- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Collins (30 April 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007300840
- ISBN-13: 978-0007300846
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 14.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 192,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Map Addict
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Most of all, this is a witty entreaty to leave the satnav in the car, and to head for the hills with the Ordnance Survey." --BBC Country File magazine, June issue
Review
'A highly engaging and thoughtful, haphazard and personal, meander around maps and map-related arcana'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Close, but no cigar,
By
This review is from: Map Addict (Hardcover)
Borrowed the paperback version from the library last week, when it appeared on the "New Books" stand. Having all 204 Landranger maps, some in many different editions, plus loads of the old One Inch OS series, I suppose I could be considered a bit of an addict. So I was really looking forward to reading this.
On the plus side, a lot of it made me smile. I especially enjoyed the story of his friend who knew all the postcode districts and the way the author intimated that the reader would probably be interested in those too. I learnt quite a bit about some of the history and internal politics behind mapping. Enjoyed the section comparing different OS Landranger sheets too. Also for much of the time, the book was hard to put down. However....... Got rather tired with all the "boyfriend and me" stuff. Also all the New Age analysis went rather over my head. I wanted more about maps, rather than the tiresome ramblings that the book took us through in the middle sections. Production wise, the colour section was good, but the black and white illustrations within the text were poorly executed. So three stars from me.
95 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cartophilia!,
By Matthew Gidley (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Map Addict (Hardcover)
Mike Parker, a Rough Guide editor and Welsh-TV travel presenter, has written an enormously and endlessly fascinating book about everything of or pertaining to the British Life of Maps. It's a history, memoir, polemic, paean, psychogeography, and love poem dedicated to the Ordnance Survey map and all things cartographic. And, because Mr Parker is a dryly amusing chap with some fairly cutting observations and insights to share, it's also laugh-out-loud funny in places.
This really is the perfect book for map lovers, and the perfect read for people who didn't even know they cared about maps at all. Written very much from the same stable as books like Cod, Longitude, Salt, The Surgeon of Crowthorne etc, it takes one seemingly small subject and explodes it into something kaleidoscopically fascinating and revealing and inspiring. I couldn't put it down.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book I wish I'd thought to write!,
This review is from: Map Addict (Hardcover)
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Having read it when it was first published and subsequently followed interviews and extracts from the author on BBC Radio 4, I have recently dipped into it again for a few more giggles. It's a rare example of a book which you can read over and over and not get bored of. The subject matter is unusual but the obvious knowledge and enthusiasm of the author makes it appealing even to those who may not be happy to peruse the OS at length. This combined with the witty humour interspersed throughout the text makes for a real page turner. My professional life leaves less time for reading than I would like but I could not put this down until I finished it and am very much looking forward to reading Mike Parker's new book as well. If it's half as good as Map Addict, it'll be worth every penny. Enjoy!
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