Frank Jacobs

Big Think Home

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
Strange Maps
Actually, New York is half socialist already
1895 map of New York City shows 'concrete socialism' in red, 'private enterprises' in white.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
A normal tourist map, “but everything is negative”
'Critical Tourist Map of Oslo' offers uniquely dark perspective on Norway's capital.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
One century ago, women’s suffrage swept America
In this 1915 map, Lady Liberty shines her light in the West on women in the East, still in electoral darkness
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
End gerrymandering? Here’s a radical solution
Why not just divide the United States in slices of equal population?
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Finland is the ‘most sustainable’ country, say expats
India finishes last of 60 countries in environment and sustainability, as ranked by the expats who work there.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Housebound? This map lets you travel through time
Interactive globe shows where your hometown was at various stages of Earth's deep geological past.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How Napoleon went from ‘cannibal’ to ‘Majesty’ in 20 days
Alexandre Dumas' famous anecdote about Fake News in the 1800s has a surprising twist.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How four British migrations defined America
They came from different places and with different ideas, which still resonate today.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
All of Jimi Hendrix’s gigs in one beautiful flash
Remarkable 'fan art' commemorates 50th anniversary of legendary guitar player's passing.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Why Erdogan wants to turn Istanbul into an island
'Kanal Istanbul' would create a second Bosporus – and immortalize its creator.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The weird, enchanting beauty of geology maps
Two Williams pioneered geological mapping in Britain and the United States - but the world only remembers one.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How maps confirm anti-migrant bias
'Battlefield maps' show continent under attack from hostile invaders.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Welcome to Lithuania, land of smoked mackerel ice cream
The Baltic nation rolls out an unlikely tourist attraction: 47 weird ice cream flavors.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Here’s a map of Mars with as much water as Earth
A 71% wet Mars would have two major land masses and one giant 'Medimartian Sea.'
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Want a company that lasts? Start a bank or a brewery
Maps show the oldest company in (nearly) every country – and a few interesting corporate trends.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Pandemic resurrects old Australian border dispute
Victorians want to rectify 19th-century surveying error – and become South Australians.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Waving to the Great Mapmaker in the Sky
Some intriguing examples of people grooming the land for the unseen observer above.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How brothers become strangers, and vice versa
Two remarkable etymological maps show twin forces at work throughout human history.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How to do archaeology with place names
Mapping the frequency of common toponyms opens window on Britain's 'deep history'.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
What if Middle-earth was in Pakistan?
Iranian Tolkien scholar finds intriguing parallels between subcontinental geography and famous map of Middle-earth.
Frank Jacobs
Learn from the world's biggest thinkers.
© Copyright 2007-2026 & BIG THINK, BIG THINK PLUS, SMARTER FASTER trademarks owned by Freethink Media, Inc. All rights reserved.