London: A Personal Field Guide

London is not a single city. It is a sprawling collection of villages that grew into each other, and the visitors who fight its pace lose to it. This is a field guide in the literal sense, built to be used on the street.

Written from the mistakes, the four hour British Museum collapse included, it targets the Tower of London at opening time and the museum by its greatest hits, eats the bacon naan at Dishoom and the cheese toastie under the Borough Market arches, drinks by candlelight at Gordon's Wine Bar, and arms you against phone snatchers and the cup and ball gangs of Westminster Bridge.

Inside the guide:

• The heavy hitters: the Tower, the British Museum, Westminster, the Churchill War Rooms and St Paul's

• Where to eat: Dishoom, E Pellicci, Borough Market, pie and mash, Sunday roasts and Beigel Bake at 2 AM

• Where to drink: Gordon's Wine Bar, The Churchill Arms, Fleet Street history and Soho cocktails

• Where to stay by budget and neighborhood, plus photo spots with their light, from Primrose Hill to the Sky Garden

• Watch Out: candy shops, petition scammers, fake ticket inspectors and pedicab ambushes, plus itineraries for 1, 3 and 5 days

18 full-color photographs, 7 wide panoramics among them: London, walked village by village.