Part memoir, part history, part sociological exploration of maps and people's attraction to them, this book is also a robust entry in the "most entertaining and best-used footnotes" category! (The other top runners: everything by Mary Roach.) Jennings (yup, he of Jeopardy! fame) writes with glee and depth about geography and cartography and how they affect us. Topics include his personal early fascination with maps, Americans' geographic illiteracy, the National Geography Bee, geocaching, map collecting, imaginary place maps, Google Earth, and more. He is delightfully enthralled, excited about every new geonerd he meets, and thrilled to share his enthusiasms. Maps make him happy, and he perfectly shares the joy.

If you’ve ever lost yourself in a map, gotten excited about a weird place name, or made a travel checklist, you’ll find loads to love in this entertaining nonfiction. ~Tegan