h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Book Review for The Post - will alert the current Post Editors as I think Pearl is away on her hols at the moment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Islomania by Thurston Clarke

Someone bought me this book for Christmas a while ago when I’d actually asked specifically for a different book. So the odds were stacked against it from the start but it had being a travel book in its favour and therefore went onto my ‘will read later’ pile.

Not much later, I read it and was glad I had. It is an accessible, enjoyable read and you learn a fair amount of geography, history and other stuff as you go.

Clarke admits that the word ‘islomania’ is not in the dictionary but believes it to be a concept nevertheless, the idea being that people are fascinated by islands. People like to visit them, live on them or pump money into trying to buy them. I found it a good focus for a travel book.

He divides the islands he talks about into the following categories: famous islands, personal islands and symbolic islands. As an average reader I had heard of around half of them before. Clarke visits them all, meeting many interesting characters along the way and outlining their situations, problems and hopes.

The book is written in the first person and is not devoid of Clarke’s own opinions about the places he visits but it isn’t an overly biased account. Since reading it I have twice come across news articles about issues mentioned in this book and thought ‘aha, I already know something about this place’, which adds personal education to the enjoyment of reading about someone else’s thoughts and travels.

JulesK