Book Reviews

Review: Two Inexpensive Star Atlases
Sky and Telescope’s Pocket Sky Atlas by Roger W. Sinnott Sky Publishing, 2006. Coilbound, 124 pp. ISBN 1-931559-31-7 The Cambridge Star Atlas, Third Edition by Wil Tirion Cambridge University Press, 2001. Hardcover, 96 pp. ISBN 0-521-800846 Rod Mollise’s recent look at star atlases (see previous entry) reminded me that I’ve…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Categories: Astronomy, Book Reviews
Review: Cartography Design Annual #1
Cartography Design Annual #1 Nick Springer, editor Springer Cartographics, 2008. Softcover, 78 pp. ISBN-13 978-0-6152-2116-8 Based on submissions from the Cartotalk community, this ambitious first iteration of the Cartographic Design Annual, edited by Nick Springer, is intended as a showcase of cartographic talent. A total of 36 maps, submitted by…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008 at 7:24 PM
Categories: Book Reviews
Review: Rhumb Lines and Map Wars
Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection by Mark Monmonier University of Chicago Press, 2004. Hardcover, 238 pp. ISBN 0-226-53431-6 Rhumb Lines and Map Wars is Mark Monmonier’s response to the controversy over the Mercator projection stirred up by Arno Peters and his map that…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 5:23 PM
Categories: Book Reviews, History of Cartography, Map Projections
Review: Lost States
Lost States: Real Quests for American Statehood by Michael J. Trinklein CreateSpace, 2008. Softcover, 95 pp. ISBN-13 978-1438215334 Lost States: Real Quests for American Statehood chronicles 42 proposals for U.S. statehood that never went anywhere (though some very nearly did). I had no idea there were so many of them….   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Categories: Book Reviews
Review: Transit Maps of the World
Transit Maps of the World by Mark Ovenden Penguin, 2007. Paperback, 144 pp. ISBN-13 978-0-14-311265-5 Billed on its cover as “the world’s first collection of every urban train map on Earth,” this is, in fact, the second revised edition of this book, which first came out in 2003 as Metro…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Categories: Book Reviews, Cities, Mass Transit
Review: Canada Back Road Atlas
Canada Back Road Atlas MapArt, 2007. Paperback, 702 pp. ISBN-13 978-1-55368-614-9 MapArt is easily the largest publisher of road maps in Canada, publishing not only maps of cities and metropolitan areas (both as folded maps and as coil-bound and saddle-stitched atlases), but also large-scale maps of rural areas, providing information…   Read more →
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008 at 11:12 PM
Categories: Book Reviews, Roads
Review: Longitude
Longitude by Dava Sobel Walker and Company, 1995, 2007. Paperback, xiv + 184 pp. ISBN-13 978-0-8027-1529-6 Latitude and longitude are basics of accurate map-making and navigation. In an age of pervasive GPS signals, it’s easy to forget that determining your location was not at all straightforward until relatively recently. Calculating…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 7:04 PM
Categories: Book Reviews
Review: Our Dumb World
Our Dumb World: Atlas of the Planet Earth by The Onion Little, Brown, 2007. Hardcover, 245 pp. ISBN-13 978-0-316-08142-5 As I mentioned before, Our Dumb World is The Onion’s take on the sort of atlas exemplified by the old National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our World, a book I grew…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, January 14, 2008 at 8:25 PM
Categories: Book Reviews
Review: The Geist Atlas of Canada
The Geist Atlas of Canada: Meat Maps and Other Strange Cartographies by Melissa Edwards Arsenal Pulp Press, 2006. Softcover, 128 pp. ISBN 1-55152-216-0 Early on in The Map Room’s existence, we learned about a quirky feature emanating from Geist, a quarterly Vancouver-based literary magazine. Called Caught Mapping, it presented a…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, November 20, 2006 at 1:23 PM
Categories: Book Reviews, Toponyms
Review: From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow
From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim and Inflame by Mark Monmonier University of Chicago Press, 2006. Hardcover, 229 pp. ISBN 0-226-53465-0 When I was living in Edmonton, I heard the story of Chinaman’s Peak. In 1886, a Chinese labourer named Ha Ling, working as a cook…   Read more →
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Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 9:32 PM
Categories: Book Reviews, Toponyms
Review: Seeing Through Maps
Seeing Through Maps by Denis Wood, Ward L. Kaiser and Bob Abramms ODT, 2006. Softcover, 160 pp. ISBN 1-931057-20-6 It’s really not a difficult concept: there are no “right” and “wrong” cartographic projections. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and as such is better for some purposes and less…   Read more →
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 11:25 PM
Categories: Book Reviews, Map Projections, Video
Review: How to Lie with Maps
How to Lie with Maps (Second Edition) by Mark Monmonier University of Chicago Press, 1996. Softcover, 220 pp. ISBN 0-226-53421-9 While reading this modern classic by Syracuse University geography professor Mark Monmonier (see previous entry), I was struck by how much common ground this book shares with the recent Making…   Read more →
Posted on Monday, May 29, 2006 at 8:34 AM
Categories: Book Reviews, Cartography, Map Projections
Book Review: Walking with Your Ancestors by Melinda Kashuba
Walking with Your Ancestors: A Genealogist’s Guide to Using Maps and Geography by Melinda Kashuba Family Tree Books, 2005. Softcover, 226 pp. ISBN 1-55870-730-1 I do other things besides this web site; one of these is to volunteer at the local archives, a private organization covering the surrounding county that’s…   Read more →
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Posted on Monday, May 8, 2006 at 11:09 AM
Categories: Book Reviews
Book Review: Making Maps by Krygier and Wood
Making Maps: A Visual Guide to Map Design for GIS by John Krygier and Denis Wood Guilford Press, 2005. Softcover, 303 pp. ISBN 1-59385-200-2 I love this book. It’s just so neat. Although Making Maps is aimed at a GIS audience (just look at that subtitle), this is not a…   Read more →
Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 9:21 AM
Categories: Book Reviews, Cartography, GIS
Book Review: GPS Mapping by Rich Owings
GPS Mapping: Make Your Own Maps by Rich Owings Ten Mile Press, 2005. Softcover, 382 pp. ISBN 0-9760926-3-8 This is a book for people who want to get their hands dirty with mapping software and GPS units and generate maps from the combination of the two. Almost all the software…   Read more →
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Posted on Friday, February 10, 2006 at 11:09 AM
Categories: Book Reviews, GPS, Software, Topo Maps & Trails

Note: Entries from 2003 were not categorized and will not appear in the category archives. Please consult the monthly archives.