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This volume ventures into terrain where even the most sophisticated map fails to lead--through the mapmaker's bias. Denis Wood shows how maps are not impartial reference objects, but rather instruments of communication, persuasion, and power. Like paintings, they express a point of view. By connecting us to a reality that could not exist in the absence of maps--a world of property lines and voting rights, taxation districts and enterprise zones--they embody and project the interests of their creators. Sampling the scope of maps available today, illustrations include Peter Gould's AIDS map, Tom Van Sant's map of the earth, U.S. Geological Survey maps, and a child's drawing of the world. THE POWER OF MAPS was published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Design.… (more)
User reviews
He demonstrates the realities that could not exist in the absence of maps like of property lines, taxation districts and voting rights. He asks, given every map has a point of view, whose interest does it serve? "The Power of Maps" strips maps we have known all our lives of their cloak of scientific objectivity. Maps have the power to change our world through the way we see our world.
Note: Mr. Wood is not ashamed of his vocabulary - keep your dictionary nearby or risk missing some important meaning!
The guy's writing style is kind of entertaining--he has this habit of using a lot of ellipses and. . .italics. Which gives you the impression that he is deeply. . .stoned.
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912 |