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
Huge color-coded map shows the world’s most ancient and recent borders
No international borders, no international order—and yet, most land borders are not very old: more than half were drawn after 1900.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
These maps show how much range America’s wild animals have lost
These maps offer a glimpse of what’s been lost – or rather, destroyed – by previous generations.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
A man, a van, a GPS tracker: This Brit is writing ‘STOP BREXIT’ across Europe
Englishman Andy Pardy is traveling 18,000 miles (30,000 km) across Europe this summer to make a continent-sized political statement
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Just 10 streams carry 95% of all river-borne plastic into the ocean
Just ten rivers are responsible for up to 95% of all river-borne plastic trash that ends up in the sea. Silver lining: cleaning them up would have a huge positive impact.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The U.S. is Cow Country, and other lessons from this land use map
America's corn syrup fields are big enough to cover all its airports and railroads, and other surprising lessons from a 'tidied-up' map of America's land use zones
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Turkish province wants its borders to look like Batman logo
More than 20,000 people have signed a petition for Batman, one of Turkey's 81 provinces, to be re-shaped so its borders resemble the Bat-Signal.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Sierra Leone is the world’s roundest country (and Egypt the squarest one)
Mind-boggling as it is, some of the world's roundest countries are also some of the most rectangular ones.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Meet the joke party that wants to ‘Make Hungary Smaller Again’
Hungary's Two-Tailed Dog Party campaigns on an 'anti-anti-immigration platform, with slogans such as: “Sorry about our Prime Minister”, and “Feel free to come to Hungary, we already work in England anyway!”
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Street grids matter more to your commute than you might think
Simple diagrams reflect straightforward grids that make navigation easy. Complex diagrams equal ‘messy’ street grids, making it harder to find your way.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How Asia is pivoting away from the U.S.
The current U.S. Administration seems happier to pursue fleeting photo ops with strongmen than to cultivate long-standing alliances. Where does that leave American influence in Asia?
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The multiculturalism of World Cup teams
The fans supporting their teams at the World Cup in Russia are overwhelmingly white. Their teams? Not so much.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Why Danes are so eager to fly the nest (and Slovaks aren’t)
Virtually all young Danes have left the parental home by the time they're 34. Yet in Slovakia, almost 57% of young adults still reside in the Hotel of Mum and Dad.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
UK heatwave reveals unknown archaeology sites
The heatwave scorching Britain is revealing the outline of ancient buildings – some previously unknown to archaeologists
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Travel the world without ever leaving Maine
There's a reason why all the world seems to be hiding within the borders of Maine.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Despite what Trump suggests, America still is an export superpower
America is the world's #2 exporter - and that makes trade wars everything but "good and easy to win"
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Map identifies 1,700 public memorials to the Confederacy
Three years after the Charleston massacre, the 'Lost Cause' is still honoured throughout the South – and beyond
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
France has just one Riviera, but 36 coasts
Name one French coastline. Great. Now name another. Can't? Here are all 36.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
What does Gulliver’s Travels have to do with how we write our dates and addresses?
Are you a 'Big-Endian' or a 'Little-Endian'? Swift's satirical take on religious wars gave us the jargon to describe our different date and address formats.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
One angry Paris resident is mapping rat sightings to shame the city into action
All big cities have rats, but Paris seems to have a more serious rodent problem than most.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
A sucker for soccer? Here are seven maps to unlock the FIFA World Cup in Russia
Soccer is not a matter of life and death. It's much more important than that. And the FIFA World Cup even more so.
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.