3.5
Maphead
By Ken JenningsPublisher Description
Record-setting Jeopardy! champion and New York Times bestselling author of Planet Funny Ken Jennings explores the world of maps and map obsessives, “a literary gem” (The Atlantic).
Ken 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. Jennings 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.
Ken 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. Jennings 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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3.5
Erin Slonaker
Created about 2 months agoShare
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“A fun, and interesting diversion, and I'm a map-lover (who has an excellent sense of direction, including the cardinal directions). Not super hard on the education side, but I guess I didn't know about the clubs for visiting places, etc., so it's not as if I learned nothing. I was surprised there wasn't anything about the fake towns put on maps to make the maps copyrightable, that have since turned into real towns?”
Connor Martin
Created 4 months agoShare
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Benjamin Winter
Created 6 months agoShare
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Spencerdavis54
Created about 1 year agoShare
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Amber Rousse
Created about 1 year agoShare
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About Ken Jennings
Ken Jennings is the New York Times bestselling author of Brainiac, Maphead, Because I Said So!, Planet Funny, and 100 Places to See After You Die. In 2020, he won the “Greatest of All Time” title on the quiz show Jeopardy! and in 2022, he succeeded Alex Trebek as a host of the show. He lives in Seattle with his family.
Other books by Ken Jennings
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