Things Maps Don't Tell Us: An Adventure Into Map Interpretation

By Armin Kohl Lobeck

Book Overview

An accessible, richly illustrated introduction to understanding and interpreting maps

A master cartographer and teacher, Armin Lobeck provides a clear, accessible guide to discerning the geological history of an area through an understanding of the lines of rivers, mountains, and coasts found on maps. He presents commonplace physical features that map users normally take for granted as a collection of cartographic detective stories. After pointing out patterns that call for solutions, Lobeck assembles clues and leads his readers through thoughtful, carefully crafted explanations, to show how to grasp the history of the earth through the art of map reading.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226488772
• ISBN13: 9780226488776
• Release Date: June 1993
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 174 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.5" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

Inheritance

Love of maps runs in my family. Maybe there is a map-gene. Or maybe that fact that my dad owned this book is what caused this love of maps to be passed on to me and my sister. When my dad passed away, this was the one book I wanted as my inheritance.

this book changed my life!

i know, sounds silly, but i picked up an old hardback of armin k. lobeck's masterpiece from a street "vendor" in new york about 15 years ago. paid 25c for it. it has influenced my perception of maps, geology, and the histories of the earth, life, and civilization ever since. it's a simple book, really, but full of concepts and ideas that you just don't get anywhere else here in the 21st century. also, the (hand drawn) illustration is unusually enlightening while exhibiting a charm and elegance that is lost on graphic designers these days. the only reason anyone would ever go to the trouble of producing a document like this is because they were truly passionate about the ideas they were presenting. it's very sincere, and you'll never look at maps (or the world) the same way again.

Unique

In high school we took a lot of geography, and learned about "tombolos" and "terminal moraines" and such, but damned if the teacher ever gave you an example.This book has an interesting approach - it shows a map on one side, the text points out interesting or unusually features, and then a second page with diagram and text explains the origin of the feature.It seems like a simple idea, but it's an approach I've seen in few other places.Some negatives:This is a re-print of a fairly old book, so perhaps (according to the new forword) some of the theory is a little old. I feel however, the bulk of the material is still valid, and well worth it. (It's too bad some aspiring professor somewhere does write an up-to-date book using the same approach)The new forword doesn't add much to the book, and the publisher might better have left it out.

All you have ever wanted to know about georaphy and geology

I haven't read the paperback, but I just came across my copy of the 1956 hard cover and devoured it with renewed interest.Professor Lobeck selects 72 examples of geography and on the facing page illustrates the geological activity that resulted in that geography.New York harbor, Long Island, the Florida peninsula, the Great Lakes, the island arcs of the Pacific and the Caribbean are among the many mapped and explained geologically.A great book for the student of earth science and the traveller interested in maps and why the our earth is so different and interesting.