Map AddictBy Mike Parker Collins, £8.99
Like many a teenager, Mike Parker would head for the high street to do a bit of shoplifting but, unlike most, he wasn’t headed for the lads’ mags section or grabbing snack food – he was filling his bag with illicit Ordnance Surveys.
Initially Parker’s fascination appears to verge on the fetishistic – a relief map of the Severn Hills is “like the brassiere of some 50s Hollywood starlet, all swaggering panache and perky promise”. Luckily, he is aware of the extent of his affliction and more than makes up for it with self-deprecation, bright observation and dry humour.
There are good chapters on the history of cartography, including an analysis of the political power of maps. Parker cheerfully relates how he tacked a Peters map to his wall during his student days. In a section that could perhaps have done with a bit more detail, Parker takes a look at the torturous process of mapping the Northern Irish border. His analysis of things on the Border’s south side is a little patronising but his heart is in the right place.
There is a enormous heft of detail in these pages, and although Parker’s focus wanders, the detours are usually loaded with anecdote and worth pursuing. This is a fanatic’s account but a charming one at that.