The London Bible: A Guide to Living and Working in the Capital (Summersdale travel) [Paperback]

The London Bible begins with THE BASICS, chapters that concisely and clearly explain all you need to know about 1) ACCOMMODATION (how letting agencies work, types of properties, postcode areas, council tax, bills, bond etc...) 2) RECRUITMENT AND MONEY (jobs, agencies, C.V.s, salaries, tax, how to open a bank account etc...) 3) TRANSPORT (how to navigate the tube!, fares, travelcards, buses, taxis etc...) 4) HEALTH (how to sign up with a doctor, how the NHS works, prescriptions, dentists etc...) 5) EDUCATION (universities, colleges, financial support, overseas students, language schools etc...) 6) COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA (getting a telephone & cell phone, newspapers, TV and the dreaded TV license etc...) 7) SHOPPING (where, what, sizes, budget shopping, cheap haircuts etc...) and then a few chapters on some other basics. I was very, very pleased with these sections as I just wanted to know easily how to do things. It's tough arriving in London - you have no idea where to start just to get a doctor. But this book says in plain and simple terms exactly what you should do. About a third of the book is devoted to all of this, yet it isn't rambling. Just a bit of background and then what to do to sort yourself out. Perfect. Exactly what I needed.

The second section of the book is...ENTERTAINMENT! Arriving in London was daunting - with so many clubs, bars, and places to go out I had no idea where to start at first. Luckily the book told me about the best clubs to try, where to go to see bands/theatre/galleries/soccer etc... I'm an Aussie and I'm enamored with all the history of London. Now I know where to go to drink in Charles Dickens' favourite pub (and where his favourite seat was!), I know which underground club has seen Muddy Waters, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols, and the White Stripes all grace the stage and now hosts all manner of up-and-coming bands. I know where to go to see the works of Andy Warhol, Monet, and Van Gogh. And...I now know about the soccer teams and how to go to see them.

The third section of the book, AREAS, was extremely helpful when I started looking for somewhere to live after the youth hostel. London is massive. Looking at the listings for flatshares I had no idea what was a good or bad area and the book was very helpful with this. It gives an overview of the major areas and describes the differences (ie. Hoxton is trendy and bohemian, the City is dead at the weekends, and Hampstead is posh and leafy). Reading through the Areas chapters I was able to decide which neighborhoods I wanted to live in and then center my flatshare searches to those places. The added bonus of having the best pubs, bars, and restaurants per area was great because then I knew where to go out when I checked out the flats!

This is a long and rambling review, but I just wanted to let everyone who is coming to London, or has just arrived, know that this book really helped me to settle in easily, move to a cool flatshare in a neighborhood that I love, get a job in the media thanks to the agency listing, and to discover some fantastic bars and clubs - who knows, without it I might still be in the youth hostel, temping at a job I hated, and going to lame backpacker bars. Instead I'm making the most out of London. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone trying to settle into London.

Half of the book is a description of some boroughs. For each borough, ashort one-page introduction is included, followed by listings ofrestaurants, bars, late-night, entertainment, pizza-deliveries etc.

The other half of the book contains chapters about Sport, Entertainment,Nightlife etc. There are only a few chapters about more serious topicslike Transport, Communications and Accomodation.

So if you are going to London to have fun, this is the book for you. Butif you want to live and work there, try some of the other books aboutthis topic.