Atlas of Cursed Places: A Travel Guide to Dangerous and Frightful Destinations

While I enjoyed the subject matter of the book itself, there were problems with the layout and information presented.Take, as an example, the island of Poveglia. It's got a dark history and many stories to tell, but in this book it is given four pages total. Two of which are atlas/map images. You could find more information on it in a two minute Internet search.The entire first half of the book is like this; some topics receiving a page or two at most with multiple pictures mixed in.Even taking into account that I got the book on sale at the time, this was a disappointing read.

An interesting guide to the 'cursed' places on earth, whether due to natural, man-made, or 'otherworldly' influences. Easy to read: each place gets 1-4 pages of description. Author is quite a gifted story-teller. Really enjoyed this book.

Visually stunning. Great coffee table book.

tidbits that tempt the imagination for travel to these exotic places in the World.

Fantastic book! Very informative and interesting. The hardback is sleek and feels just like old encyclopedias. I bought this as a Christmas gift and it was a hit!

Beautiful, witty, fascinating, creative ... not a bit disappointing ! ! !

This book is packed full of crazy and fun info! It’s also so beautiful to look at!

I love maps and history so this is just the ticket for off beat information. Amaze your friends with tales of the strange, obscure and sometimes eerie places around the world.

With a great concept like this, it's hard to go wrong, but I'm afraid the author has. The cover looks nice, but the content is a huge disappointment. Firstly, it's visually poor. Each location is represented usually by a single map, most of which look like old material in the public domain and not very clear, Some have extra diagrams which don't usually clear things up, and there are random symbols dropped in. Where there are illustrations, they are mostly dull and not especially relevant. it would have been nice to see some photographs of the locations, or up to date and clear maps.Second, it's badly organised. Locations are rammed together apparently at random. Italy, for instance , is stuck in with African site; places in France are separated by the entire book. I thought at first the idea was to circumnavigate the world but it really doesn't work out like that. I just don't think the author could find a good thematic link between the sites chosen.Thirdly, the choices of sites to include is poor. Some, such as Aokigahara and Thilafushi, thoroughly deserve their place. Others do not. Nuremburg , for example, I found a bad choice. Of all the locations associated with the horrors of the Holocaust, this seemed the least worth calling 'cursed'. Or Cumbre Vieja, which is included as it 'might' some day trigger a global disaster. or not. I can think of dozens of sites more suited to the theme of the atlas which actually have had very real disasters (Pripyat, Pompeii, etc), or are sites of terrible events which resonate today (Changi Beach in Singapore, Glencoe, Khatyn in Belarus). This was a wasted opportunity.And finally, it's poorly written. Most sites get a single page of description. The places I found interesting I learned almost nothing about. There are inaccuracies and political polemics all over the place. I don't doubt the writer's sincere desire to raise awareness of some appalling situations in which people are forced to live, but it jars with the tone of other pieces. And the sloppy research on some pieces diminishes the credibility of the whole. So, all in all, it astonishes me that this made the New York Times bestseller list - the publisher must have an amazing marketing department.

Gran calidad de mapas para extraer los lugares. Historias bien redactadas, abunda en contenido.

Small print and not as attention grabbing when opened as I had hoped.

Arrived on time and we're very pleased.

These books are just Wonderful....I bought all of them in the series. ....look great and made and written perfectly....loved reading them all