Map Addict
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Review
'Mike Parker offers an exhilarating celebration of the humble map.' Mail on Sunday 'Excellent book,' Daily Telegraph 'This eclectic, funny and warm book should be on the shelves of everyone who has spent hours staring at a map.' The Great Outdoors 'a witty entreaty to leave the satnav in the car, and to head for the hills with the Ordnance Survey.' BBC Country File magazine 'a highly engaging and thoughtful, haphazard and personal, meander around maps and map-related arcane.' Daily Mail 'Parker makes his view of cartography both interesting and funny.' Choice magazine 'a funny, observant and genuinely interesting book.' Adventure Travel 'As you'd expect, given Mike's legendary wit, this is a book that's well worth a read.' Midland Zone 'In fact, it is a sense of mischievousness that makes this book quite charming.' South Wales Argus 'Nerdy it might seem, but the author's humour and historical knowledge of mad map makers, visionary breakthroughs and a deep love of exploration make this little book a treat.' Royston Crow 'Parker uses his own experience to add warmth and humour to a topic that may not, at first glance, appear enticing to the average reader. Accessible and entertaining.' Country & Border Life 'Parker proves a witty and engaging guide' Guardian
Review
‘Mike Parker offers an exhilarating celebration of the humble map.’ Mail on Sunday
‘Excellent book,’ Daily Telegraph
‘This eclectic, funny and warm book should be on the shelves of everyone who has spent hours staring at a map.’ The Great Outdoors
‘a witty entreaty to leave the satnav in the car, and to head for the hills with the Ordnance Survey.’ BBC Country File magazine
‘a highly engaging and thoughtful, haphazard and personal, meander around maps and map-related arcane.’ Daily Mail
‘Parker makes his view of cartography both interesting and funny.’ Choice magazine
‘a funny, observant and genuinely interesting book.’ Adventure Travel
‘As you'd expect, given Mike's legendary wit, this is a book that's well worth a read.’ Midland Zone
‘In fact, it is a sense of mischievousness that makes this book quite charming.’ South Wales Argus
‘Nerdy it might seem, but the author's humour and historical knowledge of mad map makers, visionary breakthroughs and a deep love of exploration make this little book a treat.’ Royston Crow
‘Parker uses his own experience to add warmth and humour to a topic that may not, at first glance, appear enticing to the average reader. Accessible and entertaining.’ Country & Border Life
‘Parker proves a witty and engaging guide’ Guardian
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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.
94 of 104 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I almost didn't buy this book because of some of the reviews on here, but after finding it on a friend's bookshelf and getting hooked when browsing I'm glad I finally did get it.
No, the book is not a complete history of maps - it is a conversational book filled with interesting and unusual facts and stories about all kinds of maps, from OS to A-Z. Yes, some of the chapters do seem to have a bit of a tenuous link to mapping (I struggled to see the relevance of chapter 7: Carto Erotica in particular), but that doesn't make them any less interesting. As for the 'travels with the boyfriend' that many reviewers have marked the book down on, I hardly noticed the references and certainly didn't feel like the book became a personal travel diary.
If you want a really good and light-hearted read, and perhaps to learn something into the bargain, I'd definitely recommend this book. If, however, you want an academically sound history of cartography then this book probably isn't for you.
No, the book is not a complete history of maps - it is a conversational book filled with interesting and unusual facts and stories about all kinds of maps, from OS to A-Z. Yes, some of the chapters do seem to have a bit of a tenuous link to mapping (I struggled to see the relevance of chapter 7: Carto Erotica in particular), but that doesn't make them any less interesting. As for the 'travels with the boyfriend' that many reviewers have marked the book down on, I hardly noticed the references and certainly didn't feel like the book became a personal travel diary.
If you want a really good and light-hearted read, and perhaps to learn something into the bargain, I'd definitely recommend this book. If, however, you want an academically sound history of cartography then this book probably isn't for you.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A wasted opportunity
Great title, great material, great idea - but what a total waste of a good concept.
It's never a good start when your author boasts about stealing - and it all went... Read more
It's never a good start when your author boasts about stealing - and it all went... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pendrifter
A dissapointing
I have enjoyed looking at, reading and collecting maps for many years and I really enjoyed the BBC series on maps and the exhibition at the British Library, so I thought this would... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Yorkshire Fiction
A cartographical cacophony
Before reading this, I considered myself a bit of a map aficionado, as I can spend hours just looking through all the details of a walk before even setting foot outside the door. Read more
Published 5 months ago by S. Meadows
A good read!
I know that the author's style may not be to everybody's taste but as a self-confessed map addict myself, I found this a really enjoyable read.
Published 7 months ago by G. May
Map Addict Book Review
Bought this book as a present for my wife, who is in to maps. She liked it, but somehow in the transaction i ended up with 2 ! Read more
Published 9 months ago by B. Paterson
The book I wish I'd thought to write!
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... Read more
Published 12 months ago by jorichardson
Map Addict, A great read.
I bought a copy of this for myself, and then a little later another copy for a Friends Birthday. Anyone with an interest in Maps or Cartography will really enjoy dipping in and out... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Ken
Like the Curate's egg, good in parts
A good read for those of us who like maps and are interested in learning more about their history and tangentially-linked information. Read more
Published 14 months ago by GregMercator
An enjoyable journey
I was lent this book by colleague, and although I forget the discussion that prompted it, she could obviously tell that I had some aspect of map addict about me. Read more
Published 15 months ago by ThingsFindoThinks
Map Addict - a short review
I'm not a map addict, but I am addicted to books about places and this seemed only a narrow departure. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mr. A. Coates
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