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Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks - Ken Jennings
Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
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4.21 70
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... show more
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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Format: hardcover
ISBN: 9781439167175 (1439167176)
Publisher: Scribner
Pages no: 276
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Datepalm
Datepalm rated it
Not nearly weird enough. Jennings talks to various map enthusiasts, from geocachers to Geography Bee contestants to antique map collectors, and they all turn out to be pretty normal people who like maps a lot. Ok. There are some interesting tidbits of map and geography trivia scattered around, but m...
O! what Man will do fore a Rime!
O! what Man will do fore a Rime! rated it
3.0 Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings
Why pay for a map that's wrong? Some of it is sheer novelty value: a map where California is floating in the middle of the Pacific makes a great conversation piece in an L.A. living room. But it's also a charming memento of human ignorance and imperfection. It reminds us that maps are never complete...
Osho
Osho rated it
It's about, well, maps. And a little about the history of cartography. And the geography bee. And Jennings's childhood. If you thought one of the best aspects of Dungeons & Dragons was creating the terrain on hex paper, you'll enjoy this. I was shocked to discover one day that my recently-purchased ...
Betsy's Non-Blog
Betsy's Non-Blog rated it
5.0 Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
Very enjoyable for a maphead like me. It's really a series of discussions of the different ways in which mapheadedness manifests -- from a simple love of reading maps to orienteering, geocaching, and the Degree Confluence Project to creative map making. Jennings writing style is a little like a hi...
TatianaBoshenka
TatianaBoshenka rated it
I found this book great reading! Entertaining, funny, and just right for dipping into on and off. I'm sad it's over. I loved the description of geocaching, and I'm tempted to tru that myself, perhaps a few of the easier ones, since I don't get around as well as once I did. Turning the world into a p...
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