Best products from r/MapPorn

I studied it in college. My school had a whole Geography Department.

I didn't go to school for it originally, I found my way there via agriculture and forestry (both use a lot of geographic information systems (GIS)), but since then have done a lot with it.

If you want to learn the basics of geography, I can recommend this book, I view it as the authority on cartography.

Cartography is a science all its own, it's the marriage of design and geography. The mission is to convey information to the reader. It really is a mix of art and science. If you are interested in cartography, you GOTTA read this book.

Any real cartography nerd is also a design nerd, and if they're anything like me, could teach a college course on, say, how typefaces affect a reader's mood. Most great cartographers are also students of graphic design, because, that's a big part of the job. Designers want things to either A) accomplish something specific or B) just plain look beautiful. These are the same charges of the cartographer. I'd love to go on and on about good carto vs. bad; but it would take a decade.

If you want to get into GIS, the software most people use to make maps, and the software I use now as a goespatial analytics pro to do a whole lot more than making maps, I'd recommend using this amazing free online textbook and starting out with a program called Quantum GIS, commonly referred to as QGIS. QGIS runs on PC, Mac, and Linux, it's open source and free, plus that course / textbook is customized for it, and it's highly extensible and flexible.

The industry standard is a program called ArcGIS, which can be had for as little as $100 / year for home use.

If you have any follow up questions, I'm super glad to hear them and answer. Geography is a passion of mine.

One bit of advice: I recommend learning the fundamentals of geography with a beginner's mind - don't approach it like you already learned all you need to know about it in kindergarten. It's a science just like anything else, with a lot of the iceberg below the surface of the water. It also coincidentally shares a name with what most people call memorizing state capitals. Approach it like it's called neural hyperbiomechanics or something; meaning, something you don't think you learned when you were 6.

>The Civil War in the Horn of Africa & My Itinerary for a Peaceful Lover The Kaleidoscopic Lover is a fictional novel, which is translating endangered love in civil war country where it's impossible to see or meet your lover due to well-founded of persecution on account of race or firing weapons, which you can't understand why and who they're firing to. It's very terrible to act a good lover in civil war country, you must be a kaleidoscopic lover because you can easily be a love survivor if you're living in disobedient environment of anarchic civil war, and tribalism dominates the living conditions and areas where you don't have close family members or other methods of self-defense. It forced me to travel from one country acting as the King of the Kaleidoscopic Lovers in the world, and if you read this fictional romantic novel of the Kaleidoscopic Lover then you'll know more about risky lovers for true romance in civil war or war-torn countries, which has never been discovered by renowned novelists around the world. It's freaky and very funny experiences in love!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kaleidoscopic-Lover-Itinerary-Peaceful/dp/1452004633/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1368367498&sr=8-5&keywords=Badal+Kariye

Hello, everybody. hope all is good with you.

Here in Brazil, not all is good, as you can see by the picture. to tell the truth, as I write this comment, it may be worse, unfortunately.

I see a lot of pictures in other subs - all you can is look after them. It looks like Reddit is doing a great job on last days, people really cares about what is happening right now in the forest in Brazil... but in fact, the fires is not only happening in the forest, but also in other places, like the Cerrado. And, truth to be told, it happens because it is winter down here, which means it is really dry and hot. If we could make a comparison, it would be like fires in California: it happens every year.

But, of course, something is different this season. A lot different. If you stop by in r/pics you can see some examples on whats going on, for example.here,https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/ctncmh/dear_brazilians_try_everything_to_stop_bolsonaro/ you can see one of reasons of why forest is being burned. The fact it is being happening for a long time, if you ask me, but the recent elected President has an agenda which empower farmers to set fire, not only on their properties (https://twitter.com/euchsouza/status/1163607266328809473?s=12), which may get out of control, everywhere.

The ashes from this are so much, the wind brought them to the biggest city in Brazil, a few days ago. Most are not familiar with the patterns of winds from them Amazon and the cold from the South, and how the weather is in this part of the Globe is, but the important message is - please take a look at the color of the water on this video (around 30 seconds): https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2019/08/20/analises-confirmam-presenca-de-particulas-de-queimadas-maior-do-que-o-normal-em-agua-de-chuva-preta-de-sp.ghtml

Safe to say, it is going to affect other countries, if it continues. Temperature will rise within years, to say the least.

Globally.

I also read, "what can I do"? Well, as in any Democratic Country, I believe, you can reach your Representative, either in Congress or Parliament.

It is also true, once again, most of the Amazon is in Brazil - but not entirely. Part of it is in other countries in South America, and if other fellow South Americans are reading this, it deeply concerns you: what is happening in Brazil, right now, might endanger you, your family, and your country. You should also take action, now: spread the word, let your Government and the Media know what the situation is. If your country depends on the water from the Amazon river or any of its streams, it is time to move on, Hermano.

So, as you all can see, it is not just a Brazilian problem.

It is a Global problem, happening, right now, in Brazil.

And, all of us, have to do something, locally.

NOW.

So, please, spread this message.

Thanks.

The book Monatillou has a chapter on Time and Space-- which discusses how the peasants, clergy, shepherds and craftspeople measured their day, year, life and history--

SMITHSONIAN:
>Montaillou is a tiny quiet village in the roughest and most inaccessible part of the backward out-of-the-way Ariège department in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The village has existed since at least the time of Charlemagne, but it has never played any part in history, never been on any beaten track, never had a famous son, and its contribution to the national economy has always been close to zero. "The end of the earth," one of its older inhabitants calls it, with a certain affection....

>a source of pure joy to modern historians and readers....For they come as near as anything can to satisfying the curiosity at the heart of our interest in history: what was life really like in the old days? What did people do all their livelong days, what did they talk about, what did they think about?... The track led back and forth through the whole physical, economic, emotional, spiritual life of Montaillou.

The King's Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route that Made America, by Eric Jaffe (Scribner, 2013)

It includes, as a very necessary component, a pretty good history of the Colonial period of Greater Southern New England, including the assembly of modern Connecticut out of its original three constituent colonies and the relations between them (of particular interest to me as a Nutmegger), the Indian wars of the period, the transition from New Amsterdam to New York and the important role it played in the highway, and much more. It does a very good job of explaining what it was like to travel this area in the early 17th Century, when most of it was Native villages and wilderness in between, with only a sprinkling of European settlements. And yes, it includes some really fascinating maps, too.

Here you go: http://www.amazon.com/The-Island-Center-World-Manhattan/dp/1400078679

It's a fun read, although occasionally a bit too speculative.

Edit: Oh, and Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan is really speculative, but also brilliant and fantastic. One of my favorite books of all time.

Great map, one of the best I've seen.

You may enjoy this book: American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029

I'll advocate for one small change to the map, New York City and the Hudson Valley should be its own thing. Call it New Amsterdam or New Netherlands. This would range from Brooklyn (excluding Long Island) and up the east side of the Hudson River to Albany.

Installing blinds in a rental apartment can be a hassle, but I laugh in the face of 4 am sunrises since I got these. Well, actually I sleep comfortably, but you get the drift.

Far more interesting, well-researched, and meaningful:

http://difficultrun.nathanielgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/2013-11-15-The-American-Nations.jpg

Source: http://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408846175&sr=1-1&keywords=american+nations

The book's a great read as well

If anyone is interested about the history of the Oregon Trail, as well as how much of it has been preserved today, I highly recommend checking out The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck. It is a fascinating read and I learned a lot more about the trail than I had known before.

Control of Nature by John McPhee has a great chapter on that project specifically as well as all of the levees and other river control schemes that take place on the Mississippi. It is a fascinating read.

There's a great book by Kansas author William Least Heat Moon called "River Horse" where he takes his boat Nikawa from the Atlantic Ocean at NYC to the Pacific at Portland Oregon via America's lakes and rivers. All told he has the boat on a trailer for something like 28 miles. They use a canoe and a jet boat at parts, but 90% of the journey is aboard Nikawa ('River Horse') through America's rivers. Great read. http://www.amazon.com/River-Horse-Logbook-Boat-Across-America/dp/0140298606 Sorry for not formatting the link I'm late for my bus

You are asking me to condense Early Modern History to a comment on Reddit? Uhh, no. But you can read a book if you are interested!

Try After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000

Great read, with a new Global perspective on the rise and fall of Empires.

If you want to continue, you should then dive into the arbitrary/flexible notion of the Empire and read The Comanche Empire

Good stuff.

I highly encourage anyone who sees this to read "The Nine Nations of North America" by Joel Garreau. Its a bit dated now (35 years old), but its a fascinating look at the differences that have shaped our regional cultures.

A more modern take on this would be "American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America" by Colin Woodard. I haven't actually read this one yet, but it seems to be the progression of the work that Garreau laid out.

For those interested in the subject, this book: The Big Roads is a great read

If you like xkcd, you might also want to check out his book "What If?"

Not very long, but a very fun read. It's a longform format of the other half of his site: https://what-if.xkcd.com/

So people can get confused with the "super intuitive" fractions of an inch, or how there are 16 oz. in a lb, or how you need construction calculators for professionals and DIY, that are unheard of in any other part of the world.

​

If the Imperial System is SOO superior, why do you need those calculators?

​

https://www.amazon.com/Calculated-Industries-4065-Construction-Feet-inch-Fraction/dp/B0007Q3RGQ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3S7JRNN0WVICU&keywords=construction+calculator&qid=1557439272&s=gateway&sprefix=construction+calc%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-3

A really nice, much prettier, redrawing of this, by the same illustrator, from the inside of the dust jacket of his new book (it's really good):

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_original/875328566035019154.jpg

The book: http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994

I used to have this map on my bedroom wall when I was a kid, probably back in the late 70s but might've been the early 80s... The nostalgia is strong.

OP, where did you find the image? I'd like to get another print copy of this for my kids if I can.

e: Found the same map, in folding form, on Amazon. Not quite the same color palette, though it may be that OPs image is just time worn.

>Was being a "stateless" person just as simple as not paying your taxes, and hiding when the taxman rode through once a year?

It's more complex than that. There are many strategies which stateless people have adopted over time in order to avoid state rule.

One is to engage in subsistence methods which are difficult to appropriate to state needs. If a community relies on a diverse array of foods which come into season all at different times or - even worse from the state's POV - can be left underground for a few years and dug up and eaten as needed, the taxman will need to do a hell of a lot more to extract taxes than roll through once a year. It would require a tremendous effort to make sense of and quantify all of the labor that is going on, much less extract a portion of it.

This is why early states typically promote mono-cultures. Mono-cultures transform the product of a community’s labor into a form which comes into season all at the same time in vast fields. This makes it easy to quantify and appropriate to state use in the form of taxes. An added benefit is that individuals who are stationary, as when rendered dependent upon monolithic agricultural projects, are generally easier to govern. Such states typically rely on slavery in order to get started. The Great Wall was built to keep individuals from fleeing state servitude just as much as to keep "barbarians" out.

There's a fascinating book called The Art of Not Being Governed which describes this and a number of other state evading techniques which communities have adopted in the past. Although written mostly about Southeast Asia, it provides an amazing model for understanding stateless (and state) societies in general. You can also watch a short video of the author, James Scott, going over many of the ideas in his book here.

I meant more to the Jews in Spain, they were very intolerant of them, and they were big backers of the Ummayad invasion of Spain.

This should give you some more information on the matter.

A good source book is A Muslim History of Spain and Portugal, good read, and goes into detail about the Visigoths, before the Muslim invasion.

American Nations, by Colin Woodard. It's a good book, with a fascinating take on why, e.g., people in New England and the Pacific Northwest are liberal and why people in Appalachia hate the government. He basically boils it all down to the reasons why the white people who settled those places left their respective European homelands, and how those attitudes persist to this day.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

buy the book.

---

^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

Yup, I know South Carolina held out for a reallllly long time.

EDIT: Also, there's a book called The Big Roads which is a great look at building the system.

How to lie with maps, great book
https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Maps-Mark-Monmonier/dp/0226534219 actually after reading this book, I'm more aware of how to visualize data more objectively

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey is a great book about traveling the Oregon Trail via covered wagon in the modern era.

Dude, there are entire books on this subject

https://www.amazon.com/Destruction-Bison-Environmental-1750-1920-Environment/dp/0521003482/ref=nodl_

William Tecumseh Sherman has several quotes about encouraging the slaughter of buffalo that are extremely easy to look up.

Saying that Natives are responsable for the mass slaughter of bison is completely ludicrous.

I presented a book myself, but apparently that doesn't count?

>https://www.amazon.com/Destruction-Bison-Environmental-1750-1920-Environment/dp/0521003482/ref=nodl_

Are you kidding me? That's the book I sent and it doesn't say anything about that.

>William Tecumseh Sherman has several quotes about encouraging the slaughter of buffalo that are extremely easy to look up.

Again this man entered the scene when the hunting by European settlers was already quite underway.

>Saying that Natives are responsable for the mass slaughter of bison is completely ludicrous.

Not wholly, just in part, you know the meaning of nuance, right? The book you sent said the same, that the Natives implementation of horses and new guns allowed them to hunt more, partially supplementing the problem of overhunting.

Map reminds of a book I read and enjoyed last year:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029

If you want to learn more about 1550's - 1700's Dutch Manhattan, this book is one of the most interesting books I have ever read.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Island-Center-World-Manhattan/dp/1400078679/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406703358&sr=8-1&keywords=island+at+the+center+of+the+world

Colin Woodard did this, then wrote a book on the whole thing. It's called American Nations and it's a very good read.

Check out The Art of Not being Governed by James C. Scott. He argues that the highlands of South-East Asia are the last places on earth that are not a part of modern nation-states. Also just a great geo-political history of SE Asia!

Someone gave me an interesting book that documents a guy attempting to boat across the US in a small cabin cruiser. He was able to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific on rivers, canals, etc with only a brief portage across the Rocky Mountains (And maybe some portages around dams IIRC). https://www.amazon.com/River-Horse-Logbook-Boat-Across-America/dp/0140298606

You can purchase it as well

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0007485905/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

"Unsubdued Indians"...damn straight, that's Comanche territory (check out Comanche Empire to learn how very unsubdued they were). Silly Euro-Americans.

I read a book recently about a guy who recreated the journey. It’s pretty crazy. Link

You should read [American Nations] (https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029), it covers the background of this

That book is from 2012. Chovanec's post is from 2009.

I would prefer the relevant New Yorker article by John McPhee. You can still buy the book.

My misconception was that were common standards of decency. As in "universal". That isn't the case, and I acknowledge that now.

What Trump does is completely indecent according to myself and most people I've ever interacted with. I also find most of the behavior of Trump's supporters at his rallies, etc, to be indecent. Revolting, even.

Obviously, the communities who voted for Trump find him to be decent, and think its decent to behave as they did during and after the election.

So we clearly disagree on what constitutes decency. There is no common standard of decency. There is no consensus on "American" values. We are (at least) two peoples, and we can either acknowledge that and start coming up with a federal system that respects that, or we can devolve into chaos. I don't think we need to split into two countries, but we need to start separating the culture wars from federal governance, and that likely means decentralizing certain legislative functions.

Great book on the subject, and there's a 2016 follow-up