From a small northwestern observatory…

My expertise (such that it is) lives in the universe of Finance and Economics, but I tend to specialize in the real estate arena. That means, I spend a lot of time looking at maps. (Somewhat ironically, my main hobbies — flying and boating — also require a lot of map work. Go figure….)

With that in mind, someone sent me a link to a great piece in the Washington Post called 40 Maps That Explain the World. Click on it yourself. The maps are somewhat interactive (you can expand them for detail, and there are cross-post to other articles and explanations). The maps are extremely thought-provoking, and some take a bit of time to fully comprehend.

If THAT wasn’t enough, apparently other writers are starting to compile their own “40 Maps” lists. One of the better ones, albeit somewhat more U.S. centric, comes from the website twistedsifter.com, and is called 40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World. Whether they do or not is still up in the air, but they do make for fun reading.