Libros en Español

The beginning of my recent trip to Mexico was marred by flight delays and cancellations. I ended up stuck in the Indianapolis airport for nearly eight hours, and by the time I reached Dallas I had already finished the several magazines I brought along as reading material. At the Dallas airport I picked up a copy of Carl Hiaasen's latest novel, Nature Girl. Adventure, revenge and humor in the Florida Everglades; I recommend his work for light, fun reading.

That book lasted for a few days in Cuernavaca, but by the time we reached Mexico City, I had to go looking for bookstores. Generally, I cannot visit another city or country without checking out the bookstores anyway... but now I needed something to read, and in English! Most of the new book stores I found had very little in English, but then I found a street full of used book stores, only a few blocks away from the hotel. I was now in librarian/book lover heaven. Eventually I settled on a big fat hardback book, Mexico, by James Michener. The author started this book in 1961, and picked it up and finished it thirty years later. Perhaps he should have left it on the shelf. While, as with most of Michener's work, it is steeped with history, I found the characters thin and clichéd. But worst of all TOO MUCH BULLFIGHTING! More than anything else, the book was about the culture of bullfighting in 1961. It might have made a good chapter. But at least it was something to read, to keep my eyes and hands busy in the evening, or on long bus rides.

Enough about books I'm reading, what does this have to do with maps? While in the several Mexico City new book stores, my eyes were drawn to several book covers that used maps in their design. Two of them are illustrating this post. El Espejo Enterrado (The Buried Mirror) by Carlos Fuentes and Breve Historia del Mundo (Brief History of the World) by Ernest H. Gombrich.

Map lovers can be found around the world. It is a universal language.

What Happened While I Was Gone?

Mrs. Cartophiliac and I are back from our trip to Mexico. We visited Mexico City and several nearby sites, Including Teotihuacan:



I found a handful of map postcards, but not much else in the way of map memorabilia. I'll post a few things in the next few days.

Normally, I like to keep tabs on the news, and of course most of the news I saw was in Spanish, so I wasn't always sure what was going on... however, clearly the two biggest news stories of the last two weeks have been the Olympics and the fighting in the former soviet republic of Georgia. Since returning home I have been doing some catching up... so some of these images may be old news for you...

The New York Times has this terrific Olympic cartogram, that compares the number of medals won per country, at every Olympic Games from 1896 to the present:



Via The Map Room

Also via The Map Room is this embarassing Google News map goof:



Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's The Daily Show makes light the average American's ignorance about World Geography:



"War. God's way of teaching Americans geography."



The Princess Sparkle Pony Blog was more than a little tired of the media's repeated allusion to the Ray Charles song, Georgia on My Mind.



FWIW

I do not find humor in the loss of life in this conflict between Georgia and Russia, but I cannot help but find ironic humor in the silly and ignorant responses to the tragedy.


#238

McGaffin

Steve Brodner having some map fun at the expense of presidential candidate, John McCain, at the New Yorker:



More political map gaff fun...

Squeezing out the last drops

Three recent magazine covers using maps in their design: Scientific American, August 2008, has a cover story on the freshwater crisis. Squeezing out the last drops.

The news-digest magazine, The Week, covers Barack Obama's "celebrity" trek.

Agency Sales magazine has it's head in the clouds on the global marketplace.

#233

The Three Stages of Language Fluency

In The Three Stages of Language Fluency, an article posted on PickTheBrain.com, Steve Kaufmann argues that "billions of dollars are wasted on ineffective language and literacy instruction programs" which ignore what he calls, "the three natural stages in language growth." The key, he says, is "motivation and enjoyment, not a school or a diploma."

I like the illustrations they use for their articles.


Thanks to Hunter for the link!


#225

Map Ads Get Their Point Across

Two recent ads seen in magazines and newspapers:



"The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. Our ultimate aim is to halt global warming. Specifically we are educating people in the US and around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable."

The use of a "word cloud" globe emphasizes how all can be a part of solving the problem of climate change.



You might just have treasure buried somewhere in your home. Do you have old savings bonds? Cash them in! But who would store their old savings bonds in the garage?


#221

Evan Crossing the US

In March of this year, Evan, twenty-three years old, left his home in Northern California and began his walk across the United States. Monday this week we had the pleasure of hosting him for a night here in Dayton, Ohio.

He had many interesting stories to share, and good conversation. We could have gone late into the night, if most of us didn't have to go to work the next day... Some of his adventures are chronicled in his blog: Evans crazy ass adventures crossing the US ect. Unfortunately, his Flagr map stopped working about halfway through Missouri:



From Dayton, he will continue across Ohio to Pennsylvania. His goal is to make it to Massachusetts by the end of the summer.

Ms. Cartophiliac connected with Evan via the Couch Surfing Project, a "worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit." These connections provide opportunities for individuals to find a free "couch" to stay the night while traveling, and maybe make a few new friends along the way.

Each dot on this map shows locations where couch surfers might be able to find a friendly sofa:



Evan has used this network to connect with Couch-Hosts from Europe to China. After he is done with this trip, he says he's off to Japan. Good luck on your trek, Evan. May your feet find soft highways...


#208

FreePoverty

Test your geographical knowledge and help impoverished persons get water...

Yet another one of those "click on this and help a charity" sites (see The Hunger Site and Free Rice). They say that these sites are legit and contribute to the needy. In the case of FreePoverty.com, regardless of how much goes to charity, it is a fun quiz:



You're on the clock. Locate world cities and landmarks. The closer you get to the answer, the more cups of water donated.

Can you beat my score?

Via GeoLounge


#199

Firfox 3.0

Firefox 3.0 is now available for download, and the folks at Mozilla are trying to set a world record for the number of downloads in one day.

I tried once and timed out... I'll try again. But here is a map showing how many downloads so far around the world:




#198

The World On Your Plate

Musician, Mike Doughty, recently visited Salamanca, Spain. Presumably in the airport, he took a photo of this tasty looking map:



A Map of the World Made from Grilled Meat.

I've never come across this artist before, but I kind of like his music. I'll have to check him out.

Thanks for Michael5000 for the tip.

#197

Montana: Top of the Continent

Tuesday is one of the two final two stops on the Democratic Presidential Primary tour, Montana, "Big Sky Country." Here are my two Montana postcards:



South Dakota is also voting on Tuesday, and Puerto Rico voted on Sunday... but I don't have postcards from those places (perhaps you can do something about that...).



While reading about Montana, I was intrigued by an interesting feature of Glacier National Park in that state. Triple Divide Peak, a mountain in the park, is effectively the apex of the North American continent. The mountain sends waters towards the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean via the Hudson Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean via the Gulf of Mexico. The peak of that mountain "tri-sects" the continent.



Ocean drainage basins provide another interesting way to draw borders around the world.

Cows of the World, Unite!

In honor of May Day



Image created by John Rieger

Nothing to do with maps, but my favorite book about cows: Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin.

When Farmer Brown refuses to comply with the their demands, the cows take action...




Thanks to Hunter for sending the cow map

Do you want cement shoes with that?

Illustration in Salon.com today:

Criminals of the world, unite and take over, by Laura Miller

The article reviews McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by Misha Glenny, which provides "a startling tour of the new international underworld, documenting the hidden costs of an unregulated global free market."

Bullet holes the world over are the result.

Suffix Map

In the intersection between map nerds and language nerds... we find a map of adjectival forms of place names, from Language Log.

"The thought occurred to me - wouldn’t it be neat to have a map of the world, coloured in by which ending is used to describe its people?"



Who doesn't have thoughts like that?



Via The Stumblng Tumblr

Bubblegum World

More map art. A bubblegum world... Better or worse than an Absolut World?

Bubblegumization, by Mike Estabrook. "Bubblegum and Wrappers on Canvas 2003. 60 X 84 in. This is a world map made entirely out of bubblegum and their wrappers. It is a pun on the globalizing of consumerist culture."

More of his work can bee seen at ArtCodex and re-title.com.

Life, the Universe, and Your Own Private Island Paradise

A couple weeks ago I posted about "The World" real estate development in Dubai. Apparently, the folks in Dubai are not stopping with "the world"... next stop, "The Universe":



What you see in the photo above is just the beginning. "The Universe will feature man-made islands built in the shape of the Sun and the Moon, with a string of planets in between." The project will take 15 to 20 years for completion.

If you cannot wait, here are the Top 10 Man-Made Island Paradises from International Listings.

Zoran Island is planned for Phuket, Thailand. Finally! A place where I can park my superyacht!



Or, if you prefer the romance of Venice, without leaving the United States, there are these new Venetian Islands, near Miami. Not sure if there are any singing gondoleers, but these islands have been under construction since 1922, and if you are ready to own one, I'm sure they can dredge something up.

Dubai Island World

The Persian Gulf city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has created map of the world from an archipelago of 300 artificial islands. This $14 billion project is the world's largest land reclamation effort.



Dubbed "The World", the real estate devolopers are apparently selling these islands to the wealthy for homes and apartments. However, environmentalists complain that this project is damaging coral reefs and oyster beds.

Canary Islands

I have recently begun trading postcards with other map postcard collectors. The first three cards below are from Héctor, a resident of the Canary Islands, an "Autonomous Community" of Spain, consisting of seven islands.



Contrary to popular belief, the islands were not named after the avian canary. Instead the name comes from the breed of large fierce dogs, the Canary Mastiff (in Spanish, el Presa Canario) that were already present when the ancient Romans established contact with the islands by the sea. The Latin word for dog is canis. The breed of birds were named after the islands...



The economy is based primarily on tourism, which makes up 32% of the GDP. The Canaries receive about 10 million tourists per year. Who wouldn't want to vacation under such a friendly looking sun?



Héctor has begun publishing his own blog, Colección de MAPAS en tarjetas postales, to highlight the map postcards from his own collection. The text is in Spanish, but the images of the map postcards are always interesting.

When I first began correspondence with Héctor I said that I did not have any map postcards from the Canary Islands, but after more searching I rediscovered these two cards that were sent to me by some British friends who like to spend their holidays there:

• According to Tim Ashkar, the women of the islands are mermaids. I find the story a little fishy.


• Christopher Columbus stopped at the Canaries on his way to re-discover the New World in 1492.


• The cuisine of Canary Islands combines traditional Spanish recipes with african and latin-american influences.


• In 1936, Francisco Franco was appointed General Commandant of the Canaries. He joined the military revolt of July 17 which began the Spanish Civil War.

Transit Maps of the World

I've been waiting for months, and I finally got my hands on a copy of Transit Maps: The World's First Collection of Every Urban Train Map on Earth, by Mark Ovenden. This work is a comprehensive collection of historic and current maps of every rapid-transit system on earth. With all of its colorful graphics, it makes a beautiful coffee-table book for travel and graphic design enthusiasts.

Major cities all over the globe are included. Here is an example from Tokyo:



Also included, this fanciful map of a world united by a single transit system:



The history of the London Underground can be charted by the succession of user maps that were produced through the last century:



From my collection, two postcards of the London Underground showing some growth of the extended lines:

1985	circa 1995

Below are the other two transit map postcards from my collection:



Trade offers for for additional transit map postcards are always welcome.

For additional fun with transit maps, see my earlier post.

Finally, this transit map representation of Eustace Tilley. This map was one of the winners in a contest where artists were invited to create new versions of the mascot of the New Yorker Magazine.

“Eustace Tilley Subway”, by Alberto Forero, Minneapolis, Minnesota

World Shirt

I spent some time yesterday photographing and scanning a variety of items from my map memorabilia and ephemera. In my collection I have several T-shirts with maps on them. I'll start with antique maps of the world.



If only Columbus, Magellan and de Gama had shirt like these... Exploration would be a piece of cake.

Paula Scher: The Maps

As I have commented several times, maps are more than "a how to get there guide". Maps as an element of design can be used to evoke an emotional response. When artists use maps as a theme in their work, I always want to take a closer look.

The Maya Stendhal Gallery in New York frequently features the work of Paula Scher.

"Renowned graphic designer Paula Scher [creates] intricate, colorful and obsessively detailed maps of different regions of the world."

World 1998
77" x 56.5"
Acrylic on canvas

The Smallest World Atlas

Ms. Cartophiliac is currently reading Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures, by Anne c. Bromer and Julian I. Edison. She showed me this teeny tiny smallest world atlas:



Atlas of the British Empire
London: Edward Stanford, c.1928. 2 x 1½"
The smallest world atlas, reproduced from Queen Mary's Doll's House Library at Windsor Castle.
Twelve double-page colored maps.

Library of Congress presents the Map that Named America

This week the Library of Congress will begin offering access to their materials in new and interactive ways:

Library of Congress Exhibition Begins Transformation of Public Spaces Through Merger of Knowledge, Technology

“Exploring the Early Americas” Presents Kislak Items, Map That Named America

A new exhibition opening Dec. 13 marks the beginning of a months-long transformation of public spaces in the Library of Congress’s Thomas Jefferson Building into an experience for visitors that merges cutting-edge technology with the knowledge and inspiration embodied in the Library’s unparalleled collections and curators.

"Exploring the Early Americas," which features items from the Jay I. Kislak Collection and Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 World Map—the first document of any kind to use the word "America"—focuses on the history and legacies of the Americas and the impact of European contact, culture and conquest.

The Waldseemüller Map:



See a preview of "Exploring the Early Americas," visit for an interactive Flash copy of "Buccaneers of America," (pirate illustrations and all!) in addition to a Flash tour of the Tortuguero Box – complete with Mayan translations of the box’s images.

A map of Panama from "Buccaneers of America":

Lilly: The World Map Master Baby Genius

23-month-old knows 80 countries on a map of the world!



From the orignal YouTube poster:

Lilly is my niece. She was 23 months old when this was done in August 2007 in her parents small one bedroom apartment. She now knows over 80 countries. Yes, we know that Tasmania is not a country everyone. It's still a fun place to know.
She knows better geography than a 5th grader. She has been doing this for about 8 months. She is one funny niece. If you think that this is cruel and unusual, get a life.

Cruel and unusual? Hey it beats, "What does a cow say?"

Who is reading Cartophilia?

Since I began this blog in September, I have enjoyed watching the visitor stats I get from StatCounter (see the little green counter at the bottom of the right-hand column on this page). In addtion to telling me how many visitors I get, it also tells me, based on IP address, where they are coming from, and the search terms they used to get here. It even offers a Google map, like this one:



I wonder who it might be, floating in the South Atlantic, off the coast of Africa, at zero degrees by zero degrees... could it be Colonel Bleep?

A special thanks to The Map Room, Gadling.com, The Electoral Map, and Diary of a Booklover for linking to this blog recently, thus steering new visitors my way.

I am enjoying writing this blog. I have mounds of material yet to share. All it takes is time. I hope you are also enjoying your visit(s). The only thing missing is a dialog with my readers. PLEASE feel free to comment on any post that catches your fancy.

Thanks!