On US Survey mapping Area 51 does not exist, only desert & a few cactii. On Russian Survey mapping of the same place are marked runways, buildings, hangers, in fact the whole airbase! Along these lines, this book aims to promote a healthy skepticism about maps as easy-to-manipulate models of reality. As the author shows, maps not only point the way & provide information, maps lie. In order to show how maps distort reality, the author introduces the basic principles of mapmaking, gives entertaining examples of the misuse of maps in situations from zoning disputes to census reports, & covers all the typical kinds of distortions from deliberate oversimplifications to the misleading use of colour.
Includes:: black & white & colour maps. Also by the same author: Cartographies of Danger