The Phantom Atlas: The Greatest Myths, Lies and Blunders on Maps

Explorer said there was rock in 1526, sailor went in 1632 and didn't see anything, other went in 1754 and nothing. A ship in 1826 confirmed there was nothing. This is basically what you are going to read for most of the book, a headache of 256 pages.In my excitement for reading about themes of fantastic islands and to lose myself exploring old maps (both topica are an old love for me) I foolishly ignored the commentators that wisely caution in their reviews about the reading of this book. Sadly this book is, to say it bluntly, quite boring. I don't see the point to mention rocks that we are foretold of their inexistence, through methods that bear no interest. In some parts the author is judgemental about civilizations of the past, but his posture seems not from a historical perspective but from Hollywood movies (to paraphrase a quote he mentions: his head, to pronounce judgements, should have a longer neck to put distance from it to his heart). There are parts that don't correspond to the book as some bestiaries which certainly were more ornamentation rather than blunders or mistakes. There is a flat Earth map whose inclusion ends being ironic as it shows the author believes in myths; he thinks that the educated European society in middle ages believed in the flat Earth, which so far I have read in different sources is a myth only existing in 90's TV sitcoms for children as Aladdin or Robin Hood but not in official history. The objection to Columbus voyage, although the author doesn't write about it I think it refutes his conception, was not because of fears of falling from the border of the Earth to the feet of the turtle but because there was not agreement about the circumference of the Earth. Other parts in the book are common knowledge if you find the topic of lost lands as Atlantis or Lemuria interesting, but in the book you will not find more than what you know, if anything each article has a couple and pages and that is all. Beyond that these big mistakes made me read the rest with mistrust, for example in the end he says "published after his death by his wife in 1672," I confess my skills in English language are lacking but I think it would be read correctly if it was written "published by his wife posthumously in 1672." It sounds petty. Is a petty observation indeed, but I cherish the topic and felt I was dragged to tolerate a book that maybe was not checked by a professional editor, so small details added to the bigger ones just made me angry to not being able to finish this book sooner.

Interesting snippets of history but it’s literally word for word lifted from Wikipedia.I started to wiki locations in the book to get more info and I was surprised to see that the text in the book and on Wikipedia was nearly the same.

This book is written by a so called "map expert". I suppose he also assumes that makes him a history and mythology expert. The book is titled "myths, lies, blunders on maps," Yet the only thing this book manages to do is repeat those words "myths", "lies", "blunders" without giving any real reason as to WHY we should believe these are ANY of those things, and to rhetorically questioning everyone's intelligence of anyone who believed in any of these maps. kind of insulting. This writer will take another book in history, and even when the book is written as the truth, he will cherry pick which ones to believe while dismissing everything else as "myths lies and blunders". For instance giants. He can take John smiths book and say "oh this is all accurate", then say "except this part where he says he met a race of 8 foot people on the coast". Giving no other reason as to WHY we should not believe is except, you guessed it "its a myth, its a lie, its just a blunder", he likes to toss out "challenges science and reason", yet gives no "science or reason". At this point, you have to question this guys motives. This book is certainly a book of blunders, though all by the author. If you are going to cherry pick what you believe from one person story, and then dismiss and insult everyone and everything else with no science/reason, maybe don't write a book under "history". Jon Levi is a better hisotrian.

A very neat idea that is not always successful but hits far more than it misses, Brooke-Hitching has performed a yeoman's task in compiling this atlas of places that never were despite what the cartographers claimed. Everything from Mu to Atlantis and the fantasy land of Brasil is included, Where this book really shines, however, is its presentation of inaccurate cartography. Sometimes, wishful thinking took the place of sober science resulting in a huge inland sea in Australia or a phantom salt river running from the Pacific to Utah to explain the Great Salt Lake. Islands had an amazing habit of appearing and disappearing and Africa was home, for generations of mapmakers, to a mountain chain that never existed! The author does a very good job of explaining, when possible, how these misconceptions came to be. Usually, it is highly entertaining reading. I knocked off one star because some of the selections are downright silly and because my copy arrived damaged. A fun book to browse through at odd hours and between other books. Reading it in one sitting is not advised.

The maps are beautiful. The stories become pretty similar after awhile: “So-and-so discovered this island/country/continent, but later explorers were unable o locate it.” Still, the beauty of the maps (especially the ones that filled in blank spaces with sea monsters and other fanciful creatures) are well worth your time. And the artistry of the map makers - whether or not the lands they depicted were real - is incontestable.

very interesting with nice illustrations. the quality of the maps is not excellent, but the reproductions are nice and give a clear enough picture for reference

Fascinating list of historical fables and inaccuracies that have made their way into maps and beliefs. After a while though, I grew tired of the repetitive issues, though I was not looking for complete compendium, more for egregious examples. There were plenty of those, which were wonderful example of how history and geography get made up by the writers, and passed along as fact until someone disproves it. I would recommend it for anyone interested in that process or why they can't find someplace on a map they have.

Very entertaining to see and read about early explorers' documentation of the world's land masses. A great collection of maps and stories of how they were drawn.

The written content of this book is all quite interesting, the major flaw is that it's a book about maps so the illustrations are kind of important. Many of the maps reproduced here are small and blurry low res prints and that meant I didn't enjoy the book as much as I'd hoped to. Worth getting if Amazon are doing a good deal but if I'd paid the RRP or anything close to it I'd probably have returned it.

Seriously pleased with this purchase. First of all the tactile feel of the book is wonderful - the cover, paper weight, gloss and edging are all spot on. Second, the typography is excellent - helping illuminate the subject material rather than getting in the way of it. Third, there is a good amount of information in this book that illustrates just how ‘creative’ some famous explorers were and even until recently, how a sea-faring myth can actually still be accepted as ‘fact’ just because someone drew a shape on a map. Finally, there's the size - it's not a desk-crushingly large book, you can actually read this quite comfortably without having to place it on a lectern.

If you've ever got something wrong at work, then think of these poor souls whose errors are still worthy of publication centuries later! If you love maps or history you will love this book. A great mix of the maps themselves, together with information about their context and creators written in a very accessible manner. I would also think it could be a good present for any teenager who feels that these are their favourite subjects, but probably at GCSE level and above unless you are happy to go through some with them. Younger children will still love the pictures though. A great example of a book to both treasure and to read.

I love looking at maps. One of my go-to presents that I would get myself when travelling used to be maps. There is so much you see and understand about places by just looking at maps. To date I haven’t really brought maps much into my academic work – other than needing them for discussing certain points in relation to my research on the JL123 crash in my book Dealing with Disaster in Japan and, to a lesser degree, my research about the shinkansen in Shinkansen. I did manage to discuss maps within my book Japan: The Basics and also issues with how Roland Barthes interprets an historical map of Tokyo within his book Empire of Signs, but that, again, was quite specific. I hope to have a broader discussion about maps in relation to Japan in some future work.Although I have a general interest in maps, I was hoping that this book would also help provide some material that would help with any future study (and teaching) I do about maps in relation to Japan. In that respect, I was a bit disappointed. Although (late on in the book), there is mention about the themes raised in the book also applying to East Asia, the focus of the book largely ignored that part of the world. That’s a shame – but perhaps it opens up an opportunity for a second book that looks more at that part of the world. At least the variety of historical maps that are included did show enough of the world that I was able to see for myself how the view of Japan changed over the centuries.The book is beautifully presented – almost too well presented as the pages are so thick that many times I thought I may have turned too many pages at once. It’s one of those ‘coffee table books’ that you could leave out and just open a page randomly (most ‘chapters’ cover 2 to 4 pages) and just enjoy re-reading that part again and looking at the maps in more detail at leisure. In that respect I really enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it.

A good book, would have preferred a little less narrative and more, or bigger maps and pictures. Not quite as sumptuous as I'd hoped. 3.5 stars if it was an option. I think there's a better book for what I was looking for, wanted just to revel in the visual maps, not read so much about it. Personal preference of course.