The Curious New Yorker: 329 Fascinating Questions and Surprising Answers about New York City

A New Yorker who is not curious?

Rare, indeed. New Yorkers are among the most curious people on the planet. Just ask the staff of the popular "F.Y.I." column in The New York Times. They receive more than a thousand questions each year, asking everything from how Manhattan clam chowder was named to why there are so few rainbows in New York City. Here are 329 of the most intriguing questions and amusing answers about the Big Apple's history, landscape, subways, architecture, laws, and personalities.

Each chapter of The Curious New Yorker offers solutions to some of the city's most confounding enigmas:

"Myths and Mysteries" answers this puzzler: On The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, who is the woman walking arm in arm with the singer, and what Greenwich Village street are they ambling down (page 45)?

"What's in a Name?" explains why Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas (p. 8), and why so many streets in Brooklyn are named after fruits (p. 40).

"Tell It to the Judge" enlightens readers about the small print in New York's laws. Readers will learn if sitting on an apartment building stoop is trespassing (p. 241).

"New York Gazetteer" includes the elusive formula for determining what the nearest cross street is to a numbered address on an avenue.

This is a useful book, packed with hard-to-find facts and lighthearted humor. "F.Y.I." appears every Sunday in the City section of The New York Times.