"On the map" by Simon Garfield

I really enjoyed 'Just my type' by this author. This book is good but it isn't quite so good.

He uses the same style: breaking up the heavy information about the history of cartography with little gossipy vignettes such as a discursion about map thieves. Some of these are delightful: I loved the bit about RLS and Treasure Island.

He covers a wide variety of aspects of mapping from Ptolemy's Geographica and Mercator's Atlas to the Mappa Mundi, the Vinland Map (is it a forgery?). the A to Z, satnav, google maps, globe-making, and even brain mapping via a discussion of whether women can't read maps or just can't read maps that men draw.

But I think I found it slightly heavier going Just my type because I knew something about maps whereas I hadn't ever really noticed typefaces before.