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I do not mean to dis Ken Jennings for his easy to read Maphead; I am just not sure who might care. Many people may remember Mr. Jennings as the guy who cleaned up on Jeopardy. That was in 2004. According to Wiki he has made money from some other game show appearances and according to the front pages of my copy he is author of 2 prior books. He seems to have had a few problems with his blog upsetting people, but maybe that comes with being visible in the blogosphere.

Maphead is a semi-serious confession of Jennings� fascination with cartography and of the various outlets for likeminded people. A part of my job includes some work with complicated map making software. It is a part of my job I enjoy, that is when everything works and a part that allows me to exercise whining and cursing when it does not. I am a former ship’s Navigator and because I had very good people on my team that assignment was one of the best jobs for which I ever received a paycheck. That plus I am something of a nerd so I am in the Venn diagram of the natural audience for this book.

Across the several chapters of his Book Jennings preaches a little, reports on some map related games and in general relates various stories and aspects of how true map heads live out their hobbies. Early on he indulges in a little advocacy for the study of geography while tracking the Annual Geography Bee. He has a section on people so into the idea of maps as guides to the imagination that they have created complete sometimes detailed maps of places that only exist in their imagination. Readers of the classic Thomas More’s Utopia may not know that More had a map of his “No Where�

Other chapters tell the stories of the various games people have invented tacking advantage of GPS tracking devices. He tracks down the founder of the online/real world game of Geocaching, whereby players seek out small cashes of trinkets hidden away in various places for the fun and saying they found them. Other games included an annual mind bending games of map reading. Started by Jim Sinclair is The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. It can be played from your desk and or in the ‘real� world but it requires the successful player to be detail and exacting as they travel across geography solving very deliberately obtuse questions about maps geography and the highway system. Jennings not only plays investigative reporter but participates.

Throughout the style is friendly a little self –deprecating and rarely serious. The result is easy to read but like map head enthusiasm, hard to understand. I mostly get it, but I am not sure who might enjoy it. There are one or two map centric people, at work who might give it a glace. Maphead might make an adjunct read for armchair travels who like reading about the real travel adventures. Maphead may qualify as a beach read or other light time passers, but � who else?