Those in urban areas might want to consider a trip to the country where they can see the Perseids  unhampered by city lights. "Rates from rural observing sights should approach and perhaps even surpass 60 Perseids per hour," according to Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society.

Yes, a star a minute. That is, if you can even see them all. When they start to fall like that, it's more like you catch one out of the corner of your eye while watching another one. (When you're watching the Perseids with other people, notice that no one ever says, "Look at that one!" but rather, "Wow! Did you see that one?") That's why the naked eye is perhaps the best instrument with which to view the showers. Telescopes and binoculars just can't be focused that quickly.

Where do all these meteors come from? 

Perseid meteors are particles that are shed from a comet, called the Swift-Tuttle comet. Swift-Tuttle, like all other comets that pass through the inner solar system on their obit around the sun, is slowly deteriorating. According to astronomy columnist Joe Rao, "Over the centuries, the comet's crumbly remains have spread all along the orbit to form a moving river of rubble millions of miles wide and hundreds of millions of miles long." Every August, the orbit of the Earth carries our planet through this stream. When a particle passes through our upper atmosphere, the particle vaporizes, and we see the vapor trail.