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Underground Overground: A Passenger's History of the Tube
Paperback published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the London Underground
Why is the Victoria Line so hot? What is an Electrical Multiple Unit? Is it really possible to ride from King's Cross to King's Cross on the Circle line? The London Underground is the oldest, most sprawling and illogical metropolitan transport system in the world, the result of a series of botch-jobs and improvisations. Yet it transports over one billion passengers every year - and this figure is rising. It is iconic, recognised the world over, andloved and despised by Londoners in equal measure. Blending reportage, humour and personal encounters, Andrew Martin embarks on a wonderfully engaging social history of London's underground railway system (which despite its name, is in fact fifty-five per cent overground). Underground, Overgroundis a highly enjoyable, witty and informative history of everything you need to know about the Tube.
Why is the Victoria Line so hot? What is an Electrical Multiple Unit? Is it really possible to ride from King's Cross to King's Cross on the Circle line? The London Underground is the oldest, most sprawling and illogical metropolitan transport system in the world, the result of a series of botch-jobs and improvisations. Yet it transports over one billion passengers every year - and this figure is rising. It is iconic, recognised the world over, andloved and despised by Londoners in equal measure. Blending reportage, humour and personal encounters, Andrew Martin embarks on a wonderfully engaging social history of London's underground railway system (which despite its name, is in fact fifty-five per cent overground). Underground, Overgroundis a highly enjoyable, witty and informative history of everything you need to know about the Tube.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 26, 2012
44 people are currently reading
1167 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Martin
191 books105 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Andrew Martin (born 6 July 1962) is an English novelist and journalist.
Martin was brought up in Yorkshire, studied at the University of Oxford and qualified as a barrister. He has since worked as a freelance journalist for a number of publications while writing novels, starting with Bilton, a comic novel about journalists, and The Bobby Dazzlers, a comic novel set in the North of England, for which he was named Spectator Young Writer of the Year. His series of detective novels about Jim Stringer, a railwayman reassigned to the North Eastern Railway Police in Edwardian England, includes The Necropolis Railway, The Blackpool Highflyer, The Lost Luggage Porter, Murder at Deviation Junction and Death on a Branch Line. He has also written the non-fiction book; How to Get Things Really Flat: A Man's Guide to Ironing, Dusting and Other Household Arts.
Andrew Martin (born 6 July 1962) is an English novelist and journalist.
Martin was brought up in Yorkshire, studied at the University of Oxford and qualified as a barrister. He has since worked as a freelance journalist for a number of publications while writing novels, starting with Bilton, a comic novel about journalists, and The Bobby Dazzlers, a comic novel set in the North of England, for which he was named Spectator Young Writer of the Year. His series of detective novels about Jim Stringer, a railwayman reassigned to the North Eastern Railway Police in Edwardian England, includes The Necropolis Railway, The Blackpool Highflyer, The Lost Luggage Porter, Murder at Deviation Junction and Death on a Branch Line. He has also written the non-fiction book; How to Get Things Really Flat: A Man's Guide to Ironing, Dusting and Other Household Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
July 5, 2015
Excellent Bill Bryson-esque journey through the history of the London Underground.
Andrew Martin is not the anorak wearing type you expect of the railway enthusiast. He keeps the technical stuff to a minimum and as a result this is an immensely readable book brilliantly told.
If you've ever wanted to know how the tube developed in a humourous and interesting way then this is your book.
Andrew Martin is not the anorak wearing type you expect of the railway enthusiast. He keeps the technical stuff to a minimum and as a result this is an immensely readable book brilliantly told.
If you've ever wanted to know how the tube developed in a humourous and interesting way then this is your book.
May 30, 2018
Learnt some interesting facts, met some quite uniquely fascinating characters who I now want to know a bit more about – eg Charles Tyson Yerkes. Unsurprisingly, like much else in this country, the London underground grew in a pretty haphazard way, funding of that growth being equally haphazard.
Whilst a fascinating read in parts, it did pall in places: so much so that, nicely relaxed in the bath, yours truly dunked it rather too liberally in his bath water. I must now find a replacement for my friend, who rather foolishly lent it to me. The book also enabled me to realise more fully why I much prefer to travel on London buses rather than the tube.
Whilst a fascinating read in parts, it did pall in places: so much so that, nicely relaxed in the bath, yours truly dunked it rather too liberally in his bath water. I must now find a replacement for my friend, who rather foolishly lent it to me. The book also enabled me to realise more fully why I much prefer to travel on London buses rather than the tube.
June 10, 2023
Andrew Martin’s quirky and informative history of the London Underground is subtitled ‘A passenger’s history of the Tube’, and unlike many of the standard histories available, it traces the development of the network through the eyes of its paying customers. Martin wrote a regular ‘Tube Talk’ column in the London Evening Standard for many years which acted as an unofficial voice for tube travellers so he knows the territory and has a rich mental archive of telling, funny and surprising stories and little-known facts with which he liberally salts his account. And he does have a fascinating story to tell: one of cavalier Victorian capitalism, larger than life characters who made the Tube in their own image, of engineering panache, of postwar decline and Twenty-first Century renaissance.
October 11, 2024
I deeply enjoyed reading this. I am now replete with fun facts and new sites of curiosity, which I look forward to sharing with you the next time we find ourselves together, barrelling through the Earth deep underground.
June 8, 2014
A strong 4.5 for this entertainingly written history of the London Underground by a Tube-enthusiast who's neither a native Londoner nor someone who has worked on the network. His interested sprouted from a boyhood fascination with the underground trains when he would visit from York for the day and it was many years later as a London-based journalist that his editing of the Tube Talk column in the London newspaper Evening Standard cemented some deep rooted love for the London Underground.
Beginning at a time when tunnelling underground seemed like fantasy and taking us all the way to proposed future developments, Martin digs deep into the social and political reasons - and perhaps more importantly the people - that pioneered the network that is now the London Underground. While the stories of the people behind the lines and their extensions, were fascinating it was Martin's ease with language and his plucky use of words to describe characters, decisions and developments involved in creating subterranean London that made the books such a joy to read.
Not wanting to give away any of the twists and turns of the London Underground's history, let it simply be said that it made the city of London what it is now. I have a new found respect for the tube. In fact, a conversation the author had with a woman working in the gift shop at the London Transport Museum very accurately describes how I, as a Londoner, now feel about the Underground.
"Let's face it, when you're train's late, you've got the hump. But when you stand back and look at the system it's something incredible isn't it?"
The missing 0.5 is just because I wanted a few more personal stories about using the London Underground over the last few centuries. Maybe that's the topic of his next book... I hope so!
Beginning at a time when tunnelling underground seemed like fantasy and taking us all the way to proposed future developments, Martin digs deep into the social and political reasons - and perhaps more importantly the people - that pioneered the network that is now the London Underground. While the stories of the people behind the lines and their extensions, were fascinating it was Martin's ease with language and his plucky use of words to describe characters, decisions and developments involved in creating subterranean London that made the books such a joy to read.
Not wanting to give away any of the twists and turns of the London Underground's history, let it simply be said that it made the city of London what it is now. I have a new found respect for the tube. In fact, a conversation the author had with a woman working in the gift shop at the London Transport Museum very accurately describes how I, as a Londoner, now feel about the Underground.
"Let's face it, when you're train's late, you've got the hump. But when you stand back and look at the system it's something incredible isn't it?"
The missing 0.5 is just because I wanted a few more personal stories about using the London Underground over the last few centuries. Maybe that's the topic of his next book... I hope so!
November 28, 2013
I had heard good things about this book but it didn't live up to my expectations. I've been fascinated by the Underground for a long time, though I've never been on it (I will in March though!)
I felt like the author's anecdotes were like listening to your weird uncle- I have a few of them, I know what they sound like!- ramble on about things they think are funny/interesting which really aren't to the rest of humanity. (Side note- one of my weird uncles has written a book about petrol stations. No really. You just can't make that shit up)
I would have liked to read more about the individual stations and more about the ghost platforms.
I really don't know what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn't this.
One star for it's rare moments of being interesting. One because I finished it, and that must mean it's not too awful.
I felt like the author's anecdotes were like listening to your weird uncle- I have a few of them, I know what they sound like!- ramble on about things they think are funny/interesting which really aren't to the rest of humanity. (Side note- one of my weird uncles has written a book about petrol stations. No really. You just can't make that shit up)
I would have liked to read more about the individual stations and more about the ghost platforms.
I really don't know what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn't this.
One star for it's rare moments of being interesting. One because I finished it, and that must mean it's not too awful.
September 29, 2012
This is a light overview of the history of the tube from someone who carries his anorak over his arm rather than wearing it.
He looks into the early development of the tube, and some of the significant characters who made the Tube what it is today. But what makes this book something other than another Tube history is the way he weaves in his own journeys to the narrative.
I enjoyed it, but couldn't give it five stars as it was missing that extra something.
He looks into the early development of the tube, and some of the significant characters who made the Tube what it is today. But what makes this book something other than another Tube history is the way he weaves in his own journeys to the narrative.
I enjoyed it, but couldn't give it five stars as it was missing that extra something.
June 28, 2022
Good fun! Although sad there isn't a single map of the tube. I feel like that would have been a great addition, especially since there's a lot of talk of names of stations, north south east west etc. It would have been great to be able to refer back to the map in question, and also see how it changed through time. I had trouble orienting myself when it turned into name-dropping and directions.
March 12, 2016
LOVED! So interesting! So many fascinating tidbits (and that word does sum up the book in contents and tone) of trivia. So accessibly, shamelessly, charmingly geeky. I was tempted to give it four stars instead of five because I'm not sure a reader who has never been on the Underground would find it as riveting; but I felt it would be disloyal to give it anything less because I loved it so much I carried a pencil around with me so that I could underline in it every factoid or historic Thing that struck me that's still visible today. I'm planning a TOUR. I've started a Google MyMap and everything.
Also, from all the reams of facts, figure and names (mainly men's, of course - let's hope that changes in the Tube's future), Martin really does tell a story: the history of the Tube is the social history of London. Its whole development has been a tool for the to-ing and fro-ing of the placement of rich and poor and in-betweens. I wonder if those positions will change again.
I read most of it on my epic Northern ('City & South London Railway') - Central ('Central London Railway')-District ('Metropolitan Railway') line commute and so it was particularly joyful to occasionally look up from a page to realise I was at the station/on the train about which I had just read a fascinating fact!
If you need me, I'll be staring up at an air vent on the northbound Northern line platform at London Bridge, trying to glimpse the original line; or squinting out of a carriage at the blackness between Hampstead and Golders Green to spot the platforms for the never completed North End station.
Also, from all the reams of facts, figure and names (mainly men's, of course - let's hope that changes in the Tube's future), Martin really does tell a story: the history of the Tube is the social history of London. Its whole development has been a tool for the to-ing and fro-ing of the placement of rich and poor and in-betweens. I wonder if those positions will change again.
I read most of it on my epic Northern ('City & South London Railway') - Central ('Central London Railway')-District ('Metropolitan Railway') line commute and so it was particularly joyful to occasionally look up from a page to realise I was at the station/on the train about which I had just read a fascinating fact!
If you need me, I'll be staring up at an air vent on the northbound Northern line platform at London Bridge, trying to glimpse the original line; or squinting out of a carriage at the blackness between Hampstead and Golders Green to spot the platforms for the never completed North End station.
July 8, 2018
Chatty, anecdotal, entertaining. The temptation to add 'Wombling Free' is hard to resist.
November 19, 2018
Numerous books have been written chronicling the history of the London Underground. This is evident from Andrew Martin's contribution to the genre, as he quotes frequently from several of them, interweaving between their deployment his own observations about the state of "Tube" today. He is well equipped for this latter task; the son of a railway man (as he informs his readers in his introduction and periodically reminds them throughout the book) and the author of a series of detective novels set on the rails, he wrote a column in the late 1990s on the Tube for the magazine of one of London's many newspapers. In effect the book represents a blending of his aesthetic commentary and secondary research into a friendly account of London's iconic transport system.
The resulting book is by turns entertaining and informative, with little nuggets of trivia that often are missing from more serious accounts. His affection for his subject is obvious; what is less so is the intended audience for his book. Martin tells a history of the Underground familiar to anyone with even a passing command of the history of his subject, yet his book presumes a familiarity with both the metropolis and the various Underground lines built over the decades to serve it — a presumption underscored by the otherwise unaccountable absence of maps. In this respect it might be best suited for a longtime rider familiar with the intricacies of the Underground today who wants some historical context to explain some of the system's many oddities and quirks. Though such an audience may be a narrow one (and they can add a star to my rating here), they will undoubtedly find Martin's book an agreeable companion as they go clacking along its rails or zipping beneath the city it serves.
The resulting book is by turns entertaining and informative, with little nuggets of trivia that often are missing from more serious accounts. His affection for his subject is obvious; what is less so is the intended audience for his book. Martin tells a history of the Underground familiar to anyone with even a passing command of the history of his subject, yet his book presumes a familiarity with both the metropolis and the various Underground lines built over the decades to serve it — a presumption underscored by the otherwise unaccountable absence of maps. In this respect it might be best suited for a longtime rider familiar with the intricacies of the Underground today who wants some historical context to explain some of the system's many oddities and quirks. Though such an audience may be a narrow one (and they can add a star to my rating here), they will undoubtedly find Martin's book an agreeable companion as they go clacking along its rails or zipping beneath the city it serves.
January 20, 2022
This was meant to be a flick through book or a read a chapter every now and then kind of book that someone bought me for Christmas.
But I ended up reading the entire thing in 2 weeks. I have always found the tube and trains interesting, there's something quite exciting about it and that goes for airports and airplanes as well - hands up I am a total nerd and proud of it.
I found this book totally interesting and funny at the same time. Explaining the history of the underground - how it came about and the influences it had along the way to get it to how we know it now as Londoners.
I gave it 4 stars as I do felt like it needed a glossary. Things were mentioned later on in the book which was explained at the beginning but I couldn't quite remember. Nor could I find that section to go back and familiarise myself.
But I ended up reading the entire thing in 2 weeks. I have always found the tube and trains interesting, there's something quite exciting about it and that goes for airports and airplanes as well - hands up I am a total nerd and proud of it.
I found this book totally interesting and funny at the same time. Explaining the history of the underground - how it came about and the influences it had along the way to get it to how we know it now as Londoners.
I gave it 4 stars as I do felt like it needed a glossary. Things were mentioned later on in the book which was explained at the beginning but I couldn't quite remember. Nor could I find that section to go back and familiarise myself.
August 5, 2014
I feel that this book will be of more interest to the serious railway devotee, which is why I'm not giving it more stars.
There is plenty of history, from the first tunnelling efforts on. Now it seems amazing that each line was independently financed and dug, in competition and privately run. The main point of the Tube was to let poor people move a few miles out of the slums and still get to work cheaply. This encouraged city sprawl. As the city got busier, horse and carriage or cart traffic-blocks as they were called increased; so did the cry for more trains.
There are lots of little details which only inhabitants of the city would notice, like garden gnomes placed in a station or a tiling scheme. The London Transport staff appear to have been very civil about answering questions.
I'd previously read 'London Under London' which also looks at the other sub-city networks such as rivers, sewers, pipes and electricals, bunkers and the like. This book is more focused and claims to correct a rumour, which exists in the other book, that a baby girl born on a Tube train was named so as to have initials TUBE; the author says her initials are MAE. Both books mention the façade of fake houses over a rail line tunnel; in this one the author went there and asked the neighbours what they thought, a comical scene.
I was reading this book for research purposes and it did not mention the stations in which I was most interested. The author was paid as a journalist to write about the Tube in a column for several years. He includes a photo of Francis Bacon which he took on the Tube train one day. While he brought the tale up to date with the Olympics, the Greenwich and Canary Wharf stations, by its nature there are already updates to the system.
There is plenty of history, from the first tunnelling efforts on. Now it seems amazing that each line was independently financed and dug, in competition and privately run. The main point of the Tube was to let poor people move a few miles out of the slums and still get to work cheaply. This encouraged city sprawl. As the city got busier, horse and carriage or cart traffic-blocks as they were called increased; so did the cry for more trains.
There are lots of little details which only inhabitants of the city would notice, like garden gnomes placed in a station or a tiling scheme. The London Transport staff appear to have been very civil about answering questions.
I'd previously read 'London Under London' which also looks at the other sub-city networks such as rivers, sewers, pipes and electricals, bunkers and the like. This book is more focused and claims to correct a rumour, which exists in the other book, that a baby girl born on a Tube train was named so as to have initials TUBE; the author says her initials are MAE. Both books mention the façade of fake houses over a rail line tunnel; in this one the author went there and asked the neighbours what they thought, a comical scene.
I was reading this book for research purposes and it did not mention the stations in which I was most interested. The author was paid as a journalist to write about the Tube in a column for several years. He includes a photo of Francis Bacon which he took on the Tube train one day. While he brought the tale up to date with the Olympics, the Greenwich and Canary Wharf stations, by its nature there are already updates to the system.
March 24, 2021
In the days before the internet, I sometimes used to buy the Evening Standard on a Friday, for the weekend TV guide, Ken Livingtone's restaurant review and Andrew Martin's 'Tube Talk' column. Times have changed: my TV has its own guide, the Evening Standard is a right wing freesheet that managed to kill Ken's career (with a little help from his Hitler fetish) and Andrew Martin got a literary agent.
Being a nerd who reads a lot about buses and trains, I thought I would already know everything in this book, but I was wrong, there are a heck of a lot of facts within it to impress your friends. Information is information, it's how you present it that makes a good book and Andrew is a lively, interesting writer. Spanning 150 years from the putative Metropolitan line in 1863 (Paddington to Farringdon) to Crossrail in 202? (Paddington to various places), the book covers the history (histories) of the tube in a engaging fashion. Mr Martin is a geek from whom you wouldn't back away at parties.
Being a nerd who reads a lot about buses and trains, I thought I would already know everything in this book, but I was wrong, there are a heck of a lot of facts within it to impress your friends. Information is information, it's how you present it that makes a good book and Andrew is a lively, interesting writer. Spanning 150 years from the putative Metropolitan line in 1863 (Paddington to Farringdon) to Crossrail in 202? (Paddington to various places), the book covers the history (histories) of the tube in a engaging fashion. Mr Martin is a geek from whom you wouldn't back away at parties.
July 8, 2017
I've greatly enjoyed the Timeshift documentaries Andrew Martin has made for the BBC, and another of his books, 'Belles and Whistles', was an informative and entertaining read. This book is in exactly the same vein, being a winning combination of Northern wit, insightful commentary, fascinating anecdotes, and a genuine love of the topic at hand. It's a fun trawl through the insanity of the Underground's beginnings, and subsequent myriad 'enhancements' and extensions, into what serves the London we know and love/despise today. All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable undertaking.
December 15, 2018
A very readable history of London's transport, not just confined to the tube. The author has an excellent style that mixes his own very wide personal experience of transport, facts from the textbooks and interesting oddities learned from interviewing transport staff and experts. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is interested or lives in London - here is its history presented in a most enjoyable format.
July 12, 2021
I like Andrew Martin. I like trains. This one is a fact fest; numbers and distances come hurtling at your retina like something on the Bakerloo. It was interesting, but as much as he tried to make it personable, it was all too business-like. But then I guess that's the Tube for you; not a place for character these days...
July 1, 2012
Excellent book about the Underground very well written in a chatty sort of way. I have read all Andrew Martin's fiction books and always enjoyed them so was pleased this non fiction was as interesting
April 3, 2015
Interesting factual account of the development of the tube
Read
January 29, 2013Couldn't finish this one - got about 50 pages through it. The author is a bit of a smarty-pants and I found him insufferable. It went back to the library.
October 22, 2021
Read as part of BooksandLala's Buzzwordathon.
3.5/5
The building of the Underground seems like a relay race, in which the competitors expire soon after passing on the baton.
Look, I didn't expect a 250-page book about the London Underground to be niche and a bit pretentious and self-important, and that's on me. I didn't account for just how many technical and overly-detailed parts there would be (or for the author's lack of self-awareness about them being overly-detailed), and that is also on me.
If you love trains just enough to be satisfied with a relatively short non-fiction book about 200 years of train history as opposed to a multi 1000-page volume tome, you will treasure this book. It is readable, it is funny, it gets geeky.
But, if that's not you, fair warning that this is a history more about trains than about Londoners' relationship with trains. This is technical, not anthropological. If you don't REALLY care about the specific widths of different tracks and which train designs the train-loving community like and dislike, give this one a pass.
For my part, I knew I was in the wrong place when the author started refuting this quotation:
'I don't mind if stations look 120 years old. It adds character.'
So.
3.5/5
The building of the Underground seems like a relay race, in which the competitors expire soon after passing on the baton.
Look, I didn't expect a 250-page book about the London Underground to be niche and a bit pretentious and self-important, and that's on me. I didn't account for just how many technical and overly-detailed parts there would be (or for the author's lack of self-awareness about them being overly-detailed), and that is also on me.
If you love trains just enough to be satisfied with a relatively short non-fiction book about 200 years of train history as opposed to a multi 1000-page volume tome, you will treasure this book. It is readable, it is funny, it gets geeky.
But, if that's not you, fair warning that this is a history more about trains than about Londoners' relationship with trains. This is technical, not anthropological. If you don't REALLY care about the specific widths of different tracks and which train designs the train-loving community like and dislike, give this one a pass.
For my part, I knew I was in the wrong place when the author started refuting this quotation:
'I don't mind if stations look 120 years old. It adds character.'
So.
March 11, 2017
Of all the subway systems around the world that I have ridden on, the London Underground I know the best. I have been riding on it whenever I was in London since the mid-80s and find it the most convenient way to get around town. So, with that said, I was looking forward to better understanding its history.
Andrew Martin does a good job of telling its story, but at times it gets a bit convoluted and truthfully hard to follow. It also just skins the surface of its history. Although he tells of some of the construction techniques, I personally would have liked to hear more about that aspect. I was intrigued by all of the ownerships of the various lines. That I had not realized until reading the book.
An okay book, but not the best I have ever read.
Andrew Martin does a good job of telling its story, but at times it gets a bit convoluted and truthfully hard to follow. It also just skins the surface of its history. Although he tells of some of the construction techniques, I personally would have liked to hear more about that aspect. I was intrigued by all of the ownerships of the various lines. That I had not realized until reading the book.
An okay book, but not the best I have ever read.
November 10, 2022
Subtitled “A Passenger’s History of the Tube”, this is a delightful and charming tome. Of course, it is impossible to write in any detail about the story of London’s underground system without being a little obsessed, but Andrew Martin does not bombard us unduly with facts and dates (unless I too have turned into a train ‘anorak’ while going through it). He presents some amusing vignettes of the various individuals who were instrumental in the system’s development, and has some funny asides to offer along the way. This should be mandatory reading for every Londoner, and recommended reading for every visitor to the city. Lovely stuff.
February 25, 2023
This is a well-documented topic but my first time reading anything about it, beyond a few youtube videos.
Well written, although I did find myself glossing over some of the details earlier in the book.
The one area I was disappointed to not get more information on was what was promised in the title "A passenger's history". Instead, the narrative was much more focused on building the tube itself. Details on passenger history were somewhat lacking.
If I'd have read more on this topic I could imagine it would be more repetitive.
Well written, although I did find myself glossing over some of the details earlier in the book.
The one area I was disappointed to not get more information on was what was promised in the title "A passenger's history". Instead, the narrative was much more focused on building the tube itself. Details on passenger history were somewhat lacking.
If I'd have read more on this topic I could imagine it would be more repetitive.
August 6, 2019
A very interesting and well informed book full of quirky information about a much loved / hated institution. I may have given it 5 stars if Mr. Martin had not called the Central Line his favourite. After enjuring the 4 stops west from Liverpool Street for a number of years I know why it is marked orange as that is the general colour of passengers subjected to conditions and heat where cattle couldn't be transported! So perhaps a 4.5 if this could be given.
April 7, 2020
A solid 4.5 stars (so I'll round to 5) lots of information, entertainingly told. Definitely needed more maps and diagrams. My London, underground, tube and map knowledge is decent, but there were lots of tales told here where I just needed some help to visualise the story.
A minor criticism; on the whole this isn't going to convert the transport agnostic, but if you're already a train fan, you'll love it.
A minor criticism; on the whole this isn't going to convert the transport agnostic, but if you're already a train fan, you'll love it.
April 17, 2022
Delightful and full of fun Tube facts. It was published in 2012 so does not include more recent developments (the Elizabeth Line, the Northern Line extension to Battersea Power Station, for example), but the majority of the book explains the genesis of the Tube, the various lines and companies behind it, and how it all came together. The writing is witty and funny, it is well-researched and just a fascinating subject anyway.
July 16, 2019
An intriguing and enjoyable journey through the history of the tube and it's evolution into the behemoth it is now from its beginnings as a privately owned single line (the Met). All with s ready if you use the tube regularly, I love 140 miles away and wanted to go and investigate each and every factor Andrew injected into the book!
September 25, 2025
Although the book is not officially a history book (that's explicitly stated in the book ;) ), I did enjoy how it presents the history of the Underground in an entertaining way that's easy to read. All the anecdotes made it read like I was listening to stories told by a family member or a friend instead of a textbook to be studied. :)
October 13, 2019
I wanted to enjoy this but it is written in a very confusing manner for someone not intimately familiar with the map. It’s very British and the humor is at turns amusing and annoying. It was good I just wanted it to be better.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews