Mapping Manhattan

What if New York were a blank slate, and you could map it out the way you imagined it to be? That's what author Becky Cooper attempts to do with her new book Mapping Manhattan: A Love (and Sometimes Hate) Story in Maps by 75 New Yorkers. I first heard about the book when I saw postcards for it in Ted and Honey—my new, go-to neighborhood spot, and where Becky apparently works.

The book is an inspired idea. In 2009, Becky passed out hundreds of hand-drawn maps of NYC and asked the strangers she gave them to for one thing: To fill out the map with whatever best captures your experience in New York. A month later—and flooded with mail—Becky got exactly what she wanted: Beautiful self-portraits of New Yorkers providing their own artful definitions of the city they call home.

This past weekend, the New York Times' Sunday Magazine wrote about the book and reprinted a few of the maps featured in the book. I love this one, called "Met My Wife", and this one, which captures the geography of significant moments in one man's life.

Have you ever thought about how you would define the place you live? How would you do it?

(Images via The New York Times)