Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great for anyone who wants to see a city from a fresh perspective
Comment: The organization and content really work for this guide. My husband and I used it to plan the Seattle portion of our Pacific Northwest honeymoon, and it was incredibly helpful. We were able to single out which neighborhoods to visit and then choose restaurants, clubs, and activities from the great recommendations in the book. It was nice to discover some of the hidden gems instead of narrowing our trip to seeing only the typical sights. Clear maps and humorous descriptions round out this carefully planned resource. I'd recommend this series for both tourists and residents looking to discover and rediscover a beloved city.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Very limited in its usefullness
Comment: I was born and have lived in Seattle most of my life, so I know plenty of good and interesting spots in and near the city, but many of them simply aren't featured in this book. For the most part, it's simply a series of maps with lists of businesses in various categories. There's no commentary on what these establishments are like or which places are better or worse, nor any explanation as to why some places were included while others were omitted.
If you want to know a place, you need more than what you can get from an auto club map and a phone directory. You want insights and a sense that the author has a point of view and a love for his or her city. This sterile book has very little of that.
As an alternative, I suggest the Seattle Survival Guide, 4th edition, from Sasquatch Press, which is just a bit out of date, having been published in 2005 as opposed to 2007, but which includes far more of the distinctive personality and unique features of the region: inside lingo, ethnic groups, parking tips, movers and shakers, politics, crime, music, weather, publications, kid stuff, school recommendations, heath care, and much more. Lots of stats and historical background.
Customer Rating:
Summary: If Not for Tourist, then?
Comment: Erica Asahan wrote:
Well, I lived in Seattle for years, this book is great to have! She has so many points and venues I did not know existed! Great reference book to have.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not for me...
Comment: I think this book may be good if you are not a tourist (hence the name). The maps are good, but it does not give you an idea of what to see when you are there. It got such good reviews even as a tourist book that I ordered it. For vacationing there, I'd rather stick with Frommers or Fodors.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Seattle native considers this incredibly useful
Comment: I'm a Seattle mostly-native (been here for 20 years) and picked up this book so that my guests from couchsurfing.com might be able to use it to get around the city. I used the Not For Tourists New York to get around while visiting there, and figured the local one might be handy too.
It's great! It truly does cover the city from the perspective of a local person, including witty and accurate comments about neighborhoods, restaurants/bars, etc., useful information about how to get around the city and to other nearby cities via public transportation, cool local places that are beautiful/unique but not touristy, etc.
In fact I'm so fond of it that sometimes I carry it around and read it myself for fun even though I'm quite familiar with the city already. It's entertaining for natives and informative for transplants/visitors too. I would definitely recommend it for someone who's just moved here.
Even though it's called "not for tourists", I think that really depends what kind of tourist you are. If you're someone who wants to hang out in the places where local people hang out and do the things they do, I still consider it very useful. None of the tourist books have maps of neighborhoods outside the central tourist area of downtown, so if you want to go beyond the beaten path this is a fine way to do it. The book doesn't have reviews of tourist spots but you could always combine it with a more tourist-y book. I bought some other more touristy books too and found the Lonely Planet to be the best of those.
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