Thanks for commenting Rob. No, I have not but gonna check it out. Our club is very active. I've been active for 10 years and have retroactively read ones I had missed. About 150 books. Every conceivable topic. Maps are fun
I miss maps. This book sounds intriguing. 2. I always root for the US unless there are America-hating players. I’m always befuddled by this. 3. I’m somewhat unplugged when it comes to sports. I didn’t know Americans were anti USWNT.
Thanks for commenting. So FUN to see the new title for the aptly named "Good Humor" -- I think the consensus (at least in the comments) is HOORAY for maps. The book was excellent. He had a fair number of predictions which didn't hold up so well but the heart of the book was very good. I'm not sure what the politics of given players generally are and don't care. I just like to enjoy the games. I think that there is some anti-USWNT sentiment because of their pursuit for equal pay. All they've done is win. I just looked and they have won 4-8 world titles ever. Pretty good. Has been wonderful for youth participation I would imagine.
I picked the Trip-Tik just because we got one for our recent road trip, but really I prefer the foldable variety that I grew up on. Too many times along the road, we didn't have a signal and couldn't use GPS, so our only resource was the maps we'd also picked up at AAA. And they were entertaining and reminded me of my dad who was totally passionate about maps and insisted that each of his children learn how to use them. When he died we found a huge drawer filled with maps dating back to the early '50s.
I always enjoy your comments Ruth -- thanks so much!!! My Dad is SMILING DOWN on you. He was a big advocate for AAA. Every family trip growing up included the Trip-Tiks and the guidebooks for where you were. Someone was writing a paragraph on a heretofore unknown town. Just awesome! We always had AAA when we had all of the cars a family of five and three boys within 4 years of each other -- EEK. The road coverage is included in another membership nowadays but I still remember the pile of maps you'd get at AAA -- I remember faintly joining Dad and the woman behind the counter was drawing our route with a highlighter and circling the areas where construction or hard to see exits might be. SO FUN.
This made me remember a family trip to Florida (we were flying) -- Dad went to AAA anyhow and got the guidebooks as if we were driving!!! He knew they might keep us quiet at some moment in the future in the backseat!!!
Nowadays when I make a trip I DOWNLOAD ALL of the necessary maps for OFFLINE USE onto my phone. All of these wonderful services available for free from Google simply amaze me. It is a cottage industry to complain about Google but it seems to me they have transformed our lives for the better. I always bring a long my Chromebook for a larger screen and tether the connection to my phone. I know when we drive through Iowa all you see is corn and there is crummy service when you get off the Interstate still. Now the only problem is running out of juice on the phone.
P.S. -- I hope the Trik-Tik wins the poll! I wish more people would include polls. I just think they are silly and fun!!!
I really enjoyed your trip (tik!) down memory lane, Mark! Your dad would probably have liked my dad, though mine never used a Trip-Tik. I'm not even sure if he belonged to Triple A or not, but he did collect maps, as I said and used them. Thanks for the tip on downloading Google maps for offline use. I never thought of doing that, but it does make sense, even though I'm still enough of a daddy's girl to cherish those paper maps too. I do get a kick out of your polls. I will have to come up with some to include in my posts too!
Thanks Ruth. Dad has been gone a long time so it's still fun to think about him. I have been doing the polls as a regular feature. I just do them because they are fun. One of my loyal readers complained there wasn't an answer for her. Ever since then, option 5 is always Something Else. When I do food posts there is bigger participation. Just ask people whether they prefer ravioli or pierogi or gyoza or whatever. They get serious!
I love maps. My desk as a teenager/ university student had a laminate top with a world map on it. I still have a collection of hard copy maps from places I've visited. Map of the Maldives is interesting as there are such huge watery spaces between the islands. And of course it's a good idea to take a hard copy map hiking.
Thanks for commenting Melanie! At our former home we had an immense world map on one of the walls. I loved it! The book I reviewed is quite good and a worthwhile read. The predictions are a bit much but the rest of the book is excellent. Interesting about the Maldives! Northern Minnesota and Canada even more so has so many islands surrounded by water as you describe. Although I am not sure, I believe Canada has more lakes than all of the rest of the world combined!!! Counting only on a digital map is a bad plan :) -- based on your comment, I think I know how you voted in today's poll :)
I just bought a gigantic gazetteer of New York State for my cabin trip! It is like 2x3 feet and divides the into 105 pages. I live in page 102 and will be staying in page 46.
This book arrived a couple days ago snd it was wonderful to spend an hour on the couch leafing through it and understanding where things are. Google maps on my phone screen just doesn’t do it!
I do miss the super large world map we used to have in our basement -- it was about six feet wide. I still remember one of the brother's friends from high school wanting to be a cartographer. He changed his major before it got serious. I've always loved maps as sort of works of art.
I had a book of maps for Pittsburgh when we lived there. It was a godsend. Going forward on your Substack, if I want to refer to Brooklyn I will just say Page 102
You would have enjoyed the back-and-forth at our book club. People frustrated by the quality of the maps in the book. One person extra frustrated that the hardcover version of the book was no better. My quick math says a book like gazetteer for the whole world would be 105 x 50 / 1.9% (crude estimate for 50 states and US 1.9% of the world land area) ~ 275K pages -- I bet Amazon would not deliver it free :)
Separate comment re: cultural documents. Many years ago our book club did a field trip to a specialized library on the University of Minnesota Campus to a specialty library. We got to look at some closed stack rare maps. My favorites were a series of maps made in the 1700s to the early 1800s. They were horrifically inaccurate!!! Even stuff like maps were inadequate until recently!!! They were drawn strategically. The French and Spanish versions that tracked the Mississippi River were wildly INACCURATE to show their claims in the New World in a better light -- haha -- If I can find a photo from the trip I will share.
Thanks as always for reading Jillian. I thought a bit about your recent Notes article during the book discussion. Many of the readers were FRUSTRATED by the lack of accessibility in the maps in the book. Our book club shades older. In fact, despite my age (early 60s) I lower the average age in the room :) Both myself and the youngest of our members remarked that we used Google Maps and Earth as an accompaniment to the book. Another example of why this is the best time ever to be alive. When we sold our home a while back one of the casualties was a world map in our entertainment room that was 5-6 feet wide. I loved looking at that but it would would have been a hassle to fold if not framed :) The book I profiled is about 8 years old so a little dated but extremely informative. I know you use a wagon to carry your books home from the library so maybe another to add to your next pile. How did you vote in the poll? (If I could provide more options, I would have accommodated all of the Apple afficionados). Do Apple fans use Spotlight to search and Apple Maps to get around (asking for a friend).
Great article Mark. I wonder if your cousin in the finger lakes wonders" is this article about me? ". Not sure if you are fortunate to have several positive relatives in one area. Regarding the road trips I love it when you're on a road trip and the music is just right- I remember being in a rental car rolling down all the windows, and cranking up Lights by Journey when I was going over the Golden Gate Bridge . Steve Perry singing " I want to get back to My city by the Bay..." and there I was by his bay. So many good thoughts in this article Mark. Geography, of course is an element of a cities destiny too. How many great cities have excellent access to harbors or rivers?
Thanks Paul. This was a concerted effort to make my writing shorter and I enjoyed writing it. It is easier when it is part book review I think. I liked the book and its a pretty short read. P is my only cousin who lives in the Finger Lakes. Through the years we lost touched but have reconnected in the last 5-10 years and it has been a joy. I grew up in WNY near Buffalo. A lot of the family has spread out. As the family genealogy hound, I keep in touch with the family all over. I suppose a free meal is available in a lot of places :) The Bay area is such a wonderful place to be around. I wish we had gotten a longer run of Steve Perry with Journey. I turned on Lights with your coaxing. We saw the band with the Filipino lead singer discovered on YouTube. It is uncanny how his voice fills the gaps.
If you want a lift this day, here is a street musician who is super positive. This one leads to a bit of Journey. I profiled him a while back but here is the song. https://youtu.be/WpICsyYT4sA
Books sounds interesting. Maps are great. Have you heard the very expensive maps podcast? https://veryexpensivemaps.com/
Thanks for commenting Rob. No, I have not but gonna check it out. Our club is very active. I've been active for 10 years and have retroactively read ones I had missed. About 150 books. Every conceivable topic. Maps are fun
I miss maps. This book sounds intriguing. 2. I always root for the US unless there are America-hating players. I’m always befuddled by this. 3. I’m somewhat unplugged when it comes to sports. I didn’t know Americans were anti USWNT.
Thanks for commenting. So FUN to see the new title for the aptly named "Good Humor" -- I think the consensus (at least in the comments) is HOORAY for maps. The book was excellent. He had a fair number of predictions which didn't hold up so well but the heart of the book was very good. I'm not sure what the politics of given players generally are and don't care. I just like to enjoy the games. I think that there is some anti-USWNT sentiment because of their pursuit for equal pay. All they've done is win. I just looked and they have won 4-8 world titles ever. Pretty good. Has been wonderful for youth participation I would imagine.
I picked the Trip-Tik just because we got one for our recent road trip, but really I prefer the foldable variety that I grew up on. Too many times along the road, we didn't have a signal and couldn't use GPS, so our only resource was the maps we'd also picked up at AAA. And they were entertaining and reminded me of my dad who was totally passionate about maps and insisted that each of his children learn how to use them. When he died we found a huge drawer filled with maps dating back to the early '50s.
I always enjoy your comments Ruth -- thanks so much!!! My Dad is SMILING DOWN on you. He was a big advocate for AAA. Every family trip growing up included the Trip-Tiks and the guidebooks for where you were. Someone was writing a paragraph on a heretofore unknown town. Just awesome! We always had AAA when we had all of the cars a family of five and three boys within 4 years of each other -- EEK. The road coverage is included in another membership nowadays but I still remember the pile of maps you'd get at AAA -- I remember faintly joining Dad and the woman behind the counter was drawing our route with a highlighter and circling the areas where construction or hard to see exits might be. SO FUN.
This made me remember a family trip to Florida (we were flying) -- Dad went to AAA anyhow and got the guidebooks as if we were driving!!! He knew they might keep us quiet at some moment in the future in the backseat!!!
Nowadays when I make a trip I DOWNLOAD ALL of the necessary maps for OFFLINE USE onto my phone. All of these wonderful services available for free from Google simply amaze me. It is a cottage industry to complain about Google but it seems to me they have transformed our lives for the better. I always bring a long my Chromebook for a larger screen and tether the connection to my phone. I know when we drive through Iowa all you see is corn and there is crummy service when you get off the Interstate still. Now the only problem is running out of juice on the phone.
P.S. -- I hope the Trik-Tik wins the poll! I wish more people would include polls. I just think they are silly and fun!!!
I really enjoyed your trip (tik!) down memory lane, Mark! Your dad would probably have liked my dad, though mine never used a Trip-Tik. I'm not even sure if he belonged to Triple A or not, but he did collect maps, as I said and used them. Thanks for the tip on downloading Google maps for offline use. I never thought of doing that, but it does make sense, even though I'm still enough of a daddy's girl to cherish those paper maps too. I do get a kick out of your polls. I will have to come up with some to include in my posts too!
Thanks Ruth. Dad has been gone a long time so it's still fun to think about him. I have been doing the polls as a regular feature. I just do them because they are fun. One of my loyal readers complained there wasn't an answer for her. Ever since then, option 5 is always Something Else. When I do food posts there is bigger participation. Just ask people whether they prefer ravioli or pierogi or gyoza or whatever. They get serious!
Cool idea to include “something else” in poll. Will be putting on my thinking cap.
I love maps. My desk as a teenager/ university student had a laminate top with a world map on it. I still have a collection of hard copy maps from places I've visited. Map of the Maldives is interesting as there are such huge watery spaces between the islands. And of course it's a good idea to take a hard copy map hiking.
Thanks for commenting Melanie! At our former home we had an immense world map on one of the walls. I loved it! The book I reviewed is quite good and a worthwhile read. The predictions are a bit much but the rest of the book is excellent. Interesting about the Maldives! Northern Minnesota and Canada even more so has so many islands surrounded by water as you describe. Although I am not sure, I believe Canada has more lakes than all of the rest of the world combined!!! Counting only on a digital map is a bad plan :) -- based on your comment, I think I know how you voted in today's poll :)
I just bought a gigantic gazetteer of New York State for my cabin trip! It is like 2x3 feet and divides the into 105 pages. I live in page 102 and will be staying in page 46.
This book arrived a couple days ago snd it was wonderful to spend an hour on the couch leafing through it and understanding where things are. Google maps on my phone screen just doesn’t do it!
I do miss the super large world map we used to have in our basement -- it was about six feet wide. I still remember one of the brother's friends from high school wanting to be a cartographer. He changed his major before it got serious. I've always loved maps as sort of works of art.
I had a book of maps for Pittsburgh when we lived there. It was a godsend. Going forward on your Substack, if I want to refer to Brooklyn I will just say Page 102
You would have enjoyed the back-and-forth at our book club. People frustrated by the quality of the maps in the book. One person extra frustrated that the hardcover version of the book was no better. My quick math says a book like gazetteer for the whole world would be 105 x 50 / 1.9% (crude estimate for 50 states and US 1.9% of the world land area) ~ 275K pages -- I bet Amazon would not deliver it free :)
I love the gazetteer math! Thank you!
It’s interesting that in this digital world, geography still matters. A lot!!
I was in the minority in the club. I think it remains VERY important too! The book was good and an easy read.
Maps are such fascinating cultural documents! Thanks for highlighting all this interesting stuff.
Separate comment re: cultural documents. Many years ago our book club did a field trip to a specialized library on the University of Minnesota Campus to a specialty library. We got to look at some closed stack rare maps. My favorites were a series of maps made in the 1700s to the early 1800s. They were horrifically inaccurate!!! Even stuff like maps were inadequate until recently!!! They were drawn strategically. The French and Spanish versions that tracked the Mississippi River were wildly INACCURATE to show their claims in the New World in a better light -- haha -- If I can find a photo from the trip I will share.
Thanks as always for reading Jillian. I thought a bit about your recent Notes article during the book discussion. Many of the readers were FRUSTRATED by the lack of accessibility in the maps in the book. Our book club shades older. In fact, despite my age (early 60s) I lower the average age in the room :) Both myself and the youngest of our members remarked that we used Google Maps and Earth as an accompaniment to the book. Another example of why this is the best time ever to be alive. When we sold our home a while back one of the casualties was a world map in our entertainment room that was 5-6 feet wide. I loved looking at that but it would would have been a hassle to fold if not framed :) The book I profiled is about 8 years old so a little dated but extremely informative. I know you use a wagon to carry your books home from the library so maybe another to add to your next pile. How did you vote in the poll? (If I could provide more options, I would have accommodated all of the Apple afficionados). Do Apple fans use Spotlight to search and Apple Maps to get around (asking for a friend).
Great article Mark. I wonder if your cousin in the finger lakes wonders" is this article about me? ". Not sure if you are fortunate to have several positive relatives in one area. Regarding the road trips I love it when you're on a road trip and the music is just right- I remember being in a rental car rolling down all the windows, and cranking up Lights by Journey when I was going over the Golden Gate Bridge . Steve Perry singing " I want to get back to My city by the Bay..." and there I was by his bay. So many good thoughts in this article Mark. Geography, of course is an element of a cities destiny too. How many great cities have excellent access to harbors or rivers?
Thanks Paul. This was a concerted effort to make my writing shorter and I enjoyed writing it. It is easier when it is part book review I think. I liked the book and its a pretty short read. P is my only cousin who lives in the Finger Lakes. Through the years we lost touched but have reconnected in the last 5-10 years and it has been a joy. I grew up in WNY near Buffalo. A lot of the family has spread out. As the family genealogy hound, I keep in touch with the family all over. I suppose a free meal is available in a lot of places :) The Bay area is such a wonderful place to be around. I wish we had gotten a longer run of Steve Perry with Journey. I turned on Lights with your coaxing. We saw the band with the Filipino lead singer discovered on YouTube. It is uncanny how his voice fills the gaps.
If you want a lift this day, here is a street musician who is super positive. This one leads to a bit of Journey. I profiled him a while back but here is the song. https://youtu.be/WpICsyYT4sA