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23rd out of 100 books
—
146 voters
Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
by
Ken Jennings
Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks is Ken's followup to his 2005 best-seller Brainiac. Much as Brainiac offered a behind-the-scenes look at the little-known demimonde of competitive trivia buffs, Maphead finally gives equal time to that other downtrodden underclass: America's map nerds.
In a world where geography only makes the headlines when college...more
In a world where geography only makes the headlines when college...more
Hardcover, 276 pages
Published
September 20th 2011
by Scribner
(first published 2011)
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3.5 stars
A quick read, similar in format and informality to Ken's inaugural Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs book. All twelve chapter titles included a cartographic definition together with a quote. For example, the first chapter entitled 'Eccentricity' with the definition 'the deformation of an elliptical map projection' and the Pat Conroy quote 'My wound is geography.'
My favorite chapter falls in the center, halfway from nowhere to somewhere,...more
A quick read, similar in format and informality to Ken's inaugural Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs book. All twelve chapter titles included a cartographic definition together with a quote. For example, the first chapter entitled 'Eccentricity' with the definition 'the deformation of an elliptical map projection' and the Pat Conroy quote 'My wound is geography.'
My favorite chapter falls in the center, halfway from nowhere to somewhere,...more
Stealing a thought line from the author, Ken Jennings, Jeopardy superstar, if you the type of person who walks into a room with a map hanging on the wall and you immediately head to the map...you must read this book. I love maps, all kinds and found this book to be utterly fascinating. So, if blue was favorite category in Trivial Pursuit and you often find yourself exploring the world via Google Earth and its maps, then you, Ken Jennings and I have something in common and this book, while it doe...more
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 pa...more
Ken Jennings takes readers on a world tour of geogeeks from the London Map Fair to the bowels of the Library of Congress, from the prepubescent geniuses at the National Geographic Bee to the computer programmers at Google Earth. Each chapter delves into a different aspect of map culture: highpointing, geocaching, road atlas rallying, even the “unreal estate” charted on the maps of fiction and fantasy. Jennings also considers the ways in which cartography has shaped our history, suggesting that t
...more
I like maps. When I travel somewhere new, I open Google Maps and spend a day or two plotting museums, food, and orienting myself to the geography of the city. I've whittled away countless hours in Street View, just to get a glimpse of a spot on a map. Sometimes it's a small, Southern American 'burg. Other times it's dead-center in a Central American metropolis I never knew existed. Or if I get bored of claustrophobic concrete canyons, it's off to the farthest reaches of the map, hoping to catch...more
Review originally posted at my blog, Writing by Numbers, here.
I want to be friends with Ken Jennings. I read most of Maphead airborne, while journeying from East Coast to West Coast and back. Jennings’ voice is down-to-earth and very friendly. He cracks jokes that he realizes are geeky, but he also realizes are kinda funny. But it’s still obvious just how much dang stuff he knows. I spent my plane rides enveloped in the nerdish glee of the sheer multitudes of people who care deeply about facts t...more
I want to be friends with Ken Jennings. I read most of Maphead airborne, while journeying from East Coast to West Coast and back. Jennings’ voice is down-to-earth and very friendly. He cracks jokes that he realizes are geeky, but he also realizes are kinda funny. But it’s still obvious just how much dang stuff he knows. I spent my plane rides enveloped in the nerdish glee of the sheer multitudes of people who care deeply about facts t...more
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...more
Turns out that there really *are* a...more
In 2004 Ken Jennings became my hero. An unassuming charming nerd from Utah who absolutely conquered the trivia world via his astonishing 6 month reign on Jeopardy. I picked up Maphead at the library because it was written by Jennings and not so much because I am a maphead, although I do appreciate geography and maps and have a fairly decent working knowledge of both. This book turned out just as good as I'd expect a glimpse inside such a smart (map)head would be...it is clever, erudite, funny, e...more
The subtle humor Jennings mixes in throughout the book is quite impressive. If you're a map lover, you'll get this book. If not, it could come across as an endless stream of random geographic facts and oddities. While the book's various stories are a bit disjointed, Jennings does a superb job of exploring the numerous camps of geographical enthusiasts (map collectors, "highpointers," the Degree Confluence Project, geocaching adherents, National Geographic Bee contestants and the Travelers' Centu...more
Ken Jennings's richly breezy (is that possible?) Maphead is one of those great, totally geeked out single-subject surveys (here: maps) that goes down a million different, usually fascinating routes to tell the tale, educates and entertains in equal measure, PLUS offers enough personal anecdote and unabashed enthusiasm on and for the subject at hand to give it context, and make it all come alive (which is why I usually don't enjoy Mark Kurlansky's histories: all facts, no heart). Jennings, appare...more
I am not a maphead myself, but I see no need to look askance at those who do fit under the label: geography is inextricably intertwined with politics and history (for example, I insisted on an edition of Herodotus that included many a map).
What makes this a particularly winning book is Jennings's writing voice, which I found friendly and wry and brings just the right amount of personal touch to the topic. I'm vaguely aware of his Jeopardy! feats; among my circle, his fame tends to be for having...more
What makes this a particularly winning book is Jennings's writing voice, which I found friendly and wry and brings just the right amount of personal touch to the topic. I'm vaguely aware of his Jeopardy! feats; among my circle, his fame tends to be for having...more
i'm a huge maps guy, and a casual jeopardy fan, so this is a perfect match! the first chapter explores ken's own obsession with maps, starting from his youth, and is peppered with exactly the type of nerdilicious map trivia that i love (check out the northwest angle and vulcan point, an island in a lake on an island!), so i was well prepped for a survey of all the world's geography quirk in the subsequent chapters. that isn't what followed, and that's probably for the best. while i love trivia,...more
I enjoyed::
How the book ties together quite a lot of trivia in a format that allows a smooth transition from one fact to the next.
Anecdotes from the writer's personal life. Also, he seemed to make the conversational tone of the book work very well.
I didn't enjoy::
The lack of globally relevant material
This was unexpected and a big disappointment. Maphead is clearly written by an American aimed at Americans, which is a shame because throughout Maphead, Jennings passionately derides US-centricity...more
How the book ties together quite a lot of trivia in a format that allows a smooth transition from one fact to the next.
Anecdotes from the writer's personal life. Also, he seemed to make the conversational tone of the book work very well.
I didn't enjoy::
The lack of globally relevant material
This was unexpected and a big disappointment. Maphead is clearly written by an American aimed at Americans, which is a shame because throughout Maphead, Jennings passionately derides US-centricity...more
My second summer vacation book. It wasn't a smooth transition from Denis Johnson's Train Dreams, which is sparse and understated, to Ken Jennings' Maphead, a 250-page detailed profile of map geeks complete with trivia-laden footnotes and even a quiz at the end. Full of cocktail party facts, but short on beautiful writing, with some notable exceptions:
And maps are just too convenient and too tempting a way to understand place. There's a tension in them. Almost every map, whether of a shopping mal...more
This book about geography nerds reminded me of Moonwalking with Einstein, Word Freak, and In the Land of Invented Languages. It was written by Ken Jennings, of Jeopardy fame, who is a much more nimble writer than I expected. I ended up liking this better than any of the books I named except the invented languages one, which may simply be proof that I like these books in proportion to how much they match my own obsessions.
Jennings writes about atlases, the National Geography Bee, geocaching, map...more
Jennings writes about atlases, the National Geography Bee, geocaching, map...more
Occasionally, I like to read a book about everyday aspects of our lives that most pay little attention to. I've read books on traffic and human waste, and now I can add to that list a book about maps, or more generally the intersection of humanity with geography.
Like the author, I spent many hours as a child exploring the USA on the living room floor via the medium of service station road maps. In Maphead, Ken Jennings gives lots of information about maps themselves, their history and usage. But...more
Like the author, I spent many hours as a child exploring the USA on the living room floor via the medium of service station road maps. In Maphead, Ken Jennings gives lots of information about maps themselves, their history and usage. But...more
Like everybody, I got caught up in the fame of Ken Jennings back when he extended his 15 minutes of fame on Jeopardy to 74 consecutive appearances. Not only did he have this incredible ability to answer the most obscure of questions with the greatest of ease, but he did it with a sort of nerdy humor panache that kept me and the largest slew of Jeopardy viewers in history coming back, night after night. And he was from Utah and he was a Mormon ("one of us, one of us").
I then recently discovered h...more
I then recently discovered h...more
This is Ken Jennings’ apologia for map-lovers everywhere. Written with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, the author examines our need to explore the planet as well as the history (both personal and worldwide) of mapmaking. Along the way we not only pick up facts about the earth’s geography but we also learn about collectors of antique maps, “roadgeeks” (those with a penchant for charting and photographing the nation’s highways), “geocachers” (individuals seeking hidden treasures with a G...more
When I was in 9th grade, I wasn't interested in school. I didn't try at all and so, not surprisingly, I got terrible grades. And yet, I qualified to go to the regional Geography Bee at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. That Bee solidified my passion for Geography and for maps. I was so interested in the Bee that I stayed outside orienteering to different map coordinates (this pre-dates GPS) while my friends there skipped much of the Bee to go to the adjacent gymnasium and watch Karl M...more
I expected Maphead to be dry and tedious, but felt I "should" read it since I am obsessed with maps, and make them myself. Instead, I found it to be charming and funny and lighthearted and engaging. It is definitely the work of someone who has a lot of extra time and cash on his hands (although the author, Ken Jennings, comes across as quite down-to-earth), and it rambles, but in a pleasant sort of way, from geocaching to maps in fantasy novels to the origins of Google Earth, with plenty of unex...more
Funny, educational and entertaining, as was Brainiac.
Reading notes:
67 mt mckinley: ohio congressional delegation fights renaming to Denali
69 jim thorpe never set foot in jim thorpe PA
77 vespucci on Carib femmes: check it out europe. carib women are all hawt. and, like total sluts.
80 anorak: brit slang for niche obsessive
103 map collectors fall into a watching-the-history-channel-under-a-slanket demographic
156 Mallory climbed everest because it was there
159 gnome prank....Amelie
165 Teddy R the 1s...more
Reading notes:
67 mt mckinley: ohio congressional delegation fights renaming to Denali
69 jim thorpe never set foot in jim thorpe PA
77 vespucci on Carib femmes: check it out europe. carib women are all hawt. and, like total sluts.
80 anorak: brit slang for niche obsessive
103 map collectors fall into a watching-the-history-channel-under-a-slanket demographic
156 Mallory climbed everest because it was there
159 gnome prank....Amelie
165 Teddy R the 1s...more
Ken Jennings (of Jeopardy fame) delivers a fantastic sampling of the geo-geekdom. From map lovers (where it starts) to geography bees to road geeks, to obsessive travel, to geo cachers to Google Earth's transformation of the paper to cyber world of finding where you are and devoting a great deal of energy to it. Jennings is entertaining, literate (if not annoying in his constant referrals to pop culture as well as history.) but most of all he, like me, LOVES maps. And if you LOVE maps, this is a...more
If a book about maps and the people who love them written by the snarky Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings sounds like the kind of book you would like, then what are you waiting for? Go get this book immediately.
If it doesn't sound like the kind of book you would like, then I would urge you to reconsider. As fans of his blog or his television appearances know, Jennings is incredibly charming as he drops witty and random asides, makes pop culture references galore, and lets his geek flag fly. And the...more
If it doesn't sound like the kind of book you would like, then I would urge you to reconsider. As fans of his blog or his television appearances know, Jennings is incredibly charming as he drops witty and random asides, makes pop culture references galore, and lets his geek flag fly. And the...more
I really liked this book. Ken Jennings has written this book like he is just sitting next to you and telling this most incredible story about maps, the people who love them and how they affect everyday life past, present and future. He also opens doors into himself that reflect many of the fears and thoughts in the other map lovers. The book show that there many ways that people use, love and even obsess about maps.
Even though I think Mr. Jennings has been abundantly blessed to the point of his...more
Even though I think Mr. Jennings has been abundantly blessed to the point of his...more
Ever read a book and decide you just can't stand another minute of exposure to it? That's how I feel about Maphead.
I got 36 pages in and was reflexively wincing every time the author made a bad pun. And Jennings makes a lot of them. Here's an example:
"I wonder: how would history be different if Bunyan or Dante had chosen to represent life not as a linear journey through a geographic territory but as something a little more holistic -- a library, say? Or a buffet? (Pilgrim's Potluck!)"
Groan......more
I got 36 pages in and was reflexively wincing every time the author made a bad pun. And Jennings makes a lot of them. Here's an example:
"I wonder: how would history be different if Bunyan or Dante had chosen to represent life not as a linear journey through a geographic territory but as something a little more holistic -- a library, say? Or a buffet? (Pilgrim's Potluck!)"
Groan......more
1 like · like · see review
Like Ken Jennings, I too am a map lover. As a land surveyor, I am involved in mapping in a professional capacity and can spend hours happily examining a large intricate map. This book was written for people like me.
I learned in chapter four that surveyors were not always held in high esteem. “In medieval Europe, the surveyor was a hated figure, something like the “revenuer” in mountain moonshiner lore: a corrupt lackey looking to stick it to poor farmers. In Poland, surveyors were so dreaded tha...more
I learned in chapter four that surveyors were not always held in high esteem. “In medieval Europe, the surveyor was a hated figure, something like the “revenuer” in mountain moonshiner lore: a corrupt lackey looking to stick it to poor farmers. In Poland, surveyors were so dreaded tha...more
ken jennings' maphead is an intriguing (dare i say, captivating) look into the realm of maps, geography, and cartophiles. jennings writes remarkably well, infusing his engrossing subject with a surprising amount of both wit and humor. each chapter of maphead offers insight into a different aspect of map lore, from the historical to the hypermodern. collectors, cartographers, geocachers, fantasy authors, explorers, and geography professors are but some of the many map-connected characters jenning...more
I found Ken Jennings to be a very likeable contestant on Jeopardy and he continues to be very likable in this book. His enthusiasm for geography and the world around him is contagious. While reading this book, I realized how little I know about geography. In one chapter, Jennings is at the National Geography Bee. I couldn’t believe how hard the questions were. I don’t think I could even make an educated guess for most of the questions.
This book also made me appreciate technology more. I always...more
This book also made me appreciate technology more. I always...more
fairly pleasant book about geography and maps. author has a style of intermittent full on trivia flood a la simon winchester mixed with some analysis and synthesis of why maps possibly are hardwired in human brains. that is the interpretation and understanding of maps. not enough illustrations and maps though. toby lester's is better for this sort of thing
and so is winchester's map book
as is sobel's new one
, but still, ken jennings has written an excellent book for the right crowd
and so is winchester's map book
as is sobel's new one
, but still, ken jennings has written an excellent book for the right crowd
I thought this was great, but I am a bit of a map nerd myself. And by "bit of," I mean I am a humongous map nerd. This is my most frequent tool of procrastination - I sit at the library when I should be doing work and I read the atlas. I've been doing it for years. When I am supposed to be doing work on the computer I am often tracing routes on google maps to local and far-flung donut shops. When I am driving places with friends I tend to read their road atlases when I probably should be talking...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TFPL Book Posse: October_Maphead | 1 | 5 | Sep 14, 2012 03:34pm | |
| Fans of Maps: April 2012 Group Read! | 31 | 23 | May 04, 2012 08:32pm | |
| Gwinnett County P...: Find it On a Map | 3 | 5 | Apr 01, 2012 05:58pm |
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! Jennings won 74 games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance. His total earnings on Jeopardy! are US$3,022,700 ($2,520,700 in winnings, a $2,000 consolation prize on his 75th appearance, and $500,000 in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tour...more
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“I always feel a certain sense of reverence in libraries, even small city ones that smell like homeless internet users.”
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“Borders may divide us, but, paradoxically, they're also the places where we're nearest to one another.”
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Jun 03, 2012 09:24am