For a very long time now, I’ve been drawn to all sorts of maps. I love maps of the world and of different countries, but I also love maps of the body. Maps are so intriguing–so inviting. I feel like they can teach us so much, and yet, inspire so much imagination. I loved the book The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime because it followed a map thief, but also because it talked about adventures and myth connected to both ancient and modern-day maps.

Amazon link to the book

I’ve been looking at some other books about maps I’d like to read, and added the ones below (among a couple others) to my reading list:

Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer

You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination

Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline

I read The Island of Lost Maps years ago, and was inspired to add the others above to my reading list after reading The Birth of our Modern Obsession with Maps and Creative Cartography: 7 Must-Read Books on Maps.

My love of maps often extends past just reading about them and looking at them. I love using maps in my art journaling, and have always wanted to make other things with maps as well. For example, this cute ornament:

Source

Or this amazing map pin craft:

Source

*Note: I wanted to show both pictures of the map pin craft at the same time, so I took a picture with my phone. Hence the Softbank banner across the top…

I think it would also be fun to make coasters or tiles, and I might try to do that with some maps of Kobe before we go. I love the way maps can create a sense of adventure or nostalgia–maps of places I’ve never been make me want to travel, and maps of places I’ve been…well, they bring back memories, and they make me want to travel, too!

How do you feel about maps?