By Jack Simony
The book Cartographia is worth a mention here -- it is a magnificent collection of maps spanning both history and the globe. What makes this book a marvel is that in it, Vincent Virga shows us how maps are wide windows into their civilizations -- they show us how their makers viewed themselves in the contexts of their nations, their nations in the larger world, and humankind and our planet in the cosmos. The maps in this remarkable book show an emergence of our sense of geography and even our understanding of science over time. They show us how they could be used to bend truth as well as to point it out in all its starkness. This is a multifaceted and multilayered book that one could lose oneself in, and return to time and again. It tells myriad stories, and they all inform us about ourselves today:
http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/history/fr/cartographia.htm
Need I say that I'm a fan? -By Jack Simony
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