
Thinking of the map in the post directly under this, I realize that it would greatly appeal to the main character of a novel I read this past week while on vacation in Aspen (the only one of four books I read worth mentioning). The book is
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen. The title's character, T.S. (Tecumseh Sparrow) Spivet, is a twelve-year-old boy from Montana who is obsessed with mapping (i.e., somehow graphically capturing) everything around him. In fact, he is such a genius at describing complicated things through diagrammatic representation that he is honored by the Smithsonian Institution for the contributions to science made by his charts, maps, and diagrams. The book follows his perilous solo travels to Washington, D.C. to collect his award. Marginalia in the form of maps, graphs, illustrations and illustrations make this book a truly unusual reading experience. It's hard to describe adequately in a few sentences, so read more about it at Amazon.com
here and visit the website devoted to the book
here. Larsen is an amazingly creative young novelist.