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
Strange Maps
GDP Soulmates: Does Your US Home State Have the GDP of an Entire Country?
Buckle up - you're about to find out which US states have the same GDP as entire countries. Frank Jacobs' latest installment of Strange Maps shines a light on the 51 countries that fit within North America's GDP.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Which Countries Have the Best Passports — And Which Have the Worst
Passport specifications are regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the relative power of your country's passport says a lot about its standing in thew world.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The Great Irony of the European Immigrant Crisis in One Map
Mass migration is nothing new; the ancestors of modern Europeans themselves came from the Middle East.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The Best of States, the Worst of States
These maps show the best and worst qualities of all fifty states in the US, and all European countries.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How Donald Trump Sees the World — in Three Maps
The arrogance and ignorance of American presidential candidate Donald Trump come alive in these three maps, which continue cartography's wonderful history of satirical takedowns.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
America Without Christians: Buddhist West, Muslim South, Jewish Northeast
Take all the Christians out of the United States and these are the biggest religions for each state: a Buddhist West, a Muslim crescent across the South and Midwest, and a Jewish Northeast.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The Fountain of Hispanicity (Gets Two Things Wrong)
Celebrating Hispanic culture, the map-shaped fountain is one of Zaragoza's more curious attractions
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The World’s 26 Biggest Islands, in One Handy Map
World's biggest island? Up for discussion. The next 25? See this map.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How Do You Say ‘Plastic Bag’ in French?
Depending on where you do your shopping, it could be a sac, a pochon or even a nylon.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
How Long is Chile?
"2,653 miles" doesn't quite convey it; these maps do.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The Shipping Forecast: a Map of Britain’s Splendid Isolation
The Shipping Forecast is quite possibly the most British thing ever.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
That’s Gross: the Four Worlds of Income Inequality
Based on World Bank data, Global Finance magazine recently subdivided the world into four income groups. And here are the maps that illustrate the point.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Tokelau: The World’s One True Online Superpower
This is a map of the online world. Each country is resized for the popularity of its domain name. The eye is immediately drawn to the map's greatest anomaly: Tokelau. 
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
It Ain’t Easy Being Greece
Three maps show how Greece is taking the brunt of Europe's refugee crisis
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
It Works for the Turks: A Colour for Each Direction
Turkish cardinal directions? I didn't even know they had cardinals in Turkey!
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Where Have All the Jedi gone?
An early 'viral' phenomenon, the Jedi faith is fading fast
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The City States of Europe
Is this a map of Europe's future?
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The Cockneysphere and Other Sound Maps of London
Londoners are defined by the sounds of their city — and here are the maps to prove it.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Brexit, a Fairy Tale in Four Maps
The slippery slope of Britain's exit from the EU, mapped
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Mapping Xenophobia
A noble attempt at fighting viral racism. But is it telling only half the story?
Frank Jacobs
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