|summary=Garfield's engaging style and the sheer variety of maps discussed here make what could have been a dry subject into a staggeringly entertaining read. Truly superb.
}}
'''Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year 2012'''
You might think that there's not a lot which could be said about maps - but you'd be completely wrong. This is staggeringly good - one of the very best non-fiction books I've read all year. Garfield takes us from the Great Library of Alexandria to a map of the brain, via maps in films, treasure maps and JM Barrie's hatred of folding maps. Alternating between full chapters which tell the stories of cartographers and their maps in roughly chronological order, and shorter entries bearing the title 'Pocket Map' which pick out particularly interesting trivia, there's not a dull entry in the book.