Brilliant Maps in the Wild: A Nature Atlas for Curious Minds

Maps for Curious Minds

by Mike Higgins, Manuel Bortoletti (Illustrator)

The natural world has never been wilder—with 100 fiercely fun, curiously captivating, and amazingly adventurous maps

Which nations have launched animals into space? Where are the world’s cat people? How many humans live in high-risk zones for natural disasters? How far do you have to travel to hug all fifteen of the world’s oldest trees? Where in the world do snakes live—or better yet, where can you avoid them?! Find the thought-provoking answers to these questions and many more in Wild Maps for Curious Minds. This info-graphic atlas of nature’s most impressive wonders and eye-popping oddities is bursting with discovery, whimsical insight, and startling revelations that will change the way you see the natural world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Maps, Geography, Science, Travel, Natural History

207 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 13, 2022

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

The latest in the Maps for Curious Minds series is focused on the natural world. Divided into eight chapters, the book features maps that explore topics such as ancient history, bodies of water, the climate crisis, and outer-space. The format is, like the two that came before it, bold and clean. Unlike those other two, however, this book seems like a forced addition to the series. Some of the information, such as distribution of the great apes, doesn’t need a map because the information just isn’t varied enough (unsurprisingly, nine out of the twelve species are in Africa). Other information not only doesn’t require the map format but is too niche to interest most readers. The best example of this is the map titled "Not every giraffe looks alike," which points to the regions in Africa where the giraffes have one of five general spot patterns.

Nevertheless, most maps are, if not dazzling, interesting and educational. Some I liked:

"It’s raining, but is it pouring?" (The state I live in has rainstorms that are sometimes torrential, and I didn’t know that in some places rain doesn’t pour.)

"Where do America’s hunters live?"

"Watch your step—these creatures are the tiniest of their kind"

"How far are you from an earthquake zone?"

"Where are people at most risk from natural disasters?"

"Where to see a giant panda outside China" (Very few zoos around the world house pandas.)

"How people have died in America’s national parks"

"All the F5/EF5 tornadoes reliably recorded" (includes a paragraph explaining that the U.S. is an extreme outlier when it comes to tornadoes, "enduring by far the most tornadoes each year [roughly 1,200 annually; Canada comes second, with about 100 tornadoes a year] as well as the majority of the strongest [F5/EF5] tornadoes.")

"We are losing less forest than before" (one of the few optimistic nature maps)

"Australia boldly goes" (uses this landmass as a standard to dramatically illustrate scale—e.g., Australia on the sun [minuscule]; Australia on Pluto [gigantic]; Australia on Venus [nearly identical to its size on Earth].)

As for format, Wild Maps for Curious Minds suffers from some of the same problems as the other two books: On several maps the colors for the various statistics aren’t different enough to be easy to decipher. This is especially unfortunate on pages that feature a single color but in tones separated by only one degree. Some of the maps demand a short explanatory paragraph. One is mixed up: The map "Where to live if you hate snakes" should instead be titled "Where to live if you love snakes" because the color emphasis is on those countries that have them. Others are missing essential information: Apparently, bears and wolves "once ruled Italy"—but these dramatic maps answer only the less interesting where in Italy they ruled, not the more interesting when. This question of when naturally follows, so it’s strange it isn’t answered.

Wild Maps for Curious Minds is ok, a satisfactory third entry in this series. I enjoyed plenty of the content but was disappointed to see so many weak maps, and I couldn’t help but think that the book was created under pressure from the publisher. It’s worth reading but with tempered expectations. Readers can also view more maps at www.brilliantmaps.com, which this book pulls from.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another enjoyable book in a fun series.

It's trivia in the form of maps. Flip through at your leisure and learn a bit about the world and its history. Sure, some of the maps get a little too trivial or too confusing to properly suss out, but turn the page and you'll probably find one that shakes up your worldview or has you lingering in fascination.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love maps, like I do, you’ll love this book. It’s a great way to twist how you look at the world and how to approach different perspectives.

[Rachael Fryman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love love love this series! Full of such interesting maps and details that I always have to share what I learn with basically every one I come across for a month! Did you know that every planet in our solar system can fit between Earth and its Moon?!?!

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and interesting assortment of maps that clearly demonstrate facets of our world (plus a little bonus section on our solar system at the end). Little depth, easy to peruse before bed.

Knock off a star because numerous two-page spreads feature Europe and Africa crunched in the crack between the pages. This is even the case when Europe specifically is being highlighted by the map, which seems like an awful editorial decision.

[JG (Introverted Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoy poring over the "Maps for Curious Minds" books. The authors and illustrators cleverly share data, both widely known and obscure, in fun, colorful maps and graphs. I find myself texting my husband and my sister with random facts while they're each trying to work.

This was just as interesting as the other two books in this loose series but it dealt a bit more with climate change and its effects on us, the earth, and animals trying to survive. It got a little depressing. There were maps that were somewhat hopeful, like the windiest coastlines that could generate the most power or locations that receive the most sunshine for solar power, but since we collectively don't seem to be doing much to utilize either one, they didn't really help. Maps about species that have gone extinct in the past hundred years and countries that are most vulnerable to rising seas just pack an emotional punch.

One quibble that I've had with all three books is that the two-page spreads, which is what almost all the maps are, lose a lot of data inside the binding. It inevitably goes right through western Africa and Europe and I'm squinting and pulling at pages to see the text in there. Just a slight shift toward Greenland (no offense Greenland, but I don't think you were singled out even one time in this collection) could correct that. It might not look as aesthetically centered but at least the data would be there.

Overall, this is still a fun, colorful collection. Depressing or not, I learned a lot and my inner map nerd had a lot of fun checking it out.

[Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overview:
Wild Maps for Curious Minds feature a wide range of maps that put things into perspective about the Earth and universe we live in. Now you to can WOW your friends and people on the street with random information!

Thoughts:
I thought reading this book was interesting and seeing the different and unique ways you can present maps. Usually, I find maps are just showing you the Earth and roads and so it was cool to see maps in a new light! For example, one of the maps shows you that the size of Pluto fits between London and Moscow. I didn't realize Pluto was so small! I knew Pluto was small but not that small.
I found this book to also be very sad.
This book shows you the effect we are having on the planet in maps and diagrams. But when it is put into perspective you really see how we are hurting things as humans.
I enjoyed read this though and it was neat.

[APR Lamprey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite mind-blowing honestly. Great for the coffee table.
TW: astrophobia

[Art Enyedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was at the library, I saw a new book on display called Wild Maps for Curious Minds. I thought: that sounds wild. And I have a curious mind! Maybe that book is for me? I checked it out.

There are 100 maps in the book. Some were quite interesting. For example, there is a map that shows how much land acreage in the United States is utilized for various functions. The total area used for golf courses in the US is equal to the size of Puerto Rico? That's a lot of golf courses! The amount of impervious surface (pavement) is equivalent to the state of Tennessee? That is a lot of pavement and concrete. And yet our roads are still overcrowded with traffic. Georgia is the same size as all of the lawns in the US? Lawns seem like such a waste to me - endless weekends wasted cutting, weeding, edging and watering. And yes, I have a small lawn myself. The fifty largest landowners in the US own as much land as all of the state of New York? I had heard Bill Gates was the largest landowner in the US, but for a mere fifty people to own that much land is crazy. I am skeptical that our total amount cropland is only equivalent to the area of the state of Alaska. I know Alaska is much bigger than shown in that map, but it was my impression that farmland took up 40 or 50% of USA.

Map 5 reveals something I never thought about before: during the last ice age, there was so much water locked up in the glacial ice that the sea levels were much lower. The sea was so much lower that the Baltic Sea and English Channel did not exist and island of Britain was attached to the European continent. The rivers of Europe all drained into the Baltic Basin, which must have emptied through the English channel via a mighty river.

Map 11 is cool : somehow they figured out the longest distance that you could walk on land if you went in a perfectly straight line would be from Liberia (west coast of Africa) to the eastern shore of China - a distance of 8400 miles.

Map #26 shows the spot on Earth that is furthest from any land mass, called Point Nemo. This remotest point is 1550 miles from the nearest piece of land. The countries of the world use this point in the southern Pacific Ocean as a junkyard for the satellites that they de-orbit! When a satellite is decommissioned, it is brought down so that it crashes somewhere near Point Nemo. This is the eventual fate of the ISS space station.

Map 27 shows all the lighthouse surrounding Britain and how far they illuminate the sea. I am surprised at how extensive the coverage is - the entire British coastline looks lit up. Now-a-days, with everyone relying on GPS to pinpoint their location, I wonder if lighthouses are even necessary (and how much it costs to keep them operational). You could probably sail a ship in total darkness by relying on GPS.

Map 36 was a bit surprising - it displayed which countries lie directly east and west of the Americas (ie: on the same latitude). For example, if you head directly west from California, you will eventually hit Japan. The Japanese island chain is much longer than I realized, stretching from state of Washington all the way down to Mexico. Also surprising: Africa is so far north that Morocco is on the same latitude as Georgia, the Carolinas and most of Florida! There is one tiny slice of latitude where the only country either to the east or west of Chile is... Chile itself!

Map 37 was another surprise - it shows the continent of Antarctica if all the ice were removed. On the map displayed, the continent looks like a bunch of large islands rather than a big solid land mass; but map 37 shows that much of the "land" is actually just ice on top of water. I wonder if this map depicts what Antarctica would like if all the ice melted and the sea levels rose, or is it depicting how Antarctica would look if all of the ice magically vanished. From the wording, it implies to me that if all of the ice simply vanished rather than melting, the South Pole would be under water.

Map 79 is an overlay of the Chernobyl Exclusion zone compared to the large cities of London, Sydney and New York City. The exclusion zone is huge! 2000 square miles! I had no idea the contaminated area was so large.

Another excellent map is #92. This image depicts just how gigantic that big volcano on Mars, the Olympus Mons, is compared to the United States - it has a footprint as big as the state of Arizona! Because Mars has much lower gravity than Earth, mountains can form taller, and there is no rain and hardly any wind to erode that great height. The top of Olympus Mons is actually higher than the top of Mars' thin atmosphere.

Map 97 isn't really a map at all, but it is a cool graphic that shows that the other planets of our solar system could all fit inside the orbit of Earth's moon (ie: they could all fit in between Earth and the moon). Including dwarf planet Pluto. The graphic shows just how far away the moon really is. Back in the early solar system, billions of years ago, the moon was much closer and the Earth routinely experienced tides that rose and fell by a thousand feet!

So if the maps are so interesting, why only a three star review by me? Because some of the maps are not so interesting. The amount of avocados consumed by various nations of the world? This doesn't need to be shown in a map, the information would be easier displayed in a bar chart. Which nations have panda bears? Panda bears are only native to China. The map displaying where panda bears currently reside is merely telling us which zoos of the world have temporarily been gifted pandas by China.

Map 76 tells us how many people have died in particular national parks from 2010 thru 202, and of what causes. Again, displaying this in map format is more confusing than a bar chart or spreadsheet.

Map 55 tells us that average American citizen eats 236 pounds of vegetables per year. Map 56 tells us that Americans average eating 236 pounds of fruit per year. Map 57 informs us that Americans eat 282 lbs of meat annually. Map 58 claims Americans average consumption of dairy products is 514 lbs a year!! That sums up to 1268 pounds of food per year, and it doesn't include grains or snacks. I am very skeptical that the average American eats 3.5 lbs of food per day. I am not sure I believe these numbers, but if true, it would explain why we have an obesity epidemic in our country.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book that I received that has a promising title and was swearing to be rather an interesting read. Instead one of the things that I noticed upon opening the book to the Foreward and Introduction was that it promising to show us the errors of our horrid human ways.

And so on I marched to see what else the book would portray. Many of the maps were rather quite interesting in their own way such as the seven lighthouses in the UK that had a range of 30 or the space between Earth and Moon could comfortably fit all the planets including Pluto although that latter was mentioned almost as an afterthought. There was actually a rather pretty map that was provided to the reader but unfortunately the subject was rather dark since it was about the types of whales killed in the 18th century. Other of the maps were a little bit on the duh side for the subject that was being given if you are a reader with any type of knowledge of geography such as how much space the oceans really take up or from what areas the oceans get their waters.

Other problems included the fact of having a book with a spine and that means some of the information for the maps wasn't accessible or at least easily readable for those who were trying to see the whole page.

Then there was also the parts of this book that I really didn't care for. The author chose to include a map of Captain Ahab's fatal journey to kill Moby Dick while throwing on a spoiler alert. Well spoiler you didn't have to mention that it was a fatal journey although again many of the adult readers may know how the story ends. And why out of all illustrative concepts for this particular map would you include a regular colored whale instead of a white one? Others such as the one about the super volcanoes proven by their ash distributions don't take into account at a glance other elements that may have led to a much larger distribution of ash such as the winds at that time thus didn't really seem to prove they were super-volcanoes at a glance.

Of course there were all the maps used to point out all the destruction that we as humans have led to such as all the climate change, the horrid collection of people who don't believe in climate change, the IUCN listing of the great apes (surprisingly humans haven't been judged although I would say we can happily conclude that they are Least Concern) and other species as well as the places where they ate the most of any type of food or had the most livestock. Others also included the horrible practices of people killing whales since the 1985 ban, which I could take, and places that keep dolphins for tourism purposes. And the fact that the author or someone he chased down to share the map tried to pinpoint the extinction of the megafauna on early humans was really sad while again like the prior mentioned volcano map didn't take into consideration other elements that helped to lead to the die-off of megafauna such as changing climate, which cannot be attributed at that time to early man.

Finally there were small parts where the information was just plain wrong whether it was in the text such as the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico or the inclusion of the North American cougar for the naming of the African country Sierra Leon.

Collectively the book wasn't really that bad overlooking everything that bothered me as much and if you can take it with a grain of salt. Otherwise the book may have room on personal library shelves although I would strongly encourage adults to also have their children questionthese maps while seeing what answer they may get as a result of this.

[Karen Gedeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild Maps for Curious Mind: 100 New Ways to See the Natural World written by Mike Higgins, illustrated by Manuel Bortoletti – Wild Maps joins its predecessors Brilliant Maps and North American Maps with incredible colorful maps that will draw readers into a new way to learn interesting facts. Broken into 8 chapters: Ancient History, Out and About, The Watery World, Geography, Using and Abusing Nature, Extreme Earth, The Planet in Peril and The Final Frontier, readers will learn everything from when ancient animals roamed the Earth to facts about outer space such as the Earth could easily fit into the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. Source notes on each map are included. Those as young as 7 or 8 through adult will love this fresh take on interesting facts. A must have for all upper elementary and middle school libraries.

[Ryan Fohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, maybe these maps are more intuitive then the previous book. Still has the same printing the map so that Europe is stuck in the fold problem. Also there are some errors. (Gulf of Mexico labeled as the Mediterranean) My favorite map was countries where cattle, sheep, or pigs outnumber people.

What I learned: Denmark has more pigs than people. Giraffe have different coat patterns, and the pattern can tell you what region of Africa they are from. Mexico City is drawling so much of its ground water that the city is sinking. Tornadoes occur on all the continents but the American Midwest is an extreme outlier. About 1200 every year for America and Canada is second with about 100 tornadoes annually. The French sent the only cat into space, her name was Félicette.

[Adele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one better than North American Maps for Curious Minds: 100 New Ways to See the Continent. The maps were generally more interesting to me, and there were not nearly as many maps that shouldn't be maps or other issues I had with that book. There is an error in the "Who are the gold diggers?" map on pages 84-85, however. Regions are color-coded based on political country borders, so Alaska should match the US, not Canada.

[mars · Rating 3 out of 5]

started this one during my trivia hyperfixation. i imagine it would’ve been more enjoyable in its physical form, but nevertheless it did put a lot of things into perspective for me (especially the last chapter on planet sizes), in an incredibly simple and intuitive way. i also cried. you can’t just put extinct animals on a map and expect me not to.

i would’ve given it 4 stars if not for a couple maps that just seemed a little out of place. either way, i’ll read the other ones on the series at some point.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Pluses:
+ Fascinating facts put on maps
+ Imaginative repertoire
+ Some "I didn't know that!" moments
+ Uses SOME quality sources

Minuses:
- Some maps are just a bit silly
- Some major errors including misspelling the capital of Canada at least twice (146 -147) on maps highlighting the United States and Canada
- Some questionable sources used (random blogs, websites, wikimedia this and that, etc.)
- The latter two points make this barely a 3.5 star book (in my book)

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of 3 books by this author - and its a fun serving of trivia. Using maps, this book looks at unusual facts about the natural world. We have all seen world maps showing relative human populations. How about the cat, dog - or pig populations? What are the tallest trees in the world and where are they? Endangered species of animals? The longest land route for a walk across the world - in a straight line? Peruse all 3 books and be ready to enter a local trivia contest.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great continuation for readers who enjoyed other books in this loose series. Best as a coffee-table or other occasional-browsing situations, and great not just for geographers but travelers, data fans, and General Nerd (tm) -types. XD This book doesn't shy away from serious topics, including climate change and species extinctions, but there are plenty of fun maps, too-- the space chapter was maybe my favorite.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book isn’t one I would usually pick up to read, I can see how many children would find the information in it fascinating. Have you ever wondered how many countries were named after animals? Well this book will show you just how many and where they are located, as well as some unique facts. Have you ever thought about windy stretches of the earth that could help power the world? You can also find that in this book and SO MANY more facts and map visuals.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love maps, so this kind of book is in my wheelhouse. It had some interesting and, at times, jaw-dropping factoids. My only quibble is that the 2-page spreads made it difficult to see Ireland, Great Britain, and the countries along the west coast of continental Europe. Now I want to take a look at the other two books in this series.

[Tayler Morrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This apparently is part of a series of map anthologies. This particular book is an anthology of maps that have to do with nature, it’s affects on humans and Vice verse. I love maps that show different stats or patterns or history, so I had fun flipping through this book. It would be a fun one to have in a social studies class.

[Vanesa Bejarano Alegre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a cartophile, and I thought I would review this book for the simple fact that I love maps. Some sparked my imagination, and others were mostly pretty simple. I would have liked more in-depth explanation and/or more context in many of the cases. I think the idea of this type of book is very good and educational. I would have loved to have this book on my first steps into the world of maps.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is partly a book of maps and partly a book of map-shaped infographics. Percentage of deforestation in a given span of years as represented by USA states in terms of square miles. That sort of thing. Beautifully drawn, but I'd have liked if some of the information and sources were on the page rather than given as end notes.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting maps, and pretty, but not much coherence in the topics chosen and therefore it felt more like eye candy rather than a serious "atlas". My favourite map was projected such that the oceans took centre stage, the continents largely on the perimeter, with the various major ocean currents being shown.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun maps present information in ways you might not think of. Want to know the depth of the Earth's core as measured in miles? It is here. Or how big Pluto is on a map? (That map surprised me.) Good read.

[Katra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating! From :What's happened to the Aral Sea?" to "How does Australia compare in size to various planets?" to "Where should I live if I hate snakes?" this book answers all the questions you might not know you wanted to ask in clear visual form. It's wonderful.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting to peruse. Glad I could get it from the library, I don't think it's something I would revisit again and again. Liked this one better than Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds, although I enjoyed both.

[April Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the illustrations! I found the tidbits of information both interesting and not nearly enough, but I understand this book is meant to get people to look at data differently and to ignite a deeper search into the topics elsewhere.

[Harrison Large ラージ • ハリソン · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed from the library. It was fun! I like books like this that present information in a graphic way and was a big fan of this type of stuff back in high school. Definitely a library read though, as there's little here to keep coming back to once you're done with it.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book showing interesting details about the world using color-coded maps. What country has the most cats per person, most forests, largest volcanic eruptions, etc. For a map lover or lover of random facts, this book will be a fun read.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buch relativ ungünstig gedruckt, Mitteleuropäische Länder liegen in der Buchfalte und lassen sich daher häufig nicht erkennen. Farbschema teilweise so, dass sich nicht nachvollziehen lässt welche Daten für das Land vorliegen