London Rediscovered

Rating:
Summary: London in a book
Review: This is a great book to have. The pictures are great and really capture London in its true glory. For anyone who has been to London this book is a must have and will be so full of memories. Everytime I turned a page in the book more memories came back. I have it on my coffee table and show it everyone. They all love the London as I saw it.

Rating:
Summary: Trying too hard to be unusual.
Review: Trying too hard to be unusual.

The photos are often of grotesque subjects (lots of gargoyles); taken from weird locations or at strange angles or too close up (never show the whole building); lots of telephoto-distorted perspective; almost all overcast weather. Overall, very unattractive, distant, and cold.

Text tends to focus on less-salubrious aspects of the city's history.

A commercial street map that doesn't show all of the city covered by the book is reproduced on the last two pages. No index to the map or cross-references between map and book.

This is a book that was "produced" -- not a labor of love.

By the way, I really like the photographer's book on English villages -- it is just the opposite.