Love maps, always have done, to me, a map is a key to things that you don’t yet know, because if you knew them, you wouldn’t need a map…

Thus I always try and look at map books when they arrive, not because there’ll be a cool design or an interesting layout (although there often is), but because there’ll be something in there that I don’t know about yet.

And so it was with this book.

Interesting in the way it’s put together, the first few cities have interesting anecdotes about various cities, and the way in which those cities were put together, such as the start of orthogonal grids in 350 BC, to the construction of a tower that had a brothel at the bottom (Base desires one imagines), a school in the middle of it, and an observatory and astronomical study centre at the top.

However, as the book goes on, the descriptions become less the nature of the interesting parts of the city, and more the events that shaped the city into what it eventually came to be, and while those are interesting enough, they form more of the history of the events in and around the city, rather than the description of the city itself, and while there is interest in what made a city what it is, that’s not what I look in maps for.

That said, from the point of view of what is promised in the title and the foreword of the book, this is superb, it is exactly the nature and history of the city and how in each case it grew to be what it was, from the wall in Berlin, to the near relocation of Washington DC, and the multiple rebuildings of New York from the events that shaped it in times before to current day.

Recommended.

WOW! This book is SO interesting. I love how it's full of images of ancient maps and cities. It would be the perfect gift for those who have a passion for maps (yes, they do exist!).
It's crazy to think about how cities developed throught the years.
Totally recommend.

This is not really a subject I know much about but I found the book fascinating. The maps are beautiful and show urban development throughout history, and the supporting text is very thorough but readable and easy to understand.

If you are interested in urban development, cities and maps, this book is for you.
It offers highly rich, interesting and well-researched information, and the maps are wonderful.
I have learnt a lot from this book.