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Product Description
Review
“Jennings is a very witty, insightful writer and has written an entertaining and educational book about maps and the geeks who obsess over them.” —Pauline Frommer, travel writer and founding editor of Frommers.com
“It’s a fun read that’s not just for wonks.” —The Salt Lake Tribune
“It’s a fun read that’s not just for wonks.” —The Salt Lake Tribune
Book Description
It comes as no surprise that, as a kid, Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings slept with a bulky Hammond world atlas by his pillow every night. Maphead recounts his lifelong love affair with geography and explores why maps have always been so fascinating to him and to fellow enthusiasts everywhere.Jennings takes readers on a world tour of geogeeks from the London Map Fair to the bowels of the Library of Congress, from the prepubescent geniuses at the National Geographic Bee to the computer programmers at Google Earth. Each chapter delves into a different aspect of map culture: highpointing, geocaching, road atlas rallying, even the “unreal estate” charted on the maps of fiction and fantasy. He also considers the ways in which cartography has shaped our history, suggesting that the impulse to make and read maps is as relevant today as it has ever been. From the “Here be dragons” parchment maps of the Age of Discovery to the spinning globes of grade school to the postmodern revolution of digital maps and GPS, Maphead is filled with intriguing details, engaging anecdotes, and enlightening analysis. If you’re an inveterate map lover yourself—or even if you’re among the cartographically clueless who can get lost in a supermarket—let Ken Jennings be your guide to the strange world of mapheads.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
a love letter to maps,
By
This review is from: Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks (Hardcover)
Whether you call yourself a geonerd, geogeek or geowonk, you're probably a "maphead." Yet you really don't need to be a lover of maps to truly appreciate how well crafted and written this book is on people's love of maps. Ken Jennings (yes, THAT Ken Jennings of winning mega bucks on the TV quiz game show "Jeopardy") has put together a book that reveals a lot about who we are and why humankind is obsessed with mapping things.The book veers off into wonderful tangents with quirky facts (dare I say "trivia") that pop up during the course of the discussions. For instance, we learn in the chapter where Jennings visits the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress why the map room is located underground (HINT: their maps fill two entire football fields and would break the floorboards with their weight if stored on an aboveground floor). I'll admit I have a geography background so this book is right in my wheelhouse. Even so how learning of people who like to visit the highest elevation in every state of the U.S. (yes, Iowa's highest point is in some cornfield) or the love of geocaching (Google it...but don't Google Earth it as there's a whole other chapter just on Google Earth and the rise of GPS technology). Plus, who knew Ken Jennings could give this Echo & the Bunnymen (if you have no idea of who they are--download the Heaven Up Here album and thank me later) fan new insight into why the toured the Outer Hebrides in the '80s or why the route chosen for their cycling tour of their hometown of Liverpool formed the shape it did on a map of the city. Mindblowingly fun book that everyone on planet Google Earth really should read.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (44 customer reviews) 46 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Map Geeks, Ahoy! And the rest of us will have fun, too,
By Blair Dee Hodges - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks (Hardcover)
Although I expected a trivia book--perhaps even a trivial book--Ken Jennings manages to seamlessly weave fun factoids into compelling narratives about geography lovers. Jennings spends time with kids at the National Geography Bee (which is where Alex Trebek dissed American knowledge of geography!). He talks to road geeks who notice differing fonts on various interstate road signs ("Look for the curved tail on the lowercase `l'!"). He touches on about border disputes, gender, brain science, pop culture, politics, history, and religion. In the course of researching for the book he even became addicted to geocaching, a treasure hunting game played by GPS owners all over the world--a pastime which Jennings sees as a human attempt to re-infuse the world with treasure and mystery. "Cartophilia" is alive and well, and Jennings hopes to spread the love: "If you never open a map until you're lost," he insists, "you're missing out on all the fun" (120). His book is a lot of fun.
47 of 52 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I don't even like geography,
By Lilly Nelson - Published on Amazon.com
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This review is from: Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks (Hardcover)
I'm notoriously bad at geography, but this book is nonetheless interesting and easy to read. I love Ken's style of mixing hardcore nerdy knowledge with enough personal and/or humorous detail that you don't feel you are just wading through a bunch of facts. It makes geography sound so sexy and cool that I just want to go buy an atlas.I'm reading on Kindle and the format seems great, other than the afore-mentioned duplicated first illustration. The book was delivered to my Kindle at 12:02 am this morning, so I couldn't ask for better service there! 27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well-researched and well-written,
By T. Rex - Published on Amazon.com
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This review is from: Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks (Hardcover)
I was expecting that this would have more maps and visuals, which is why I bought a paper edition instead of Kindle or iBooks. Now that I have it I think it would work fine on Kindle, though I can't speak to that edition.As for the content, I'm a loyal reader of Ken's blog, which should give you a feel for whether you like his style or not. If you do, the subject matter won't matter. But even if you don't, you'll probably appreciate this book if you're a geography buff. |
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