From Strange Maps, faith and reason, usually jostling for primacy over one another, unite on a map to describe [t]he Earth-sphere after the Deluge; and is there a name for the obscure, but strangely alluring hobby of spotting animal shapes in geographic features? Strange Maps: Frank Jacobs on California as an island, utopia in the shape of a skull, and other cartographic curiosities. From Dark Roasted Blend, an article on unusual and marvelous maps: Hideous monsters devouring ships? Cryptic symbols, correctly showing storm fronts & dangerous currents. A review of The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography by Katharine Harmon. Cloud of Atlases: Maps without legends may not be immediately informative, but determining what they represent is extremely fun. Cracked and Gone: An article on the world’s largest map. A pocket guide to prehistoric Spain: Engravings on a 14,000-year-old chunk of rock may be the oldest map in western Europe. A review of The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map That Gave America its Name by Toby Lester (and more). Drawn half a millennium ago and then swiftly forgotten, one map made us see the world as we know it today and helped name America — and changed the way people thought about the world. Can Google Earth save an indigenous tribe with maps? A review of Placing History: How Maps, Spatial Data, and GIS are Changing Historical Scholarship.
