<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bevcc:
[B]Can someone recommend maps, books, or a web site which I can use to identify rivers, lakes, cities that I am flying over at any given moment as I am flying (maybe a little history thrown in too)? Topography is more important, but towns, cities, and highway information would be useful too.[B]</font>
I love taking my handheld GPS on the plane with me. Hold it up to the window and you'll get a decent reading -- it will tell you all sorts of fun information about where you are, how fast the plane is travelling, altitude, and you can measure distance and travel times between airports.
Download a map onto the GPS (I use the Topo USA maps) and you'll be able to see any interesting things nearby -- so you'll know that looking out the window is southwest and southwest 10 miles is a certain landmark. Really addictive!
The only problem is being able to fit enough map information into the GPS!