Get Lost! The Cool Guide to Amsterdam - Softcover

Pauker, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9080256102 ISBN 13: 9789080256101

Publisher: Get Lost Pub, 1999

Synopsis

This book was written by someone who actually lives in Amsterdam with helpful input of in-the-know natives, this is the only alternative guide to Amsterdam.

About this title

Review

Joe Pauker, who refers to himself as "a goof," has compiled what is perhaps the funniest, most original guide available to the city of Amsterdam. Get Lost! The Cool Guide to Amsterdam, which is clearly not aimed at mainstream travelers, will take you to the places that standard guidebooks don't bother to cover (at least not in any detail): sex shows, hemp and 'shroom shops, and places where you can get free samples of cheese when you're too low on cash to buy food. Pauker's not shy about sharing his opinions, either. On taxis: "They're expensive, and they treat cyclists like shit, but if you really need one ... [they're] very comfortable." On banks and developers who would evict squatters: they're "conservative pigs who care more about money than people." And on cannabis: "nederwiet (Dutch grown weed, such as Northern Lights) is spectacular."

Off-the-wall humor and opinions aside, you get the feeling that Pauker really knows Amsterdam and wouldn't give you bum advice. Hotels and hostels (including the comfortable couches at Schiphol Airport), restaurants, attractions, and shopping are all covered in some detail, and obvious care was taken in selecting those establishments hip enough (and cheap enough) to make it into the book. If you're the kind of traveler who might need the Dutch translation of "stoned as a shrimp," or if you simply appreciate a fresh perspective and directions away from the trampled path, let Pauker be your guide to the "coolest, most happening city in Europe."

About the Author

Joe (Jose) Pauker was born in New York City. He is the illegitimate son of Fidel Castro and an actress with whom the Cuban leader had a short, passionate affair. Joe's mother gave birth to him on the set of Saturday Night Fever, where she was working as an extra. When he was still an infant, his mother moved them to the small town of Xenia, Ohio. Shortly thereafter she was taken by a tornado. Joe lived in several foster homes until, at the age of eleven, he was sold into the white slave trade. He ended up in Saudi Arabia where he became a famous camel jockey. When he became too old to race, his master gave him a camel and some water and sent him into the desert. He wandered the dunes for a year until his camel was blown up by a "smart bomb" during the US invasion of Iraq. Joe drifted for years and finally ended up in Europe where he held down several jobs, including the research and writing of this book and work as a paparazzi photographer in France. While in the custody of the Paris police for his part in the crash that killed Lady Di, he suffered a fit brought on by watching a Japanese cartoon, and died.

About this edition

• Publisher: Get Lost Pub
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 9080256102
• ISBN 13: 9789080256101
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 104