Frank Jacobs

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Frank Jacobs

Journalist, writer, and blogger

strange maps

Frank Jacobs is Big Think's "Strange Maps" columnist.

From a young age, Frank was fascinated by maps and atlases, and the stories they contained. Finding his birthplace on the map in the endpapers of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings only increased his interest in the mystery and message of maps.

While pursuing a career in journalism, Frank started a blog called Strange Maps, as a repository for the weird and wonderful cartography he found hidden in books, posing as everyday objects and (of course) floating around the Internet.

"Each map tells a story, but the stories told by your standard atlas for school or reference are limited and literal: they show only the most practical side of the world, its geography and its political divisions. Strange Maps aims to collect and comment on maps that do everything but that - maps that show the world from a different angle".

A remit that wide allows for a steady, varied diet of maps: Frank has been writing about strange maps since 2006, published a book on the subject in 2009 and joined Big Think in 2010. Readers send in new material daily, and he keeps bumping in to cartography that is delightfully obscure, amazingly beautiful, shockingly partisan, and more.

Everything Videos Articles
holland sea level
Strange Maps
Drowning Holland: how the Netherlands will survive in floating cities
With sea levels rising, the Dutch are pondering floating cities — while also exporting their engineering know-how to turn a tidy profit.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Irrecoverable carbon: Don’t touch the world’s vital carbon sinks
Most “irrecoverable carbon” is concentrated in these tiny bits of the Earth’s land mass. Can we keep it there?
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
This map of Hutterite colonies shows evolution at work
This map of Hutterite colonies in North America says something about religion and evolution — and more precisely, speciation.
Frank Jacobs
night train
Strange Maps
Exotic and sustainable, night trains are coming back to Europe
The “Euro Night Sprinter” map is utopian, but Europe’s rail future could look a lot like it.
Frank Jacobs
American Airlines in-flight map showing shipwrecks near the North American coast
Strange Maps
Why do in-flight maps show shipwrecks?
On long-haul flights, some airlines show shipwrecks on their in-flight maps. The aim is to entertain; the result is often to horrify.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Food origins: Why Jesus never ate a banana
69 percent of the global diet is "foreign," says a study that pinpoints the origin of 151 food crops.
Frank Jacobs
Levels of Trust
Strange Maps
In Europe, trust in others depends on location
The 2021 Quality of Government Index shows how much trust the citizens of Europe place in each other and in their elected politicians.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
A 19th century family portrait of comets
The thrills and horrors of strange heavenly bodies condensed into one attractive snapshot.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Why this Japanese seafood dish outrages both Koreas
Two mounds of rice and a tiny flag in a sea of curry is enough to re-heat an old territorial conflict.
Frank Jacobs
European discoveries
Strange Maps
What did Europeans actually discover? Not all that much
This map shows that the territories discovered by Europeans add up to an area no bigger than Utah.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Don’t even try to read “Moby Dick” without this map
This might help you make it to the end of Herman Melville’s 19th century classic.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Electricity generation by U.S. state
U.S. states vary radically in terms of electricity generation. Vermont is the cleanest, while Delaware is the dirtiest.
Frank Jacobs
U.S.-Canada territorial disputes
Strange Maps
U.S. vs. Canada: five modern-day territorial disputes
All of these conflicts have a long history. They may also have a long future.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Did dark magic conjure up the British Empire?
Esoteric evidence points to a ritual performed by Queen Elizabeth's court magician John Dee.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Europe’s oldest map shows tiny Bronze Age kingdom
Discovered in 1900, the Saint-Bélec slab languished unrecognized in a castle basement for over a century.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Peak foliage map: where and when are leaves changing color?
Starting just about now, leaves start changing color from north to south, high to low, light to dark.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Here’s how early school begins – and why it is bad for students
In Louisiana, high school starts at 7:30 am. Research shows that is at least an hour too early.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Famous map of a woman’s heart tells only half the story
One of the best-known allegorical depictions of love has a rather pessimistic male twin.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Just four colors are enough for any map. Why?
The four-color theorem was one of the past century's most popular and enduring mathematical mysteries.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
German street names still echo Nazi, Communist, and even Roman past
Even 1500 years after the fall of Rome, its western border can still be seen on German street maps.
Frank Jacobs
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