Off Track Planet's Brooklyn Travel Guide for the Young, Sexy, and Broke

Although low-budget travelers to New York City have their pick of citywide guides, this title by Brooklyn residents Pikovsky and Starostinetskaya (Off Track Planet magazine; offtrackplanet.com) is one of just a handful that focus specifically on their borough. Each chapter introduces a neighborhood or two, describing some of their singular characteristics along with a few hot spots in which to eat, explore, and party. At first glance, this book is likely to appeal to the "young, sexy, and broke" set. Activities include a "Bed-Stuy Hip-Hop Tour" and "5 Ways To Puke at Coney Island." Pages are dotted with full-color photographs, boldly illustrated maps, and large, scrawling fonts. Unfortunately, the raunchy, gleefully offensive, slang-littered style that attracted readers to the Off Track Planet blog fails to transition well to a book. In its desperate attempts to sound effortlessly cool and witty, the writing is so clunky and affected that it makes useful information hard to find.