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coruscant's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
1.5
Atlas of Vanishing Places takes us on a journey around the globe, documenting places Lost (or perhaps soon to be). Elborough splits the book into four sections: Ancient Cities, Forgotten Lands, Shrinking Places, and Threatened Worlds. Unsurprisingly, given the modest page count, AoVP is very much designed as an introductory text. While understandable, I think the book suffers for it throughout. There are some highlights to be found and most of these are among the meatier of the sparing chapters (e.g. Xanadu).
I found the opening section on Ancient Cities to be the most enjoyable passage and struggled at parts thereafter. The tone shifts chapter-to-chapter with some chapters adopting a rather conversational narrative and others presented as academic text. The treatment of the different locales was unsubtle to say least and I found this really detracted from the book.
All of this said, the book contains some stunning maps created by Martin Brown and I did find the book an attractive read in that sense. I think, with a lot more editing, there is a much more informative and enjoyable book between the two covers that highlights the startling impermanence of the world around us. In its current published state I would not recommend this book.
I found the opening section on Ancient Cities to be the most enjoyable passage and struggled at parts thereafter. The tone shifts chapter-to-chapter with some chapters adopting a rather conversational narrative and others presented as academic text. The treatment of the different locales was unsubtle to say least and I found this really detracted from the book.
All of this said, the book contains some stunning maps created by Martin Brown and I did find the book an attractive read in that sense. I think, with a lot more editing, there is a much more informative and enjoyable book between the two covers that highlights the startling impermanence of the world around us. In its current published state I would not recommend this book.
veecaswell's review against another edition
4.0
I love books like this, where something that is lost brought back to life in a small way, and 'Atlas Of Vanishing Places' certainly is the perfect book if you also love that kind of thing too.
Filled with incredible photos and profiles of different places around the world, there are places in this book I thought were practically mythical they seem so unreal yet these entries give you a great insight into these missing places and the photos really allow you to see what you've missed and where these places are in the world today.
Really bringing to life these places for you, the photography is so good in this book, particularly the photos of Xanadu and Helike really are incredible and I would also recommend the profiles in the section about Shrinking Places, particularly the chapter on The Everglades, which is just depressing that somewhere like that could disappear entirely one day. (Not to mention that chapter on Venice.)
A really interesting and fascinating book that really explores some incredible places, I'd highly recommend this book for anyone with a love of travel and the curious.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review).
Filled with incredible photos and profiles of different places around the world, there are places in this book I thought were practically mythical they seem so unreal yet these entries give you a great insight into these missing places and the photos really allow you to see what you've missed and where these places are in the world today.
Really bringing to life these places for you, the photography is so good in this book, particularly the photos of Xanadu and Helike really are incredible and I would also recommend the profiles in the section about Shrinking Places, particularly the chapter on The Everglades, which is just depressing that somewhere like that could disappear entirely one day. (Not to mention that chapter on Venice.)
A really interesting and fascinating book that really explores some incredible places, I'd highly recommend this book for anyone with a love of travel and the curious.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review).
idicalini's review
4.0
Well-researched book full of interesting places, anecdotes, and beautiful photos. This was fun to read, except for the places that are threatened by climate change (though of course those should be included too).
valchafia's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
An alright book. Could have used a bit more editing (e.g.The Ciudad Pérdida bit had the wrong name for one of the groups it referred to). Definitely a Eurocentric view of the world. Often felt like cultures outside of the white Eurocentric or western areas were characterized as “other”.
xavibas's review against another edition
2.0
It all starts promising: an Atlas of places that are disappearing, an opportunity to register them forever and at least save them perhaps not from destruction but from oblivion.
However, and this is something I didn’t pick up until half of the book, there is a great disparity on how locations are portrayed.
On one side of the coin, you can find landscapes, towns in the US, UK and Australia where people open a window into a personal experience of the place: where they landed, where they lived, where they imagined another world, where they battled or planted a flag.
On the other side of the coin, you’ll discover places that despite being built by humans, seem deserted, almost (as wild) as landscapes themselves. And this is precisely because they are empty of people or their experiences, as if they appeared on earth by magic.
It makes me think of the old British and French explorers who would understand alien folklore, culture and technology as minor expressions of a “lesser culturally advanced” human, de-personalising them, removing any agency and authorship.
This is somewhat problematic at present. Its flavour with hints of a moment in time when colonisation not only predated “uncharted” and apparently “uninhabited” territory, but also was the seed of a common cultural Western concept of the world, the richnesses of which could be sucked as an “oyster”, because no-one would claim them.
And the bibliography that is appended at the end confirms this suspicion. Amongst all the references, which are part of an English speaking world (let’s just remind ourselves that is not the totality of the planet) there are merely about 3 books translated from other languages.
The universality required to tackle the task of building an atlas should at least try to reach for global and diverse sources. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
However, and this is something I didn’t pick up until half of the book, there is a great disparity on how locations are portrayed.
On one side of the coin, you can find landscapes, towns in the US, UK and Australia where people open a window into a personal experience of the place: where they landed, where they lived, where they imagined another world, where they battled or planted a flag.
On the other side of the coin, you’ll discover places that despite being built by humans, seem deserted, almost (as wild) as landscapes themselves. And this is precisely because they are empty of people or their experiences, as if they appeared on earth by magic.
It makes me think of the old British and French explorers who would understand alien folklore, culture and technology as minor expressions of a “lesser culturally advanced” human, de-personalising them, removing any agency and authorship.
This is somewhat problematic at present. Its flavour with hints of a moment in time when colonisation not only predated “uncharted” and apparently “uninhabited” territory, but also was the seed of a common cultural Western concept of the world, the richnesses of which could be sucked as an “oyster”, because no-one would claim them.
And the bibliography that is appended at the end confirms this suspicion. Amongst all the references, which are part of an English speaking world (let’s just remind ourselves that is not the totality of the planet) there are merely about 3 books translated from other languages.
The universality required to tackle the task of building an atlas should at least try to reach for global and diverse sources. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
van_worldexplorer's review
4.0
Easy read for people who want to learn more about different places around the world. I wish the pictures had been in color because the nature of them was kind of lost in black and white. Loved how short and sweet it was!
lagadema's review against another edition
5.0
As a lover of history, I simply had to read this book. I was drawn from reading the synopsis. It was a pleasure reading about places I know and those who have sadly vanished by now. Photos and maps in it were very helpful and a big plus to the "stories" The stories kept my attention, and I liked that the author included places from all around the world, known and some that I never heard of before so I had a chance to "travel from my reading nook" and visit them