Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World

What incredible research for a writer that never lived on the Coast, growing up inland in Spain. The way he writes about the individual towers is what is so outstanding in this book! Jose Luis Gonzalez Macias has written this thought provoking study of these different towers. Each has its own remarkable story. This is a well written historical overview of the beacons of light for seafarers. I recommend this book to everyone who loves the oceans of the world.

Lighthouses are so cool and this was so informative. I'd like to visit all of these places. I will note that the font in this book was a little hard to read when downloaded but that issue wont happen in a print copy

A charming collection of lighthouses in very remote locations. Each lighthouse has a single-page overview, often with enlightening stories. Following this is a drawing of the lighthouse in its setting. Another page has a line drawing of the lighthouse with a summary of relevant information. Finally, there is a map showing the location of the light.

This is a new translation of a Spanish book written in 2020.

What a smart book! I love the clean structure in how each lighthouse is presented: written exposition, drawing, diagram, location on map. The structure makes it easy to refer back to and make comparisons. I also enjoy the uniformly illustrated depictions of the lighthouses. Lighthouses can be difficult to photograph and I think the illustrations provide clean and accurate representations of each structure, tying the whole book together.

This is a beautifully spare book about some of the more unique light houses in the world. Accompanied by pen and ink, sketches of each lighthouse, is the history and folklore of each structure. A delight for those who love history, and the ocean.

This is the coffee table book of my dreams. Funny, informative, and beautiful to look at, this brief history of lighthouses around the world is a must have for any travel or architecture buff. Also perfect for anyone that likes beautiful and informative things. You can read it all at once or take it lighthouse by lighthouse over time. Excellent!

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World by José Luis Gonzalez Marcías in exchange for an honest review. This book is beautiful. I have always been fascinated with lighthouses and wanted to live in one and be a lighthouse keeper, but it's not an easy job to find.

This is a beautifully illustrated book about the history of lighthouses. It will of course be of interest to people who enjoy lighthouses, but it is also enjoyable for those interested in history, geography, engineering, the human condition, and the way that civilization marches onward. Each lighthouse has a brief history, a beautiful illustration, a more technical illustration, and a map showing where it is located in the world. A very interesting little book!

I’ve learn so much about lighthouses thanks to this book. For example, did you know that they don’t always look alike? And that now basically no one lives in there anymore?
And yes, they are creepy as the seem, especially in the dark of the night.

Thanks to Chronicle Books and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Who doesn't love lighthouses? I had a sister-in-law who collected them, and I would go out of my way to find extra gifts for her because lighthouses are so interesting.
Anyone who really feels intrigued by lighthouses will probably enjoy this book. It's simply a selection of lighthouse entries, with brief descriptions and histories. The pictures include drawings and maps showing where the lighthouses are located. I would have enjoyed some prettier pictures, but the book is still amazing as is.
Before reading this, it never occurred to me how different lighthouses could be and how difficult it could be to maintain a lighthouse on difficult terrain. The author does an amazing job pointing out unusual things that happened with individual lighthouses and events that occurred over time.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I have recently become infatuated with light houses. This was a perfect quick read with facts and info on many lighthouses I didn't even know existed. The maps and drawings are a nice touch. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Brief Atlas of Lighthouses at the End of the World by Jose Luis Gonzalez Macias was an enjoyable collection of forgotten lighthouses of years gone by. The pictures are more artwork than photos as they are pixelated versions, but still quite fascinating. I loved the intricate and detailed information found regarding each lighthouse. Building plans, when they were erected, when they went out of commission and old tales, legends, and stories associated with them. I did love the literary correlation to each chapter as well. I found this to be a great source of information while appreciating the collection of details to bring each lighthouse back to life, if even in a memory. I found it to be a creative approach and a way to honor those who gave endlessly, and sometimes sacrificially, of themselves to help protect others.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. The drawings of the various lighthouses were great. I do wish they had photos as well. I enjoy reading a bit of history on what is he each lighthouse. It’s interesting to see how the lighthouses were all designed different. I think most people have it in their mind if how a lighthouse looks.

Let's not over-complicate this. This is how Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World by José Luis González Macías goes:

1. One page history of a super cool lighthouse
2. Super cool sketch of a super cool lighthouse
3. Super cool metrics about the super cool lighthouse
4. Map showing where the super cool lighthouse is/was which is usually in the middle of nowhere somewhere on Earth

Do you like lighthouses? Of course you do. Read this book.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Chronicle Books.)

I’m not quite sure what made me want to read a book about lighthouses. But whatever that impulse to request this book was, I’m glad it happened. Because apparently there’s a part of me that’s really fascinated by the idea of these beacons in the dangerous unfriendly waters, the places where lives of their caretakers are always threatened by the surroundings, where solitude can be suffocating by cutting you off from the rest of the world for months at a time and the mind may slowly go insane. These are not the places for the faint-hearted, and are not the peaceful refuges from the world they may seem at the first glance.

And yet there’s stark beauty in these outposts of civilizations aimed to protect lives from danger and deaths, the warning and guiding light in the dark. There’s enough love for them to have people who grew up as children of lighthouse keepers willingly take on these jobs for themselves.

“A Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World” by José Luis González Macías is a collection of brief pieces about 34 different remote lighthouses as well as some brief one-page anecdotes about them throughout their histories — a blind lighthouse keeper, a young woman saving multiple people from death, cats brought to a small island by a lighthouse keeper annihilating the newly discovered species of birds, a keeper having to share space with his mysteriously deceased colleague, storms and wrecks and deaths — plus some drawings and brief details.

Many of these lighthouses are crumbling, others have been automated, and there are all kinds of modern inventions that have replaced the need fulfilled in the past by these lighthouses — but while they are still standing, they still can show us the strange allure of lonely beauty of these places.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a winner this book is. If you like lighthouses, this one is for you. You will never look at one in the same way again.

Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World by Jose Luis Gonzalez Macias each lighthouse had a short story about a picture of the lighthouse and a map where it was located.

Interesting book. I like lighthouses, well actually I love lighthouses. My mom when she was alive would collect ones she been to.

The book talks about some of the most remote lighthouses across the globe. The author would start with a description and history. Then we would see an illustration of the lighthouse. Third we would have a page with a side elevation of the lighthouse, the compass points where to find the lighthouse, a description of its construction, with height and base as well as if it is active or not. Last we see a chart of where the lighthouse is located. This is a rather good book concerning the lighthouses featured in it. A good reason for the 5 stars.

Lighthouses have always fascinated me and I loved flipping through this book and discovering interesting lighthouses in places not well known. Along with details, it covers the unique history and climate of the locations where these lighthouses sit. As lighthouse keepers become rare in these modern times, seeing how these lighthouses are kept up and handled was very interesting.
Thank you to the author and Netgalley for this arc.

I love this book! As a lighthouse aficionado, I am well versed in US/Canada sites. The beauty of this book is that it sheds light (see what I did there?) on some of the lesser known lights throughout the world. Filled with fun facts and anecdotes, the author clearly loves his subject matter. Accompanied by some seriously stunning illustrations. Highly recommended! I will be buying some copies to give as gifts!!

LightHouses always capture my imagination. The focus of this book are ones that are in remote places. It shares histories and stories and gives facts like height, dates of construction and how far in nautical miles they can be seen. The drawings are detailed and stylized in blue tones like the cover. I suppose cost is a factor but I was disappointed that actual photos were not part of this book. I have visited many lighthouses in my travels but can only count three in this book on my list. I did appreciate the world map showing where the lighthouses are located.

Scientific fact: everyone loves lighthouses.
Scientific fact: everyone has as some point secretly wanted to live in a lighthouse (or at least been curious what it would be like).
Scientific fact: this book will make you love lighthouses even more. But you may no longer want to live in one.

A heartfelt look at lighthouses all around the globe, from Siberia to New Zealand and many points in between (some you've likely never heard of). For each lighthouse, the author provides a page of interesting highlights in its history, then a full-page image, and then a line drawing of its external appearance with additional structural facts. There's much to uncover in here. I had no idea how difficult it was to build a lighthouse in many of the locations that are chosen, nor how difficult it often is to get to (and back from) the lighthouse from the boat that is dropping you off or picking you up. There are several stories of lighthouse keepers who went mad or perished...or even disappeared, but there are also many stories of keepers who excelled at the job and stayed for decades, sometimes their entire career. At least two of the stories are about girls who were raised as the daughter of a lighthouse keeper and who then went on to be the keeper of that same lighthouse in their adult years, which got me thinking about how natural it would be to want to stay if that was what you had always known. What an interesting life that must have been, to be more comfortable and at home there than anywhere else.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.

Very interesting book.I thought it was really well written. I like how he describes the lighthouses and different parts of the world. It gives a brief description and then explains how they were built when they were built.And then he shows the pictures how they look. That's pretty interesting because you could use this with a reference book. I never knew there were lighthouse without limit on the Pacific Atlantic.I am from the east coast.. The lighthouse is very different in massachusetts and they have interesting backgrounds on them as well. The outer banks has a lot of light answers as well. In north carolina. The pacific has really good lighthouses too LIGHT houses are very interesting. And have personalities all about them. I like mentioned virginia wolfe's lighthouse and her book because they were great.