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The blog Strange Maps has only been around for a year. But what a year it's been. In the 365 days since it first appeared, it has attracted an enthusiastic readership (us included). It now draws dozens, if not hundreds, of comments for each post. And its consistent unearthing of the most obscure, eyebrow-raising, and whimsical diagrams has left no doubt how intimately maps reflect the way we look at our world.

When we contacted the mastermind behind Strange Maps, he agreed to tell us why he's remained anonymous, how he fell in love with cartography, and what some of his most favorite geographic diagrams are...

You don't include your name or any biographical information anywhere on the site (or not that we saw!). Is that for privacy reasons?

My name isn't on the site—nothing wrong with your eyes! It wasn't a conscious decision at first, but I've come to like the anonymity. For two reasons, one more frivolous than the other: It helps me deflect accusations of geographical and cultural bias ("Ah, but you would say that about country X, seeing you are from country Y."), and it provides me with a Secret Identity to slip in to after my mundane day job… which is a cool thing to have, even if this particular Secret Identity doesn't come with the power of flight, or even a nice suit.

Have you always been besotted by cartography?

As long as I can remember and maybe before I was able to read "proper" books, I've been crazy about maps and atlases. I can completely relate to those 19th-century explorers who were drawn to Africa because of the blank spaces in their school atlas. Not that there were many blank spaces left when I was a kid, but I could spend hours poring over place-names, border lines, and mountain ranges from Kamchatka to Tierra del Fuego. And given half a chance, I still do.

I can't really explain why this is, other than the somewhat grandiose statement that an atlas can be a road map for the imagination. In any case, a lot of the feedback I get on Strange Maps is from people who, like me, have had a fascination for maps since they were kids, which shows that it's not as isolated an affliction as I once thought it to be.  Read the full profile...