To sum up, this book is a fantastic piece of research which is easy to follow and understand throughout. Well worth a read in my opinion. Bradford Railway Circle If you read the book through, you will be able to put the bits of a puzzle into a jigsaw and have a better of idea of London's development than you might from other more plodding and academic chronological surveys. There are ten primary locations and themes covered. Scurrying rats that produce feelings of revulsion or queasiness. A young colleague, Norman, is asked to explain to Julia the “rat facts”: “There are an estimated three rats for every human in London. There are tens of millions of rats. You are probably never more than three feet from a rat at any time. There are 4000 rats born in London every hour. They are incredibly prolific.” Later, Carmen falls through a crumbling floor that is the ceiling to another tunnel below. There are piles of dead rats and filth, it is a scene of unrelieved horror. Not much later the two young women make a gruesome discovery in an unexplored passageway: it is the body of the dead Norman.

As the complexities of the plot work themselves out, we encounter a long list of characters. Some surface in August 1944 as World War II continues to rage in the skies of London. Others appear in the present. The book begins with a heartfelt introduction to the London Underground and the magic it provides; a passenger may travel and emerge somewhere new and not quite know exactly how far, or where, indeed by what means they have travelled. The Map of course is the ever-present aid; a trusty companion to London travel, representing 150 years of design, engineering, expansion and so much more. An earlier subchapter described events during World War II and Hitler’s obsession with biological warfare. A German outpost was established in a village in the north of occupied Norway, intended to develop biological weapons. These weapons with their “payload” were so lethal that the outpost was constructed far from the German homeland. A group from the Norwegian underground tries to blow up the outpost, or at least steal the weaponized bio-missile. But they are too late. It has been put on a railroad flat-car and bound to the south and Germany. The notorious Norwegian traitor Vidkun Quisling also plays a central role in the story. So too, though he never appears in person, does surgeon and biologist Dr. Alexis Carrel, a Nobel Prize-winner for pioneering vascular suturing techniques. Later in life, he gained prominence collaborating with Charles Lindbergh in the eugenics movement.The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863, is now part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines; the first line to operate underground electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in 1890, is now part of the Northern line. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2014-15 carried 1.305 billion passengers, making it the world's 11th busiest metro system.

A fascinating book covering not just the history of the Underground map but of the Underground itself. Recommended. If you’re like me and you feel like your life won’t be complete without gaining knowledge about London Tube to use in very random conversations, this book is perfect for you! Well, you could also be a fan of transportation or maps and like it! NetGalley, Gabriela Gorniak Highlight: 'This is a great reference work on a subject that I certainly never realised had such a big story behind it.' Railways Illustrated Finally, there is an account of the speculative capitalism around Highgate High Level which allows the telling of the story of the NIMBY-led creation of Hampstead Garden Suburb and a return to the centre of London for the stories of the Strand complex and that under Euston.If you're unable to release the books in accordance to Section 38(1)(b) of Freedom of Information Act 2000. Would you be able to release the remaining information from the Rule Books by redacting sensitive information in accordance to the FOI Act and GDPR/Data Protection Act?”. Bringing the story to life are intriguing and compelling characters like Inspector Sherwood Peets, the quiet thinker who’s lonely after an unsavory divorce and the independent Carmen Kingsley a stubborn, compulsive and intense academic who’s sensitive to stimuli because of Asperger’s. These characters and others infuse the story with excitement, depth and energy. This is a book that I shall keep and refer to many times. I really do recommend it for anyone with an interest in transport history – and not just London: Roope has some shrewd comments about the nationwide Beeching cuts of the 1960s. NetGalley, Colin Edwards

The method is to take an Underground location as the type of a theme, tell its tale and add details and material from other similar locations. It is definitely not a narrative history of the London Underground but rather a series of localised narratives that give us a rounded picture of the whole. Nearly all are still in some sort of use, even if temporary in many cases - for ventilation, storage, as film sets or as service corridors. Others really are ghosts to which access is difficult - in the case of Highgate banned in part not because of the military-industrial complex but to protect rare bats. A chilling adventure beneath the streets of London where WWII-era bombs, government conspiracies, and science—gone very very wrong—collide. A first class book and highly recommended to not only London Underground enthusiasts but also anyone interested in the history of railways. Peter A. Harding, Branch Line & Light Railway Publications

My Journeys

Like the Dog show I judge each story by what it is. I don't compare metaphorical Basset hounds agianst poodles. if it weren't for the ending this might have been ranked higher. I was expecting the book's focus to be solely on the history of the map; however, this book actually looks at the entire history of the network, spanning its inception, construction. I think it's a richer read for exploring the wider history to understand and explain decisions.