Book review: Maphead

When I was young, I used to enjoy looking at the Rand McNally Road Atlas and dream about exotic locations I would visit when I was an adult. I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to many of those locations in my lifetime, but I still have a love of maps. I discovered that I’m not alone after reading Ken Jennings book Maphead: Charting the Wide Weird World of Geography Wonks.  Jennings, the Jeopardy champ and self described “map geek”, has written an entertaining book that is highly readable. He covers a wide variety of topics, including the history of cartography, the National Geographic Geography Bee, the world of geocaching, and Google Maps. Jennings takes what could be a dry topic and makes it accessible and enjoyable with concise chapters and amusing footnotes.

This book is available in the Baron-Forness Library on the 4^th floor at GA105.3.J46