Map Addict

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, Travel, Science & Nature, Science
Cover of the book Map Addict by Mike Parker, HarperCollins Publishers
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mike Parker ISBN: 9780007345175
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Publication: September 17, 2009
Imprint: Collins Language: English
Author: Mike Parker
ISBN: 9780007345175
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication: September 17, 2009
Imprint: Collins
Language: English

'My name is Mike and I am a map addict. There, it's said…' Maps not only show the world, they help it turn. On an average day, we will consult some form of map approximately a dozen times, often without even noticing: checking the A-Z, the road atlas or the Sat Nav, scanning the tube or bus map, a quick Google online or hours wasted flying over a virtual Earth, navigating a way around a shopping centre, watching the weather forecast, planning a walk or a trip, catching up on the news, booking a holiday or hotel. Maps pepper logos, advertisements, illustrations, books, web pages and newspaper and magazine articles: they are a cipher for every area of human existence. At a stroke, they convey precise information about topography, layout, history, politics and power. They are the unsung heroes of life: Map Addict sings their song. There are some fine, dry tomes out there about the history and development of cartography: this is not one of them. Map Addict mixes wry observation with hard fact and considerable research, unearthing the offbeat, the unusual and the downright pedantic in a celebration of all things maps. In Map Addict, we learn the location of what has officially been named by the OS as the most boring square kilometre in the land; we visit the town fractured into dozens of little parcels of land split between two different countries and trek around many other weird borders of Britain and Europe; we test the theories that the new city of Milton Keynes was built to a pagan alignment and that women can't read maps. Combining history, travel, politics, memoir and oblique observation in a highly readable, and often very funny, style, Mike Parker confesses how his own impressive map collection was founded on a virulent teenage shoplifting habit, ponders how a good leftie can be so gung-ho about British cartographic imperialism and wages a one-man war against the moronic blandishments of the Sat Nav age.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

'My name is Mike and I am a map addict. There, it's said…' Maps not only show the world, they help it turn. On an average day, we will consult some form of map approximately a dozen times, often without even noticing: checking the A-Z, the road atlas or the Sat Nav, scanning the tube or bus map, a quick Google online or hours wasted flying over a virtual Earth, navigating a way around a shopping centre, watching the weather forecast, planning a walk or a trip, catching up on the news, booking a holiday or hotel. Maps pepper logos, advertisements, illustrations, books, web pages and newspaper and magazine articles: they are a cipher for every area of human existence. At a stroke, they convey precise information about topography, layout, history, politics and power. They are the unsung heroes of life: Map Addict sings their song. There are some fine, dry tomes out there about the history and development of cartography: this is not one of them. Map Addict mixes wry observation with hard fact and considerable research, unearthing the offbeat, the unusual and the downright pedantic in a celebration of all things maps. In Map Addict, we learn the location of what has officially been named by the OS as the most boring square kilometre in the land; we visit the town fractured into dozens of little parcels of land split between two different countries and trek around many other weird borders of Britain and Europe; we test the theories that the new city of Milton Keynes was built to a pagan alignment and that women can't read maps. Combining history, travel, politics, memoir and oblique observation in a highly readable, and often very funny, style, Mike Parker confesses how his own impressive map collection was founded on a virulent teenage shoplifting habit, ponders how a good leftie can be so gung-ho about British cartographic imperialism and wages a one-man war against the moronic blandishments of the Sat Nav age.

More books from HarperCollins Publishers

Cover of the book Right Church, Wrong Pew by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Saints (Collins Gem) by Mike Parker
Cover of the book No Smoke Without Fire (DCI Warren Jones, Book 2) by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Fighting Pax: Part 2 of 4 (Dancing Jax, Book 3) by Mike Parker
Cover of the book The Ox in 2016: Your Chinese Horoscope by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Dead Wrong (Maggie Jamieson thriller, Book 2) by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Garde Manger by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Force 10 from Navarone by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Three Men in the Dark: Tales of Terror by Jerome K. Jerome, Barry Pain and Robert Barr (Collins Chillers) by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Fern Britton Summer Collection: New Beginnings, Hidden Treasures, The Holiday Home, The Stolen Weekend by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Brothers in Arms by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Damage Control by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Nothing Is Blue by Mike Parker
Cover of the book The Scandalous Proposal Of Lord Bennett by Mike Parker
Cover of the book Matt Dawson: Nine Lives by Mike Parker
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy