The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime

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The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 1,096 ratings · 199 reviews

The Island of Lost Maps tells the story of a curious crime spree: the theft of scores of valuable centuries-old maps from some of the most prominent research libraries in the United States and Canada. The perpetrator was Gilbert Joseph Bland, Jr., an enigmatic antiques dealer from South Florida, whose cross-country slash-and-dash operation had gone virtually undetected unt...more

Paperback, 404 pages

Published September 4th 2001 by Broadway (first published January 1st 2000)

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Dec 28, 2012 Peter Macinnis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: librarians, scholars, booklovers

Shelves: science, literature

In June 2002, I arrived in Worcester, Massachusetts, where the courteous natives felt impelled to tell me that it was pronounced Wooster -- as though it would be anything else! (We Australians know and use the English pronunciation of such places.)

There I entered the Goddard Library to get my paws on Robert Goddard's papers, and I was given firm instructions as to how I would sit, in relation to the librarian's desk. So I said brightly "You've read 'The Island of Lost Maps', haven't you?"

The lib...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Map lovers called Wanda

Recommended to Bettie by: Gerry

Shelves: published-2001, paper-read, books-about-books-and-book-shops, cover-love, true-grime, nonfiction, library-in-norway, one-penny-wonder, autumn-2012, skim-through, art-forms, history, mythology

My isbn: 029784234x

Dedication:
TO BOB; TINKER; AND MATTHEW
THE MAPS

TO RENGIN AND AZIZE
THE DESTINATIONS

Quote:

It is not down on any map;
true places never are.

Herman Melville, 'Moby Dick'

Opening: Explorers pin maps to their walls; journalists tape stories to theirs. For both, doing so is a way of getting their bearings.

At just over 400 pages, this is too lengthy for an in depth read so it is a skimestable tome.

Shakespeare once used the term mappery to describe the passionate study of chart or map.

N...more My isbn: 029784234x

Dedication:
TO BOB; TINKER; AND MATTHEW
THE MAPS

TO RENGIN AND AZIZE
THE DESTINATIONS

Quote:

It is not down on any map;
true places never are.

Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia and lose myself in all the glories of exploration. At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map (but they all look that way) I would put my finger on it and say, "When I grow up I will go there." Joseph Conrad 'Heart of Darkness'

Although Blumberg's collection was worth up to $20 million, he never sold a single book. Mr. Bland, on the other hand...

George Peabody Library, Baltimore

Chapter 2 - Imaginary Creatures is a hoot
Chp 3 - The Map Mogul
Chp 4 An Approaching Storm
Chp 5 - How to make a map, how to take a map
Chp 6 - The Invisible Crime Spree

Chp 7 - A Brief History of Cartographic Crime - interesting
Chp 8 - Pathfinding
Chp 9 - The Waters of Paradise
Chp 10 - The Joy of Discovery
Chp 11 - THE TITULAR STORY - The Island of Lost Maps

California as an island:

Dürer 1515

Name dropping section:

Houtman Brothers
Mercator
Henry the Navigator
Pedro Álvares Cabral - first european to sight Brazil
Vasco da Gama
Gilbert Bland Jr alias James Perry
Stephen Carrie Blumberg
Christopher Columbus
Hartmann Schedal
Johannes Ruysch
Henry Hudson
Sir Walter Raleigh
Antonia Pigafetta
Ferdinand Magellan
Jodocus Hondius
Willem Janszoon Blaeu
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Marco Polo
Kublai Khan
Martin Frobisher
Abraham Cresques
Martin Behaim

Books mentioned section:

(Add book/author button broken :O/)

Who Was Who In World Exploration by Carl Waldman, Alan Wexler
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Neverland by Steven Frimmer
Did Marco Polo Go to China by Frances Wood
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
Alice in Wonderland
The Clue In The Embers by Franklin W. Dixon
Treasure Island RLS
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde RLS
The Last of the Mohicans JFC
The Sea Lions JFC
Treasure of the Sierra Madre B travern
The Nature of Maps by Petchenik and Robinson
Brave New World Huxley

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Oct 11, 2011 Lori rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, history, true-crime

Nothing ruins a good book more than an author confusing his quest to find the story with "the story."

This book is best when Harvey is relating actual events. He includes several true stories about map thefts or about cartographers that I found interesting because 1. their affect on historical events is obvious, and 2. the stories are generally unknown to the average reader. There are some great stories in the first half of this book.

But there is far too much philosophizing in this book, especial...more Nothing ruins a good book more than an author confusing his quest to find the story with "the story."

This book is best when Harvey is relating actual events. He includes several true stories about map thefts or about cartographers that I found interesting because 1. their affect on historical events is obvious, and 2. the stories are generally unknown to the average reader. There are some great stories in the first half of this book.

But there is far too much philosophizing in this book, especially toward the end when there is really nothing left to tell about Gilbert Bland or the maps he stole. Harvey admits there was nothing left to tell. In light of this, it would seem that the book should have come to an end. But that is not what happens. Instead, the plot shifts to Harvey's journey to *find* more to tell. And so we are left to read about all the parallels he draws between: himself and Gilbert Bland; his quest and that of another early explorer or cartographer(and another; and then another; and then probably a few more;) his quest and that of Gilbert Bland; the psychological profiles of past thieves and Gilbert Bland; the results of his mother's childhood trauma and that of Gilbert Bland (really?) - (do I need to keep going?)

It seems, in the second half of the book, that Harvey found meaning in everything. He needed to tell us about his unplanned 100 miles-out-of-the-way trek to a town called Eldorado. The map told him to go. (I don't get it either...) And even though the trek failed to garner any new information about the story he was researching, it had some sort of romantic meaning to him, so we get to read about it in the book. (Snoooooooore.)

In relating all of these events, Harvey kept taking this circuitous route, whereby he interrupted the current flow of the text to go off and describe the meaning he found from the [fill in the blank.] I'm all for some of that. But it was overdone and often fruitless because it rarely advanced the story.

I didn't even know what he was talking about by the end. Birds had meaning. Rockets had meaning. Satellites had meaning. I just couldn't stomach it anymore. The book was suddenly about everything. I just wanted it to end.

You might think that the moral of this would be: don't steal maps. But the real moral of the story is this: a story that doesn't end the way you want won't become any more interesting by inserting yourself as the main character. (less)

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Feb 11, 2011 Joe rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-and-geography, select-titles

As a cartomaniac, a librarian, and a history lover myself, this book seemed to be just the ticket for me. I loved the digressions into the science of maps, notable historic maps, mapmakers, historic map thieves, explorers, map collectors and the map trade.
However, I found the story of the map thief to be about as bland as the thief's own name. In fact, the author takes pains to illustrate that thief is a personification of his own name. His is a story not worthy of telling, except as a caution...more

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May 08, 2007 Lucy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: libraries-archives-museums, the-mile

"For him that steals, or borrows and returns not, a book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw at his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not. And when at last he goes to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him for ever."
Library of the San Pedro M...more

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Oct 20, 2007 daniela rated it 5 of 5 stars

I bought the book for a few reasons:
- I liked the cover.
- I like Islands.
- I like maps.
- I like some true stories.
- It seemed totally random.

Highly recommended because even if you like none of the above reasons, you will still love reading it. Yay cartography!

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Oct 02, 2007 Deb Hale rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: travel-writing and mystery fans

I read this book while working for the AP in Chicago in 2000. I learned that the first-time novelist, Miles Harvey, lived in Chicago and set out to interview him in one of my own favorite places in the city -- the venerable Newberry Library, where he did much of his research for this non-fiction work. Along the way, I got to see and touch a map from the 1500s. So what? It turns out these old maps are quite valuable, and the prolific map thief whom Harvey writes about realized that and worked qui...more

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Apr 17, 2007 Corey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Toted as the story of a cartographic criminal, Miles Harvey takes his time telling that story while interspersing the tale with mildly related essays on travel, books, people obsessed with their particular specialty and, as always, a love of antique maps. Since so little is known about the actual cartographic criminal, Harvey's travels across America to get ever-closer to the elusive thief provide just as interesting a narrative as if he were telling the thief's story.

The main story is fascinati...more

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Apr 23, 2008 JulieK rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: archives-museums

This is the story of Gilbert Bland, who was arrested after stealing historic maps from libraries all over North America. The author talks about how the popularity of eBay and the Antiques Roadshow is putting archival collections in more danger, as interest in -- and prices for -- old documents, maps, books, and so on continue to rise. He also claims that some libraries refused to admit they had anything stolen, presumably so as not to frighten off potential donors. However, this meant that they...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, but it is a weird little tome. You may or may not have heard about the crime spree that inspired it--odds are you didn't, since I think the only major news outlet that covered it was NPR and I listen to NPR all the time. Of course this was back in the late 1990s.

Nonetheless, it's a strange subject for a book--and indeed, the book's subject seems to drift around a lot. Is it about old maps? Map-collecting and map collectors? Gilbert Bland (the thief in question)? Or is it abo...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Mitch rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographical

I suppose I was warned. After all, it says right in the title that this is a true STORY.

Our intrepid journalist started out to track down information so he could write an article about some faceless guy who was caught making off with valuable old maps he'd razored free from rare books housed in a special university reading room.

Over time, said intrepid journalist becomes obsessed just shy of stalking, and he amasses enough info. to write a 350 page book about the thief- all without the benefit o...more

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May 24, 2012 Gerry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Map stealing has gone on from time immemorial; Christopher Columbus discovered America with the help of maps and charts stolen from the Portuguese and Sir Francis Drake went to the East Indies using captured Spanish maps. So what is new when Gilbert Bland decides that he has a new career as a map thief?

Well, Bland does not steal them from his enemies, he steals them from public institutions ... and for profit! It is quite amazing to think that he got away with secreting large sized maps on his p...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Kathleen Hulser rated it 4 of 5 stars

Map dealer w. razor blade visits libraries. The maps themselves are so marvelous, replete with imaginary places and fantastical figures that the greedy little fellow named Gilbert Bland seems that much more unsavory. While a kid entrapped in a stop and frisk can spend years in jail, this man who was caught repeatedly, and actually listed his targets like an accountant plotting his financial future served a matter of months for crimes that totaled millions. What ever happened to "three strikes an...more Map dealer w. razor blade visits libraries. The maps themselves are so marvelous, replete with imaginary places and fantastical figures that the greedy little fellow named Gilbert Bland seems that much more unsavory. While a kid entrapped in a stop and frisk can spend years in jail, this man who was caught repeatedly, and actually listed his targets like an accountant plotting his financial future served a matter of months for crimes that totaled millions. What ever happened to "three strikes and your out" statutes for someone like this, which would have preserved some utterly unique atlases unharmed for others to peruse?

Extraordinary tale because it joins a passion for the peculiar visual world of the navigator with the crime genre. These forces don't quite balance: for example, consider how the slippery perpetrator fends off all inquiry with threats to file a stalker suit against the reporter.

And so, the reader can sample the ironies and values of our culture: the libraries carefully preserving treasures of the Age of Discovery while the courts and indolent university lawyers openly permit a creepy white collar criminal to go slice and sell whatever he wants, again and again and again, safe in the knowledge that judges won't put white men in jail for long for such things. After all who is harmed by such an honorable profession as selling old maps to enthusiasts at trade fairs? It is a market-driven activity that serves collectors with big money to spend, so what harm has really been done? In fact, looked at more closely could it be deemed an affirmation of the capitalist imperative to commodify resources that are "wasted on the public?" Indeed, perhaps it could be more accurately characterized in our era as activity that fits the spirit of a moment when white collar theft is seen as daring leadership by brave corporate fellows.

Bland is out and about -- heads up librarians -- since his civil rights demand that he have full access to all public collections (Issue is not just the laughable jail time and lack of restitution that Bland was made to "suffer." He endures none of the usual disabilities that an incarceration-mad state uses to crush its post-prison populations, unlike the young men of color who having smoked a joint can never hope to get a job, rent an apartment, vote, receive a student loan, get a credit card and so on). Well, Bland told the judge he was sorry. Isn't it moving?

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Aug 15, 2011 Leslie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I can’t believe I finally finished reading this book! I never thought I’d make it! Even Jake said he felt relieved when I was finally done. So I suppose it’s not hard to guess that I thought this book was pretty boring and way longer than it needed to be. I would repeatedly find myself at the bottom of a paragraph and realize I had no clue what I had just read. Or I would suddenly come to with a jolt and a major crick in my neck. Oy!

The author took what was a mildly interesting case (a man who s...more I can’t believe I finally finished reading this book! I never thought I’d make it! Even Jake said he felt relieved when I was finally done. So I suppose it’s not hard to guess that I thought this book was pretty boring and way longer than it needed to be. I would repeatedly find myself at the bottom of a paragraph and realize I had no clue what I had just read. Or I would suddenly come to with a jolt and a major crick in my neck. Oy!

The author took what was a mildly interesting case (a man who stole hundreds of valuable old maps from rare book rooms at libraries around the nation) and researched it to death. He spent 4 years interviewing anyone even remotely connected to the case or rare maps collecting, he gathered all kinds of court documents, police records, military records, etc. and he dumped all of that information into this book. The info wasn’t well organized to begin with, but then he intersperses it with all kinds of tidbits on the history of maps, the history of map collecting, the history of explorers and it was mostly a jumbled mess.

It starts to get weird when he author admits that he became obsessed with this case and the criminal involved, Gilbert Bland. He continually delved into Bland’s psyche, trying to get to the bottom of his motivations in committing this type of crime. He constantly wrestled with his obsession, trying to figure out throughout the book why he was so obsessed with this case and doing such extensive research into it. While I appreciated his candor and typically enjoy trying to get to the psychological heart of things, it got awkward to sit there and read about his inner struggle. At one point the author even talks about how he was beginning to take on traits of the map thief. He even compares his search for Gilbert Bland to that of Stanely’s immortal search for Dr. Livingstone and then goes on to remind us of what kind of a person Stanley turned into (he ended up working as a Belgian mercenary and was involved in the oppression and torture of thousands of people in the Congo).

Even after all that, I won’t say that this book was totally worthless. As I mentioned, the case itself was mildly interesting and as with any non-fiction work there was information to be gleaned that I can take away with me. Whether I like or dislike a book is not the most important thing to me. I care more whether a book provides food for thought and for interesting discussion. If it provides me an outlet for expressing my strong opinions in a fairly safe and neutral forum. I think this book has done those things for me and I look forward to the discussion at book club.

Thanks for hanging in there with me if you’ve made it this far. If you feel so inclined, leave a comment so I can give you due gratitude!(less)

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Jan 23, 2011 Alex Telander rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2002

Miles Harvey is a writer for Outside magazine and it was quite some time age that he was given the assignment to write a well-researched article on cartographic crime. Having been obsessed with maps, order, and direction from a young age, the article was written, and then Harvey began researching the same subject for a book. In his travels he discovered one of the most notorious and recent perpetrators of cartographic crime, Gilbert Joseph Bland, Jr. The Island of Lost Maps is this man’s story.

R...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Homer Harianja rated it 2 of 5 stars

Kisah Houtman bersaudara yang menyelusup ke Portugis untuk mencuri peta pelayaran ke Indonesia, adalah informasi pertama yang membuat saya tertarik untuk membaca buku ini. Faktanya Houtman bersaudara berhasil mendarat di Banten.

Peta antik, perpustakaan, obsesi dan para pencuri, rasanya adalah kombinasi kisah yang akan membuat buku ini menarik. Saya langsung membayangkan sebuah karya jurnalisme investigatif dengan pendekatan sastrawi seperti buku The Orchid Thief yang berhasil memukau saya bertah...more

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Oct 25, 2010 George Ilsley rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Instead of the title "the Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime" this book would have been more accurately titled "The Story of Maps: Plotting, Thieves, Discoveries, The Unknown, and Anything Else I Can Possibly Think Of."

The purported core of the story, a map thief named Bland, remains a mystery and so the author, in an attempt not to waste 10 years of research, throws everything and anything into the pot. The result is not that palatable and often quite boring.

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May 05, 2009 Alleycatfan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I started this book last night at about 9 p.m. I could not put it down until I was unable to keep my eyes open any longer at about 3:30 a.m. In other words it's great! I'm on page 175 and can't wait to finish up work so I can finish it. It's like a mystery/spy novel that is true a story. Any one who likes maps, legends, old books or just a well written non-fiction book will really enjoy this. It's along the lines of The Devil in the White City. Did I say I am loving it?

Well I finished the next...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Nenia Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: x-2000s, true-story-bro, world-history-101, reviewed

I grew up on Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo, so I always have a soft spot for old-fashioned heists and capers that involve old books and antiques being stolen for foul and nefarious purposes (i.e. profit). Imagine my delight when I find this book, which not only covers the aforementioned subjects — it illustrates a real theft, with a broad and sweeping microhistory of cartographers and maps in general. Oh my goodness! I was in book heaven for four days.

The villain of this book is Gilbert Bland, a nam...more I grew up on Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo, so I always have a soft spot for old-fashioned heists and capers that involve old books and antiques being stolen for foul and nefarious purposes (i.e. profit). Imagine my delight when I find this book, which not only covers the aforementioned subjects — it illustrates a real theft, with a broad and sweeping microhistory of cartographers and maps in general. Oh my goodness! I was in book heaven for four days.

The villain of this book is Gilbert Bland, a name that sounds right out of a Victorian novel. Very English, very old-fashioned, easily forgettable. That was Bland. He was … bland. And in terms of theft, he couldn't have chosen a more brilliant target: at the time, the market for maps was virtually unknown, except for a small and closely-knit circle of dealers and buyers. As the demand for rare maps grew, prices sky-rocketed (understandably, considering that their collectables are painfully finite in nature). All of this created the atmosphere for the perfect storm of thefts; the kind that can occur only once in 100 years. Little did librarians on the east coast know that their books of rare and irreplaceable maps and atlases were in great danger.

Using surprisingly ordinary means, Bland cut the maps out of dozens of atlases to sell at auctions and in private dealings. In the end, after most of the stolen maps were recovered, his thefts totaled the head-scratching sum of half a million dollars worth of longitudinal and latitudinal loot.

Mr. Harvey does a good job digging up facts about the case (although I don't really approve of him harassing Mr. Bland's family). He seems to have a stalkery good time doing so. It's a bit creepy how, toward the end, he admits that Bland became an obsession and a head-rush for him in the same way that stealing became an obsession and a head-rush for Bland. When he talked about his Bland scrapbook and all the money and time he spent compiling it, I got a majorly creepy flashback to watching the beginning of Freddy vs. Jason in theaters, when Freddy Krueger is putting the final touches on his scrapbook of young child rape victims and licking the pages. UGGGGGGGGGHHHHH. Why did you have to tell us that, Mr. Harvey? I could have gone without knowing how much fun you have stalking people.

Being a bibliophile myself, I was saddened to read about such ill-treatment of books. Especially books so old and irreplaceable — and in some cases, truly unique. When it comes to books, I take the gestalt view that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts: there is something about a book — whole, and complete — that is simultaneously comforting and awing. I love old books, and tend to frequent used bookstores and libraries. Older books are my favorite, especially when they're well-used, just because. There's something almost magical about those powder-sweet pages, all yellowed with age. They've been to other places, in other times, been handled by other people.

When I give away or donate my books, I try to make sure they will get good homes. I love books and I don't want to see them abused. And, most importantly, I want others to enjoy them as much as I did. One of the reasons libraries are so fantastic is that they are a resource where people can access old books and other valuable resources FOR FREE for the purposes of research or self-education. Libraries attract all kinds of people, rich and poor, children and senior citizens, post-docs and the uneducated (who are, perhaps, attending the library to learn HOW to read), and people comprising a rainbow of cultures and ethnicities, but all of them have one thing in common: they are hoping to satisfy their own intellectual pursuit or curiosity in some way. People who steal and destroy rare books for profit are very selfish, in my opinion; they are desecrating knowledge — something beyond price — for personal profit.(less)

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May 09, 2010 Nancy Black rated it 5 of 5 stars

Picked up this book at Barnes & Noble off their bargain table. True story of Gilbert Joseph Bland, Jr.( A Master thief of Old Maps, and many aliases.)

This book intersperses many true story lines from master authors, and map makers. History, History and more compelling History! I need to read more of this type of book.

Miles Harvey knows his way and subjects. He gently mentors & guides the reader through different books and their underlying stories. We read about unscrupulous Book dealers,...more

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Sep 22, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-aloud-before-dinner

This is the kind of book that I WISH had been used as a history text book in grade school, bringing the history to life, making me want to learn more rather than immediately close (if I'd even managed to open it) the dry compilation of facts and dates.

Of course, Harvey's book is not really a book on history, It is an amazing account of our fascination with maps, the history of map makers, map theft, librarians and libraries - with a focus on one particular map thief.

Apparently map theft has bee...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Book Concierge rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an absolutely fascinating true crime account of the cartomaniac who stole hundreds of priceless maps from the stacks of such illustrious libraries as The Peabody (at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore). The aptly named Gilbert Bland Jr used several aliases and was never questioned by security or librarians. He gave every appearance of being a mild-mannered scholar. But he sliced maps out of ancient books, and then sold them to collectors.

Harvey crafts the story like the best true-cri...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Sarah W rated it 3 of 5 stars

An interesting piece of investigative journalism. It sort of read like The Executioner's Song lite. This book was filed somewhere in the vicinity of the library science section of my local library (which also happens to be located a few blocks from Mount Vernon Square where Bland was initially apprehended and then released). But while it serves as a cautionary tale for librarians, it seems more of a criminal psychology book with a peppering of map and library trivia. Toward the end the tone beco...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Jeffrey Lawson rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: map lovers

Recommended to Jeffrey by: National Public Radio

Around my house we have a sense that any book containing a map must be at least okay and probably wonderful. I don't think my wife or I ever mentioned this idea to our daughter, but one day she told me, "you know, Daddy, if a book has a map in it, I know I am going to like it." Okay, so maybe it is not the best way to judge a book, but it sure is a tempting generalization. Maps hold such wonder. I can look at topo maps or road atlases for hours. And with today's technology, who can resist wastin...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Colleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

It is hard to know what to say about this book which rather defies description. It purports to be about the prolifigate map thief Gilbert Bland, but really Bland's crimes are just the jumping off point for a book about maps,those who made them, and those who covet them. I thought this book would be more similar to The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, but because Bland remained but a shadowy presence, the feel of the two books is completely different. That said, I still found myself pulled into this...more

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Oct 30, 2011 The Cheap Reader rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-really-for-me

-First and foremost, I'm really not a fan of non fiction. Some can be interesting enough but enough to keep my interest to read the whole thing.

-This book was pretty disappointing. I was hoping it would be more like a true crime book walking through the thief's steps because that would have been kind of cool. Instead we got the author as a character in his book.

-The book had so much other stuff in it, the 'real' story got lost. No joke about 40-50% of the book is the author's 'journey' and what...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Andy Oram rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

If you don't love maps and exploration in general, you will be bored by this book. If you do love maps and exploration, you will prefer another book that tells you more about such things. The book's continual return to the story of a single map thief doesn't add enough suspense or mystery. And while the author is an engaging writer, the exercise of his skills can be a distraction. Within a few pages, he attributes the thief's bad luck to mythological creatures, speculates without any basis on wh...more

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Apr 29, 2011 Sally rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While the books organization is a bit loose, I found it a very interesting read. There was a lot of history with the role cartographic played (much of which had not occurred to me before) and a real appreciation for maps and the artist who create and preserve them. In some ways, I can imagine the book being turned into a History Channel miniseries. It had a bit of that tone and range. It does seem like a book written for a television-age culture, now that I think about it. That may even explain...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Kara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2012

*Warning: Use of profanity and, probably, spoilers.*

I originally picked this book up when it had just been published and I was a little girl. I liked it because of the book's size and shape and the cover was pretty without being overdone. I showed it to my mother who made me put it away, laughing "You would never read that." I did eventually get this book, this year actually, at a mini-golf while I was vacationing in Rehoboth Beach. ("Fye upon you, mother!") So, it is finally mine and after havi...more *Warning: Use of profanity and, probably, spoilers.*

I originally picked this book up when it had just been published and I was a little girl. I liked it because of the book's size and shape and the cover was pretty without being overdone. I showed it to my mother who made me put it away, laughing "You would never read that." I did eventually get this book, this year actually, at a mini-golf while I was vacationing in Rehoboth Beach. ("Fye upon you, mother!") So, it is finally mine and after having read it I'm not quite sure if I would've enjoyed it at that age. I was always a weird kid though, so maybe.

I enjoyed this book. I found the information regarding cartography, maps and their many contributions to history very interesting. I love reading about those little bits of history. This would've been perfect as a History channel documentary or something. I never realized it before but those maps sounded beautiful and it was such a shame that you could only see bits and pieces of them in the book.

There were only a few problems that I had with this story. I didn't like the bad guy at all and he was the main protagonist. He was a dead-beat, a thief and a lousy business owner. The only reason to have included him in this at all would be to use him as an example of people that librarians and archivists need to watch out for.

I LOVE books and I couldn't stand it that he would cut them up, right in the library, like the useless douche that he is. I mean I can understand doing it for the artwork and stuff, if it's your book or if you have someone else more specialized in books do it so as not to needlessly harm the rest of the book, but to do that to nearly priceless works that you didn't pay for, I hope you loose your dick somehow. That's like cutting up a Monet for one flower.

Anyway, there were about a hundred other more interesting people that the author could've made the book about and still talked about maps and cartography on top of it, but he didn't. I mean, those explorers were far superior in their talents and goals and they were even better at being outright thieves: they got people needlessly killed just so they could look at mountains, steal gold and even steal other maps, off of ships! Gilbert Bland is a pathetic footnote in the history of maps and somehow he's the main protagonist. If he needed someone contemporary, he could've used the map dealer, W. Graham Arader III, he was interesting, colorful and very successful.

The other problem I had was with the author. He inserted himself into it, which is okay, but it is a bit jarring. This same thing happened in "The Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea" by Barbara Sjoholm (which is here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56...). They really ought to change the title of that book because it is blatant false advertising. I thought I was going to be reading about O'Malley but it was mainly little stories about Norse sea goddesses, which was interesting and I liked that. But then the author would break in and start talking about what is was it is like braving the Irish Sea today and it was like "no, the only thing that's interesting about you is your name and that was given to you".

I'd rather read about the maps and cartographers than about the author quite frankly. And I realize as a journalist he probably doesn't get to write himself into the story very often, because the editor would cut it out (because it was needless and doesn't help the story progress), so I can understand that he was "finding himself" (usually lost). But because he put himself in the story the book ran on too long. I would say that he could've taken those last two chapters out and it would've been fine, at the very least that last very pointless chapter needed to go.

It was enjoyable, but it could've been better.

Ironically, just came across this list of the "7 Must Read Books on Maps" located here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.ph....(less)

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Sep 08, 2012 Lora rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, nonfiction

This is all about map collecting as a hobby, a job, an obsession, and a way to steal & destroy history to make a quick buck. Ostensibly, it's about a guy who was caught cutting old maps out of their original books, from collections belong to specialized map libraries. The author is pretty critical of those map librarians, especially compared to the relatively light treatment given the thief & the businessman who has driven up the price of maps over the last few years; I think they should...more

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About Miles Harvey

Harvey is an American journalist and author who writes for Outside Magazine, and whose national and international bestseller, The Island of Lost Maps, was named one of the top ten books of 2000 by USA Today and the Chicago Sun-Times.

An adventure-seeker with a passion for exploration and discovery, Harvey won a 2004-2005 Illinois Arts Council Award for prose and a 2007-2008 Knight-Wallace fellowshi...more

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“What a vapid job title our culture gives to those honorable laborers the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians variously called Learned Men of the Magic Library, Scribes of the Double House of Life, Mistresses of the House of Books, or Ordainers of the Universe. 'Librarian' - that mouth-contorting, graceless grind of a word, that dry gulch in the dictionary between 'libido' and 'licentious' - it practically begs you to envision a stoop-shouldered loser, socks mismatched, eyes locked in a permanent squint from reading too much microfiche. If it were up to me, I would abolish the word entirely and turn back to the lexicological wisdom of the ancients, who saw librarians not as feeble sorters and shelvers but as heroic guardians. In Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian cultures alike, those who toiled at the shelves were often bestowed with a proud, even soldierly, title: Keeper of the Books. - p.113” — 1 person liked it

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