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.

I would probably rate this 4.5 stars if I could, but I like it enough to round up. This is an excellent way to learn about the city. The book is divided into chapters that cover neighborhoods. It doesn't focus on the hottest new restaurants/clubs, instead it gives you the feel so that you have a basis for exploration. As the title indicates, this isn't the right book for a weekend tourist but it is great for new Seattle inhabitants.

I gave the book, 'Not for Tourists' as a gift and it was received with much interest and delight. The book is very informative, covering various districts in and around Seattle. The information is very detailed and acurate, with good readable maps, great information about the many areas that it covers and a fun book to browse through. I've lived in Seattle for many years and it was great fun reading through this delightful book. I will be purchasing 'Not for Tourists' for my self.