You don’t need to tell a member of a GeekFamily that maps are great. The Experiment Publishing, would entirely agree. This is why, after treating us to two helpings of Curious Maps they are serving up a third. Wild Maps for Curious Minds delivers “100 New Ways to See the Natural World.” It’s written by Mike Higgins, illustrated by Manuel Bortoletti, and has a foreward by one of the UK’s preeminent naturalists, Chris Packham.
What Is Wild Maps For Curious Minds?
Want to see the world’s oceans as a single body of water? Ever wondered where all the world’s turkeys live? Or perhaps you want to know where to go to see a Solar Eclipse in the next decade. You can do all of that and a whole lot more using Wild Maps for Curious Minds.
The book is broken down into 8 sections and to be honest it’s hard to say which is the most interesting.
- Ancient History. Not Greeks and Romans but woolly mammoths and supervolcanoes
- Out and About. What’s the longest straight-line walk you can make on Earth? (It’s 8,400 miles. You’d need good shoes!) Ever wondered about your speed of rotation as you stand still? It all depends where on the planet you are.
- The Watery World: Ocean topography and the soggiest places in North America
- Geography. Yes, the whole book is about geography, but in this chapter, you can find out which countries lie directly east and west of America. (For many years, I have bored people with the startling (to me) revelation that New York is further south than Rome.) Or you can use this chapter to find out which countries are named after animals (There are 9). Perhaps more useful and one of my favorite maps, you can find out which countries are landlocked.
- Using and Abusing Nature. How much arable land is there? Where are the world’s rhinos poached?
- Extreme Earth. Old trees and causes of death in US national parks.
- The Planet in Peril. A sobering chapter of extinctions, rising temperatures, and sea levels.
- The Final Frontier: Earth facts with a space theme. Which trees have been to the moon? Tying into another Experiment Books title (The Planets Are Very Very Very Far Away), how big is the brightest star in the sky? For even more relative size shenanigans, there’s a great graphic that shows the comparative size of Australia compared with each planet in the Solar System.
Why Read Wild Maps for Curious Minds?
I’ll be honest, I was slightly skeptical when Wild Maps For Curious Minds landed on my doorstep. How was it going to compete with its Brilliant Maps forerunner? That book is a glorious feast of maps and infographics about a host of topics. This book was going to just be about the natural world, which, if I’m honest, isn’t my favorite subject to geek out about. (Please don’t judge me.)
Yet, if anything, this book is even better than what has come before it. It brings into focus the vast scope of those two little words “natural world.” There are maps here I would never have conceived of – Who knew how fascinating the relative size of the nature reserve around Chernobyl would be?
The environmental impact maps are particularly interesting and important for demonstrating the effects of climate change across the globe. They’re not all doom and gloom either: There’s a series of maps that show likely places on Earth to harness wind, solar, and geothermal energy. You can also find out who eats the world’s avocados – which is something I didn’t know I wanted to know.
Every map in this book is fascinating. Whether it’s demonstrating how farming spread across the globe or how the Earth’s temperature is rising, or putting into context how deforestation has slowed down in recent years, there’s so much great stuff here.
If you love maps and/or graphical representations of information you will absolutely love Wild Maps for Curious Minds. As will inquisitive children aged from around 10 upwards. It’s a perfect companion to both Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds and North American Maps for Curious Minds.
If you’d like to pick up a copy of Wild Maps for Curious Minds, you can do so here, in the US, and here, in the UK.
If you enjoyed this post, check out my other book reviews, here.
Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in order to write this review.
