Atlas der verlorenen Städte

by Aude de Tocqueville, Regine Schmidt (Translator), Sabine Grebing (Translator)

Dieser historische Atlas entführt Sie in eine andere Zeit Entdecken Sie untergegangene Kulturen, mystische Orte und die sagenumwobenen Kultstätten der Welt. Begeben Sie sich auf legendäre Reisen durch die Weltgeschichte, erkunden Sie Ruinenstädte wie das mexikanische Teotihuacn oder die Geisterstadt Centralia in den USA, auch bekannt als die brennende Stadt. Teils ist dieses Buch ein Atlas der antiken Welt, teils erzählt es die faszinierenden Geschichten von Lost Places, die erst in jüngerer Vergangenheit entstanden sind. Mit diesem Buch begeben Sie sich auf eine außergewöhnliche Entdeckungsreise, die Sie restlos fesseln wird!

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Travel, Geography, Atlases, Historical, Maps

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Marc Grabalosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un llibre divertit i amè que ens porta a diferents racons perduts del món, explicant històries curioses de ciutats que ja no existeixen. Algunes són llocs coneguts, altres, petites sorpreses, però totes tenen detalls entretinguts que fan la lectura molt agradable. El llibre es llegeix amb molta agilitat, ja que cada ciutat ocupa només un parell de pàgines. M'ha agradat molt i m’ho he passat molt bé llegint-lo.

[♏ Gina☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book quite interesting and well put together.

Separated by country or continent, each lost city story includes a map and a little history of each abandoned destination.

It's not meant to be extremely in-depth and it isn't, but it is a good read nonetheless, and would be interesting to all history/geography buffs.

[Chani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the idea of this book: traveling around the world, exploring the abandoned cities on every continent. For each city, ranging in geography and time period, they provide a brief summary of its history and demise.
Unfortunately it failed to live up to its potential. Clearly Euro-centric with what could be racist undertones (putting "modern" in quotation marks when describing a "'modern' village" in India, which under every definition of the word was modern except for the fact it's not white or European; describing a city as "dating from India's pre-historic era" despite not actually being pre-historic, just precolonial), and straight up incorrect information in parts (maps were wrong, incorrect word translations, etc). There were no photos, only graphics. Which can fit a cohesive theme, but they would describe beautiful scenery and buildings that left me wanting more.
For a book described as a travel guide, it doesn't actually provide any travel guidance. Very little (if any) information on how to get to it or accessibility, if guides are necessary or recommended, or even just a rating on how desirable a destination it is.
I think for those interested in abandoned cities, this could be a good starting point but in my opinion, get your research from a different source.

[Leah Rachel von Essen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had enjoyed Atlas of Lost Cities: A Travel Guide to Abandoned and Forsaken Destinations more, but unfortunately, it had many problems. Aude de Tocqueville suffers from a lack of coherent tone, either problems in writing or in translation, and a couple content issues as well.

The book itself is pretty, the illustrations beautiful, but the wealth of content peters off slightly there. The information offered is basic—often including strangely chosen sidebars such as one describing what “Golden Ages” are—and often shifts in tone, for example switching between attempting to squash myths and lore about a city and embracing it in order to try and get at the mysteries of its formation or demise. The book often offers a romanticization of ruins and lack of empathy for the lost city itself, offering only side-notes about struggles in the region, apparently attempting to become apolitical. But the book also takes a wildly anti-tourist swing when we get to the cities of Pripyat and Varosha, judging tourists for their desire to gaze at the ruins, as if her entire book wasn’t about cities that have fallen to disease, to war, to pillaging, to fire and tragedy. I felt that Hiroshima was a bizarre choice for the book considering that it has been rebuilt completely—all other cities are ones that have been rebuilt at most as tourist attractions, or where part but not all has been abandoned. Meanwhile, I felt there were some obvious omissions—Machu Picchu, for example, or Hampi in India. The writing, or perhaps the translation, is subpar, and the use of exclamation points is out of place and breaks the style. De Tocqueville fails to capture the right tone between mystery and history that this tome could have encapsulated—her description of Vilcabamba in Peru almost captures the tone that would have worked best, but only succeeds in making itself confusing rather than capturing a mystery in time and excavation. Overall, this volume was rather disappointing, and certainly could and should have been better executed than it was.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a disappointing book. I think my opinion formed early in reading it when so many of the entries seemed to just be boom towns that sprang up to exploit some mineral resource in the area and faded away when the wealth dried up; I had been hoping for cities with more antiquity, as hinted at by the cover art. There are some in the book, but many more in the modern era. But even then, the entries just have this feeling of distance in reading them, like they provide a kind of overview but never give a true sense of what the abandoned place feels like. Partly this is due to insufficient pictures or photographs of the locations, which I think would do a much better job of communicating the feel of a place than the cursory summaries of their histories provides. I also feel disappointed with the maps, which often zoom in too close to really give a sense of where the city is located, especially for less familiar areas. And it is a strange definition of "lost city" to include a thriving metropolitan center like Hiroshima, whatever its past.

[Rrlgrrl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book long ago, thinking it would have some fascinating archeological tidbits of cities long vanished. I found this book without a real theme - the places selected seemed random. Some of the cities listed are not truly vanished, like Hiroshima, and I wondered why it and others were listed. The book could also have used photographs, or even just art work, to show more of what these places looked like. There was a lot of empty white space that could have been used up - especially those pages with just a large compass drawn on it. Each city had 1-2 pages of a short description. There are online resources that go more into depth and contain a lot of useful information. There is no travel information to these places, so the book title is also misleading. I finished reading it, since it was so short, and I would not recommend it to anyone. I was very disappointed.

[Petra | LooneyCZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Téma knihy je velice zajímavé, zpracování ale mohlo být lepší. Absence fotografií mě donutila číst s telefonem v ruce; atlas je totiž spíš než uceleným přehledem takovou předlohou pro další googlování. Mapky s ilustrací města jsou sice hezké, ale v tomhle případě naprosto nedostačující. A bohužel často ani neposkytují moc dobrou představu o tom, kde vlastně místo leží (tady ze mě možná mluví studium kartografie, postrádám např. měřítko). A ne, ty GPS údaje fakt nikdo přepisovat do mobilu nebude. Městečko Colesbukta je pak umístěno špatně na západ Norska, ačkoli se nachází na Špicberkách (holt jsem studovala geografii, tak ty chyby vidím). Stránky s kompasem? Promarněná šance. Přesně sem by se ty chybějící fotky vešly.

Osobně mě mnohem víc bavily příběhy novověké (San Zhi, Centralia, Kolmanskop), zato popis Kartága nebo Babylonu mi připomínal učebnici dějepisu. Výběr míst i jednotlivé doprovodné texty jsou hodně nesourodé a řazení měst podle abecedy taky není zrovna šťastné řešení. Jen prohlubuje celkovou roztříštěnost knížky. Povídání o starověké a dávno zaniklé civilizaci v Indii nebo severní Africe, se spoustou až zbytečných historických údajů (nebavilo), střídá utajené město v Aralském jezeře nebo místo, kde se z puklin v silnici valí kouř (honem Google a vyhledat víc).
Mimochodem, ta Hirošima je tam zařazena jako proč?

Z celé knihy se tak jako nejužitečnější jeví obsah. Ve spojení s ilustracemi (jsou opravdu hezké, ale fotka je fotka) poslouží jako seznam míst, o kterých si (většinou) chcete na internetu vyhledat další informace a možná si tam naplánovat výlet. Od knihy nazvané Atlasem bych však čekala víc.

Mimochodem, i v rámci Česka by se spousta takových ztracených míst (spíše vesnic) našla. Obce vypálené (Lidice, Ležáky), obce zatopené (Mušov, Frymburk), zbořené kvůli Temelínu, vysídlené (na Šumavě) nebo opuštěné kvůli výstavbě vojenského prostoru (Nepřívaz, Varhošť). Nechtěl by to někdo sepsat? Nebo už se tak stalo? Něco jako web zaniklé obce ale knižně?

[Anina e gambette di pollo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Autore: francese. Saggio viaggi.

Non è un compendio di archeologia del genere Civiltà sepolte, ma una raccolta di carte geografiche ed una serie di brevi commenti sui luoghi scelti dall’autore.
I viaggiatori abituali, forti delle loro guide e dei loro selfie, storcerebbero il naso.
Anche se dubito che riuscirebbero a collocarle tutte nel giusto contesto o che abbiano un selfie fatto a Centralia.

Raccolta eterogenea divisa per continenti, tranne l’Australia.
Le città? Insediamenti di antiche civiltà scomparse a volte misteriosamente o annientate da carestie o guerre o eventi naturali. Insediamenti più recenti nati e morti intorno a miniere esauste. Città abbandonate figlie di investimenti falliti. Guerre dell’immediato ieri, come Varosha a Cipro, e guerre di cent’anni fa che hanno lasciato, in Francia a Fleury devant Douamons, 9 paesi polverizzati dove non si può ricostruire per la quantità di armi ancora sepolte insieme ad un numero spaventoso di ossa. Città vuote di persone, ma non ancora del tutto morte come Centralia, almeno finché i giacimenti di carbone sotterranei non avranno terminato di bruciare.

Cose note magari, ma il testo è gradevole, come le semplici cartine.

22.02.2018

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

”We are liberated from all ties and are moved to find this secret beauty the echo of our unaccomplished lives.”

With beautiful depictions, it transports you to four lost cities and delves into the mysteries surrounding them — a fascinatingly evocative read for awakening your adventurous spirit.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es ist nett zum Schmökern, reist mich aber leider nicht so vom Hocker wie ich dachte

[Candy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book promised to take you to notable places as well as lesser known places, which it did. It certainly did pique my interest to learn of places I had never heard of before. Unfortunately, the text of the book read like nothing more than the printing of a Wikipedia synopsis. Each location is a separate chapter, typically consisting of no more than 2 to 3 pages of text. An original illustration for each was included which, while beautifully done, did not satisfy my curiosity. I ended up Googling every location, and there is an abundance of information out there on each place. The book was a disappointment as it lacked any depth. I was able to find more information just using Google. If someone actually had the time and inclination to research, this could have been a great book!

www.candysplanet.wordpress.com

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first saw this book, I was captivated by both its title and design - the idea of Lost Cities conjures up a sense of romance, adventure, myths and fantasy; while the book appears to be styled like an old explorer's notebook. Thus I was pleasantly surprised to discover that all of the cities described here were real, with many abandoned in surprisingly recent times. Each entry, illustrated by retro-style maps, offers fascinating histories of each city's rise and fall. My only disappointment is that some photographs would have added considerably to each story, seeing that they are real places (the stylised but relatively simple maps would be perfect on their own for imaginary cities).

[Mehsi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tja, ik had toch meer verwacht van dit boek. Wat foto's bijvoorbeeld. Ook dat de tijd beter liep zou fijn zijn. Niet oud en nieuw door elkaar.

Normaal ben ik een persoon die enorm houdt van het oude, maar ik moet zeggen dat ik meer naar de nieuwe dingen uitkeek. Voornamelijk omdat die niet altijd zo bekend zijn als de oude.

[Stuart Parr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting book that at first seems well presented. The articles on each place are short but interesting. The maps have a nice artistic style however they could be much clearer. What this book really needs though is photographs! We want to see what these places look like! In the end you are slightly disappointed that you don't get a real perspective on these places.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting, but it wasn't translated in a way that made it super readable. I found all the locations interesting, and did research post-reading to learn more about each place. I would have appreciated it more if there had been actual pictures included, because the illustrations didn't show the true beauty of a lot of these locations.

[Alex Pler · Rating 2 out of 5]

La idea me atraía aun más que el fascinante 'Atlas de islas remotas', pero tanto textos como ilustraciones se quedan muy lejos de evocar lo mismo.

[Mélanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une incitation au voyage hors des sentiers battus. On découvre ici des cités disparues, rasées, abandonnées, désertées, et les raisons de leurs solitudes. De quoi éveiller l'imagination!

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting, but so many times I wanted to know more about the lost city. The book seemed brief, like there was no time and space to explain more.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review title: Abandoned hope

Human infrastructure--roads, houses, factories, cities--represent a losing battle against the second law of thermodynamics. Every home owner knows the battle I speak of: fix one thing, and another breaks. De Tocqueville has gathered a collection of case studies of abandoned hope in this slim volume.

Arranged by continent and then confusingly by city name (why not country?) are short descriptions of the founding, flourishing, and fall of 44 cities which died due to war, climate change, disease, disaster, and mysterious causes we may never know. The number of causes is nearly as many as the number of cities, and De Tocqueville writes--in French originally in 2014, with uncredited translation in this 2016 English edition--with the right blend of crisp urgency and poignant mystery leave the reader wanting to know more.

And there is the problem I have that left me rating only two stars for this book:

1. There are no photographs of the sites, so to see what De Tocqueville has written about readers must have internet access to google for images. For a book described on the cover as for "armchair travelers", this is an annoying flaw that takes me away from the armchair and the book to face a screen to see pictures which would fill in the thousand words, which breaks the spell for me.

2. Each location is identified by GPS coordinates and hand drawn maps with some terrain features like bodies of water, mountains, and nearby cities indicated, but not clearly enough to serve as a guide for travelers who wish to visit, again a flaw in a book described in its subtitle as a travel guide. It is similar in this respect to the larger Atlas Obscura which I recently read; neither book is a true tour guide leading travelers to the spot with directions and suggestions. Perhaps this is intentional on the part of the authors to protect fragile and difficult environments from casual and unthinking tourists. Readers would really have to want to go there and put in the preparation and planning it would take to get to most of these places.

3. While the hand drawn maps, graphic layout, and thick hardback covers are beautiful examples of the publishing art, they take space and add weight that a traveler (like myself, who carried this in my luggage on an international assignment) might wish had been given to more content and photographs. It will look good in the geography section of my bookshelves when I get home, but it leaves me wishing for more while I am reading it on the road.

But the negatives are offset with the thought-provoking accounts of when, where, and why these cities were abandoned, and how quickly they disappeared, sometimes literally and for thousands of years until uncovered by the miracles of technology, archeology, and serendipity. The human pretention to permanence is shattered in the reminders of abandoned hoped presented here. A few years ago The world without us combined science and speculation to consider how quickly the traces of human civilization would disappear without us; one of that author's case studies was the resort city of Varosha on Cyprus included by De Tocqueville here.

On the other hand, we haven't disappeared yet or given up against all hope. One of the most poignant of De Tocqueville's accounts is of the rebuilding of Hiroshima after its destruction by the atomic bomb. Man's worst effects may be redeemed by man's best endeavors. That these cities existed at all, many for centuries of thriving life, are testimony to our hope. So I will use this slim volume as a portal for more research and reading, to keep my hope and wonder alive.

[Vic · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2,5/5

Tras el precioso Atlas of Remote Islands y el excelente An Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist: A Compendium of Fifty Unrecognized and Largely Unnoticed States , la idea de este libro me fascinaba: siempre me han maravillado las ciudades fantasma y las historias tras de sí. El problema, y aquí quizá la culpa sea más mía que de la autora, es que la mitad o más de las ciudades que se mencionan en este libro pertenecen a civilizaciones antiquísimas, ciudades desaparecidas, yacimientos o, en algunos casos, minúsculas ruinas de ciudades que históricamente fueron importantes. Lo que yo buscaba es la otra mitad del libro, las ciudades contemporáneas construidas en su totalidad (o casi) y abandonadas (o casi) por diversos motivos, y me ha faltado mucho.

Por otro lado, junto al breve relato de cada ciudad, encontramos una ilustración de estilo desenfadado, no muy precisa, no muy fiel, que poco aporta al texto, por lo que el lector tiene que acabar recurriendo a buscar fotografías por Internet para poder visualizar la ciudad, y a su vez, para preguntarse qué tienen en común la ilustración y la realidad.

[LittleRedWolves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tocqueville writes with flowery language that sometimes helps to create an appreciation for what the city was in it's prime vs what you'll be met with visiting in current times; sometimes it hinders the information.
I think this book would benefit greatly from an introduction that was less about the authors feelings encountering an abandoned city and replaced with information about how she intended the book to be read and the goal of the book being more clearly defined.
I believe it attempts to convey the thoughts and feelings one may experience as though it had been written on postcard to family.
I had to read it all in one go because it doesn't read like a typical non-fiction book and I felt if I out it down I would have to fight to pick it back up.
The page layout in the copy I was reading was poor and under utilized but the graphics make for a more complete understanding of the type of city you're reading about.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining read, about various cities in the world that have disappeared or been abandoned. It includes both old cities and more modern places, and instead of photos it has beautiful map drawings. The information provided is not very in-depth but still enough to give you a taste of the history of these cities. I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking for a detailed historical review of lost cities, but it is a pleasant book with which to dream away about far away places and histories.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating concept, less than thrilled with the execution. It took me forever to read this book since I ended up googling most of the places to get images and more context. While the maps were evocative, they didn't really help get a feel for any of the places described. I was also disappointed that of the cities chosen to represent Africa, only Carthage was not a colonial outpost.

(And again, maybe just bad eyes, but the small font size in such a large book seemed pointless.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting enough jumping-off point for people interested in lost cities. I did find some of the choices of cities a bit strange (there were a lot of cities that were built quite recently and abandoned before people even lived there, and I found her section on Europe in particular to be quite lacking and with uninspired). I thought the sections on the near East and central Asia were pretty good, as well as many of the South and Central American cities.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the other reviews here hit the nail on the head: many mining boom towns, lack of coherent choice, lack of depth in the stories.
I was also disappointed by the maps. They are extremely lacking in detail, which I find surprising because this is a topic in which geographical context is truly important. The small maps at the top often had actual mistakes in it, placing the city in the completely wrong place.

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some neat stuff in here, but a little more exciting in theory than in practice. The writing is a bit flat (which might be a result of translation) and doesn't evoke the sense of mystery, grandeur and storytelling that I was looking for. A good guide for further research of some of the world's forgotten places - and the pictures are pretty, if not as informative as they could be.

[SilverMoon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Non negherò di essere rimasta un po' delusa,soprattutto per via delle illustrazioni secondo me molto poco suggestive,e fin troppo minimaliste;ed anche il racconto dei destini di questi relitti nella maggioranza dei casi mi ha coinvolto ed interessato poco,inaspettatamente,devo dire,perchè invece l'argomento l'avrei detto affascinante.

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s interesting how many different ways a city can die. Some of the locations covered in this collection kinda never existed to begin with. And yet they’re all spots one might at least theoretically visit. This is a fun read, though I wish in some cases that the text had been accompanied by photos.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed learning about these places, but I would have liked a little more. The design of the book is beautiful, but it leaves a lot of blank space that I felt could have been better used for more stories about each cities or more cities.

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Some familiar and some not familar cities. Some ancient, some modern. Could have been more text. Sort of a coffee table book only with drawings. Stirred up some interesting research for me though.