Maphead, Ken Jennings
Maphead, Ken Jennings
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Maphead
Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks

Author: Ken Jennings

Narrator: Kirby Heyborne

Unabridged: 10 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/27/2011

Categories: Nonfiction, Reference


Synopsis

It comes as no surprise that, as a kid, Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings slept with a bulky Hammond world atlas by his pillow every night. Maphead recounts his lifelong love affair with geography and explores why maps have always been so fascinating to him and to fellow enthusiasts everywhere.

Jennings takes listeners on a world tour of geogeeks from the London Map Fair to the bowels of the Library of Congress, from the prepubescent geniuses at the National Geographic Bee to the computer programmers at Google Earth. Each chapter delves into a different aspect of map culture: highpointing, geocaching, road atlas rallying, even the "unreal estate" charted on the maps of fiction and fantasy. He also considers the ways in which cartography has shaped our history, suggesting that the impulse to make and read maps is as relevant today as it has ever been.

From the "Here be dragons" parchment maps of the Age of Discovery to the spinning globes of grade school to the postmodern revolution of digital maps and GPS, Maphead is filled with intriguing details, engaging anecdotes, and enlightening analysis. If you're an inveterate map lover yourself—or even if you're among the cartographically clueless who can get lost in a supermarket—let Ken Jennings be your guide to the strange world of mapheads.

About Ken Jennings

Ken Jennings, best known as the winner of seventy-four games on the television show Jeopardy!, is the bestselling author of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs and Ken Jennings's Trivia Almanac.
He graduated from Brigham Young University with a double major in
English and computer science and worked as a software engineer prior to
his Jeopardy! appearances. Following his Jeopardy! streak, he has appeared on 1 vs. 100 and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, where he has served several times as an "Ask the Expert" lifeline, and has been a guest on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, Sesame Street, and other shows. Ken lives outside Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Scott

Stealing a thought line from the author, Ken Jennings, Jeopardy superstar, if you the type of person who walks into a room with a map hanging on the wall and you immediately head to the map...you must read this book. I love maps, all kinds and found this book to be utterly fascinating. So, if blue w......more

Goodreads review by Sarah

True story: my husband and I met because of a geography bee. I was the seventh grade Geography Bee champion at our middle school; he was the eighth grade champion. We went head to head for several rounds, but ultimately he bested me -- he knew that quinine was used to treat malaria, and I did not. I......more

Goodreads review by Sanjiv

This is a fun, if light, book. Ken Jennings is an engaging narrator, guiding you through chapter-separated geography wonks, from the collectors of ancient maps to Geography Bee competitors to geocachers. Jennings also will explode pretty much any stereotype you might have about Mormons - the humor w......more

Goodreads review by Riku

It at least got me to look up some stuff on some maps that I am embarrassed to admit I had no clue about.......more