Brandon says, “I believe the map prepares your mind to experience the wonder, to say, ‘I am going to a new place.’”(Jennings, 113) To do this he talks to Brandon Sanderson a best-selling author in the genre of fantasy. In maps, our eyes are free to wander, spatially, the way they do when we study new surroundings in life.”(Jennings, 115) He goes on to express why fantasy maps in today’s literature matter to the reader. The words from the line above are gone you are only here, and the words from the line below don’t exist yet. One might ask why this is, but Ken Jennings answers that question when he says, “Reading text is a purely linear process. He even concludes that Hogwarts and the Starship Enterprise have been mapped more times than Africa. Jennings goes on to stress that traditionally fantasy maps were a focus in children’s literature but that they find their way into adult literature that can be for lack of better terms, a focus of “geek culture.” (Jennings, 112) He references the map of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series as well as the multitude of mappings that have been done of the Starship Enterprise. He discusses how a hand drawn map from Robert Louis Stevenson’s young son was the inspiration for the book Treasure Island and in addition how the drawings of Neverland, in Barrie’s Peter Pan create a visual masterpiece for the reader. He draws conclusions that there is fine line between what we today would call a “real” map (like you might find in glove compartment of a car) and a fantasy map that is drawn on the pages of a book. In chapter six Ken Jennings focuses on the part maps play in literature, specifically fantasy literature. I have also traveled to Jamaica, Mexico, and Bahamas as well as almost half of the U.S.

I spent this summer in Washington, D.C and last summer in San Francisco. I enjoy traveling to places that have rich histories and that have points of historical significance. I spent six and half of those years in San Antonio and three and half in Lakeway. I spent the first few years of my life in Atlanta, Georgia and I moved to Texas when I was four where I have lived ever since. My name is Barrett and I was born in Birmingham, Alabama.

Maphead by Ken Jennings