The Thames Path Sketch Journal by Charles M Leon was a wonderful book that captures the rich history of the Thames through stunning sketches and detailed histories of the evolving structures and buildings that line its banks and span its waters, weaving together a unique narrative of power, pride, and pestilence. It was a joy to read and look at these wonderful paintings and learn the history behind them. A great book to have on your shelves or to show off on your coffee table for others to look threw.

I highly recommend this book - just beautiful.

This book is full to overflowing with paintings and sketches, mainly of buildings and bridges along the Thames. As an Artist who was born and bred in London I found them very interesting and enjoyable. Many of them reminded me of places I know and were well crafted and produced with thought and imagination. It must have been a mammoth task to create them all, and to research all the history that accompanies them. I did enjoy it. I suspect the best format is in hard copy, much of the pleasure being in sitting and poring over a beautifully produced book. I would have liked to see more images of the nature that surrounds the Thames (especially as the odd one that’s in the book are fantastic), and perhaps more human activity on its banks as well, as these are surprisingly diverse. I would also have liked it to be more of a journal than a history. Though the history is interesting (and knowing much of it already I may not be the best to judge what others might want) I felt the need to know more of the experience of the author as they spent time in these many places, and of their interactions on a more personal level. But overall a very enjoyable read and visual feast. I suspect this might be appealing to an American audience.

A wonderful book for those who need it, this takes you to the shores of the Thames and shows you exactly what's what, from Hampton Court and down into the capital. Our creator has a wonderful hand at architectural drawings, so all the bridges, pubs, boating houses, football stadia, etc etc, are all presented superbly well. Each chapter, whichever bank the author finds himself on, he tells us what is what with a very useable drawn map, and from then on it's the details, with practically every major edifice given a look-see, in pictorial and written form. Some of the writing isn't great – although bear in mind I could have had an early copy if I say the history of Eel Pie Island was a bit clumsy. And why are we told on page 136 that "Victoria Railway Bridge is a railway bridge crossing the Thames in London" – at this stage of the book, where else might we have thought it was?!

It remains readable at the worst, though, and the historical details of all the bridges and pubs are not far off what a tour guide would convey on such a walk. But you wouldn't take this out for a day in your rucksack – at almost a foot square and hardback it's for the coffee table and the shelf and for armchair travel only. It bears a few anecdotes that suggest this was recording a simple ramble as opposed to a mission and a half, but that couldn't have been the case – the result of surely much planning is more a book of factual record, and so we don't get characterful ducks, posing riverside dogs, etc etc. No, it's more a straight and earnest replica of the built environment's detail, and for that it's really some achievement. A strong four stars – and perhaps more would be due, given proof of a better edit to the text.