One doesn't need an entire day to appreciate the arts and life of the great city of Chicago. "Hour Chicago: Twenty Five Self-Guided Sixty Minute Tours of Chicago's Great Architecture and Art" is a guide for tourists and residents who looking to savor full appreciation of the city's culture in conveniently bite-sized doses. Presented in a compact and portable form, Hour Chicago is the perfect guide to carry along for any trip through the city. Highly recommended for community library travel collections.

Other guidebooks can tell you where to eat, where to stay, what to wear or what plays to go to. But if you love cities because of their art and architecture, if you want to get off the tour bus, THIS is the guidebook you want.

The author is the perfect guide. After a few pages, you feel like you've gotten to know her, and you're eager to get her opinions on whatever she shows you on the next page. She's not afraid to say when she thinks a building is dull, which is a nice change from the hype of most tourist guides. But when she likes something, it's obvious. Somehow she can explain what makes a painting, sculpture or building great, in just a few choice words. You get the feeling she knows way more than she has space to share. But "share" is the word. She doesn't talk down to the reader, but she also knows that not everyone has a masters in fine art and architecture. There's a great glossary and good maps, which you'll need, because this guide doesn't stop at the Art Institute and the Loop. It takes you into the neighborhoods for galleries, architecture and smaller museums with collections that are world-class, but are overshadowed by the Art Institute.

The book is the perfect size for a backpack or fanny pack -- you can tell it's meant to be USED. The prose is clean and direct, and should not be a problem for tourists whose 1st language is not English.

It's organized into short tours that you really can take if you only have an hour, but you can also string them together if you're lucky enough to have a weekend or a lifetime. (This book is not just for tourists. It's must for people who live here, especially if you already think you know the city.)

What I like most about this book is that it seems to have a special place in its heart for the person who is by himself or herself. Anyone who's travelled to a great city alone has felt at times the lack of a companion to share the experience with. You find yourself wanting to turn to someone and see your excitement reflected back. In "Hour Chicago,"that person is the author. You feel like, whether she's physically there or not, she wrote this book for you and is hoping to see her excitement reflected back in you.