Maphead: Charting the Vast and Strange World of Geography Wonks is Ken's follow-up to his 2005 bestseller Brainiac. Much like his previous book, Braniac followed the competitive world of game shows. Jennings offered the same behind-the-scenes insight into the world of geography buffs and map geeks. In a world where geography only makes headlines or coffee shop discussions if a new study comes out about how bad students are at it, however, surprisingly, there are still students and people who simply adore it and who thrive in their field. interest. Some look at endless maps looking for things that most people wouldn't even want to look at, like what makes this state similar to this one or why the population is more or less here. Some aspire to find and view the rarest cards available; others embrace the future by participating in an activity known as geocaching. Geocaching is when the participant visits special areas with hidden “treasures” using their GPS devices and smartphones. Some people even draw thousands of their own imaginary maps, highlighting details of the worlds and countries they wish to visit. Ken Jennings was a map enthusiast himself from a young age, you won't be surprised to learn, even sleeping with a crumpled old atlas. On the side of his pillow, most kids his age snuggled into a reliable blanket – Jennings didn't. During his journey around the world, he meets people with kindred spirits: map librarians, publishers, geocachers and the engineers behind Google Maps. Now that technology and geographic ignorance insult us more and more from the space and land around us, we are going to need these people more than ever. Mapheads are those who always know exactly where they are and...... middle of paper ......are roaming the streets of Hollywood, or brilliant natural perfections like the Degree Confluence project. Now that we have After going through the journey of Ken Jennings' incredible book, I feel like it's important for me to try to convince you to get more involved with geography. It's a truly fascinating subject and can take you to places you never thought you could visit. If you don't want to leave your home, at least buy an atlas, a map or visit Google Earth. You never know what you might discover on your journey. If you don't think maps or atlases are your thing, you'll never know if you never try. Jennings created a journey that I would never have wanted to take if it hadn't been assigned to a college course, but now I'm so glad I did. Jennings shed a different light on geocaching and card hunting. He made it fun, interesting and overall exciting.