Ward Kaiser, author, publisher, pastor and historian was instrumental in bringing the Peters Equal Area Map to North America. He has been leading the discussion of what maps mean and the power of maps in framing human activities.
In How Maps Change Things Kaiser takes a passionate view of how maps illustrate and influence the significant paths humans pursue. Rather than setting out dogmatic answers, Kaiser asks thought provoking questions.
- To what extent are maps factual? Are they, as some claim, largely propaganda?
- What is the world, seen through maps, really like?
- How do the mapmaker's intention and the viewer's frame of reference alter perceptions?
- Why is there such a chasm between the world we experience and the world we want? Should we care? What would it take to narrow the gap?
Kaiser stimulates an important conversation.
The author dedicates the book to Gerhard Kremer (aka Mercator) and Arno Peters, seeing them as "... separated by centuries but united in a common goal: to map a better world." From that point on, through the rest of the book, he invites us all to join the conversation ... and the adventure.