Through modern media, use of a ghost has become quite generic and somewhat one dimensional, so to learn about the different kinds of ghost and apparition (and some of the history behind each) is really cool. Thank you so much to the publishers for providing me with an eArc of this book in exchange for my honest review. The author, Adam Allsuch Boardman is an illustrator and fan of trivia who has previously written “An Illustrated History of UFO’s”, and “An Illustrated History of Filmmaking”, both of which I’d be interested in having a look at.

A bump in the night, the crack of floorboards and the uneasy coldness of a room… signs we might attribute to a ghostly presence. Starting in pre-modernity and covering history up to the present day, the book gives information about ghosts in different forms and cultures, hauntings and ghosts in popular culture. It did touch upon a lot of different subjects such as haunted locations, ghost legends and the media etc… but again it was too brief and was mostly a couple of sentences for each explanation. Overall, this was a fun read, but not particularly striking - there isn't anything especially groundbreaking that I learnt from it, so I may end up forgetting aspects of it pretty quickly, besides it's excellent illustration and design!This book has been put together in a fantastic way and the text complements the illustrations perfectly. My favourite thing about this book is that whilst it is marketed as adult fiction and was perfectly suitable for 20 year old me, my 17 year old brother (who normally has an aversion to reading) sat down with it for 45 minutes flickering through and having conversations with me about how certain elements matched his computer games or things he’d seen on tv and we really enjoyed flipping through the book together because of this vibrant, sectioned format.

There is also a unique guide on the different types of ghost and yes there is more than one type of ghost which was news to me.

Occasionally I felt it made light of or was critical of certain cultures and beliefs, while also pushing a particular opinion/agenda, which made me question some of the 'facts' I was being presented. Following his degree, Adam served a year as the Students' Union President whilst simultaneously working as a freelance illustrator. I would have loved to read something like this when I was younger and in my first moment of awe and insistence of watching ghost hunting videos and shows and adamant that ghosts and spirits are real.

I had hoped for more real ghost stories that I could share round a campfire, but there wasn’t really a single story that I could share. I’m also unsure who the intended audience is - the illustrations and the simple writing style would suggest a younger audience but some of the content would probably be over their heads. Veterans who know Boardman's work will likely really enjoy this as it's clearly a good quality output, just not to my taste.

Like Adam Allsuch Boardman’s earlier work with Nobrow Press, An Illustrated History of UFOs, An Illustrated History of Ghosts is a stylishly produced, colorful piece of graphic art that provides a basic but thorough introduction to ghostly myths and legends throughout the world. I thought this was quite interesting as I was expecting the opposite, I thought there'd be at least a little suspense or a feeling of fright. He has worked on a variety of projects including merchandise for the Hyde Park Picture House, and producing imagery for several museum projects. ISBN: 9781913123079 Author: Boardman, Adam Allsuch Publisher: Nobrow Publication Date: 1st September 2022 Imprint: Nobrow Cover: Hardback Dewey: 133. It definitely brought me back to the old Usborne books of the mysterious, which actually appear in the nice additional reading section.