A guide to New York City is only ever useful in the way that a guide to pregnancy is useful: it allows the comforting illusion that you might actually be able to control the experience.

So to those who have not yet taken a bite of the Big Apple, I say go ahead and suck the marrow from every Frommer's, Rough Guide, and Eyewitness volume you can get your hands on, paying particular attention to the lay-of-the-land stuff, such as how to use the subway or navigate Central Park. But repeat visitors, like second-time-around parents, already know there's nothing that can properly prepare them for the ride to come. I say toss all the books, except for these two new offerings. Both interesting in their own right, they're a powerhouse team when taken together, the next-best thing to having a Seinfeld character show you around the neighbourhood.

New York ($22.95) is the first American city in Arsenal's Unknown City alternative-travel series, which aims to deliver "offbeat factoids and surprising anecdotes of interest to locals and travelers alike". This secrets-of-the-city concept is not new in travel writing. Lots of publishers do it; they just don't do it very well. And although much of the competition suffers from uninspired writing and not-so-secret secrets, Brad Dunn and Daniel Hood, two New York journalists, have produced a fresh, funny, and truly off-the-grid guide to a city that runs circles around every other metropolis.

Stuffed under the rather too-broad headings Landmarks & Destinations, Sports & the Outdoors, Dining, Literature & the Arts, Shopping, Media & Entertainment, Nightlife, Notoriety, and Living is a feast of quirky facts (the Statue of Liberty was originally destined for the Suez Canal), brazen rumour (although there are other theories, the authors say the Big Apple moniker came from the city's most famous brothel), and helpful geography (even-numbered one-way streets generally run east). Looking for a taxidermist? You got it. Witchcraft supplies? No problem. Erotic debauchery? It's all here, as well as rather more pedestrian (and likely more useful) information about free walking tours, unusual family outings, and where to find a great slice.

Still, New York is constantly reinventing itself, and any guidebook is out-of-date virtually the minute it's published. No matter: everything that's worth exploring is right there at street level; all you have to do is pick a direction and start hoofing. To do the job right, you need to invest in a pair of good walking shoes and City Walks: New York, 50 Adventures on Foot (Chronicle Books, $22.95), a nifty deck of oversize playing cards that charts 50 self-guided walking adventures through the city's many distinctive neighbourhoods.

Each card depicts a separate area in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx. On one side of the sturdy card is an elegant map of the area in question--Ground Zero, Chelsea, or Harlem, for example--with a suggested hourlong walk marked in red. On the other side is a brief description of the neighbourhood's charms, including relevant landmarks. Each card is numbered and can be cross-referenced with the numbers on a larger foldout map of Manhattan and surrounding boroughs. The card maps are clear, discreet, and portable. Just choose the neighbourhood you want to explore and slip the relevant card into your pocket or purse. This clever, attractive deck (also available is Paris Walks) is turning out to be this season's favourite travel accessory, even among native New Yorkers.