I get recommendations for books to read from the Elliott Bay Book Company, which is a fabulous book store in Seattle. It has been my favourite book store for years. I have blogged about it many times and have sent lots of blog friends there. It has moved from its original location in Seattle's Pioneer Square to Capital Hill but it still has its original charm (good lesson for people who want to move their business and still keep their original customers - keep the ambiance the same!). Anyway, the shop recommended a book called Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by a Seattle author named Ken Jennings.
Ken Jennings is a famous Jeopardy champion. He was on for a long time and won a lot of money (over 2 mil). My mom can remember watching him and she said that he annoyed her quite a lot. But he has written an anything-but annoying book. Maphead is gorgeous. Maphead is funny and full of trivia-type facts. Maphead is indulgent and clever. Maphead is for map lovers. Duh!
Do you love perusing maps and dreaming of far off places? Does your atlas have pride of place in your book case or on your table? Do you look up every place you have ever heard of on Google Maps? Do you have maps hanging on your walls (ours are on the walls of the loo)? Are you a maphead? Well, even if you are not you will like this book. It is a comprehensive and easy to read book about maps and geography.
In this book Jennings talks about geography illiteracy in the US - school students don't know where their own states are on a map and don't know that France is a country. He talks about the cool maps that are kept in the Library of Congress that no one knows about. He talks about how maps shape governments, cultures and social systems. He talks about map collecting and geography bees (like spelling bees only held by the National Geographic Society), he talks about people who draw fantasy maps and Geocaching and many more interesting aspects of map love. It is kindof nerdy but so clever and funny. It's personable and written with a subdued enthusiasm. Jennings is obviously obsessed but he reins it in for the writing of this book - I bet he doesn't in real life. I bet he goes on and on and there is a lot of eye rolling and searching for ways to get away from the crazy map man!!
I loved it and have sent it to my brother and a couple of friends. As it says on the inside blurb in the book "If you're an inveterate map lover yourself - or even if you're among the cartographically clueless who can get lost in a supermarket (I am both of those things - are they exclusive?) - let Ken Jennings be your guide to the strange world of mapheads". Do yourself the favour of reading this book. You will laugh and I bet it won't take long till you are either telling someone else they should read it or telling someone some map trivia you learned from Ken Jennings.
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