Vargic's Miscellany of Curious Maps: Mapping the Modern World

This book was so intriguing, I ended up buying a second one for my Dad's birthday. While he might not be fussed on the internet maps, there were a lot of other interesting facts and maps that I thought he would find amusing, interesting and bewildering! If you are shopping for someone who has everything, or someone who happens to LOVE maps, this is a great buy!

This is just amazing. I can’t imagine the work. So funny, so accurate (how did the author research the hundreds and hundreds of local interests?). A warning: you better have good eyes or be comfortable with reading/viewing an entire book through a magnifying glass.

Everyone who sees this book loves it! It's so unlike anything out there. A great gift for the person who has everything.

I have always been fascinated with maps and loved this book. I could sit and read it for hours.

Where do I begin? This is amazing. Something of interest for anyone. My husband and I both pick it up and scan it several times a week, reading various parts. Lots of information. It just gets curiouser and curioser.

I love the unique maps and the colors. It's going on my coffee table.

Excellent gift book for a relative that has everything. Especially those interested in cartography.

This was a cool Christmas gift for my coworker who is a geeky lawyer. We both share a love of maps, and the political and social sassiness of some of the maps amused him. Actually I want one for myself, but the roomies would consider it clutter lol. I'll just have to wait for my own library!

Lovely book but the description is wrong! It no longer includes fold out pages and the poster/map. They are now just pages in the book and are really too small to read.

Although the author suggests that it is solely meant as a parody and not meant to offend. Well it does offend. He seems to think that starving children are funny. It is crude and base. The humour is not clever and most definitely not suitable for kids.Amazon put this with The Golden Atlas and The Phantom atlas as frequently bought together. Mistake. They couldn't be more different.

Some of these maps are interesting and they have been printed well, but most seem like things that have been done elsewhere in more interesting ways around the internet. Plenty of them take a single idea and don't do enough with it, making the book rather disappointing. The actual quality of the printing etc is superb and I'm sure younger readers will find it fascinating.

I have now returned two copies of this book.What arrives is a very beautiful book, but it IS NOT the book advertised. There are NO pull out maps. There are NO fold out maps and there is NO reversible poster.Allegedly the missing maps are now included in the print copy, but they are barely legible having been reduced in size so I cannot even confirm that.Very poor. I would not advise buying this.

I bought this together with GREAT MAPS also available through Amazon and what an exceptional combination for anyone interested in both the development of cartography and how it has inspired our imaginations. This is book is suitable for those interested in the colour and originality of map design and display whilst Great Maps provides more technical and historical detail. Both will inspire young and old alike to love not only maps but the way that a map describes our fantasies, our desire to travel, the wonders of our history, culture and the places we will find (and aspire to discover), the journey that is life and ultimately our ambitions for all of those things. This and GREAT MAPS are two rare gems, beautifully made and wonderfully laid out.