Curiocity

Curiocity

An Alternative A-Z of London

Summary

'The most ingenious, informative, inimitable, individual, innovative, insightful, inspiring, instructive, intelligible, intoxicating, intricate guide to the great city that I have ever seen. Bravo!' Philip Pullman

'A glorious and delightful compendium and guide to London from Above, Below and all the in-betweens' Neil Gaiman

Curiocity is a London book unlike any other. Its 26 chapters weave together facts, myths, stories, riddles, essays, diagrams, illustrations and itineraries to explore every aspect of life in the capital. At the heart of each chapter is a hand-drawn map, charting everything from thecity's islands and underground spaces, to its erogenous zones and dystopian futures. Taking you from Atlas to Zones, via Congestion, Folkmoot, Pearls and Xenophilia, Curiocity will transform the way you see London.

'The greatest book about London published in modern times ... an illuminated manuscript for the 21st century city' Londonist

'Here is something different ... the literary equivalent of Sir John Soane's Museum ... quite breathtaking' The Times Literary Supplement

'Remarkable ... a nerdy Londoner's paradise ... an exquisite 450-page cross between an encyclopaedia and an artwork' Evening Standard

'Utterly extraordinary' Tom Holland

'However well you think you know London, you will discover something newon virtually every page, and the things you know well will be seen completely differently' The London Society

Reviews

  • The most ingenious, insightful, inspiring, intoxicating, and simply interesting guide to the great city that I have ever seen
    Philip Pullman

About the authors

Henry Eliot

Henry Eliot is the author of The Penguin Classics Book, The Penguin Modern Classics Book, Follow This Thread and Curiocity: An Alternative A-Z of London. An inveterate bookworm, Henry has tackled a number of bookish adventures, such as recreating Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, leading pilgrims from Southwark to Canterbury and retelling the tales along the way; mounting a quest for the Holy Grail based on Malory's Morte d'Arthur; swimming across the Hellespont from Europe to Asia on the bicentenary of Lord Byron's crossing (the subject of Byron's 1810 poem, 'Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos'); and reading Ulysses in real-time on Bloomsday, 16 June, starting at 8am with grilled kidneys and finishing in the early hours of the following morning. He produced an interactive edition of Shakespeare's The Tempest in collaboration with Sir Ian McKellen and Professor Sir Jonathan Bate, which Apple named one of the '10 best apps of 2016', and for five years he was an editor of the Penguin Classics series in London. Today he is one of the QI research elves and hosts the podcast On the Road with Penguin Classics, in which he travels to discuss books with guests including Frank Cottrell Boyce, Louis de Bernières, Rachel Joyce, Patience Agbabi, Andrew Motion and Will Self.
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Matt Lloyd-Rose

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