Strange Maps

A vintage map illustration showing the Arctic region, including parts of northern Europe, Greenland, and surrounding seas, with radial lines converging at the North Pole.

The world, seen sideways.

Most maps show the world as something to be navigated. Strange Maps reveals the worlds humans have imagined.

Since 2006, Frank Jacobs has been collecting and interpreting maps that do more than chart geography or political borders. These maps — often obscure, beautiful, funny, and deeply revealing — each tell a story, usually one that’s more about how we see ourselves than where we are.

Published as a book in 2009 and a Big Think column since 2010, Strange Maps draws on a steady stream of reader submissions and rare discoveries. Together, they offer a way of seeing the world from unfamiliar angles, where cartography becomes culture, argument, and art.

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Frank Jacobs

Frank Jacobs is a journalist whose work explores how culture, history, and imagination shape the way we see the world.

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Memorizing London’s 25,000 streets changes cabbies’ brains — and may prevent Alzheimer’s

One of the toughest vocational exams in the world requires candidates to memorize 25,000 streets in an area five times the size of Manhattan.

by Frank Jacobs

A person stands next to a large book titled "The Knowledge," symbolizing mastery of the city’s map.

Everything Articles

Strange Maps

Mapped: The strange link between obesity and corruption

In post-Soviet nations where ministers have a relatively high BMI, corruption tends to be high, too.

Frank Jacobs

Map displaying a rail route from Helsinki to Bruxelles, passing through cities like Tallinn, Riga, Warsaw, Berlin, and Hamburg. Northern and Central Europe countries are labeled.

Strange Maps

In the Baltics, 85 millimeters separate East from West

A new railway will switch the Baltic region's train gauge from Soviet to standard European — a megaproject with political, economic, and military dimensions.

Frank Jacobs