Release the Books…… Now!
We’re receiving reports that the book is landing on doormats across the nation, if not yet the world. Expect your copy soon if it’s not already arrived.
Thank you for your patience, trust and support. I hope we’ve published the book you deserve.
â Buy the brand-new Issue 12 of New Escapologist at the shop; buy our most popular digital bundle; or get the Escape Everything! book.
On The Map
The cover of New Escapologist Issue 12 depicts an antique map of Glasgow in Scotland.
We used a map of all things to illustrate the theme of walking, though the decision to use specifically a Glasgow map was more solipsistic, for Samara and I–the ones who make these decisions–had recently moved there.
Now that the magazine is published I realise how much I enjoyed looking at all those images of maps, so I watched this BBC documentary about Ordnance Survey, the organisation responsible for developing the finest maps in the world.
I’m happy with how the Glasgow map looks on the magazine cover. It’s gorgeous. But in the documentary, the President of the Royal Geographic Society mentions a map that would have been even more apt to use.
Of the Ordnance Survey popular edition (1919-1926), he says:
“That era spans a part of history in Britain where the number of motor cars on the road went up from 77,000 to around a million. And so that map is the last picture we have of Britain before it was overrun by motor transport.”
Isn’t that something? Beautiful evidence of a time before the ubiquity of the infernal combustion engine.
The documentary also mentions that cartographers, otherwise uncredited for their individual work on the maps, would sometimes sneak their names into the maps like a signature. They had to be very sneaky about it too, lest their supervisors find out. That’s some fairly wonderful workplace mischief.
Pleasingly, one of these cheeky map-makers had the same name as me:
â Buy the brand-new Issue 12 of New Escapologist at the shop; buy our most popular digital bundle; or get the Escape Everything! book.
A New-Look New Escapologist? Have Your Say!
We might well take the magazine a new direction in 2016.
I’m not completely sure how it will look yet but we’re discussing three possible options:
1. We’ll leave the magazine as it is. If people are attached to it, why meddle?
2. We’ll start producing a more conventional magazine with regular columns, humour pages, letters to the editor, etc.
3. We’ll start producing an online monthly concern. For a quid a month you’d get a substantial monthly essay and the occasional bonus. There might be a higher bracket where you can also get access to the archive, and perhaps a quarterly podcast. We’d also collect the best of this stuff into a printed annual collection if there’s enough interest.
So what do you think? We launched a survey to members of the mailing list, but blog readers can have a say too. Complete this tiny questionnaire to let us know your thoughts.
â Buy the brand-new Issue 12 of New Escapologist at the shop; buy our most popular digital bundle; or get the Escape Everything! book.
Issue Twelve — Out Now!
New Escapologist Issue 12 is out now!
It’s landed! Yes, “One Foot in Front of the Other” is New Escapologist‘s long-overdue walking-themed issue. We’ve got a marvellous interview with Will Self; accounts of world-renowned walks like the Camino de Santiago and the Lyke Wake Walk; poetry from Murray Lachlan Young; Paula Billups on drifting in Berlin; Joshua Glenn on Baudelaire’s perfect flâneur; and plenty of the free-wheeling Escapological writing you’ve come to expect and adore. Grab your copy today.
Subscriber and pre-ordered copies will be in the post soon.
â Buy the brand-new Issue 12 of New Escapologist at the shop; buy our most popular digital bundle; or get the Escape Everything! book.
Peak Stuff?
Post-scarcity anarchism finds an unlikely ally!
[Ikea’s] head of sustainability told a Guardian conference that consumption of many familiar goods was at its limit.
“If we look on a global basis, in the west we have probably hit peak stuff. We talk about peak oil. I’d say we’ve hit peak red meat, peak sugar, peak stuff … peak home furnishings,” Steve Howard said. He said the new state of affairs could be called “peak curtains”.
Maybe we finally have enough.
â Buy the latest print issue of New Escapologist at the shop; buy our most popular digital bundle; or pre-order the book.
WoMBaT
There was a round in the pub quiz this week about acronyms popular online. Our team knew all but one: WoMBaT.
You probably know it already. It means Waste of Money, Brain and Time.
I quite like it. It’s so dismissive.
Car ownership? WoMBaT!
Television? WoMBaT!
Conventional day job? Definitely WoMBaT!
Wait, a day job is a waste of money? Well, it can be. A day job costs quite a bit in commuting, appropriate attire, lunches, lattes, consumer treats to cheer you up on the weekend, anti-depressants, income tax, and the revenue you might have earned doing something else.
WoMBaT!
Not to be confused with actual Wombats, of course. Those are lovely.
â Buy the latest print issue of New Escapologist at the shop; buy our most popular digital bundle; or pre-order the book.
Striders
The theme of New Escapologist Issue Twelve is walking. It’s a beautiful and dazzling edition starring WILL SELF, PAULA BILLUPS and MURRAY LACLAN-YOUNG. You can pre-order it here.
â Buy the latest print issue of New Escapologist at the shop; buy our most popular digital bundle; or pre-order the book.
