Maps

Cover of the book

This week, we’ve got a list of books to help you make sense of your world! Check out these books about historical maps, making your own maps, maps of imaginary places, and the ways maps have shaped the world as we know it.

Here’s a link to these books in the library’s catalog –  https://decorah.biblionix.com/?booklist=26803

 

A detailed illustration of a whimsical, fictional map titled "The Writer's Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands." The map features various fantastical elements like castles, dragons, ships, and mountains. It indicates it is edited by Huw Lewis-Jones, with a prologue by Philip Pullman.

The Writer’s Map

Edited by Huw Lewis-Jones

It’s one of the first things we discover as children, reading and drawing: Maps have a unique power to transport us to distant lands on wondrous travels. Put a map at the start of a book, and we know an adventure is going to follow. Displaying this truth with beautiful full-color illustrations, The Writer’s Map is an atlas of the journeys that our most creative storytellers have made throughout their lives. This magnificent collection encompasses not only the maps that appear in their books but also the many maps that have inspired them, the sketches that they used while writing, and others that simply sparked their curiosity.

Amid a cornucopia of 167 full-color images, we find here maps of the world as envisaged in medieval times, as well as maps of adventure, sci-fi and fantasy, nursery rhymes, literary classics, and collectible comics. An enchanting visual and verbal journey, The Writer’s Map will be irresistible for lovers of maps, literature, and memories””and anyone prone to flights of the imagination.

 

The book cover of "The Natural Navigator" by Tristan Gooley shows a stylized countryside with a leaning tree, a grassy hill, and birds flying against a sky with sun rays breaking through clouds. The subtitle reads, "The Art of Reading Nature's Own Signposts.

The Natural Navigator

by Tristan Gooley

Before GPS, before the compass, and even before cartography, humankind was navigating. A windswept tree, the depth of a puddle, or a trill of birdsong could point the way home, and they still do””if you know how to look.

With The Natural Navigator, his first book, Tristan Gooley invited us to notice the directional clues hidden all around: in the sun, moon, stars, clouds, weather patterns, lengthening shadows, changing tides, growing plants, and habits of wildlife. A decade after publication, this modern classic still reminds us that we can find south by joining the horns of the crescent moon””and find adventure in our own backyards.

 

 

The image shows the cover of the book "The Chronological Atlas of World War Two" by Charles Messenger. The cover is predominantly blue with red and white text. It includes historical maps of Greenland, Fall Gelb, Fall Schirmjager, and Dakar Fiasco.

The Chronological Atlas of World War Two

by Charles Messenger

The events of World War II are explained through over 200 two-color maps that provide a lucid and comprehensive account of the battles, the maneuvers and the strategy of war on a world wide scale – from the U-boat threatened sea-lanes of the Atlantic to the sandy grounds of the wester dester, from the icy graveyards of the Russian Front to the steamy jungles of the Far East.

Instead of tackling each area of war as a separate conflict, this book provides a continuous, chronological narrative, linking the theaters and showing how each affected the others, and the way in which the protagonists were forced to adjust the deployment of armies and resources between them.

Each two-page spread in the book describes and maps a particular phase in the conflict, linking its position in the order of events to previous and subsequent topics. Graphic keys supply at-a-glance locations in time and place, while a cursor bar shows the phase of the overall conflict.

 

Book cover of "Prisoners of Geography" by Tim Marshall. The cover features the title in bold with the subtitle "Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World" below it. Background consists of layered maps. "The Fascinating New York Times Bestseller" is noted at the top.

Prisoners of Geography

by Tim Marshall

Maps have a mysterious hold over us. Whether ancient, crumbling parchments or generated by Google, maps tell us things we want to know, not only about our current location or where we are going but about the world in general. And yet, when it comes to geo-politics, much of what we are told is generated by analysts and other experts who have neglected to refer to a map of the place in question.

All leaders of nations are constrained by geography. Journalist Tim Marshall examines Russia, China, the US, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Greenland and the Arctic””their weather, seas, mountains, rivers, deserts, and borders””to provide a context often missing from our political reportage: how the physical characteristics of these countries affect their strengths and vulnerabilities and the decisions made by their leaders.

 

The cover of the book "Pinpoint" by Greg Milner. At the top, in yellow letters, it says, "How GPS is changing technology, culture, and our minds." Below the title, there's a quote from Financial Times praising the book. The background is bright yellow.

 

Pinpoint

by Greg Milner

Pinpoint tells the fascinating story of a hidden system that touches nearly every aspect of modern life. Tracking the development of GPS from its origins as a bomb guidance system to its present ubiquity, Greg Milner examines the technology’s double-edged effect on the way we live, work, and travel. Savvy and original, this sweeping scientific history offers startling insight into how humans understand their place in the world.

 

 

 

A book cover titled "Mapping the Civil War" by Christopher Nelson. It features a historical map in the center with a gold seal stating "Classics" at the bottom right. The subtext reads "Featuring Rare Maps From the Library of Congress.

Mapping the Civil War

by Christopher Nelson

Maps were a primary source of intelligence during Civil War and were considered as valuable and critical as rifles and cannons. These collected maps, some never published and many in manuscript form, show us a new face of this historic war.

Mapping the Civil War incorporates maps, photographs, and original drawings to illustrate the war in a never-before-seen way. By breaking the war into major battles and illustrating each battle with critical and beautiful maps from both sides, as well as photographs and sketches, this book shows what the battle leaders might have seen and gives us an intimate and fascinating view of the strategy of the Civil War.

 

 

Cover of the book "How to Make Hand-Drawn Maps" by Helen Cann. The cover features a vibrant starburst design with various map genres like mind maps, palmistry, and transit maps listed around the edges. Text includes "A Creative Guide" and "With Tips, Tricks, and Projects.

How to make Hand Drawn Map

by Helen Cann

With wonderful examples and easy-to-follow instructions, this beautifully illustrated how-to book makes it simple and fun to create one-of-a-kind hand-drawn maps. Helpful templates, grids, and guidelines complement a detailed breakdown of essential cartographic elements and profiles of talented international map artists. From city maps and family trees to treasure maps, palmistry charts, platform game maps, and more, the wide range of projects collected here will satisfy first-time cartographers as well as veteran mapmakers inspired by the popular map art trend.

 

The cover of the book "Geocaching For Dummies" features a person wearing a backpack, crouching and using a GPS device in a wooded area. The title "Geocaching For Dummies" is prominently displayed in yellow text against a black background.

Geocaching for Dummies

by Joel McNamara

Find a high-tech hobby in the great outdoors!

Dig into this fast-growing detective sport that’s fun for all ages

Once you get your coordinates, your GPS receiver, maps, compass, and this book, you’re ready for adventure! Seek out containers of goodies hidden around the world by other geocachers, hide a cache of your own, see new places, and get a little exercise to boot. Here’s where to start!

Discover how to:

  • Choose and use a GPS receiver
  • Find and download coordinates
  • Pack the right gear
  • Share experiences with the geocaching community
  • Search for benchmarks
  • Use geocaching as a teaching tool

Posted: August 5, 2021