Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds

Hardcover, 208 pages

English language

Published Nov. 5, 2019 by The Experiment.

ISBN:: 978-1-61519-625-8

(1 review)

Which countries don’t have rivers? Which ones have North Korean embassies? Who drives on the “wrong” side of the road? How many national economies are bigger than California’s? And where can you still find lions in the wild? You’ll learn answers to these questions and many more in Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds. This one-of-a-kind atlas is packed with eye-opening analysis (Which nations have had female leaders?), whimsical insight (Where can’t you find a McDonald’s?), and surprising connections that illuminate the contours of culture, history, and politics.

2 editions

emmadilemma reviewed Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds by Ian Wright

Quickly quantifies quirks

5 stars

A breezy flip, with maps to answer many of the cocktail party questions you've had (Who drives on the other side of the road? Who calls football soccer?), but that also holds up a mirror to its readers and our received knowledge.

If one can fit the land masses of the U.S., China, and India fully within Africa, why do all Western maps make it look so much smaller? Geography and math combine to arouse social justice. When you're done with that, ponder the shockingly small proportion of the world that the British have never tried to invade.

On the tin it's poor value for money, some 200 pages of maps for $20. But it plants a lot of seeds in the mind.