Tag: atlas-obscura • BookLikes

review 2018-12-28 01:12

The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid

The information inside this non-fiction children’s book was very interesting and it made me want to pack my bags and hop on an airplane. I would love to go see the Capuchin Catacombs in Italy and Ho Thuy Tien Water Park in Vietnam, they both sound like great destinations. The book provides just enough information to intrigue my interest in each of the destinations as I travel around the globe. This was such a fun and educational read.

Each two-page spread features a region where two unique, places are highlighted. With 50 regions, you get 100 different places to explore that are described in a few paragraphs. There is Kolmanskop, The Odyssey Shipwreck and Skeleton Lake, just to name a few, there is bound to be a destination for everyone. I was intrigued with all these unique places around the globe. With a terrific index and glossary, it’s easy to find what you are looking for.

This book is filled with 50 different destinations across the globe. Since this is a children’s book, I can’t see children using this to plan a trip unless they live close to the destination that they chose. So, the “100 extraordinary places to visit” that was written on the front of the cover was hard to believe for this children’s book. I also was disappointed in the illustrations. After all the work the author did to find such great locations, I would have thought the illustrations would have been more life-like. They would have added more to the excitement of the destination than the illustrations that did make its way to the book’s pages.

This book provided entertaining and fun information that I really enjoyed but the illustrations were a disappointment for me. I think older children will enjoy reading about these destinations, as will adults but to plan a trip, children will have to “dream” while adults might actually be able to pack their bags. It’s a book worth looking into.

text 2016-06-05 16:16

Monster-Spotting on a 16th Century Map

Grey Warden — feeling cool

(reblogged from Nicholas Rossis)

Continuing my infatuation with maps, I came across this fine 16th-century example of a cartographer’s imagination running wild in an excellent post by Urvija Banerji of Atlas Obscura.

The creatures depicted on land in the 16th-century Carta Marina are not particularly unusual: the map’s lands contain knights on horseback, wild boars and bears climbing trees. The west side of the map, however, shows a much more fanciful plethora of wildlife. Cartographer Olaus Magnus created the Carta Marina above while staying in Rome, between the years 1527 and 1539.

However, Magnus was originally from Sweden and chose to depict the Nordic countries in his map. The Carta Marina was one of the most precise depictions of any part of Europe at the time. Which is more than can be said about its portrayal of the oceans. As you can see, the northern seas are filled to the brim with all kinds of aquatic monsters. Some maps of the era depicted dragons to metaphorically indicate uncertainties or dangers in a region.

But the Carta Marina’s mythological sea creatures were thought to really exist at the time Magnus drew them. He even identified each creature in the map’s key. You can take a closer look at some of them below.

Unsuspecting sailors cook a meal on a sea monster off the coast of Iceland.

Magnus described this creature as a whale whose skin resembled the sand on a seashore. An English ship is depicted as having laid anchor on the whale, and two unwitting sailors are cooking a meal on its rump.

Sailors attempt to scare away attacking sea monsters with frightening sounds and empty barrels.

Read the rest of the post here.

Medieval Cartography monsters Superstition nicholas rossis atlas obscura urvija banerji