Issue 49 of The Portolan included "a critique...and history surrounding
Miles Harvey's recently published book 'The island of lost maps' ", (Jeanne
& Tom Sanders, 2 Jan 2001). Guardian readers will have noticed a review of
the English (as opposed to American) edition of this book in the Saturday
Review books section.
'The island of lost maps: a true story of cartographic crime' has certainly
made my hair stand on end; I work in an academic library where vandalism
and damage to books and periodicals is not unusual (although I hesitate to
use the word 'rife'), as it is, I imagine, in many libraries. Good scary
read: I recommend it to layperson and professional alike.
Also, not new but interesting satirical writing:
"On the impossibility of drawing a map of the Empire on a scale of 1:1" in
'How to travel with a salmon and other stories' by Umberto Eco (1998). A
book of anecdotal stories musing on how to cope with the complexities of
modern life, from an Italian viewpoint. One for the summer holiday,
perhaps.
Julie Hazel
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