There's a book Called Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps. I've never read it. That's because not only can I read maps, I love them! Here's why:
When I was fourteen at my co-ed high school I was forced by limited subject choices to do Domestic Science (that's what the girls got, only boys did Geography). I was miserable in Domestic Science, and lippy with it too. Finally I got thrown out of class. By the next day I became notorious as the only girl in the school permitted to study Geography. And that was one of my very early life-defining moments. Because maps have shaped my life.
And map books have changed in ways I could not have foreseen all those years ago. Cartography has come a long way from colouring-in maps of the Natural Regions of the world.
For example: Plotted - A Literary Atlas by Andrew deGraff (his official title is Pop Cartographer, how cool is that?) provides us with beautiful maps, plans and landscapes for nineteen great books. (At last you can see what the literary insides of Jonah's whale might have looked like!). I could kick myself that I never had this idea.
Other recently published map/site books include Unfathomable City (an Arty New Orleans Atlas) and the perfectly charming Spiritual Places by travel writer Sarah Baxter.
Move on to The Art of Map Illustration - in which four contemporary artists (called Visual Storytellers - another great job description that I regret I have missed) explain how they include maps in their art.
There's also the beautiful children's book City Atlas with a search-and-find game on every page and the weirdly compelling Atlas of Lost Cities which will make you want to travel to places that no longer exist.
And right here in a local Christchurch mall I spotted a novel I'd not heard of before: The Consolation of Maps. What a wonderful title. The library hadn't purchased it, but I used the online form to Request an Item for our Collection and we now have five copies. It's a wonderful story about the love of antique maps and the contrasts between life in Japan and the States. Okay, so the cover does make you feel that the only consolation one might gain from maps would be if a ton of them dropped on your head and put you out of your misery, but aside from that, it is a worthwhile read.
Back to my fourteen year old self: Geography is the reason I can talk at some boring length about Magnetic Declination. Why I have a good grasp of Adiobatic Lapse Rates and Great Circles. Why every home I have ever lived in has a globe of the world, several atlases and a box full of topographic maps. It is also responsible for my having only ever dated bearded men and why I always make good friends with ladies who bake delicious cupcakes!
The map of my life seemed to start from that point where I was thrown out of class. What a blessing that turned out to be!
More about maps
- Roberta's post On Love and Art and Maps
- Find titles about cartography and maps
- See our collection of digitised maps
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