Thursday, January 08, 2009

The Best Book Ever?

Courtesy of Strange Attraction, a UK publishing house that "celebrates unpopular culture," comes Medical London: Two Thousand Years of Life and Death in London.

It contains a book of essays, Sick City, which outlines aspects of London’s medical history; Anatomy of the City, a beautifully illustrated full-colour gazetteer featuring London sites of medical interest; and six full-colour maps of suggested walking routes for those who wish to explore the city’s history for themselves. That's right -- maps! And a gazetteer!

So basically, this book -- or rather, wondrous, marvelous cabinet of endless delights -- has everything I love. Disease, history, old-timey stuff, and MAPS! According to the website, it promises to "guide its readers on their own journey through the city’s streets and landmarks, and resurrects the vanished traces of its past."

Um, the only catch? It's strangely unavailable. It came out in December, but it's already sold out all over the place. Apparently you can backorder it on Amazon UK, but who knows if they'll print a second run. Pray for me, kids. I want this book.


1 comment:

Levi Stahl said...

Looks like Amazon UK has a couple of copies available through used dealers at reasonable price--with a book like this, which sounds like it might be very expensive to reprint, you might be best off just buying a used one and hoping it's not battered (which, with a book like this that's just come out, it shouldn't be).