PICK OF THE WEEK
“Atlas of World History”
(DK Publishing, $50 hardcover)
A book is the nearest thing we have to time travel. No offense to television and the movies, but books engage the imagination, the self, in ways that other visual media cannot. This book not only takes you to different times, but also to several places at once. For instance, in a single two-page spread its photographs visit the battlefield at Carthage, the Roman Pantheon and China’s Terra-Cotta Warriors. Added to that ensemble are an explanation on the creation of milestones, the art of Andean pottery, the growing influence of Indian culture in Southeast Asia and time lines for every inhabited continent, all scattered around a global map that pinpoints where these things existed. And that’s just a look at the world from 250 B.C.E. to 1 C.E. (Before the Common Era/Common Era). More than 280 other history-packed pages are all over the map and all across the ages. Items include a 90-year-old cartoon lampooning the rivalry between Robert Peary and Frederick Cook as to who was first to the North Pole; the location of the major Hollywood studios in 1919; the great mud-brick mosque at Jenne, Mali, built in the 1300s; the boundaries of enormous lake Mega Chad that 8,000 years ago filled much of the Chad basin, most of which is covered by the Sahara Desert; a picture of Bolivian machine-gunners wearing gas masks in action against Paraguay in 1934; the first Mickey Mouse, in black and white. Another 60 pages are reserved for indexes. The book walks a line of political correctness — with the occasional stumble, as in this description of Martin Frobisher’s 1576 foray from England to Labrador’s Baffin Bay: “Several of his crew were killed in an encounter with hostile Inuit.” Yet, when so many volumes have concentrated on the political and/or military past, it’s refreshing to see one that sets those events in their social and cultural environments. Better still to visit those times through pages that are colorful, well-designed and easy to read. And unlike physical travel, you can return home or depart again any time you want.
(ISBN 0-7894-4609-X)
POCKET GUIDES
“Sydney Condensed”
(Lonely Planet, $9.95)
Proof that the world is getting smaller: Sydney, Paris and New York City have just been condensed. New size: 4 by 7 inches. This is not the Lonely Planet of old, long on type and short of pictures. In these 128 pages are enough photos, maps and information insets, enough boldface type and cute little symbols, that with a little imagination it could masquerade as a Web page. The Sydney title may be a quick study, but it covers the Aussie city from the Sydney Opera House to alternative shopping at Drag Bag, suggests everything from day trips — the one to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains seems popular — to where to buy Aboriginal art. And it still finds space to map out walking tours, such as the four-hour haul from Manly Cove to the Spit Bridge. By the way, the suggested retail price is one of the lowest in the travel genre. As long as the world’s getting smaller, it’s just as well the price tags are too.
(ISBN 1-86450-045-X)
“Naples in Your Pocket”
(Michelin Travel Publications, $9.95)
From the islands off Pozzuoli to the Amalfi Coast, a trip to those lands surrounding the Bay of Naples will yield more Italy per square inch than any other region of the country. I’d never have thought that, though, if this book hadn’t convinced me. In just 128 pages, measuring 4 by 6 inches, here’s history as old as the ruins at Pompeii, geography as violent as Mt. Vesuvius, excursions as enticing as the boat ride into Capri’s Blue Grotto, architecture as gravity defying as the pastel cottages clinging to Positano’s cliffsides. Color photos show craggy islands, peacock-blue horizons, crimson sunsets, lapping waves, quiet gardens, proud monuments — all accompanied by directions on how to find those places yourself.
(ISBN 2-06-653301-7)
NICHE MARKET
“The Underground Guide to New York City Subways”
(St. Martin Griffin, $19.95)
You have to wonder what sort of a world we live in when Lonely Planet can fit an entire city like Sydney in 128 pages, but it takes St. Martin Griffin 400 pages to cover the New York subways, and with no pictures, yet. In fact, this book’s greatest failing is that its only visual element is a map of the subway system, crowded onto two pages in shades of gray. That’s a pity, not only because the type is so minuscule the map is useless, but also because author Dave Frattini spun the best phrase of the book in describing the map’s “overflow of colors and curves, resembling a Crayola-configured cardiovascular chart.” Subway lines are grouped geographically, then each station is described in terms of its decor, cleanliness, safety, surrounding neighborhoods and nearby points of interest. But there’s a question as to just how practical this information is for the casual tourist. Who but a native New Yorker is equipped to interpret this comment regarding the N Line stop at Ditmars and 31st, Astoria, Queens? “Nearby: Rikers Island, so check yourself!” Prepare to be numbed by the liberal use of words such as “quaint,” “unique,” “charming,” “interesting” — scarcely a stop is described without them. It’s an odd vocabulary for a man who admits to a personal fondness for the Astor Place-Manhattan platform because “it remains a haven for chicks of all sorts.” Maybe the author has spent a little too much time in New York’s subways — and his publisher a few too many pages on the subject.
(ISBN 0-312-253-84-2)
