The Historic Thames

This was considered a minor classic during the early part of the twentieth century. Nothing better has replaced it--we've just gotten stupider. This book is the type of remarkable work that one rarely sees nowadays: it's a geogaphic description of the Thames from its source to the sea and the human history tied up with the river (as well as a debunking of some of the myths of the reformation). This farrago is really a forerunner of the psycho-geography written by Peter Ackroyd (such as his vastly entertaining work, London). A great book.