William Grimes had a roundup of books about maps and geography in the New York Times last Friday. “If 90 percent of life is showing up,” said Grimes, “the other 10 percent is figuring out how to get there.” That sounds about right, based on my excursion downstate over the holiday.
The books selected by Grimes range from a “throbbingly romantic novel” titled The Mapmaker’s Opera to “two books that size up the topography of the United States.” Since cartography is one of our publishing niches, we were not surprised—only relieved—to see that Grimes included Maps: Finding Our Place in the World edited by by James R. Akerman and Robert W. Karrow Jr. in his piece, as well as Hard Road West: History and Geology along the Gold Rush Trail by Keith Heyer Meldahl. Plus, he lassoes Peter Whitfield’s London: A Life in Maps which we distribute for the British Library.
If maps are often on your mind, you’ll enjoy our web feature for Maps: Finding Our Place in the World. We also have an excerpt from Hard Road West. More books about maps are in our cartography and geography catalog.