World Book Day

Tomorrow is World Book Day.
We have been asked to bring a favourite book to school, for a photo opportunity.
Here's the one I'm taking.
"Arctic Dreams" by Barry Lopez

It was released 30 years ago, and still sets the benchmark for similar books. Written with efficiency and mastery, it describes travels in the Arctic, and the relationship between people and the landscape.

If you haven't read this book, then you have missed out on a masterpiece.
Here's one of many memorable quotes, on the value of maps and the work of Yi Fu Tuan (one of the first times I'd come across his work)

"Even a good map, one with the lines and symbols of a hand-written geography on it, where Tuan's 'spaces' have been turned into 'places' masquerades as an authority. What we hold in our hands are but approximations of what is out there. Neatly folded simulacra".

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