Book excerpt: While it may seem that every possible attraction in New York City has been written about, Off the Beaten (Subway) Track is the city’s first guide to focus on one hundred unique, off-the-beaten-path destinations. Some are small museums, some are historic places long forgotten, some are stores that sell only odd things, and some are distinguished for their claim to fame as the world’s largest/smallest whatever. All of them are notable for the passion with which their proprietors and curators care for them, and all of them can be visited via the subway system as Suzanne Reisman directs you to which of the city’s 486 subway stations will get you closest. These attractions are the types of places and things that not only fit perfectly with the New Yorker’s psyche and ego but also satisfy a tourist’s desire to see the unusual. For example, the Big Apple is home to the world’s tallest Doric column, the world’s largest armory, the world’s largest cathedral, and the world’s largest Reform synagogue. The city also has a troll museum, a numismatic museum, a skyscraper museum, doll and toy museums, and a museum of comic and cartoon art. In many cases, half the fun of visiting these places is getting to meet the people behind them. Organized geographically to help you to explore the culture and diversity of the city’s great neighborhoods, Off the Beaten (Subway) Track offers venues in Manhattan (Lower, Middle, and Upper), Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. Also included in many of the entries are nearby places of interest within walking distance that you might also want to visit while you’re in the neighborhood.