Map Addict: A Tale of Obsession, Fudge & the Ordnance Survey [Paperback]

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.

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.

I can't remember how I chanced on this book but thought it was right up my street (pun intended). I am not a map perv but I do like looking at them to the extent that in 1984 I actually 'phoned the OS to tell them they had a mistake on their North Norfolk map where the two bits around Blakeney Point met (on different sheets) - perhaps it was genetic as both my mother and her brother worked for the OS before and after WW2.

The introduction annoyed me with overuse of the word 'rapt'. It was only in there twice but stuck out like a trig point because it's not too common a word. Also throughout the book there are many instances of 'I was sat' 'we were sat' - are all editors and proof readers illiterate these days? The B+W photos within the text are a bit rubbish too.I wasn't particularly keen on his open confession of stealing maps, I think I would have kept that quiet or have been a bit more subtle about it (not sure how though).

Anyway minor gripes apart the first part of the book is great, particularly the chapter about the OS (Parker describes Southampton, home of the OS, as Coventry with Seagulls, which having lived there for over 70% of my life a) made me laugh and b) I thought it was a generous comment to the dump it has become), the French meridian etc - this was what I thought the book was about, great stuff.

However, somewhat ironically, I think Parker loses his map for the latter half or so of the book as it becomes a book about things that might be found on maps rather than the maps themselves, then descends into slagging off guide books, and going on trains around Europe.

He also displays the dichotomy of the 'celeb' which reminded me of Bill Oddie. On one hand here he is with perhaps quite an enviable job of writing and broadcasting yet he gets annoyed when someone spots who he is in a pub and buttonholes him to talk about mining. If you don't want to be recognised then don't do that sort of job!!

I wasn't sure what mentioning his own sexuality added to the book, and this too becomes more and more frequent as the end looms, including the bizarre bit about how one's sexuality determines how good you are at reading maps! I thought the comment at the end of this chapter which says 'Women, I think appreciate maps just as much as men Many are just as good as reading them as we are' was somewhat patronising, although I think there is a little bit of theme of that within the book - I am a map addict and you are not, therefore you are inferior - some of the writing is quite vicious in parts, though also sometimes amusing and entertaining.

I am glad I read this book, overall I enjoyed it and it had some very useful information in it. However I think it could have been better if it had stopped well before the end.