Brilliant Maps: An Atlas for Curious Minds

Maps for Curious Minds

by Ian Wright

Which nations have North Korean embassies? Which region has the highest number of death metal bands per capita? How many countries have bigger economies than California? Who drives on the 'wrong' side of the road? And where can you find lions in the wild? Revelatory, thought-provoking and fun, Brilliant Maps is a unique atlas of culture, history, politics and miscellanea, compiled by the editor of the iconic Brilliant Maps website. As visually arresting as Information is Beautiful and as full of surprising facts and figures as any encyclopaedia, Brilliant Maps is a stunning piece of cartography that maps our curious and varied planet. For graphic design enthusiasts, compulsive Wikipedia readers and those looking for the sort of gift they buy for someone else and wind up keeping for themselves, this book will change the way you see the world and your place in it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Geography, History, Maps, Travel, Science, Reference

232 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2019

About the author

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Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning the answers to many of the minor and diverse questions I’ve had over the years. I may not especially need to know this information, but it’s stuff I’ve at least briefly wondered about -- things like who drives on the opposite side of the road or whether all roads really do lead to Rome. The visual presentation is great for absorbing the information at a glance but also allows for a more in-depth perusal if one is so inclined. If you’re the curious sort, then you’ll find this to be an interesting read that can be read as quickly or as slowly as you wish.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Brilliant" is right. This beautifully laid out book by map enthusiast Ian Wright is every cartophile's dream. The book is basically a print version of his web site www.brilliantmaps.com, but there's much more there and the book is merely a sampling. For this book, he chose 100 maps from the site, many of which are the most popular, and organized them into categories such as "People and Populations," "Nature," and "Friends and Enemies." Some of the maps are of just the U.S. while others are of other countries and continents.

In the foreword, Wright explained that he defined "popular" as "the most talked-about maps, the ones that seemed especially to strike a nerve with readers." Some of these maps went viral. Unsurprisingly, maps having to do with politics and national identity were some of the most popular over the last five years.

Wright didn't assume his readers already know the location of each country and each U.S. state; the inside front cover features a map of the world with each country labeled, and the inside back cover features the United States with each state labeled. All maps are logically constructed, bold, and clean. I loved many but especially enjoyed these eight:

"The astounding drop in global fertility rates from 1970 to 2015"

"More than half of the Australian population lives here" (map of Australia)

"50% of Canadians live south of the red line"

"Percentage of people born in each European country now living abroad"

"Average female height worldwide"

"Average male height worldwide"

"The highest speed limits around the world"

"The Pacific Ocean is larger than all the land on Earth"

My only complaints are small: The center seam obscures some of the maps, making information hard to read or totally gobbling it up. The print is minuscule in some parts (however, I don't know that that could’ve been avoided given how many countries needed labeling). The U.S. map in the back has mixed up Maryland and Delaware.

Graphics can be powerful in getting across important information and I love how Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds relays information so effectively without being at all text-heavy. I wish this were a never-ending book. I'm sure other map-lovers would feel exactly the same.

Read-alike: Speaking American: How Y'all, Youse, and You Guys Talk: A Visual Guide

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

With just an introduction followed by a collection of maps, this is less of a 'read' than a 'look', book. Divided into categories (People & Population, Religion and Politics, Culture, Geography, History etc), and then a colour coded map - usually of the world, and to illustrate a specific things - some general, some very specific.

Some useful ones
- England vs Great Britain vs United Kingdom map
- The Antipodes Map - why you cant dig from China to the US
- Open Borders of the World
- Map of the Unexplored World (in 1881)
- Countries with the Most Venomous Animals

Some we should already know about
- the worlds Time Zones
- the Pacific Ocean is Bigger than all the Land on Earth
- Who Drives on the Wrong Side of the Road

Some surprises
- Countries that officially recognise the state of Palestine
- Countries Who's Flags contain Red and/or Blue (there are not many who don't!)

Some of the more eclectic ones
- Countries Which the UK have not Invaded (only 22)
- World Electrical Plug and Socket Map
- How the date is Written in each Country Map
- Countries with the most Miss World winners Map
- Average Female Height Worldwide Map

There were a few poor colour choices, where there wasn't enough contrast to easily recognise the difference, but for the most part these were well presented. There was enough good information interspersed with the quirky to keep me interested.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

[MissBecka Gee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed a lot of what was in this book and found the various demographics fascinating.
Learning new things is always fun!
I do wish that the maps had been a bit more distinct in the presentation.
Many of the pages had 3-4 versions of one colour when several completely different colours would have been much easier to absorb.

Also I found it a bit annoying that the countries were not labelled on most of the pages.
Slight inconvenience to have a second map up on google and flip between the two.
Thank you NetGalley and The Experiment for my DRC.

[Grumpus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting information. Poorly executed.

Great information but I got more and more frustrated as I went along. Although there are few words other than the legend and title, I nearly marked this a could-not-finish—it was that aggravating.

The thing that was most annoying was the lack of distinction in legend colors—a basic skill in data visualizations. If the map had a green theme, the shading between the colors in the key were not distinct enough for the reader to easier discern the values in the actual data (countries). The second thing was the scaling was too finite in many cases which led to first problem with the shading. Finally, number three was that the maps run across both pages of the open book. This resulted in not being able to see many countries as they were caught in the crack of the book.

The information was worth 3 or 4 stars, but presentation was worth only 1 or 2 stars. This could have been so much better. As a data analyst, who likes to use data visualization to tell as story, I was very disappointed in the story that was told with this one.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly thought provoking book which includes some astounding facts! The contrast between the different groups of people and migration is very interesting. This book is a gateway for people to explore further and is a great conversation starter.

One flaw is the size of the book, it needs to be larger, more like the size of an atlas and spiral-bound to open out flat. I realize that would increase its cost, however it would make it easier to see the maps. For example, I literally cannot read the names of some of the countries on the world map on the inside front cover and the Flags of the World were hard to make out also.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book indeed.

I am partial to a good map and this is a fantastic way of getting random information across.

My favourite maps

22 places the UK has not invaded - back in the day, if Jonny Forrinner got uppity we sent round a couple of gunboats to put him back in his place. It is telling that most of the non UK invaded places are landlocked. I think that that is cheating.

Second largest nationality in European countries - Australians and Malta? Weird

Countries that have no McDonalds - Iceland?

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfect bathroom book. Each two-page spread is a map of the world that visually displays some interesting statistic, demographic, or bit of trivia. You can speed past the dull ones and linger on the most fascinating, read it straight though or just flip around randomly. Fun.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting but still somewhat flawed.

What I liked:
• Some of the maps addressed things I’d wondered about, such as time zones and plug/socket shape.
• Some of the maps addressed things I’d never thought to wonder about, such as cats vs. dogs. In this way, the book lives up to its title—it does indeed inspire curious minds.
• Bright colors
• Quirkiness. It has serious elements such as casualties from wars, but it also has some unabashedly bizarre entries, such as the one titled “Chile is a ridiculously long country.”
• A sense of fun.
There is a lot more that I could say here, but I don’t want to take away from the pleasure of discovering it for yourself.

What I didn’t like:
• Data was unclear. It’s definitely more for entertainment than for information. One of the maps, for example, shows different statistics, each in a shade of pink. Okay, it’s a very pretty map, but I have no idea which of the 6 or so almost-identical shades I’m looking at for any given country. Cute, but not helpful. There were several like this, where the data was illegible.
• Data was incomplete. Sometimes the maps just raised more questions about the research. One map, for example, compares homicide statistics among certain countries (randomly? I assume?). The data goes by number of deaths, but it doesn’t show the number as a percentage of the total population, so naturally, the more populous countries tend to have more deaths by any cause, because they have more people in the first place. This doesn’t help me understand anything about the countries’ safety or violence levels. Another map, comparing the U.S. and Europe, shows murder stats as percentages, which would have been more meaningful if two-thirds of it weren’t shades of blue. As before, I couldn’t tell them apart.
• Data was misleading. For example, one of the maps showed only four countries that don’t use the metric system. The U.S. was one of them. Only, here’s the thing: I live in the U.S., and this country uses the metric system in official capacities all the time. It’s taught in public schools, even to the youngest grades, and it’s the standard for any American working in science, medicine, or the military. Even our currency is based on the metric system, which I don’t think the case in every nation. So I’m not clear whether the author’s information is wrong, or whether he meant that all the other countries on their map no longer use any non-metric system. And it’s one thing to use the metric system—which we absolutely do—it’s another thing to abandon a different system altogether. If there aren’t any remnants left of other measuring systems in the whole world except for 4 nations, well, that’s really very sad.
• Data might not have been neutral. Okay, I get it. The author is making a point; he’s entitled to that, since it’s his book. But some of these maps seem to raise loaded questions. I’m going to use the previous example of the metric system map. Seeing all the world drawn in one color (metric system) except for only four countries gives the impression that most of the world has agreed on something, and there are few stubborn holdouts. (I assume that was intentional?) It might be completely innocent, and yet it feels rather pointed, especially give the vague parameters by which he singled out these four nations. I have read enough British literature to know that Europeans have, on occasion, made fun of Americans. So maybe I’m reading too much into this, but it definitely felt like it was meant in that same vein. So what is the result of this? The U.S., which uses another system simultaneously with metric, is sort of mathematically bi-lingual, and like any bilingualist, we are heir to different traditions and heritages. We use a system that’s mostly standard worldwide, but which is also a relatively recent, inorganically manufactured newcomer to the world scene. We also use a different system which stems from an older form of measurements previously used in Great Britain. And Britain didn’t invent it; it was fashioned naturally by different practices from different cultures dating back to ancient times, not just for the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, but also the Romans, and presumably, the other countries for whom Rome was a center for trade and commerce. All roads lead to Rome (that’s another one of their maps)! The foot was just one ancient measurement that corresponded roughly to body parts, and it, along with the palm and cubit, was used by many ancient peoples. Some body-based measurements, common in Roman (the root of the U.S. system) had connections to similar methods in Egypt, Greece, Assyria, Persia, Babylon, the Akkadian Empire, and Sumeria, among others. They were used by ancient Jews, and later, by Christians and Muslims as well as by followers of ancient polytheistic faiths. It was a common ground of sorts among people who spoke different languages and wore different clothes and had different skin tones. It was multi-religious, mult-racial, multi-cultural. It was multi-everything. It was a shared world history. And now it’s just a joke on a map.

This book was interesting and colorful and thought-provoking, but it never lets the reader delve deeper into a topic. It has enough information to be entertaining, but not enough to be useful. It was based on a website, but it just feels like a series of highlights from the site—not anything that can expand on it. It doesn’t make full use of the book form, since it just feels like a collection of info graphics, and it severely underestimates its readers’ attention spans. I give it four stars for being interesting and encouraging people to ask questions.

[Dun's · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds" is a fascinating and fun book offering colorful infographic maps of interesting facts and statistics about US states and countries of the world. The maps are categorized by topics, e.g., people & population, culture, nature, crime and punishments, etc. The Introduction gives a helpful overview of how the maps were created by the author, including tidbits about the most searched and most controversial maps. There are US map and world map in the inside front and back covers for reference.

I bought this book because I love data visualization and have created infographics for work and personal projects. I started reading in February and reached the last page in May. During that time span, my family members would alternately pick up the book, read a few pages, finish the whole book, put it back on the table/couch/bookshelf, pick it up to reread the whole thing, and so on. The book started off a lot of interesting conversations, for example, "Did you know that Indonesia has some of the biggest islands in the world?", or "I didn't know countries XYZ had diplomatic missions in North Korea!"

From a design point of view, I wish the color choices are more distinct in some maps and font size are larger. I also wish the data sources are mentioned in each map rather than compiled at the end of the books in the Credits section. That said, it's still an excellent thought-provoking book and resource.

[Eva Pormeistere IG lapaspusempapedam · Rating 5 out of 5]

❓ Vai Tu esi zinātkārs un Tev patīk iedziļināties notikumos sev apkārt?

✨ Es uz šo jautājumu noteikti varu atbildēt ar treknu "JĀ"! Jau izsenis no skolas laikiem mums ar vīru bija interesējusi vēsture, ģeogrāfija un kartes. Mēs skolas laikā varējām stundām ilgi pētīt atlantu. Un nekas nav mainījies arī šobrīd - atlants ir transformējies Google maps formātā. Tas ir kā nebeidzams ceļojums, jo ik katrs zemes pleķītis un tā izpēte raisa mūsos dažnedažādus jautājumus. Šī zinātkāre dzen doties ceļojumos un izbaudīt kartē redzēto savām acīm. Un bieži vien šādi mēs aizrokamies līdz interesantiem faktiem no konkrētās vietas vēstures, kultūras, tradīcijām. Mēs abi esam priecīgi, ka mūsu izpētes ceļā ir parādījusies fantastiska grāmata, kas tikai veicina un pastiprina vēlmi būt zinātkāriem, un mudina uzdot jautājumus un meklēt atbildes.

📚Grāmatas autors ir Īans Raits, kurš jau kopš bērnības mīlējis ģeogrāfiju un kartes, un to kādus faktus par sevi stāsta plašā pasaule. Zinātkāre viņam bijusi līdzās ik mirkli - tā viņu aizvedusi līdz visa Londonas metro tīkla izstaigāšanai; populārās Birlliant Map vietnes izveidei, kurā var atrast kartes, kas sevī atspoguļo interesantus pasaules faktus; kā arī šīs grāmatas izveidei. Grāmatā atrodamas kartes, kurās grafiski vieglā un saprotamā formātā parādīti interesanti pasaules fakti, kas atspoguļo tādas tēmas kā, piemēram, politika, reliģija, nacionālā identitāte, draugi un ienaidnieki, noziegumi.

😍 Grāmata man ļoti patika. Tā ievelk savās lapaspusēs gan lielus, gan mazus. Katra karte raisa papildus jautājumus un atver maģisku izpētes procesu. Un kā gan tu nepētīsi sīkāk, piemēram, kādēļ ierasto Ziemassvētku vecīti Itālijā dēvē par Ziemassvētku raganu? Piefiksēju arī faktus, kas lieti noderēs nākotnes ceļojumos, piemēram, kurās valstīs ir visvairāk indīgo dzīvnieku? Kā arī daudzas kartes man atklāja faktus, kas liek man vēljoprojām galvā maisīties domām, piemēram, kādēļ amerikāņiem nav konkrētas pārliecības vai Latvija ir sabiedrotie, draugi vai ienaidnieki viņiem?

Iesaku arī Tev pakacināt savu zinātkāri ar šo grāmatu!

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and fun book that exceeded my expectations. While I expected some interesting little infographic types of maps like causes of death by country (none of those, surprisingly), there were so many really interesting maps that I never would have thought to look for. The world map of all the countries who have not been invaded by the United Kingdom was shockingly on point, while others were fascinating like seeing the map of what would be the Mongol empire with today's countries. You can see things like the death penalty, locations of McDonalds, states where Americans think global warming will affect them, average hours of sunlight, countries where people drive on the left or the right side of the world and on and on.

The book is divided by themes like history, culture, geography and history. This would make a great gift, and I may give it to one of my kids or my husband this year. It would also be a great library pick for "strewing" and inspiring some great homeschool investigations.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also look at the website, https://brilliantmaps.com/

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heb er een ontbijt en een lunch over gedaan, geen tekst maar wel geinige kaartjes. Had soms graag meer duiding gezien, maar ja, dat ben ik weer

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

We live on a strange and beautiful planet. It is full of history, geology, people place and countries and if you’re anything like me, I find facts and figures endlessly fascinating. The best way of quantifying this data is to put it in graphical form, and Ian Wright has done this in Brilliant Maps.

He has separated the 100 maps in this books into eleven sections. The first three, People and Politics, Religion and Politics and power are very similar in scope. My favourite maps from these sections are Countries that have a smaller population than Tokyo and countries with large economies than California.

Our diversity across the planet has lead to a lot of different culture and customs, and know who drives on the wrong side of the road and writes the date wrong is useful if unimportant information.

Sadly, we do spend a lot of time arguing at personal and national levels. In Friends and Enemies, you can discover who the UK have not invaded, and who the Vikings invaded. Countries are not regular shapes, but the longest, Chile would reach from Spain to Norway and is just over 100 miles wide. There is a map showing just how many continents could fit inside the Pacific Ocean and how many roads actually lead to Rome.

I thought the comparison between travel time from London in the modern-day compared to 1914 where days have been replaced by hours was fascinating as well as the size and scope of the Roman and Mongol Empires when compared to modern countries such as China. It also shows in stark detail just what we have lost in our relentless expansion, especially with the map showing the current verses the old distribution of lions.

There is something satisfying in finding the differences between ourselves and other countries around the world, but not as satisfying as finding our common habits. Graphically these are excellent, clear maps about some interesting and entertaining subjects. There were a couple of flaws though. I think I would have preferred them to be split over the page rather than disappear into the middle and I would have liked more contrast on some of the colours as there wasn’t always that much difference. Stats in graphical form are so much more pleasing on the eye and this is a really nicely produced book. You can see more on his website here

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maps have been a particular fascination of mine ever since I was a small child. It always amazed me to see all the places I could go. One of the highlights of my childhood was getting a librarian to help me look at the "big atlas", whose pages were literally almost as big as my 6-year-old self. So I was thrilled to receive an ARC of Ian Wright's Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds.

Ian Wright created and maintains the website Brilliant Maps. This book is a collection of 100 of the most interesting and educational. One of my favorites, "Map of the Entire Internet in December 1969", shows a map of the United States. The internet ranged from...UCLA to Utah.

The maps are clear and brightly colored. The book is divided into chapters for easy reference. Chapters include: "People and Populations" (How the North American Population Fits into Europe); "Politics, Power, and Religion" (Birthplaces of Religious Leaders); "Culture and Customs" (Heavy Metal Bands per 100K People); "Friends and Enemies" (22 Countries the United Kingdom Has Not Invaded); "Geography" (World's Five Longest Domestic Nonstop Flights); "History" (If the Roman Empire Reunited , Using Modern Borders); "National Identity" (Countries Whose Flags Include Red and/or Blue); "Crime and Punishment" (Prison Population per 100K People); and "Nature" (Countries with the Most Venomous Animals).

This book will be published in November. It would be a fantastic gift book for the winter holidays. It would also make a great coffee table book, bet settler, and conversation starter. ("Hey, did y'all know California, all by itself, is one of the world's biggest economies?"). Having access to maps on the internet is nice. But as the little girl I used to be knew, sometimes it's nice to look at them in a book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant maps for curious minds is a book that warms my big nerdy heart. Not only did I enjoy learning new facts about the world, the graphic side of this book is extremely appealing. Ian Wright succeeded in giving me a new perspective on items we tend to take for granted. On top of that, the author offered me food for thought and making me want to dive in some of the complex topics that he very nearly brought back to ‘just’ a map. I call that being talented and passionate. This book is highly accessible, and perhaps even necessary on some issues/maps, for every type of reader.

I do wish there was a bit more background on some of the maps, but hey, that’s just me being greedy. Overall, I think the title says it all.. Brilliant work that really satisfied my very curious mind!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

[Reggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read, but this was an interesting and visually stimulating book! Lots of unusual maps and data which I normally go online for, but it made for a colorful reading experience. I do think that some of the world maps are better viewed online since the center of the book often makes the Middle East/West Africa very hard to read!

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Maps is a book of 100 maps of the world. The maps cover topics like where you can find lions in the wild, which countries had female leaders, and what countries do not have a McDonald's.

This book is the sort of book that's fun to read through and talk about with others.

And now I've subscribed to a weekly newsletter from the online site for Brilliant Maps.

[Brittany Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is filled with so many fun and sometimes shocking stats. Although I wish there was more information given for some of the maps I couldn't quite understand, it was still a fun read! I learned things about the world that I hadn't ever considered before.

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wat een tof boek met allerlei toffe kaarten over allerlei onderwerpen (van wie welke soort datum gebruikt tot waar je uitkomt als je een gat zou graven). Ik had misschien nog wel wat exotischere onderwerpen willen zien of maffere. Gewoon iets geks zoals hoeveel bananen er worden gegeten per land (of hoeveel er worden ingekocht). Ik heb weer wat nieuwe dingen geleerd! Ik zou het boek zeker aanraden!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I leisurely sailed through this book in an hour as it's more of a picture book than an actual book with text to read. Each page shows a picture of the world with information topics like these: poisonous animals in the world, places where terrorist attacks have happened, the most photographed places on earth, etc. It was all very interesting. It would be a great jump start into other topics you might enjoy: geography, politics, history, etc.

The only downside is that the information will be out of date soon (most likely) as it was written in 2018. Things happen so quickly in our world.

[Ewan Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maptastic

[Henrik Hageland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las den norske omsetjingi av boki og må seia meg svært imponert. Kart og fakta i ein god blanding som du ser meir og meir til no i den digitale kvardag. Einaste det var å utsetja var sjølve oppsettet i boki, dei midterste delane av kartet hadde ein tendens å verta «åte opp» av sidebindingi, utan at det påverka kvaliteten i innhaldet! Elles godt språk!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting book, showing a number of interesting and surprising map-based statistics like who drives on which side of the road or what countries lost the most people in each world war or how much sunlight does each country get? A lot of good stuff. A pity it wasn't presented a bit better.
The maps mostly come from a website Brillliant Maps that Ian Wright hosts and on a computer screen the maps are generally pretty clear and you can zoom in on many of them, but printed books are a different beast.
The way the book is bound generally means that for all the double-page world maps Eastern Europe, the Middle East and a goodly amount of Africa disappear into the binding. Also, the color choices for the maps are generally not great for printing, lots of low contrast data elements makes it very hard to distinguish one datum from another. I can see the appeal of wanting a gradient of colors from low to high or good to bad or just to x to y, but when the interesting bits the are the differences at the extreme ends like which countries lost more people in WWI 5-10% or >10% and the difference in the printed colors is nearly indistinguishable it's a bit frustrating and without pulling out a magnifying glass, it's really hard to tell the differences for small countries. If you are color blind, I would think a lot of the maps will probably be incomprehensible. It doesn't seem like any attempt was made to adjust the map colors for printing.

[Dave Schoettinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of maps with only an introduction and notes on the sourcing for the information shown on the maps. Most of them are world maps but the information reflected on them is not what you would get in a standard atlas. They show things like the type of electric outlet used in each country or the highest speed limit in each country. Many are extremely interesting and thought-provoking.

There are limitations in this format. Most of the entries are world maps and in a book whose pages are 7"x10", this limits the detail that can be presented. Also, for a chromatically challenged person, such as myself, when more than 5 or 6 different colors are used, the shades tend to merge together making it difficult for me to easily see the intended contrasts in areas.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well maps and trivia are fun and so is this book! Just wish some of the colors were better differentiated.

[Katie Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put this on hold a while back and promptly forgot about it, so it was a nice surprise to see it on the hold shelf yesterday!

As someone who loves and appreciates data visualization, this was a real treat. It's one of the rare books I may purchase for myself. (It's a great little collection of factoids with which you can impress your guests.)

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lobe books with maps and Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds is a book that's completely filled with maps. It's all about the maps. I enjoyed every second of pouring over them. Now if only they were bigger....

[Jeimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and diverse; this book will appeal not just to people who enjoy geography, but also people who enjoy trivia. I am a visual learner and I was riveted by every page.