I didn’t plan for Reading Independent Publishers Month, but it seems I have at least one book that fits the challenge, this one!
Update: It turns out that Particular Books is an imprint of Penguin/Random House, so this book doesn’t qualify for #ReadIndies after all!
I have to say that it’s seldom I get so much enjoyment from a nonfiction book. I found this one original and really interesting.
Born in East Germany, Judith Schalansky explains that she got interested in maps because she thought she would never be able to travel. For our enjoyment, she has put together this atlas of some of the most remote islands in the world.
Starting with end papers showing the world map and each island’s location, she arranges the sections by ocean. For each island, the first two pages show its data—name, ownership, size, and number of residents. Then its distance is shown from three other locations to give a sense of how isolated it is. Then there is a timeline of a few events related to the island. On the opposite page is a topographical map.
On the next two pages is a story about the island. This may be anything from a description of how desolate it is to a description of a native custom, an ecological disaster, or some other event.
The edition is lovely, with its orange cover, its edges turquoise, the color used on the maps for water.
It’s not often that I find a book interesting enough to read passages out loud to my husband, but the poor guy had to listen to several from this book.
What? Me Read? 