John Krygier has nice things to say about The Natures of Maps: Cartographic Constructions of the Natural World, by his colleague, Denis Wood (Krygier and Wood co-authored Making Maps) and John Fels, and reprints the blurb he wrote for the book. The Natures of Maps sounds quite interesting, taking Wood’s usual argument about maps as arguments and applying it to maps that are, more than others, expected to provide a passive view of reality. “The book confronts nature on maps — nature as threatened, nature as threatening, nature as grandeur, cornucopia, possessable, as a system, mystery, and park — with intense slow readings of exemplary historical and contemporary maps, which populate this full color, beautifully illustrated and designed book,” Krygier writes in the blurb. “The careful interrogation of maps reveals that far from passively reflecting nature, they instead make sustained, carefully crafted, and precise arguments about nature.”

Previously: A Book Roundup.

• Buy The Natures of Maps at Amazon.com