Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds

Ian Wright presents many interesting looks at our world and culture in Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds. Maps are able to convey much more meaning in a smaller space than words. Our minds seem to grasp a map of the world and we recognize Canada, China, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, and so on. That line drawing of political borders of the world contains much more information than what readily appears. We see the lines forming the border of France and think Paris, wine, Notre Dame, Camus, Louis XIV, Napolean, and the Eiffel Tower. The simple line maps trigger shortcuts to information in our brains.

When additional information is added to the map, it becomes much more. Listing the countries that have a population smaller than Greater Tokyo would fade from memory quickly, but seeing the countries shaded in on a map leaves a much stronger impression. A simple map explains the difference between England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom more readily than words. Sometimes maps can mislead because a three-dimensional globe cannot be made two-dimensional without losing accuracy. A set of maps here show the real size of continents against their size in commonly used Mercator Projections. Greenland is nowhere near as large as it appears and Africa is much larger. All the landmass of the world can easily fit in the Pacific Ocean.

The maps in this book explore many aspects from average female height in nations to which countries have relations with North Korea and Israel. There is also a map that displays the languages of India and the original plan for its partition. There are maps of trading partners and countries with a GPD greater than California. Wright presents an informative and entertaining look at the political, cultural, economic, and geographical aspects of our planet using only maps and legends.

Available November 1, 2019

Brilliant maps for curious minds is a book that warms my big nerdy heart. Not only did I enjoy learning new facts about the world, the graphic side of this book is extremely appealing. Ian Wright succeeded in giving me food for thought and making me want to dive in some of the complex topics that he very nearly brought back to ‘just’ a map. I call that being talented and passionate. I do wish there was a bit more background on some of the maps, but hey, that’s just me being greedy. Overall, I think the title says it all! Brilliant work that really satisfied my very curious mind!

There is more to knowing about countries than just locations and cities. What about export/imports, how they compare size-wise, are there McDonald’s everywhere? Most maps don’t supply this information, but you can find this information and a lot more in Brilliant Maps For Curious Minds.

I like reading bits of trivia, so it didn’t take long for this book to catch my attention. Ian Wright compiled fact about the countries that, while not what you generally hear, is fun to know. There are many things that can be useful, but it is all informative.

Each map is colorful and easy to read. They are arranged into topics, and the table of contents gives you an overview of what is in each topic. The book appeals to a wide audience, as students can use it as part of class research, trivia buffs can use it to add to their knowledge, and nearly everyone can use it to learn more about the world we live in.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I've always loved geography - it was one of my three favorite categories in Trivial Pursuit back in the day (the others being history & science). So I was naturally drawn to this book because of its title, and it definitely delivered on the title's promise. The author shows the reader geographical representations of things s/he may not have ever thought about before - what countries drive on the left side of the road, countries that don't' have a McDonald's, etc). 100 maps ensure you'll find many of special interest to you, but they will all put things into a bit of perspective you didn't know you were missing.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds, 100 New Ways to See the World by Ian Wright. I loved this book! Ian compiled 100 different maps of the world that each showed the world in a different way. The book is divided into nine categories including: People and Populations, Friends and Enemies, Geography, and Nature. The maps were all very colorful and showed off some unique ideas.

Some of my favorite maps included:
- Which countries have had a female leader in the last 50 years and how long was a female the head of the government
- The largest source of imports by country, shown by coloring the importing country to look like the country doing the importing’s flag
- Countries not using the metric system
- European countries that have invaded Poland
- Where North Korea has embassies vs which countries have embassies in North Korea
- Antipodes – what’s directly on the other side of the earth from each area
- Colors of passports from around the world
- Prison populations per 100K people
- Countries with the most venomous animals

When I was a kid, I loved to get the World Almanac and Book of Facts and try to figure out which US State had the most cows, which country spoke the most languages, where is the second longest river in the world, etc. and this book was like that with someone else doing the research. I recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of random facts. Also, I look forward to following Ian’s website for more interesting maps.

Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds captures the idea of "a picture is worth a million words" through cartography. This book certainly gives the reader new ways to see the world through maps which provide clever commentary and presenting interesting trivia tidbits. Wright incorporates religion, politics, environmental science, culture, and demographics into these maps and uses this knowledge to show a unique, thought-provoking perspective of the world. These maps were colorful and easily accessible that appeals to a large range of readers. I wish there was a bit more background information on some of the maps or a further explanation on the topic, however, this was a fun and enjoyable read, perfect for curious minds.

*Thank you to NetGalley and The Experiment publishers for providing a free ARC

This is a book filled with different maps featuring a wide range of subjects. Some of them are straight up-fun, but many truly made me reconsider how I'm seeing the world. It's perfect for any connoisseur of trivia and facts.

This was a fascinating and fun book that exceeded my expectations. While I expected some interesting little infographic types of maps like causes of death by country (none of those, surprisingly), there were so many really interesting maps that I never would have thought to look for. The world map of all the countries who have not been invaded by the United Kingdom was shockingly on point, while others were fascinating like seeing the map of what would be the Mongol empire with today's countries. You can see things like the death penalty, locations of McDonalds, states where Americans think global warming will affect them, average hours of sunlight, countries where people drive on the left or the right side of the world and on and on.

The book is divided by themes like history, culture, geography and history. This would make a great gift, and I may give it to one of my kids or my husband this year. It would also be a great library pick for "strewing" and inspiring some great homeschool investigations.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

If you are an Infographic “freak”, someone who loves to learn facts, or just someone who likes beautiful graphics especially maps, you need to get this book. Ian Wright has built off his wonderful website to put together a fascinating assortment of informative world maps. The maps are grouped together in chapters ranging from the normal topics of Politics, Power and Religion to creative topics like Crime and Punishment. This is not only a great book to set out on your coffee table as a conversation starter in your own home, but would make a great gift!

Fascinating and diverse; this book will appeal not just to people who enjoy geography, but also people who enjoy trivia. I am a visual learner and I was riveted by every page.

I thought it was interesting and educational. I showed it to my niece and nephew to try to get them interested in learning.