20 wineries marked on that map.
The other helpful box is While You Are There. This gives a list and a brief description of other places nearby the given chapters destination.
The chapter about Eisenhower Park notes that nearby one could find the African American Museum, The Hofstra Museum and Nassau Veteran's Memorial Coliseum with a blurb or sentence or two about those sites.
Restaurants
I'm not quite sure why this chapter was brought into the book but in might me helpful to some just to get a name of an established restaurant. The author chooses about two or three restaurants that are in particular geographic areas. In Freeport we have perhaps twenty restaurants on the Nautical Mile. The author chose three from there but I can't figure why those particular choices over the others. What you are getting is some recommendations in the towns she highlights. I suppose that may help a bit.
Using the Book
By using the index one can find most Long Island destinations. I just went through it to see if I could think of a bit more obscure destination but everything I thought of was in the index. The book is comprehensive in its inclusion.
As a relaxed way of going through the book I found it interesting at first to just thumb through looking for something that caught my eye. Later I found that just opening the book and starting at the beginning gave me good insight to areas where I have been but added many other nearby destinations and bits of knowledge I wasn't aware of.
My Thoughts
What determines a good resource book to me is one I know I can trust. Having been to many of the featured destinations in the book and reading Shae's take on them and how they are presented, I see the information true to the particular site. The photographs that accompany her text are indicative of the site and gives a good feel of what to expect when visiting. They are sharp and clear. Good quality. I didn't find the restaurant guide all that enlightening besides just letting me be aware of some specific names.
All in all the book gives excellent information on some sites and barely a sentence or two on others. It seems the author chose her favorites and built the chapter around that one destination. Still this is a comprehensive book in its catalog of Long Island sites.
A Few Places Highlighted in the Book and Reviewed by Popsrocks
Cradle of Aviation Museum in Nassau County
Long Island Children's Museum
Old Bethpage Village Restoration Go Back to the 1800s
Sagamore Hill Teddy Roosevelt's Summer White House
Eisenhower Park
Freeport's Nautical Mile A wonderful summer destination!!
MONTAUK, It's The End
Montauk Point State Park and Lighthouse History, Fishing, Scenery, and quiet hikes.
Camp Hero State Park A military base with secrets!
Hither Hills State Park Camping on the beach
Jones Beach State Park Our treasure, just five minutes from home
Fire Island National Seashore and Lighthouse
Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park
Recommended:
Yes
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