2nd Edition - The New York Times - 36 Hours USA & Canada

A nice coffee table book that highlights 'must-do's around the country. My only biggest complaint and why the book doesn't garner more stars is that it covers almost uniquely larger cities. It would be nice to have some more off the beaten path suggestions as well.

I have been reading the "36 Hours" columns for many years. I used to cut them out and save them but lately have used the internet to find the columns that I needed. This book makes it much easier to find what I want and I have enjoyed reading many of the columns again. Also got some new ideas for short trips.

I wish they would publish 2 other books of New York Times travel columns. The "Practical Traveler" column is packed full of useful information and would make a great book for anyone interested in travel . . . . . and why not a second volume of the "36 Hours" column featuring foreign destinations? I would buy both of them. I'd bet that many people would.

Frankly, I have been in several of these cities before and some of the things I thought were great were not even mentioned. This made we wonder a little bit about the cities I haven't been to, wondering if some of the highlights weren't mentioned.

As someone who has loves travel but has limited time off, the 36 hours format is great. I know having used a few of these columns that they can mean the difference between a sort of rudderless long weekend somewhere, and a better choreographed experience. Full guidebooks are often overwhelming and a little soulless for my taste, and this is different. There are practical suggestions but the columns also convey a real sense of what it's like to be immersed in a place, and they address the reality that most people aren't able to get as much time as they'd like in a specific spot. Frankly, even if the trips aren't ones that I'll be able to make anytime soon, just sampling the book gives a vicarious experience.

This is really a great book for both the armchair traveler and anyone wanting to visit a city for the weekend. For the former, you get a breezy style and vicarious sense of what it's like to go. For the latter, it's an accessible way to go on a tour where all the major hot spots have been vetted for you and narrowed down to a sort of top 10 list.