Podcast Challenge 4

In case my post about counting puzzle pieces didn't convince you that I'm a nerd, I stopped at the library after counting puzzle pieces (for charity) and got a book about people who love maps. No, not a book about maps, a book about people who love maps. Maphead by Ken Jennings was hilarious and eye opening. I didn't know there were so many people who loved maps and who loved what maps can do. There are people who have been to over 100 countries, who have climbed to the highest elevation point in each state, who travel to integer degree confluence points* (if you know what that is without me telling you, you are awesome), and (my personal favorite) who make Earth sandwiches**. And, of course, what book about people who love maps would be complete without GPS and Google Earth.

Jennings takes you to meet so many people, from 6 year olds who can find point to any country on a map (even without borders drawn) to tweens and teens competing in the National Geography Bee (special appearance by Alex Trebek); from everyday people who travel as wide as possible on as little money as possible to the inventors of geocaching. I found them to be simultaneously strange and inspiring. I couldn't imagine doing what these people do, but at the same time, I had to look into different groups and games just to entertain the possibility that I may tray. And, who knows, maybe someday, I will travel to 100 countries or make Earth sandwiches.

All in all, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a passing interest in maps. Jennings is really funny and the book contains plenty of anecdotes from his life (like how his wife turns maps around so the top of the map is the direction she's looking and how he changed his GPS to say "You turned the wrong way, dumb-ass. Just do what I say" instead of "Recalculating").

*places where integer lines of latitude and longitude (no minutes, no seconds, exact lines) meet

**when people on exact opposite sides of the Earth lay a piece of bread down at the same time so the Earth is like the meat in between those slices of bread