If you love maps as much as we do, the 13th book by author Rebecca Solnit‘ (of Wanderlust fame) will make you swoon. Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, out today, is a collection of 22 magnificent maps brimming with full-color whimsy that reveal the city in an entirely new light.

The result of collaboration between 27 writers, cartographers, designers, artists and researchers, the book is an absolute treat regardless of your relationship, or lack thereof, with San Francisco.

The maps, beautiful and often provocative in theme, are accompanied by 18 thoughtful essays that contextualize the geography depicted in insightful and unexpected ways to reveal a hidden city of thriving subcultures, political and commercial dynamics, and cross-cultural relations.

I wanted to make maps gorgeous, seductive, delicious, and beautiful again. Cartography used to be both an art and a science. I wanted to return to that.” ~ Rebecca Solnit

If you call San Francisco home, the book will fill your heart and tickle your brain. If you don’t, you’ll want to visit. But, above all, Infinite City will give you a broader awareness of cities as living organisms and complex ecosystems of art, culture, commerce and politics that exist in multiple, layered realities.

via 7×7 HT @kvox