The Map Men: This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong (and Why it Matters) Review:

Honestly, I almost didn't read this book. There, I said it.

I know, I know...it’s The Map Men. I’ve watched countless videos of them doing their wonderfully nerdy deep dives into the weirdest corners of cartography on YouTube, and I’ve laughed every single time. Their humor is just so specific and smart, but when I saw This Way Up, a beautiful, chunky hardback promising “geography, puzzles, and family fun,” I kept skipping over it. Perhaps because I felt like I already knew what I was going to get, or maybe I was just intimidated by adding another book to my pile. What finally draw me to read the book is the book cover.

But here’s the thing: I kept getting drawn back to it. It’s the color, mostly. It’s got this gorgeous, tactile feel, and the combination of the vibrant, almost retro-looking primary colors on the jacket is an immediate grabber. It manages to look both scholarly and completely playful at the same time, which, if you’re a fan of Map Men videos, is essentially their brand distilled into one physical object. After several cycles of picking it up, flicking through, and putting it down again, I finally admitted defeat and started reading.

And thank goodness I did, because this book is a triumph.

For those who haven’t watched their videos, Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones, The Map Men, are essentially cartographical nerds who use their platform to uncover the genuinely bizarre, hilarious, and sometimes frustrating stories hidden within maps and borders. Their debut book, This Way Up, translates that unique, witty outlook onto the page flawlessly, which is a rare feat for YouTube-to-book transitions. This isn’t just a compilation of facts; it’s a brilliantly entertaining collection of essays, puzzles, and downright baffling geographic oddities that will make you rethink every time you’ve looked at an atlas. Richard Osman called it ‘Educational, smart and funny’—and he’s absolutely right. It’s the kind of book that makes you burst out laughing and immediately want to share the absurd fact you just learned with whoever is nearest.

Speaking of sharing, let me tell you about the morning I finally decided to take the photos for this post. It was pure chaos, the kind of morning that usually sends me straight back to bed. I was already running ridiculously late for work, but I was determined to get that perfect cover shot. I rushed out the door, only to realize I hadn't eaten a thing and was absolutely not ready to face the workday on an empty stomach. So, I had to stop at McDonald's for their breakfast—priorities, right? Hot chocolate and egg McMuffin not healthy but a girl has to eat.

My partner was not having it that morning, bless him. As I was trying to angle the hardback just right in the less-than-ideal car light, grumbling that the photos “weren't coming out so well,” he was much more focused on me getting to work on time. The gentle, slightly panicked nagging from the passenger seat was a perfect soundtrack to my hurried amateur photography session. It’s funny how life insists on getting in the way of even the simplest creative tasks.

But hey, here are the photos, chaotic start and all. And I think that rush, that slight edge of 'everything's a bit much,' actually reflects the book’s content perfectly. Because geography, as The Map Men prove, isn't neat and tidy; it’s full of ridiculous human decisions, historical accidents, and downright messiness.

So, what is the book actually about?

This Way Up explores everything you never knew you needed to know about the world, structured around incredibly entertaining themes. You'll learn about things like the bizarre history of time zones, the world’s most pointless borders (prepare for your mind to be blown by the intricacies of the Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog boundary), and the incredible stories behind seemingly boring place names.

It’s the anecdotes that truly shine, however. The authors have a knack for finding the hilarious human element in dry government policies and ancient maps. For instance, I was captivated by the sheer absurdity of some of the geopolitical messes they describe—situations so illogical that they couldn’t have been invented. It provides a kind of intellectual satisfaction, the feeling of understanding a massive, global inside joke. The book manages to be accessible enough for casual readers (it's officially recommended for "family fun") while still offering enough depth to satisfy even the most hardened geography aficionado.

If you are a lover of puzzles, general knowledge, or just fantastic storytelling, you should absolutely pick up this book. It’s an instant Sunday Times bestseller and a Waterstones Best Nature & Travel Writing Book 2025 for a reason. It truly lives up to Matt Lucas’s praise that their unique and witty outlook translates brilliantly onto the page.

Have you read This Way Up yet? If not, let me tell you why you should: it’s the perfect antidote to boring non-fiction. It’s educational without ever feeling like homework, and it's so funny you’ll forget you’re learning.

 
The Map Men’s Funniest Stories

If you’re still on the fence about picking this up, let me stop you right there. This book is hilarious, and I’m not just saying that because I’m biased towards nerdy humor. The funny stuff isn't made up; it's pulled straight from the archives of human incompetence, which is, honestly, the best kind of funny.

Here are three of the stories that genuinely made me snort-laugh while reading:

1. The Case of the IKEA Map That Forgot an Entire Country (And it Wasn't the First Time!)

You know how sometimes you’re in IKEA, and you’re absolutely convinced the directions for the BILLY bookcase are written by someone who has a personal grudge against you? Well, it turns out their mapmakers are just as chaotic, but on a global scale.

The Map Men kick off the book with the unbelievably true story of a huge, glossy, decorative world map sold by IKEA. It was beautiful, but there was one massive, embarrassing problem: New Zealand was simply not there. Gone. Vanished. They just... forgot. I’m talking about a country the size of Great Britain, wiped off the face of the cartographical earth by a furniture retailer.

The sheer audacity of the blunder is funny enough, but The Map Men lean into the absurdity of it. It’s not just IKEA! Apparently, New Zealand has been snubbed so many times by mapmakers that it’s become an internet meme. The book reminds you that maps aren't just these infallible documents; they're made by humans who sometimes just accidentally delete a whole nation because, well, it was probably a late Friday afternoon. It makes you realize that when you look at a world map, there's a non-zero chance that some poor map intern just missed a continent-sized blob of land. Whoops!

2. The Border-Crossing Pub Where You Have to Move Your Pint Mid-Sip

Forget your local pub drama—this story is about a border so unbelievably messy, it makes crossing the street feel complicated. This is the tale of Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog, a single town where the border between the Netherlands and Belgium zig-zags through houses, gardens, and, yes, a pub.

The Map Men explain that this isn't a neat, straight line. It's a complicated jigsaw puzzle of tiny little Belgian enclaves sitting inside the Netherlands, which themselves sometimes contain even smaller Dutch counter-enclaves! It's geographic inception.

The funniest part is the practical fallout, particularly for the people running the establishments caught in the crossfire. There’s a pub (The Map Men might talk about it being the A La Frontière cafe) where the official border runs right through the middle of the dining room. Back in the day, if you were sitting on the Belgian side and the Dutch side had stricter closing times, the landlord literally had to ask you to pick up your drink and move two feet over to the Belgian side to finish your pint! Can you imagine? “Sorry mate, the Netherlands is closing, slide over to Belgium so you can keep drinking.” It’s a perfect illustration of how seriously (and ridiculously) people take lines drawn on a map.

3. The Paper Town That Ended Up Sending People on a Real-Life Wild Goose Chase

This story is one of my favorites because it proves that mapmakers sometimes have a wonderfully petty sense of humor. Before digital mapping, cartographers would often secretly add a completely fake, non-existent place to their maps—a “paper town” or “trap street.” They did this because if they ever found their map copied by a rival company, the fake town was proof of plagiarism. Smart, right?

But The Map Men share the hilarious consequence of this trick. A tiny, fictional village named Agloe was placed on a map in upstate New York. Decades later, another map company came along and, seeing this little dot on the map, decided it must be real, so they put it on their map too.

But here’s the kicker: Eventually, someone built a general store at that exact spot, and they literally named it Agloe General Store because they saw the name on the map! The fictional place had become real because of the map error itself! The whole thing snowballed from a made-up copyright trap to a genuine, physical location. It's the ultimate 'life imitates art' moment, except the 'art' was just a grumpy cartographer trying to catch a thief. It perfectly shows how a simple, silly mistake can accidentally reshape reality.

Seriously, those are just three drops in the ocean of hilarious chaos in This Way Up.

Grab a copy, turn it every which way, and prepare to have your understanding of the world completely, and hilariously, upended.

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