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Topic: On the Map, Simon Garfield

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Post Number: 1

CampinCarl

Group: Members
Posts: 248
Joined: May 2003

Posted on: Mar. 01 2013, 12:40 pm

On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks

In this non-fiction work, British journalist Simon Garfield takes the reader on a quick tour of the world of maps, from the beginnings of modern mapmaking in the era of Ptolemy to contemporary "maps" such as Facebook connections and Skyrim. This is not a linear textbook, but provides a more entertaining history of maps than you would find in Cartography 101. If I could compare this book to another I have read, Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings, I would say that it is more serious and a better overview of cartography than Maphead, but Maphead is funnier and more entertaining. Still, it is a worthwhile read for map geeks such as myself.

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"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." - John Muir

Post Number: 2

hikerjer

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Posted on: Mar. 01 2013, 1:02 pm

Skip to the previous post in this topic.

Thanks for the review. I think I'll get it for my youngest son as part of a graduation gift. He graduates from Montana State this May with a degree in Physical Geography/Cartography. That is, if he hasn't already read it.

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"Too often I have met men who speak only of how many miles they've traveled and not of what they've seen." - Louis L'Amour

Post Number: 3

mtngrl

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Joined: Feb. 2002

Posted on: Mar. 04 2013, 4:24 pm

Thanks for the recommendation. I really liked Ken Jennings book, so will probably enjoy this one, too.

Good idea hikerjer! ....and congrats to you and your kid for graduating from college. Must be a proud dad.

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“He who knows the most, he who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground, the waters, the plants, the heavens and how to come at these enchantments, is the rich and royal man” -- from Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Post Number: 4

hikerjer

Group: Members
Posts: 9133
Joined: Apr. 2002

Posted on: Mar. 06 2013, 10:27 am

(mtngrl @ Mar. 04 2013, 4:24 pm)

QUOTE

and congrats to you and your kid for graduating from college. Must be a proud dad.

Thanks. He's the last of the four of them. Now all they have to do is find jobs in their field. But I'm confident they will - eventually.

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"Too often I have met men who speak only of how many miles they've traveled and not of what they've seen." - Louis L'Amour

3 replies since Mar. 01 2013, 12:40 pm

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