Two 30 year old guys lead an obnoxious band of overgrown teenagers to trespass all over New York. The history bits are good and the actual exploring of places is good, but the entire personal narrative is cringe-worthy and the editorializing made my eyes bleed.

Thoughts I had while reading:
-omg you pretentious jackholes
-These guys are people who think Holden Caulfield is someone to admire
-Yeah, dilettantes at best
-overeducated suburban cowards
-chickenshit morons (not including the bridge-climbing, but totally including all the tunnel walking)
-lily-livered, gutless, immature pseudo-academics. I have done scarier shit than this with far less freaking out.

I was so disgusted that I kept putting it down and wandering off to read something more awesome, and yet I kept coming back because I wanted to read about real people exploring the hidden places of NY. I just didn't want to read about these idiots doing it and comparing themselves to truly badass, courageous explorers from the 14th-17th centuries. Give me an account of people actually walking the Croton Aqueduct, not wimping out because it was dark and wet in there.

Also, this book srsly needed a map. ( )

Surprisingly thoughtful and somewhat erudite. ( )

Fun stories about exploring abandoned buildings, tunnels, bridges and other urban sites is marred by the pretentions (formal wear and sunglasses, please!) and arrogance of the authors. ( )