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

Garfield, Simon

ISBN 10: 159240779X / ISBN 13: 9781592407798

Published by Gotham, 2012

About this Item

Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00072018712

Bibliographic Details

Title: On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of ...

Publisher: Gotham

Publication Date: 2012

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Cartography enthusiasts rejoice: the bestselling author of Just My Typereveals the fascinating relationship between man and map.Simon Garfield’s Just My Type illuminated the world of fonts and made everyone take a stand on Comic Sans and care about kerning. Now Garfield takes on a subject even dearer to our fanatical human hearts: maps.Imagine a world without maps. How would we travel? Could we own land? What would men and women argue about in cars? Scientists have even suggested that mappingnot languageis what elevated our prehistoric ancestors from ape-dom. Follow the history of maps from the early explorers’ maps and the awe-inspiring medieval Mappa Mundi to Google Maps and the satellite renderings on our smartphones, Garfield explores the unique way that maps relate and realign our historyand reflect the best and worst of what makes us human.Featuring a foreword by Dava Sobel and packed with fascinating tales of cartographic intrigue, outsize personalities, and amusing pocket maps” on an array of subjects from how to fold a map to the strangest maps on the Internet,On the Map is a rich historical tapestry infused with Garfield’s signature narrative flair. Map-obsessives and everyone who lovedJust My Type will be lining up to join Garfield on his audacious journey through time and around the globe.

Review:

Praise for Just My Type

'Every so often someone writes a book about an obscure subject and uses it to illuminate the rest of the world... this is one of the best

(William Leith Evening Standard)

After being walked through these stories, it's difficult to even look at a cereal packet in the same way again (Observer)

This is a smart, funny, accessible book that does for typography what Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves did for punctuation (New York Times)

Advance Praise for On the Map: Just when you think there have been enough books written on maps, the best one comes along (Patrick Neale, Booksellers' Choice The Bookseller)

Will no doubt dominate the Christmas market (Emma Herdman, Booksellers' Choice The Bookseller)

Simon Garfield had great success with Just My Type, so looks certain to repeat this with On the Map. (Sarah Clarke, Booksellers' Choice The Bookseller)

There couldn't be anyone better to write about our love of maps than Simon Garfield, who is a master at unearthing strange facts and mixing them with a lively personal narrative . . . fascinating (Giles Foden Condé Nast Traveller 2012-11-01)

Garfield has a genius for being sparked to life by esoteric enthusiasm and charming readers with his delight. (Iain Finlayson Times 2012-10-06)

Simon Garfield's new book is a rollicking sweep through map history, packed with curiosities and written with verve . . . On the Map will inspire you to take a trip to somewhere new, buy an antique globe to chart the rise and fall of empires, or just dig out a tatty orange Ordnance Survey Explorer map and let its filigree of contour lines evoke a long-forgotten walk in the rain . . . a great book. (Mark Wilson Independent on Sunday 2012-10-07)

A stunning celebration of the cartographic. As one of the UK's leading contemporary polymaths, Garfield's always a joy to read for his gossamer-light show of rigorous learning, his shed-dweller precision in research and his infectious glee in passing on the golden nugget of fact. (Robert Bound Monocle 2012-10-01)