Geeking Out with Ken Jennings and All Kinds of Maps

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:09:00 GMT

Have you ever found a book you didn't even know you were looking for? That's how Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings felt to me. I didn't know I was looking for this book, but I am so glad I found it.

I love, or geek, if you prefer, maps and globes. I can remember spending indoor recesses with a couple of classmates and the pull-down maps in the classroom just looking and talking about what we were looking at. When I was nine years old and in the third grade, I had one of the best Christmases I can remember. Santa Claus brought me my very own globe and a puzzle that was also a map of the United States of America. It was wonderful. When I was 13 and in 8th grade, I got a stuffed globe that I named Globie. In high school, I had an enormous map of North America on my wall. Currently, I have a about a half-dozen globes around my house, including the one I got when I was nine and Globie, of course.

Enough about me, though, let's get on to this awesome book. Ken Jennings takes readers along for a tour of the Library of Congress' Geography & Map Division, to the National Geography Bee in Washington D.C. with Alex Trebek, to a map sale in London, to meet world travelers, on his own adventures in geocaching, and more. I enjoyed every chapter, as they were all packed with geographical goodness, but I especially enjoyed the Geography & Map Division chapter and the Geography Bee chapter. The Library of Congress' map collection sounds like a dream. I hope to maybe visit it the next time I'm in Washington D.C. The Geography Bee chapter was vaguely personal, since one upon a time, I was a school geography bee winner and could have (but did not) advance to the National Bee. It was interesting to get such a close look at what that would have been like. Of course, having read about the kids who make it that far, I also now have a pretty good understanding of why I did not make it that far, or even close, really. Another great chapter discussed the fun and importance of fantasy maps to go along with games and literature that take place in imagined worlds.

If you love maps, or if even if you used to love maps, or if you wonder how modern mapping technologies like GPS and Google Earth are likely to affect paper maps and us, the people who use maps, well, these are good reasons to pick up this book. I found Ken Jennings to be a fun writer and I now plan to read his first book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs.

Ken Jennings is also the author of Ken Jennings' Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days. Maphead is available as an unabridged audiobook on CD, read by Kirby Heyborne.

"House at Sugar Beach" by Helene Cooper

wag.mado@evpl — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:41:00 GMT

I just finished one of those books that will stay with me for a long while. Helene Cooper's memoir, The House at Sugar Beach: in Search of a Lost African Childhood is remarkable and haunting. Her journalistic expertise opens the reader up to a privileged Liberian childhood, which ended in 1980 when she turned 14. The coup took place and the civil war began at a horrific cost to all of Liberia. Cooper, her mother, and sister fled their beloved country, leaving behind much bloodshed and many relatives - including an adopted sister.

This tale, although personal, is historical. Cooper sets the stage by relating how Liberia was settled by her ancestors, who were freed American slaves. It's filled with many vivid images of a pre-revolutionary lifestyle that was full of "American" possessions, humor, and close family ties. It all ended with post-war bloodshed, heartache, misery and poverty for Liberians. The book ends with Cooper's revealing return to her homeland, in search of the adopted sister she left behind.

I listened to this book on CD and would highly recommend the book in audio format. Helene Cooper narrates the book herself, at times speaking Liberian English ("Congo" style) - making the story come to life. I will be looking for more from the gifted Helene Cooper in the future.

Books Blog : Africa

Geeking Out with Ken Jennings and All Kinds of Maps

"House at Sugar Beach" by Helene Cooper