Tag: Maps

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The World is not Enough

Comparison of Equal Earth and Robinson projections

I love maps. Hanging on a wall in the living room of the house that I grew up in was a large beautifully rendered world map. It was a topographical view of the world with clearly defined country borders and neatly printed labels of major cities. 

One of my favourite pastimes was to stand on top of the sofa so that I could see areas of the map that were out of view given my height then. Good for me. But bad for our family sofa as my mother would lament the semi-permanent depressions on the cushions.

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The Maps for Hedeby Island

I’m current reading Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and I discovered that the English edition did not come with 2 maps of Hedeby, the fictional island where most of the action takes place. While one may not need the maps to enjoy the book, I found that they greatly helped as a geographical frame of reference for the narrative.

After some fruitful (albeit long and tedious) googling, I stumbled upon 2 maps that were originally included in the Swedish edition of the book. The maps are in the original Swedish but thanks to Google Translate, I reproduce here for fans of the book, the 2 maps in English.

Do note that the Swedish to English translation is not perfect and most of the time, I have to make judgment calls. Please let me know if there is a better English version out there.

BTW, halfway through the book now and it is really a good genre novel. Actions move fast, situations are intriguing, characters are engaging. Overall, a very good light reading vacation novel 🙂