What is more Canadian than making fun of ourselves?
The Geist Atlas of Canada: Meat Maps and Other Strange Cartographies is a book compiled by Melissa Edwards. Presented by Geist magazine, this book would make a great Holiday gift for the Canadianaphile on your list.
This book has great colour maps of Canada labelled around different themes – the spooky map of Canada, the happy map of Canada, the philosopher’s map of Canada, etc.
I love place names. I love to name my jewelry after them, and I love to learn about their history. Next to each map are a couple of factoids related to the theme, gathered by the Geist team.
Here’s one of my favourite factoids from The Map of Canuck Stereotypes –
Dominion, Nova Scotia – The word ‘dominion’ once the definition of the country, has fallen out of use. It took its worst hit in 1982, when July 1 was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day,
I also especially like the Map of Canadian Nicknames, which tells the nicknames of different cities/towns in Canada.
So why the fascination with cartography? Well, as Stephen Osborne, who wrote the introduction says, “Maps conceal as much as they seem to reveal.”
Published by Arsenal Pulp Press, this is a “compendium of tongue-in-cheek snapshots of the essential Canadian character, in all its quirky glory (from book jacket).”
Buy it:from Amazon.
Thank you Arsenal Pulp Press for providing me this book to review.
