Friday Links, December 29, 2017

Perhaps it's too late to put this advice into practice this year, but one shouldn't force books as gifts upon people who really don't want them. "I always feel a vague disquiet when I’m confronted by assertions from avid readers, generally on social media, that those who don’t read books are in some way inferior, or if they’re feeling charitable, to be pitied…. Books expand our minds and give us a greater understanding of the world around us; yet, a lot of readers persist in looking down on those who don’t read."

An Italian world map from 1587 is far more accurately detailed than one might think, in spite of the rocs and mermen. "When georeferenced and then laid out in a more familiar map shape, various distortions of the world can be seen, as well as some familiar and fairly accurate shapes. Antarctica is extremely prominent on Monte's map, which ‘gave him a vast area to indulge in all the speculations about Antarctica that proliferated in geographical descriptions in the 16th century’, according to David Rumsey Cartography associates."

Should journalists focus more on positive stories and opposing cynicism? "Normal journalism seemed inane and simpleminded — glorified stenography about glorified gossip, transitory and meaningless, shallow and superficial, appallingly bereft of perspective and depth."