How to Lie with Maps, Third Edition

Covers everything from choice of symbols to use of colour and shade to the influence of culture and politics on maps. It's fascinating, the interplay between the apparently technical choices made in making a 2D representation of reality and the social/political/cultural context of the mapmaker. The book will make me a far better prepared observer of the way maps are used in the media and online. Surely we could all do with some more cartographical literacy? --The Enlightened Economist --PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS EDITIONS [Monmonier] has a sharp critical eye, but his primary purpose is constructive - he wants to make better maps and have us use maps more intelligently. He writes well about the history of maps because he can easily put himself in the mind of the map-maker and see things much as they saw them. His first thought is for practical problems; his admiration is for elegant solutions. --Visual Studies A humorous, informative and perceptive appraisal of a key source of information that most of us have always taken for granted. --Toronto Globe and Mail A useful guide to a subject most people probably take too much for granted. It shows how map makers translate abstract data into eye-catching cartograms, as they are called. It combats cartographic illiteracy. It fights cartophobia. It may even teach you to find your way. For that alone it seems worthwhile. --New York Times An artful and a funny book, which like any good map packs plenty in a little space. --Scientific American Still a bible for cartographers. --Financial Times The prose is clear, easy to read, and sparkles with erudite humor. --Geographical Review This unusual book shows how cartographers distort the information they present--accidentally and deliberately. --Los Angeles Times Will leave you much better defended against cheap atlases, shoddy journalism, unscrupulous advertisers, predatory special-interest groups, and others who may use or abuse maps at your expense. --Christian Science Monitor Monmonier, in his book How to Lie With Maps, points out that while American students are often taught to analyze words--to be 'cautious consumers' of them--they are seldom taught to do the same with maps. Persuasive cartography reveals how maps manipulate and should be regarded with a critical eye, a lesson that's perhaps even more important in the present political climate. --City Lab How to Lie with Maps continues to be inviting and readable, concealing detailed introductions to critical cartographic concepts beneath a veneer of humorous and casual prose...All maps lie, and Mark Monmonier continues to serve as an able guide for readers at any level to begin the process of informed cartographic interpretation and engagement. --Cartographic Perspectives Monmonier continues to have a great deal to offer to first time readers and return visitors alike. This new edition of How to Lie with Maps again succeeds in explaining not only the various ways in which maps can be manipulated, but also the necessity for this manipulation. Most importantly, he continues to create a population of informed map readers, who have learned that they must remain skeptical of the biases and motivations of mapmakers. . . All maps lie, and Monmonier continues to serve as an able guide for readers at any level to begin the process of informed cartographic interpretation and engagement. --Cartographic Perspectives