“Travel at your own risk” warns the Note to Readers. Atlas Obscura is a travel guide, but look in vain under Italy for gondola rides. Instead, you’ll find places such as Poveglia Island just south of Venice, site of a long-shuttered asylum worthy of a horror movie. Forget the Louvre. When in Paris, try the Deyrolle taxidermy museum. Handsomely produced and illustrated and written in tones of respectful curiosity and occasional restrained irony, the revised edition includes updated city guides and spans all continents. Antarctica? Check out the bust of Lenin left by Soviet explorers. Many libraries are described, including one guarded against rodents by bats who live behind the shelves. Detours include places for unusual food (the black eggs of Owakudani, Japan). Atlas Obscura is entertaining with nary a dull page. (David Luhrssen)
Dylan Thuras will discuss Atlas Obscura at the American Geographical Society Library in UW-Milwaukee’s Golda Meier Library on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 6:30 p.m.
