All Over the Map - by Greg Miller (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Created for map lovers by map lovers, this rich book explores the intriguing stories behind maps across history and illuminates how the art of cartography thrives today. In this visually stunning book, award-winning journalists Betsy Mason and Greg Miller--authors of the National Geographic cartography blog "All Over the Map"--explore the intriguing stories behind maps from a wide variety of cultures, civilizations, and time periods. Based on interviews with scores of leading cartographers, curators, historians, and scholars, this is a remarkable selection of fascinating and unusual maps. This diverse compendium includes ancient maps of dragon-filled seas, elaborate graphics picturing unseen concepts and forces from inside Earth to outer space, devious maps created by spies, and maps from pop culture such as the schematics to the Death Star and a map of Westeros from Game of Thrones. If your brain craves maps--and Mason and Miller would say it does, whether you know it or not--this eye-opening visual feast will inspire and delight"--

Book Synopsis

Created for map lovers by map lovers, this rich book explores the intriguing stories behind maps across history and illuminates how the art of cartography thrives today.

In this visually stunning book, award-winning journalists Betsy Mason and Greg Miller--authors of the National Geographic cartography blog "All Over the Map"--explore the intriguing stories behind maps from a wide variety of cultures, civilizations, and time periods. Based on interviews with scores of leading cartographers, curators, historians, and scholars, this is a remarkable selection of fascinating and unusual maps.

This diverse compendium includes ancient maps of dragon-filled seas, elaborate graphics picturing unseen concepts and forces from inside Earth to outer space, devious maps created by spies, and maps from pop culture such as the schematics to the Death Star and a map of Westeros from Game of Thrones. If your brain craves maps--and Mason and Miller would say it does, whether you know it or not--this eye-opening visual feast will inspire and delight.

Review Quotes

"An absorbing and quirky history of mapmaking." -The New York Times

"This beautiful tome by WIRED alumni Betsy Mason and Greg Miller charts the fascinating history of cartography. The scores of maps in the book range from the whimsical (origins of meats supplied to Parisian butchers) to the political (North Dakota fracking sites) to the fantastical (Jerry Gretzinger's imaginary world)." -Wired

"With an eye for splendor, Mason and Miller dredge up stories of the past through the medium of maps, often with something to say about the present. Their new book, All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey, binds hundreds of evocative maps into one volume, stitched with approachable, illuminating prose." -Laura Bliss, CityLab

"Mason and Miller, who run the All over the Map blog, aren't professional cartographers but journalists, and their stance as relative novices who love maps makes this book a wonder...A must for cartography collections and a wonderful addition to social science and art shelves."
-Library Journal

"It'd be pretty difficult to review the breadth of maps in the book to give you a flavor even. Let's just say Mason and Miller have got you covered whatever your map vice is. So whether you like the painstaking detail of beautiful topographic maps, the imagination of celestial charts, the analytical representation of statistical data or the fantasy of the map of Westeros or the Death Star then there's plenty in this book to feast on." -Kenneth Field, Cartonerd blog

"Mapping the cosmos is just one of the topics addressed in this entertaining, colorful look at historical maps and the stories behind them. Space fans will revel in the tale surrounding a century's worth of road atlases for Mars' (non-existent) canals, There are also entries for the history of moon maps, the solar system maps that NASA's Pioneer and Voyager missions provided for the aliens, and the fictional Death Star diagrams. But wait ... there's much, much more. Co-authors Betsy Mason and Greg Miller provide a cornucopia of cartography that spans subjects ranging from a street map for ancient Rome and a 15th-century guide to the parallels between medieval maps of Britain and contemporary charts of the Seven Kingdoms in "Game of Thrones."-GeekWire

"Science journalists Greg Miller and Betsy Mason took their obsession with maps--historical, geologic, science-y, even of other worlds--and translated that into one of the most beautiful and interesting compendiums of stories I've ever read. The book is filled with over 200 maps, some famous, like maps of the ocean floor, some obscure, like a geologic map of the moon, which is easily one of the visually craziest maps I've ever seen. I can't recommend it highly enough."
-Kishore Hari, Inquiring Minds podcast

"One of the most beautiful and fascinating books I've ever seen." -Mary Eileen Williams, Feisty Side of Fifty podcast

"Betsy Mason and Greg Miller have collected a simply gorgeous set of maps and not only shared the reason behind the making of the maps, but their history, what they got correct and what they missed, and I have now spent hours poring over the beautiful pictures of maps, ancient and recent, artistic, scientific, and both, from all corners of the world that are found in this stunning collection."
-BookNAround

"I just loved getting lost in these images and these stories. All Over the Map is such a treat for cartographers and fans of maps (like me) - it is simply unputdownable." -A Bookish Way of Life

"There is information in here that even surprised a map lover like me. Maps of cities, mountains, oceans, industry, farming, tourist flow, war destruction, wind, and planets - and that is just to touch on a few. The content of this book is really amazing! I can't think of anybody who would not enjoy this one." ." -Wall-to-Wall Books

"Every page of this giant tome of a book features a beautiful representation of a specific map accompanied by super interesting information about its history, origins and purpose."
-Ms. Nose in a Book

"It is a big, beautiful and utterly fascinating book featuring all kinds of unique maps that chart worlds both real and imagined." -Kahakai Kitchen

"...a truly wonderful book. It's fun and informative and beautiful and thought-provoking and educational. What are you waiting for?" -5 Minutes for Books

"When this large book came into my life, I was struck immediately by one thing, and this kept going... and going... and going...This book is possibly the most beautiful book I have ever owned in my entire life." -Literary Quicksand

About the Author

BETSY MASON is an award-winning science journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area and co-author (with Greg Miller) of the National Geographic blog "All Over the Map." She was a 2015-2016 MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow. Previously she was the online science editor for Wired and the science reporter for the Contra Costa Times. Before becoming a journalist, Mason earned a master's degree in geology at Stanford University.

GREG MILLER is a science and tech journalist based in Portland, Oregon. Previously he was a senior writer at Wired and a staff writer at Science, where he won several honors. Miller earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Stanford University. He has appeared on public radio's Science Friday to discuss maps and has given talks on a wide variety of cartography-related topics.