Atlas of Abandoned Places
Oliver Smith
11th October 2022
This book is an extremely unique combination of exactly what it says on the tin and also oh my goodness what an amazing and sad and somehow also hopeful experience. I put off reviewing this for far too long simply because I didn't know how to describe the unique blend of joy and sadness and wonder that I gained from sitting down and reading a few sections from it. (As opposed to my putting off reviewing things simply because ADHD and chronic illness and bad memory... *ahem*.) But here I am, and I'll do my best.
This book is amazing - to flip through, to sit down and read a couple of sections, to read from cover to cover. The layout is really well done - giving you about a page and a half of text about each location, maps for geographical visualisation (a very poor suit of mine), and photos that somehow communicate so much by themselves, but are near-devastating in combination with the text. Each entry is literally what it says on the cover - places that have been abandoned for various reasons. Some of them are being turned into new things as we speak, but many of them are too dangerous/too emotionally volatile/too forgotten to be touched by anyone other than those who deliberately seek them out.
I never knew what I was going to get next with this book - some were simply, for the most part, what they appeared to be: train stations abandoned because the line became too expensive, or didn't make sense for the route, or ships left to deteriorate and become homes for other creatures (both flora and fauna) due to a salvaging business going bankrupt. But then you'd turn the page and learn about a hideaway that Hitler once used, an airplane graveyard, or a town that can only be driven past due to dangerous asbestos fibres. I expected to be intrigued by this book, I didn't expect to be blown away by it and travel through a whole load of emotions whilst reading it.
This is fascinating stuff, and I think I'm going to push it on a few people to read. I think it has something to say about humans and how we take up space.
10/10 views through a decaying dome ceiling.
{I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own. Thank you!!}
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