First-time visitors to the Map Division are delighted to learn that the library has such a special place that honors the format and related subjects that appeal to many people for all different reasons. As part of the Research Libraries of The New York Public Library, the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division puts a premium on the information and research value of maps, and the study of the making of maps through history. Also as part of the Research Libraries, the Division does not lend its materials to regular library card-holders to take home.

So what about the public that wants to read about maps at their leisure outside of the Library—out of a desire for entertainment, for self-education, or to support research or assignments they are doing for school?  None of the branch libraries, with their circulating collections of broad appeal, has a map division, per se.  But among their popular and literary riches are books of and about maps.

Here is a sampling, including e-books and e-audiobooks available now. Some of our staff members have added their own comments to the publisher summaries displayed below.

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

e-audiobook

A chronicle of Victorian London's worst cholera outbreak traces the day-by-day efforts of Dr. John Snow, who put his own life on the line in his efforts to prove his previously dismissed contagion theory about how the epidemic was spreading.

This was way more fascinating than one might expect cholera to be—it is the account of the 1854 deadly outbreak in London. Dr. John Snow and Richard Whitehead challenged the science of the time—mostly miasma theory—to introduce the idea of microbes and water-borne illness. Steve Johnson presents a portrait of London at the time and expounds on related subjects such as science, biology, demography, and economics. And yes, a map is a key tool in identifying the source of the outbreak. —Carmen Nigro

The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology by Simon Winchester

e-book

A glimpse into the life of William Smith, a nineteenth-century engineer who became the founding father of modern geology. The book explores his creation of a lavish map detailing his discovery that rocks consist of many different layers.

William Smith, known as the Father of Geology, was the first to create a map of the underground of England. But his is a tragic story, about persevering in the face of ruin and obscurity. The author, Simon Winchester, is known for his compulsively readable nonfiction, and this is one of my favorites. —Serena Troshynski

The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding

e-book

The story of an infamous crime, a revered map dealer with an unsavory secret, and the ruthless subculture that consumed him. Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewers—both as beautiful works of art and as practical tools to navigate the world. But to those who collect them, the map trade can be a cutthroat business, inhabited by quirky and sometimes disreputable characters in search of a finite number of extremely rare objects. Once considered a respectable antiquarian map dealer, E. Forbes Smiley spent years doubling as a map thief—until he was finally arrested slipping maps out of books in the Yale University library. Now, through a series of exclusive interviews with Smiley and other key individuals, Blanding teases out an astonishing tale of destruction and redemption. The Map Thief interweaves Smiley's escapades with the stories of the explorers and mapmakers he knew better than anyone. Tracking a series of thefts as brazen as the art heists in Provenance and a subculture as obsessive as the oenophiles in The Billionaire's Vinegar, Blanding has pieced together an unforgettable story of high-stakes crime.

The Map Thief is a book that guides the reader to a deeper understanding of maps and their value by telling the story of Smiley and his crime. Blanding did an amazing job at researching and stating the facts about the case by using different perspectives of the people he interviewed. I enjoyed his method of storytelling; it was so detailed that it kept me immersed in the reading. This book would be perfect for someone looking to learn more about maps and their historical value and how they can be incorporated into museums and libraries. To be more specific, Blanding touches on topics such as, how maps were made and by whom and how libraries and museums conserve them and how important they are to their collections. Also in this book you can find detail on what type of lifestyle Smiley was living and how some of his actions affect the public and the institutions we go to to search for knowledge. —Xena Morales

The Measure of Manhattan:The Tumultuous Career and Surprising Legacy of John Randel Jr., Cartographer, Surveyor, Inventor by Marguerite Holloway

e-book

A portrait of the 19th-century genius architect of Manhattan's city grid shares insights into his bombastic, irascible personality while surveying the controversial innovations that enabled the developing city of Manhattan to overcome natural obstacles to infrastructure.

Marguerite Holloway's book is a delightful read for any NYC history buff who is curious to learn more about the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 as well as the various peoples and bucolic landscapes on the island of Manhattan in the decades preceding the design and gradual implementation of the city's iconic urban street grid.  Holloway uses primary source materials and impressive research skills to create an entertaining and insightful biography of one of NYC's most important yet largely unknown figures— surveyor, civil engineer, and cartographer John Randel Jr. —Artis Q. Wright

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World by Tim Marshall

e-book and e-audiobook

All leaders are constrained by geography. Their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Yes, to understand world events you need to understand people, ideas and movements—but if you don't know geography, you'll never have the full picture. Spread over ten chapters (covering Russia; China; the USA; Latin America; the Middle East; Africa; India and Pakistan; Europe; Japan and Korea; and Greenland and the Arctic), using maps, essays and occasionally the personal experiences of the widely traveled author, Prisoners of Geography looks at the past, present and future to offer an essential guide to one of the major determining factors in world history.

This provides an accessible entry point into understanding how maps shape so many aspects of our civilization, from political and military strategy to language, trade, and religion. While I don’t completely buy into the thesis that global conflict is inevitable, it is interesting to consider how international affairs can be understood through geographical factors. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in an accessible book about geopolitics.  —Serena Troshynski

A History of the World in 12 Maps by Jerry Brotton

A fascinating look at twelve maps—from Ancient Greece to Google Earth—and how they changed our world. In this masterful study, historian and cartography expert Jerry Brotton explores a dozen of history's most influential maps, from stone tablet to vibrant computer screen. Starting with Ptolemy, "father of modern geography," and ending with satellite cartography, A History of the World in 12 Maps brings maps from classical Greece, Renaissance Europe, and the Islamic and Buddhist worlds to life and reveals their influence on how we literallymlook at our present world. As Brotton shows, the long road to our present geographical reality was rife with controversy, manipulation, and special interests trumping science. Through the centuries maps have been wielded to promote any number of imperial, religious, and economic agendas, and have represented the idiosyncratic and uneasy fusion of science and subjectivity. Brotton also conjures the worlds that produced these notable works of cartography and tells the stories of those who created, used, and misused them for their own ends.

The history of cartography is a difficult discipline that covers not only the history of maps and mapping but also astronomy, philosophy, mythology, religion, and the sciences through hundreds of years of human history. Perhaps no popular book on this history is as engaging and informative as Jerry Brotton’s A History of the World in 12 Maps. This work, which covers the years 150 C.E. to modern times addresses the achievements and influences of Ptolemy, Al-Idrīsī, Waldseemüller, Ribeiro, Mercator, Blaeu, Cassini, Mackinder, as well as the Hereford Mappamundi, Kangnido WorldMap, The Peters Projection, and Google Earth.

One of the many things that sets Brotton’s book apart from similar works over the last decade is his division of the book into the themes of Science, Exchange, Faith, Empire, Discovery, Globalism, Toleration, Money, Nation, Geopolitics, Equality, and Information. This grouping allows the proper contextualization of the maps with not only the cultures that produced them, but also the impact they continued to have on the world after their dissemination. The culmination of these themes, maps, and mapmakers is one of the best and most concise histories of cartography and mapping that is a great read for casual historians, professors, and students.  —Ian Fowler

Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will by Judith Schalansky

There are still places on earth that are unknown. Visually stunning and uniquely designed, this wondrous book captures fifty islands that are far away in every sense—from the mainland, from people, from airports, and from holiday brochures. Author Judith Schalansky used historic events and scientific reports as a springboard for each island, providing information on its distance from the mainland, whether it's inhabited, its features, and the stories that have shaped its lore. With stunning full-color maps and an air of mysterious adventure, Atlas of Remote Islands is perfect for the traveler or romantic in all of us.

An atlas, but also art. Selected islands are grouped in chapters by ocean and each island gets its own text and map. While the islands are remote, many of them are famous. The author combines story telling with map making to bring us vivid portraits of faraway places. Great for a day when you are stuck in your apartment.  —Eric Robinson

How to Lie With Maps by Mark Monmonier

An instant classic when first published in 1991, How to Lie with Maps revealed how the choices mapmakers make consciously or unconsciously mean that every map inevitably presents only one of many possible stories about the places it depicts. The principles Mark Monmonier outlined back then remain true today, despite significant technological changes in the making and use of maps. The introduction and spread of digital maps and mapping software, however, have added new wrinkles to the ever-evolving landscape of modern mapmaking. Fully updated for the digital age, this new edition of How to Lie with Maps examines the myriad ways that technology offers new opportunities for cartographic mischief, deception, and propaganda. While retaining the same brevity, range, and humor as its predecessors, this third edition includes significant updates throughout as well as new chapters on image maps, prohibitive cartography, and online maps. It also includes an expanded section of color images and an updated list of sources for further reading.

From Google Maps to Uber Eats to Waze, our use of and reliance on maps and geographic information in our everyday lives is undeniable. However, maps, as models of the real world, must distort, reduce, and simplify reality. In other words, all maps must lie. Originally published in 1991, Mark Monmonier’s How to Lie with Maps remains a valuable and vital guide on geographic information literacy and the critical evaluation of maps. I believe that the author’s advocacy for a culture of healthy skepticism is an indispensable part of modern cartographic engagement at a time when more and more people interact with maps, but fewer and fewer recognize their power.  —Mishka Vance

A History of America in 100 Maps by Susan Schulten

Throughout its history, America has been defined through maps. Whether made for military strategy or urban reform, to encourage settlement or to investigate disease, maps invest information with meaning by translating it into visual form. They capture what people knew, what they thought they knew, what they hoped for, and what they feared. As such they offer unrivaled windows onto the past. In this book Susan Schulten uses maps to explore five centuries of American history, from the voyages of European discovery to the digital age. With stunning visual clarity, A History of America in 100 Maps showcases the power of cartography to illuminate and complicate our understanding of the past.

Susan Schulten retells the story of the US through maps. While she recounts the major events of American history ably, she's also brought in maps depicting the social and scientific forces that have shaped the US. However, the layout and font size of the maps and text make it hard to read. The maps run into the book's gutter and look like snippets, not maps. —Eric Robinson

A Mapmaker's Dream: The Meditations of Fra Mauro, Cartographer to the Court of Venice by James Cowan

In sixteenth-century Venice, in an island monastery, a cloistered monk experiences the adventure of a lifetime—all within the confines of his cell. Part historical fiction, part philosophical mystery, A Mapmaker's Dream tells the story of Fra Mauro and his struggle to realize his life's work: to make a perfect map —one that represents the full breadth of Creation. News of Mauro's projects attracts explorers, pilgrims, travelers, and merchants, all eager to contribute their accounts of faraway people and places. As he listens to the tales of the strange and fantastic things they've seen, Mauro comes to regard the world as much more than continents and kingdoms: that it is also made up of a vast and equally real interior landscape of beliefs, aspirations, and dreams. Mauro's map grows and takes shape, becoming both more complete and incomprehensible. In the process, the boundaries of Mauro's world are pushed to the extreme, raising questions about the relationship between representation, imagination, and the nature of reality itself.

Not your typical history of cartography! Fra Mauro, a historical figure whose surviving map we hold in facsimile in the Map Division, is portrayed with his philosophical musings and spirit of inquiry about what’s going on in various parts of the world as he receives reports regarding explorations from travelers who visit him in his cloistered habitat.  As he compiles these reports into his map of the world—distinct from his surviving map—the reader accustomed to non-fiction works on the history of cartography is left pondering what is real and what is created by the imagination of a supremely imaginative author.  In this way, the reader is drawn into the sense of wonder of the mapmaker himself. —Nancy Kandoian

For more map and cartography titles to borrow, you can search in the catalog by keyword, and then refine your search in various possible ways, such as:

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We welcome your comments below on related books that you’ve read, or titles you’d like to be able to borrow.

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