Google
 

Monday, October 31, 2011

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks, by Ken Jennings

This was wonderful, readable, fascinating nonfiction. This made me want to paper the walls in maps, and to snuggle up with globes and atlases. Jennings is such a likeable writer, and does that Bryson-ish trick of imparting a ton of info without coming across as pedantic or lecture-y, and made me really think a lot about the meanings of maps, the implications of geography, the importance of spatial cognition, and the charming and bizarre hobbies that people can create for themselves. I feel a special fondness for the "earth sandwich" people, just because that takes geography hobbies to a new and particularly strange place, but I just also really loved this book.

No comments: