Judgmental Maps: Your City. Judged.

I bought it just for Las Vegas, so that colors my review. Other than that - it is pretty funny.

So effectively offensive, my friend got suspended from work for posting one of these maps in slack. She thought she was helping co-workers navigate a new city, but she probably should have kept it in her back pocket or looped them in privately.This oddly educational coffee table book will attract all of your guests who’ve ever lived anywhere in the contiguous US besides Fargo, North Dakota. Great for parties of transplants, and allegedly on a top funniest books of all time list somewhere. Also doubles as a great coaster for your coffee.In all honesty everyone needs this book. I read it cover to cover (even the acknowledgements that I’m not in), and I found joy on every page…even though I’ll never go to most of these dreadful places.TLDRI was honesty wondering where to find a good bikram orgy, and the aggressive turkeys of Berkeley sound delightful.

I recently bought this book because of the overwhelming peer pressure I received from my friends. A bunch of people who had left my company a while ago bought it (probably for the same reasons I did) and posted selfies on Facebook looking really depressed while holding it next to their faces. After they started tagging me, I figured that I had to purchase it or continue to get an annoying number of notifications from the app.Overall, the book is pretty good. Sure, the author couldn’t be bothered to write a description for South San Francisco Bay, but who gives a s***? I’m not sure I could describe San Francisco with actually words anyway. Also, the author is wearing a suit in his picture on the back cover. What the hell is that about? Aren’t “comedians” (they also forgot the “” in his description around that word) supposed to look the part? It was a visually ironic choice that I can’t get over. He looks like he just found out he got a participation award for getting the book published.As for the content on the book, there were some things he really got right on the button. These include San Antonio inventing the Breakfast Taco, the Alamo being forgettable, the “angry commuters” in Manhattan, and the “toothless dirtbikers” in Miami.There are also somethings that are off. The “cheap hookers” mentioned in Seattle have vanished because of the $15 minimum wage, Los Angeles has three places with “celebrities” right next to “d-bags on cocaine” (just super redundant there), and I’m pretty sure that Burlington, VT doesn’t even exist.In the end, if you have $15.40, then it’s worth the purchase. You’ll have some laughs, you’ll have moments where you nod your head in agreement, and you’ll even have a handy guide for where to book your next AirBnB if you want easy access to the 1%, meth, hookers, or hot wives in yoga pants.

"Judgmental Maps" is a very pointed, impolite, and most importantly, funny book on regional quirks in US cities and states. To say the book is politically incorrect is an understatement, and I mean that as a high compliment. A look at my hometown of Charlotte, NC reveals the area I grew up in to be "hipsters", "heroin", "shady car dealerships", and simply "don't go here after dark". Far from being offended, I laughed out loud when I saw that as there's more than a modicum of truth to what he says (though it wasn't that way when I grew up there). A quick look at my current locale in the Minneapolis metropolitan area reveals that I live near "girls named Kelly" and "VW Golf drivers", both of which also have merit. If you can't laugh at yourself this is probably not the book for you. It skewers everyone with the same aplomb and is highly recommended. I gave it four instead of five stars on a technicality because the contrast between the font and the background is frequently difficult to read, and I didn't want to miss any of the disrespectful generalizations Trent Gillaspie makes in this atlas with a difference.

Bought this as a gift for a family member who loves cartology. He loved the book. Everyone gathered around as soon as he opened it to see see if their own geographical area was in it. It is humorous in areas and everyone got a kick out of browsing through it.

Yes it can. Somehow simultaneous hilarious but important, Judgmental Maps will quickly have you thumbing through to your home town and silently nodding at agreement. The format consists of city-scale maps scattered liberally with two or three-words bites that capture the mood of an area perfectly - "Old Money", "Crappy Apartments" and "Traffic Nightmares" are mixed with "Poor People", "Old Democrats" and "Hoochie Mamas" like road signs with Tourettes.It's hard to know whether this should be compulsory coffee table material or if we should simply federally mandate distribution by realtors. The information in the book confirms your inner suspicions about where you live and provides an essential insight into any place you thought you wanted to go. I can only speak knowledgeably about the places I have lived in the US - San Antonio, Austin, San Francisco and New York City - but the startling accuracy leads me to believe it it can give you a two-year head-start on any metropolitan area.Hopefully this concept gets expended to other countries, restaurants, cars and clothing brands.