Maps: Finding Our Place in the World

If you like maps, you’ll love Maps, which grew out of an ambitious exhibition of maps of everything from city neighborhoods to the cosmos, and from the most ancient to digital. The book is no mere catalog. Rather it is a survey for general readers of the contemporary science and art of cartography from every conceivable vantage. We learn about maps as expressions of ethnocentrism or of cosmopolitanism; about specific traditions as well as intercultural influences; about maps as tools of political power, as war-waging devices, as scientific instruments, as spiritual guides, as commodities, and much more. If a certain discussion doesn’t interest you, you can skip ahead and nothing lost. Be sure to have your magnifying glass handy to get the most out of the nearly two hundred illustrations. Here are some snippets to whet your appetite: “Every property map is an instrument of control.” “We have just begun to discern the contributions of Native Americans to North American Cartography.” “All maps are, in some sense, maps of imaginary worlds.” “Our world maps will in due course come to seem as quaint as Jain mandalas or medieval mappae mundi seem to us today.”

It was what I was looking for. Good images, included modern maps and those of antiquity. Is a weighty book both physically and in content.

Beautifully illustrated and written. Thanks! I hope sufficient copies in paperback will be issued so that it's easier (that is, more cost efficient) to assign for classes.

Great book with multiple meanings for a discerning audience.

I was intrigued by the title and the beautiful maps.Interesting book for anyone with an interest in maps. The chapters, using copious maps, point out the influence of maps across time and discipline and remind us of just how important maps are in how we see, view and form the world.For example, one chapter discusses the bell curve and how that insight into statistics came through a visual map of data. Other chapters look at how policies and perspectives were formed by what was mapped and what was not. And, how mapping changed as we learned more about how to perceive the world in a realistic way. I love the visual features of the maps and thought placing them in the context of how they influence our vision of the social and political world was fascinating.

This publication is a companion book to the exhibit which recently closed at the Chicago Field Museum. It stands on its own as a thought provoking look at many different types of maps and the history of maps. I enjoyed the way the information was presented in this book and found a whole new appreciation for maps and the people who have created them. Many of the maps are works of art.

Great product. arrived as advertised. What an amazing way to enrich one's mind with this book!

Like it all.