Products of imagination
and human error, the 20
islands featured in this
elegantly illustrated book
are places of rumour and
poetry, myth and legend.
Historically organised,
they act as stepping stones
through time, revealing
how our attitudes
to islands have
changed over the
centuries. There is
the familiar, such as
Atlantis, of course, but
also places such as Kibu,
where the souls of Torres
Strait islanders’ dead were said
to travel to; and the island of Brasil... just off
the west coast of Ireland. This is a fairytale
atlas, fittingly illustrated with
full-colour drawings by Katie
Scott (known for Animalium,
a recent museum-like book of
illustrated animals).
It’s a joy to island-hop through
— with the giant tentacles of
a ruby-red octopus reaching
across two pages, here, and a
horned narwhal and scaly sea
serpent swimming across a
The natural reader...
THE MAN WHO ATE THE ZOO
BY RICHARD GIRLING
A rollicking biography of
Frank Buckland, a predecessor
of Darwin. Buckland was a
renegade scientist, journalist
and unofficial zookeeper. His
house a menagerie, his drawing
room a vet’s practice and his
dining room...
well, let’s just say
it was a surreal
Victorian scene
from which few
got out alive.
Chatto & Windus
(RRP: £17.99).THE JANUARY MAN
BY CHRISTOPHER SOMERVILLE
This is one of the most
elaborate walkers’ diaries
yet. A meditative homage
to landscapes present and
past, Somerville (walking
correspondent for The Times),
tramps a calendar through the
British Isles, observing
seasonal changes,
topical peculiarities
and creatures great
and small, following
some 140,000 miles of
footpaths. Doubleday
(RRP: £14.99).COLDER
BY RANULPH FIENNES
An illustrated account of
the great explorer’s chillier
expeditions, this edition of
Ranulph Fiennes’ memoirs
comes complete with personal
photographs, maps and
diary notes of his Arctic and
Antarctic adventures. This is
a vivid window not only into
the polar explorer’s numerous
achievements but also into parts
of the natural world most of us
have never experienced.
Simon & Schuster
(RRP: £25.00).ISLANDS OF
THE MIND
The Un-Discovered Islands by Malachy Tallack delves into
our collective imagination, to uncover those isles that
have only existed in myth and fanciful mapspage, there. After wowing the world with
Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in
Search of Home last year, Tallack’s second
book is shaped by the same clear, sharp
prose and keen curiosity.
In spirit, it feels delightfully childlike
but it’s anything but childish, packed full
of intelligent musings on everything from
religion to astronomy, alchemy to the occult.
The Un-Discovered Islands also does a wry job
of revealing the hubris of early exploration,
the epitome of which has to be Frisland, an
Atlantic island claimed for the crown by one
Dr John Dee, courtier to Queen Elizabeth I.
The fact that the place only existed in tales
from Venetian sailors meant little to Dee.
The good doctor claimed Frisland, along with
the entire Atlantic region, should be ruled by
Britain. For it was believed that that Welsh
prince Madog ab Owain Gwynedd, had made
it to America three centuries
before Columbus’s journey
of 1492. You couldn’t map it
up. But they did — Frisland
was a common presence in
cartography until well into the
17th century.
The Un-Discovered Islands by
Malachy Tallack is published
by Polygon Books (RRP: £14.99).
SARAH BARRELLThe collection
A unique book offering (so far)
with 800 images, Life on Instagram
is a selection of wild, vibrant
and downright weird images
pieced together as a worldview
by Penguin Press art director, Jim
Soddart. Particular Books.
(RRP: £20.00).The art a�las
The Vincent van Gogh Atlas is a
pictorial guide into the artist’s life,
work and extensive world travels,
through Europe from ‘Z to A’.
Yale University Press (RRP: £16.99).The Aquarium
The third in the best-selling
colouring book series that
featured The Menagerie and The
Aviary: colour majestic marine
creatures from parrotfish to
spotted stingray.
LOM ART (RRP: £9.99).The podcast
The Holy Grail of left-field
interview podcasts: Adam
Buxton has one of his ‘ramble
chats’ with Michael Palin (ep. 28).
They talk travel writing (Buxton’s
father was an esteemed travel
editor), plus sunsets, Margaret
Thatcher’s parlous misuse of the
Dead Parrot sketch and George
Harrison’s love of Monty Python.
adam-buxton.co.ukWISE WORDS
November 2016 41THE WORD // SMART TRAVELLER