Francisca Mattéoli
Map Stories: The Art of Discovery
(Ilex, 2015)
This is, in the words of the Preface, “a book that invites the reader on a journey from map to map, to let their imagination run free”. It is a curious collection of historical maps, around which the author tells the stories the places and voyages which gave birth to the maps.
Now I love maps, and I love stories of history and the discovery of new worlds. However I found this a very difficult book to engage with, for a number of reasons.
- While I love maps I do find old, multi-coloured, shaded maps with tiny print/calligraphy difficult and off-putting.
- The stories I dipped into didn’t engage me; I found them dull; which is in part down to the author’s style.
- The stories major heavily on the Americas and SE Asia. Europe hardly gets a look in.
- This is a large, oversize, atlas-sized book; and quite heavy. It needs to be to make the most of the maps. But this does make it almost impossible to read in bed.
As a consequence I did no more than leaf through the book and dip into it from time to time. I just found it was asking too much of me, especially when I was reading it late at night in bed. I’m sure I’m missing a lot, and I may well return to it in due course – it would be a shame not to.
Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆