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
dunkin's starbucks rate by state.
Strange Maps
Where Americans prefer to eat and drink coffee in each U.S. state
The richness and variety of America’s food landscape, in a buffet of maps.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Geopsychology: Your personality depends on where you live
Research suggests there's truth to regional stereotypes in the U.S. — with some caveats.
Frank Jacobs
a large white dome in the middle of a city.
Strange Maps
There’s an entire solar system hiding inside Sweden
Get ready for the most peculiar road trip that will help you understand the vastness and emptiness of the solar system — and Sweden.
Frank Jacobs
a large map of the world with all the countries.
Strange Maps
An astronaut’s view reveals China’s geopolitical claustrophobia
When you turn a map of East Asia upside down, Beijing’s geographic constraints and regional ambitions become much clearer.
Frank Jacobs
A map showing the Columbian Exchange.
Strange Maps
Columbus was neither the first nor the nicest. But his voyage was the most important
For better and worse, the Columbian Exchange plugged the Americas into the global system — and there was no going back.
Frank Jacobs
a map of the area where the trail is located.
Strange Maps
Mongolia’s “Forbidden Zone” is guarding an 800-year-old secret
Is the vast "Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area" the final resting place of Genghis Khan?
Frank Jacobs
a map of a park with a lot of trees.
Strange Maps
What do King Charles III, the Pope, and Canadian Inuit have in common?
Meet the world's largest landowners.
Frank Jacobs
a circular diagram with the names of different types of people.
Strange Maps
Happy, sad, angry, horny: The ultimate map guide to 90s rock music
The Foo Fighters are at the dead center of the map, so all the other bands are happier, sadder, angrier, or hornier.
Frank Jacobs
a map of the united states with the words 70 % of canada.
Strange Maps
Most Canadians live south of Seattle and other mental map surprises
Reject your Mental Map Oversimplifications.
Frank Jacobs
a map of europe with a red background.
Strange Maps
The most popular person in European street names is a woman
Can you guess who it is?
Frank Jacobs
a map showing the percentage of men in europe who pee sitting down
Strange Maps
Give pee a chance: Why German men urinate sitting down
Germans are masters of building cars, cooking brats — and sitting while peeing.
Frank Jacobs
a map of the world with a red star in the middle.
Strange Maps
All maps lie. These two maps from the Cold War demonstrate how
“Who is the aggressor?” That depends on which of these maps you believe.
Frank Jacobs
a map of europe showing the percentage of people in each country.
Strange Maps
France is European champion in smoking le reefer
The average age of cannabis users is increasing. Weed may fall out of fashion before it becomes legal everywhere.
Frank Jacobs
a map of germany with a question mark on it.
Strange Maps
Churchill’s “Germany” would have stretched from France to Ukraine
Here’s what Europe would have looked like if the Confederation of the Danube had been established after WWII.
Frank Jacobs
a map of volcanoes on Venus with different colored dots.
Strange Maps
New map shows all 85,000 volcanoes on Venus
Like Mars today, Venus used to be a sci-fi superstar. Recent discoveries could re-ignite our interest in Earth’s “evil twin.”
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
The coast-to-coast road trip is 120 years old
In 1903, a Vermont doctor bet $50 that he could cross America by car. It took him 63 days, $8,000, and 600 gallons of gas.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Where are Americans born in each U.S. state? This viral map shows you at a glance
Nevada has the fewest number of native-born citizens.
Frank Jacobs
a map with a red line on it.
Strange Maps
InterContinental Railway: All aboard the train from New York to Paris — via Siberia
Dig a 70-mile tunnel under the Bering Strait, and you get this amazing InterContinental Railway, which will reshape the world.
Frank Jacobs
a map of a city with red areas.
Strange Maps
These maps provide graphic evidence of how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities
Parking lots are about one-fifth of all land in U.S. city centers, making them "easy to get to, but not worth arriving at."
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
In these 11 European countries, births out of wedlock are in the majority
Worldwide, 15% of children are born out of wedlock, but the figure varies from less than 1% in places like China to 69% in Iceland.
Frank Jacobs
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