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mparisinou's review against another edition
4.0
The writer as a cartographer - the subtitle of the book - is a good description of what it's about. It's beautifully written and shows how the map is a metaphor for the story. At points hard-going (particularly when referencing works that were not familiar to me) but full of gems. Eg, 'Like maps, fiction and poetry enable us to "see" what is literally too large for our vision.'
kdraw333's review against another edition
5.0
This book explores writing through the metaphor of map-making, with some history of cartography along the way. The writing is gentle and thoughtful. I really enjoyed it. The whole concept feels true to me and I found his discussion of story forms and the ways in which we invent the world around us very provocative.
edward_evjen's review against another edition
2.0
Started off great and devolved into paranoid obsession. The metaphor of a novel being like a map is profound. "To ask for a map is to say, 'Tell me a story.'" The first essay is great, and rest are artsy-fartsy bores with dashes of moralism to spoil the mix. Two moments stand out as annoying. He criticizes video games flippantly. This reeks of moralism and is not the scope of the book. I read fiction to find out what is. I don't care for emotions.* He also promotes scientism by criticizing the self-searching maps of medieval scholars. This not only is moralist, but undermines the best lesson this book has to offer. The lesson is, "There is no objective map of the world." and yet he charts medieval psychologists in the tropic of idiocy.
By this time in the book, the prose has devolved into fluff. It is a obsessed journal trying to find meaning in all overlaps between novels and maps but it doesn't mean anything to the audience because some areas of scholarship are just useless information. An analogy being, why memorize Magic The Gathering cards if you don't play the game?
I was introduced to a quote I like in this book from the Odyssey, Circe says, "once youre crew has rowed you past the Sirens, a choice of route is yours." Being familiar with Will Weston's teaching method, this maps on perfectly. I also liked the inclusion of orientation as deriving from the orient. (finding heaven "true north" in the horizon of sunrises.)
* Excepting in the case of interaction, and self understanding. Everything in it's place.
By this time in the book, the prose has devolved into fluff. It is a obsessed journal trying to find meaning in all overlaps between novels and maps but it doesn't mean anything to the audience because some areas of scholarship are just useless information. An analogy being, why memorize Magic The Gathering cards if you don't play the game?
I was introduced to a quote I like in this book from the Odyssey, Circe says, "once youre crew has rowed you past the Sirens, a choice of route is yours." Being familiar with Will Weston's teaching method, this maps on perfectly. I also liked the inclusion of orientation as deriving from the orient. (finding heaven "true north" in the horizon of sunrises.)
* Excepting in the case of interaction, and self understanding. Everything in it's place.
bonkstrats's review against another edition
4.0
Really interesting approach to writing, very helpful advice. Great interesting details interspersed about map making and geography in general made for a good read. If you want to be a better author, read this book!
sabine364's review against another edition
3.0
It was OK for a craft book. Found myself doing a bit of skimming but it has some decent points once you get through all the discussion of mapping.
krisrid's review against another edition
4.0
What an expansive, lyrical, beautifully written juxtaposition of writing and cartography. A truly special book.
This was recommended to me by a friend, who not only shares my profession - that of business writer - but is also a cartography afficianado. It is most certainly not a book I would have been likely to discover on my own, and so I am grateful to have received the suggestion. This is a beautiful book, filled with wonderful writing and explorations - ha! cartography, exploration, get it? - of what it means to be a writer, nd to chart a course for readers of the world the writer lives in and visualizes. It is a journey well-worth taking!
On the first page, the statement: "To ask for a map is to say, "Tell me a story." This sets a tone for the contention that writing, at a fundamental level is in fact in line with the work of the map-makers and cartographers of history. An example given, "Like aboriginal songlines, traditional haiku were deeply codified - to try to appreciate their original intent, modern readers need the equivalent of a map's legend . . ."
The book's author clearly has a dual love of both writing and maps, and this comes through clearly and respectfully, sometimes almost reverently in the word-pictures he creates in describing what the writer must, can and tries to do in creating his story. This is the sort of book one frequently stops while reading, to close one's eyes and re-experience a particular passage or idea too substantial to only take in once. In fact it took me much longer than it normally takes for me to read a book with this one, as I realized quite early on that this was a book deserving of my full and undivided attention, so I only read it at times when I was able to dedicate myself fully to the lush and descriptive prose.
When a book about writing is able to - convincingly - discuss and draw conclusions on ideas as contradictory as Aristotle and Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner, Treasure Island and Lolita and many others, it is a book worth reading, in my opinion. I found myself both charmed and challenged, entertained and confounded, provoked and educated, but always engrossed.
And speaking of lush and descriptive, any review of this book would be remiss not to talk about the maps it includes. The illustrations in this book are stunningly beautiful and they alone make this book worth the cost of its purchase. They are diverse and clever, running the gamut from simple and quirky to minutely detailed and intricately complex. They connect with and complement the discussion of writing and amplify the connection between writing and cartography in a way that, while it began as a surprising alignment, became, by the end of the book such an obvious one that I was surprised I hadn't ever made the connection before.
One of my favourite lines in the book perfectly captures the dual messages of the book for me, and I will end my review, and leave anyone considering reading it [which I recommend!] with the author's own words: ". . . every map is a reflection of the individual or group that creates it. By "reading" a map, by studying it, we share, however temporarily, those beliefs. This explains why we can enjoy, collect, and hang on our walls maps of places we've never been and never expect to go to - even places that don't exist. Because the map takes us there."
This was recommended to me by a friend, who not only shares my profession - that of business writer - but is also a cartography afficianado. It is most certainly not a book I would have been likely to discover on my own, and so I am grateful to have received the suggestion. This is a beautiful book, filled with wonderful writing and explorations - ha! cartography, exploration, get it? - of what it means to be a writer, nd to chart a course for readers of the world the writer lives in and visualizes. It is a journey well-worth taking!
On the first page, the statement: "To ask for a map is to say, "Tell me a story." This sets a tone for the contention that writing, at a fundamental level is in fact in line with the work of the map-makers and cartographers of history. An example given, "Like aboriginal songlines, traditional haiku were deeply codified - to try to appreciate their original intent, modern readers need the equivalent of a map's legend . . ."
The book's author clearly has a dual love of both writing and maps, and this comes through clearly and respectfully, sometimes almost reverently in the word-pictures he creates in describing what the writer must, can and tries to do in creating his story. This is the sort of book one frequently stops while reading, to close one's eyes and re-experience a particular passage or idea too substantial to only take in once. In fact it took me much longer than it normally takes for me to read a book with this one, as I realized quite early on that this was a book deserving of my full and undivided attention, so I only read it at times when I was able to dedicate myself fully to the lush and descriptive prose.
When a book about writing is able to - convincingly - discuss and draw conclusions on ideas as contradictory as Aristotle and Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner, Treasure Island and Lolita and many others, it is a book worth reading, in my opinion. I found myself both charmed and challenged, entertained and confounded, provoked and educated, but always engrossed.
And speaking of lush and descriptive, any review of this book would be remiss not to talk about the maps it includes. The illustrations in this book are stunningly beautiful and they alone make this book worth the cost of its purchase. They are diverse and clever, running the gamut from simple and quirky to minutely detailed and intricately complex. They connect with and complement the discussion of writing and amplify the connection between writing and cartography in a way that, while it began as a surprising alignment, became, by the end of the book such an obvious one that I was surprised I hadn't ever made the connection before.
One of my favourite lines in the book perfectly captures the dual messages of the book for me, and I will end my review, and leave anyone considering reading it [which I recommend!] with the author's own words: ". . . every map is a reflection of the individual or group that creates it. By "reading" a map, by studying it, we share, however temporarily, those beliefs. This explains why we can enjoy, collect, and hang on our walls maps of places we've never been and never expect to go to - even places that don't exist. Because the map takes us there."
daaan's review against another edition
3.0
A decent metaphor pushed to the cusp of disintegration. Of central issue with the book, the theme is an organising principle to gather together an array of thoughts about writing, and not a coherent thesis that develops a conclusion. That isn't to say some of the insights contained within are not fascinating, many are, but the book lacks that interconnectedness and coherence that make the information easy to absorb. Information is not structured in a way that makes it accessible, which is a negative in my book, though if you like your writing meandering and with it's intent and purpose at times verging on cryptic, this may be for you.
hlandes1's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this exploration - the author uses maps as a metaphor for writing and creative discovery.
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