This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong

by Jay Foreman, Mark Cooper-Jones

From YouTube’s Map Men comes a funny and fascinating journey into the maps that messed up: big time!

In their long-awaited debut, Mark Cooper-Jones and Jay Foreman (aka the Map Men) bring their highly infectious enthusiasm for everything map-related to the printed page for the very first time, in a brilliantly entertaining and eye-catching tome.

Packed with humor and fascinating facts, the book takes a deep dive into the world’s most baffling and absurd map blunders. From past miscalculations to modern mishaps, each chapter uncovers a unique tale of cartographic chaos—and the people responsible for it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Geography, History, Humor, Audiobook, Maps, Science

384 pages, Hardcover

Published November 4, 2025

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.25 stars)
I love maps. There, I said it. I’m a bit of a map nerd. Sure, I use my GPS (for the Brits, my “sat nav”) but I also love looking at a map. (For a cross-country road trip, we made sure we had a physical atlas because we didn’t know if we’d always have a cell signal.) So when I learned about this book, I immediately wanted to read it, despite knowing absolutely nothing about the authors, the Map Men, who are quite popular on YouTube. I have since checked out their YouTube videos and I can see why they’re so popular! They’re a lot of fun - and you learn something too.

Anyway, back to this book. I did a mix of reading and listening to the audiobook, as I was really curious how the material would work on audio without the visuals of the maps they were talking about! I can say, it worked very well indeed! The audiobook apparently will come with a PDF of the graphics, but honestly, for much of what I listened to, the actual graphic wasn’t all that necessary. Mark Cooper-Jones and Jay Foreman (the Map Men) do a fantastic job of keeping you entertained, using different accents depending on what they were talking about (such as the chapter on the tragedy of the Donner party or the one about the effort to create an International Map of the World).

There were many times that I had to laugh about the craziness they were explaining, such as the explanation of how most of the northern border of the US (with Canada) was decided upon and some of the nutty results of those decisions.

Thank you to Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

[Chloe Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect mix of funny and interesting. Map men map men map map map men men

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered the author's youtube channel earlier this year and promptly watched their entire catalogue. Their mixture of fascinating information, map nerdery and comedy is compelling and addictive. Smart people explaining and sharing their love for something is just brilliant to read or watch. If you're at all familiar with their youtube content, this is more of the same, only with the expanded space they have room to be funnier than ever, sometimes taking the joke a little too far, which is often just far enough.

Take the chapter that transcribes a fictional podcast about the Donner Party. It brilliantly skewers the self-important style of long-form story podcasting, complete with the transcription of ridiculous inserted advertisements.

Or the chapter that's an epistolary of the correspondence of Albrecht Penck, the originator of the "Millionth Map" project, the first (and unsuccessful) attempt to accurately map the entire world at 1:1,000,000 scale which gets derailed by two world wars and the tepid involvement of other countries.

This is quite brilliant. Informative and very funny, just like the author's youtube channel.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors of this book are popular on YouTube as the "Map Men" looking at mistakes in both old and new maps. I wasn't familiar with the authors' YouTube channel, but their knowledge, personalities, and humor came through in their writing. The result is a book that is both informative and entertaining. There are plenty of photos of maps, too, to better illustrate each chapter.

Standout chapters for me were the one about television boundaries in the UK, mistakes in tv news map graphics, "paper towns" on maps (towns placed on a map to prevent or discover plagiarism), and how maps and routes could have affected the ill-fated Donner expedition. A couple of the chapters didn't seem to translate as well from online show to print format. However, I still learned a lot and enjoyed the book as a whole

I received a free copy of this book from HTP Book and HTP Hive for review consideration. My review is voluntary and unbiased.

[Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, now I want to bombard my friends and family with all the fun facts and anecdotes I learned

[Maggie Timlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Be warned! This contains not just dad jokes but geography teacher jokes.



Have you ever wondered how the people navigated vast swaths of the featureless Pacific Ocean without a chart? Or how some of those unnaturally straight lines ended up being borders between today's biggest countries? Or even why, in the 1980’s, Yorkshire Television broadcast as far south as King’s Lyn? If so this book has the answers for you.

I love the way Mark Cooper-Jones and Jay Foreman take a potentially mundane subject, such as the TV broadcasting stations of the UK in the 1980’s, and make it fascinating. Quirks of geography and cartography are examined in detail in a fascinating and light hearted manner. If you are already a fan of the YouTube channel, you will be able to picture the sketches they use to illustrate their points as you go along.

The final chapter is a bit of a call to arms. It will have you reaching for the paper maps you may have packed away a few years ago and challenging your brain to an unguided GPS free walk. It’s an absolutely cracking read.

[Cary Hillebrand]

Some of you old-timers will remember back in the day, if you needed to travel from point A to point B, you pulled this folded paper thing out of the drawer. For the benefit of the uninitiated, they were called maps. Here, the self called "Map Men" will take you on a humorous journey through maps when they get it wrong or otherwise mislead.

[Jonathan Eddyshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Map men map men map map book book book

[Цветозар · Rating 2 out of 5]

Огромен фен съм на YouTube канала на Map Men, където двамата автори правят кратки, хумористични и много любопитни видея за карти. Аз си падам картофил като авторите, имам една огромна карта на Европа в навечерието на Кръстоностния поход за Варна закачена в спалнята си, та тази книга трябваше да е точно за мен. За мое огромно съжаление обаче, повечето от главите в книгата не са нито кратки, нито хумористични, нито любопитни.

[Alexander Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I pre-ordered this book since I'm a long-time fan of the Map Men series on YouTube, and true to form, each chapter provides an experience very similar to watching one of their videos. Very well researched information, peppered with even better researched jokes, often delivered with a commitment to the bit that verges on maniacal. As is often the case with books written by video content creators, it was difficult not to hear every line in their voices, goofy accents when depicting historic persons included.

I will say that the format of a book allowed them to commit even harder to gimmicks than their standard medium-length youtube videos, resulting in some of the funnier if more unusual bits of the book. The transcript for not one, but two episodes of an imagined self-important podcast about the Donner party stand out, along side a lengthy poem in rhyme about the Shetland islands' quest to never again be put in a box. In fact most of the chapters depart from the simple author describing historical events format, which does help to keep things fresh. Also, I had to stop and marvel at the two-and-a-half page single sentence after the promise, "in the interest of brevity, we'll keep it to one sentence." All in all a fun book about maps, each separate story stands on it's own and outside of the overt map theme, there's no bigger thesis to wrestle with. Not all of the stories are quite as goofy - Columbus kicking off the exploitation of the Americas and Caribbean and the nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands receive the more somber tone one would expect (mostly).

I'd recommend this book to anyone that has enjoyed the Map Men previously, or even those just in search of a relatively quick, light, and humorous read about maps and geography. It strikes me as just about the most perfect airport book ever printed, in a complimentary way.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I love hearing about someone talk about their special interests.

The audiobook for this was fantastic - their trademark maps videos but in a looooooooonger format. I absolutely love their Monty Python-esque storytelling. I was laughing out loud while listening (much to the chagrin of my husband who repeatedly asked “what the fuck are you doing?” because I had my AirPods in and didn’t share any maps with him.”

Overall this book was an absolute delight and I loved it.

[Fiona Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love maps, I love reading about maps, I love maps facts. This juuuust missed the mark for me.

If you're familiar with the Map Mens content, then this book reads like a script for one of their YouTube videos, and for that reason sometimes the writing grated on me a little, and stories lacked a lot of the depth they needed to be compelling (*cough cough chapter 10 cough cough*).

I think one more critical edit and this could have been perfect, but honestly it was a good time for map lovers, and they definitely don't mince their words when talking about the impact of colonialism and imperialism, which I appreciate from two white British dudes.

[Chris Deeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had a real love-hate relationship with YouTubers’ books of late, as often what works really well in video just doesn’t translate to written form. There are a few such misses in this (the entire chapter about the Oregon Trail done in the form of a podcast script for a fictional podcaster was a bit weird), but on the whole this plays off really well.

Thoroughly enjoyable and funny without that getting in the way of me actually learning a few new things too.

[Jörni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kapitel schwanken von milde interessant bis hin zu tiefgründigen Gedankenanstößen. Leider hat mir der Humor und die oft ausladend, penetrante Form nicht zugesagt.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was absolutely fantastic. I loved the audiobook version; felt just like watching one of their videos. Very interesting stories (especially as it started with New Zealand!)

[Nate Jacobsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the shortest published-to-read book timeline of my life, but when I thought about the hours of entertainment gleaned from the YouTube series, I figured I owed something to show my appreciation.

The book straddles a tightrope (which taken literally, is a bad place to be) to both be the YouTube series, format and humor converted into writing, but also parleying the success of the channel to move into a more serious and 'public at large '-approachable pop-sci geography book. Different chapters lean more heavily one way or another but on the whole more towards the voice and skit-wit of the channel. Wrong choice? Right choice? I'm not sure. Maybe the book is specifically for the viewers as a "thank you for your support!". Some chapters the sketch-writing quality of it does go on longer than my appetite for it, but it does differentiate it from other topically similar books.

On the other hand though, as a vehicle for entering the mainstream and publishing more books? If that is even the goal; perhaps too couched in the voice of the MapMen. I'll be keen to see if there's another future book with more niche or deeper dives into specific subjects; many of these chapters are things you've probably read about or at least heard of if you're at all involved with geography. In stark contrast to the channel which can have videos with quite esoteric lines of inquiry.

Enjoyed! More videos and books please.

[Irwin Weiss, MD · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a tongue and cheek overview of geography and maps by two comedians. There are large sections of made up dialogue that is sometimes humorous and is easy to skim over. There are discussions of great map errors like mountain ranges across Africa that don't exist and islands that are were on maps that don't exist. Sometimes the discussion is a little difficult to follow like a chapter on train stations in London and Paris and the point of the roll out of television broadcasting service in the United Kingdom (to be consistent with the book, I should add "of Great Britain and Northern Island"). There is an interesting chapter on the story of the Donner Pass in which became a disaster for some of the early European settlers of California and how that was related to the maps of the time. Needless to say, Columbus and the maps of the 1480's have their own chapter.

Overall, a somewhat humorous, somewhat interesting book about maps and geography. For those interested in learning more there are better works, although they don't attempt to be funny.

[Dahlia (ofpagesandprint) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to The Hive for the free ALC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25/5

This Way Up is an entertaining and informative book brimming with map facts and blunders.

This one was delightful. The Map Men incorporated fascinating and fun map facts and history to create an engaging book all about maps! The Map Men’s prose was hilarious, thoughtful, and insightful. The pacing fit the book nicely, although some chapters felt rushed and others felt a bit too long. Overall, I would recommend this one!

The Map Men narrated the audiobook, and their narration was truly a treat! I felt like I was right there with them, and their banter and voices were engaging. I didn’t have the physical copy while listening, so while I missed out on some visuals, the audiobook was still excellent and inclusive for any who can’t see maps. I highly recommend the audiobook!

#hiveinfluencer

[Kate B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Way Up is a book version of the Map Men series from YouTube. Jay and Mark discuss a wide variety of map-related topics. I wasn’t familiar with them before reading this book, but I definitely plan to check out their show!

I found this book so fascinating as a self-proclaimed map nerd. I love looking at maps, and this book had so much fun information! I think it would appeal to a wide range of readers, even those who don’t spend time staring at maps. The stories and information were accessible and engaging. I loved the first chapter about the size and location of New Zealand, the anecdotes about mapmakers putting fake information in their maps to catch copyright infringers, and the discussion about India’s missing street names. This book is packed full of wild stories and I had a great time reading!

The audio was performed by Jay and Mark, who did a great job! I will say that some parts didn’t translate super well to the audiobook format, but overall I thought it worked fine.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for this ALC!

[Andrew W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

*special thanks to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the preview audio*

I love Map Men! Mark and Jay are absolutely hilarious and informative with their well researched and off kilter presentation of the history of various maps that can be considered important but wrong! The audiobook especially uses the medium well, and that’s what I’ve been looking for a boon by YouTubers to do: make good use of the format!

I’m also happy to see that this book is all new historical deep dives and not rewritten versions of the YouTube videos. I only got half way through when I went ahead and bought a copy for keeps, just because I was so enthralled.

Highly recommend for fans of the channel MapMen and for fans of weird world history.

[Tala W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Harlequin Audio for providing this book for review consideration via Net Galley. All opinions are my own.
Ever since I first ran across "Map Men" online, I have always stopped and settled in to watch their videos any time they came across my feed. Their level of passion and interest in geography is infectious, and this audiobook is no exception. They always make me laugh, but this audiobook had me laughing frequently and out loud, particularly during the section of the book that satirizes podcasts.
As always, they bring to the forefront unusual and forgotten history, poking fun while acknowledging and emphasizing the human cost of certain events, all while teaching the listener far more than they ever could have expected to learn.

[Anthony Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a big fan of the Map Men YouTube channel, this book was a welcome surprise, so much of a surprise I had forgotten I'd pre-ordered the book and almost cancelled the payment because I thought someone else was using my account. I'm glad I didn't do that.
The book is fantastic and I learned a hell of a lot about maps that's I'd never have thought to learn about. It's interesting, hilarious and just a down right good book, especially as I could hear their voices while reading (I haven't yet listened to the audio book).
For anyone interested in maps and in slightly obscure bits of history, pick up this book, you won't regret it.

[Beth Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish they'd written this eight years ago so my grandfather could have read it. He'd have loved it more than I did, which is no mean feat considering I've been calling this my Book of the Year before I even finished it.

If you enjoy the humour and educational content of the MM you will not be disappointed. This is doubly true for the audiobook, which includes some adlibs and bloopers left in. I would say the ideal experience would be to listen along with the book in hand, but maybe not while driving.

My only complaint is that Chapter 6 dragged on a bit.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well written history/geography book about maps.

If you haven't watched the Map Men on youtube then you really should do, they're really funny and interesting.

Having said that - a lot of their appeal is in their delivery.

So it is possible to appreciate how funny their videos are without actually caring about the actual content.

This is relevant to the book because it is funny, but I think you actually have to be interested in the actual content to really appreciate this book.

If you do then this is a must read.

[Abigail Rickard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t think it was possible to distill their videos into a book , but somehow they’ve managed it!
This is a HILARIOUS read , full of fantastic and absurd chapters you wouldn’t expect. Plus it’s genuinely jam packed with interesting stories about maps that leave you with a broader understanding of their importance.
This book really isn’t just for map or geography nerds (proof: I hate geography and dislike maps) it’s a genuinely funny read that anyone could pick up and enjoy.

[Matthew Yeldon · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I love the historical facts — I genuinely learned a great deal — I absolutely loathe the writing style. I didn’t laugh once and nearer the end of the book found myself rolling my eyes and skimming over swaths of the text because I knew it added nothing but pretty lame attempts at humour. The boys’ schtick works in other media, but not in book form. It just doesn’t. Really disappointing. I’ll be cautious before reading a book by a podcaster again.

[Moko · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun book! I read it, while also listening to the audiobook and it was so funny, not only for the subtle differences, but the audio version is like a whole series of MapMen, with some unscripted additions! I enjoyed it very much indeed!

[Fran (freddycartersleftfoot) · Rating 5 out of 5]

💫: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧: “Where are you?” (I Miss You; blink-182)
⏳: 14 days

—

The Map Men acknowledge that the existence of the Midlands is no laughing matter, but there was a time…



(P91: “…the Midlands in February 1956…”)

[T.A. Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a really fun read- not only were the fact interesting, but they were told with the unique humour of the Map Men.
If you didn't like maps before reading this book, you would love them by the final chapter.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So funny, kept laughing out loud. What a joyous book to read, made me think and kept me entertained walking the streets of Osaka and Kyoto. Thanks Jay and Mark and the entire team behind this book for bringing such joy to my ears