Strange Maps — July 23, 2010

A Colour Map of Utopia

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at”

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at”, said Oscar Wilde (in his 1891 essay ‘The Soul of Man Under Socialism’).

‘Utopia’ is a Greek neologism invented by the author of the eponymous satire, Thomas More, and can be translated as ‘Nowhere’. Its perfect (but fictitious) society was meant to contrast with, and consequently be a criticism of, contemporary society in early 16th century Europe.

This picture was taken from one of the first editions of the book, which is published online at the Bibliotheca Augustana, an interesting repository of Latin texts, stretching from well before Christ to the 20th century. Unfortunately, despite the lovely colours, the gothic lettering makes the text labels in this map unreadable…

Strange Maps #51

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a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Strange Maps

49 – Czechoslovakia Threatens Germany (1934)

Another propaganda map dating from just before World War II, but this time from the Nazi-German side. One of the first victims of fascist agression was Czechoslovakia, dismembered at the […]