Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks

Although I am not a geography wonk myself, this was a very enjoyable read. The author talks to and about various types of map-lover, including antique map collectors and geocachers, in a way that really conveyed their love of their hobbies. The new-to-me subjects of geography bees and map rallies were especially interesting.

Enjoyable reading on a wide variety of facets of geography, from geography bees to geocaching to country "collectors". The book starts out pretty slowly, in my opinion, but starts gaining steam when the author dives into the world of geography bees. Stick with it, it's worth it in the end.

Mapheads. You know who you are.

This has been on my list to read since it came out - having had both personal and professional interest in maps and geography for decades (crowned by spending the last 10 years working directly on Map Search, for MetaCarta and then Nokia.) Yes, I have the laminated world and europe maps on the wall, with wet-erase markers clipped to them to "keep score" (thick line for "been there", little airplane icon-sketch for "flew through, never really left the airport".)

Turns out that there really *are* a lot of "us" - a very broad spectrum of geographic obsession, including the geocachers and the Century Club (> 100 countries), those that collect maps-as-art, and the kids at the Geography Bee who know (not just trivia, but can reason about) vast quantities of information about the world and what's in it.

Jennings (famously obsessive himself) brings a wealth of both well-footnoted facts and very human stories to the table, including Alex Trebek's enthusiasm for the Geography Bee, and how turning off GPS Selective Availability led *directly* to the invention of the hobby/sport of GeoCaching.

If you're the sort to browse map stores, or accumulate gas station maps, or even to think "hey, google maps is pretty cool, where did it come from?" you'll enjoy MapHead; it's also easy to read in bits and pieces - while there are interesting cross-connections, it's an exploration, not a novel.

Being a map lover, although not an obsessed map nerd such as Jennings describes in his book, I had mixed reactions to Maphead. Jennings himself comes off as the obsessive compulsive data collector that one might expect from a Jeopardy champion. He includes plenty of fascinating "facts" in his book & I did enjoy much of this. I enjoyed the first chapters most, since these deal with maps & map collectors as I know & appreciate them, even the fantasy world makers & mappers. I was particularly enthralled by the chapter about the map collection at the Library of Congress. Jennings then proceeds from historical maps to all manner of obsessive life list games of collection that involve geography or maps in some way. I found these chapters much less interesting in the same way that I find birdwatching with life listers annoying. Or any type of artificial score keeping. I just don't understand gaming fever I guess. As a starting point, a to do list, say of visiting all the National Parks, isn't a bad program. It can start you off in a direction. But when it becomes a manic drive to check off points, I lose interest in such activities. Jennings includes chapters on the Geography Bee kids; the club for traveler's who have "visited" 100 or more countries (amusing how they parse what a country is); Highpointers (they tag the highest elevation point in each state); road geeks; geocachers (the "litter" involved in this game appalls me, all those tupperware containers, film canisters & pill bottles niched into the landscape at practically every conceivable point); GPS gamers of all persuasions; Google Earthers, etc.

I suspect your feelings about this book will largely be based on how much the subject resonates for you. I'm not as deeply in love with maps as some of the people described here (or the author, for that matter), but I have always loved maps. Reading about the worlds of fellow map lovers was a fun and insight-filled journey.