While this book provides a large number of listings about the local parks and other places, there are serious flaws. First of all, there are no maps (!), and directions are minimal or missing from most listings. Second, a lot of the descriptions contain more details about the author's dogs than about the places they visited, which is fun, but largely unhelpful. Finally, a lot of the information is out of date (although that's par for the course with any guidebook). As a resident of Chicago, I found it only slightly useful. I think a visitor to the city would have a hard time using it at all.