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Thank's for the insight. I struggled with geography until I discovered history...again, after high school of course. I still struggle with algebra, so I look fo

by ngold 6y ago

Thank's for the insight. I struggled with geography until I discovered history...again, after high school of course. I still struggle with algebra, so I look forward to checking your suggestions out. I think my problem as a kid was I was just hyper, all the time. I could cut wood outside for 10 hours but couldn't sit still for a moment.

TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
Child labour is an untapped resource. If it were somehow possible to let kids chop wood for 10hrs, as the need arose, or whatever, and then they could go / go back to school when they were ready. Certainly would have helped me a lot.
- zozbot234 6y ago
  Agreed. There is a severe lack of mindfulness and focus in modern education, and strenuous physical exercise like chopping wood can be a real mindfulness-workout.
thaumasiotes 6y ago
> I struggled with geography until I discovered history Tangentially, a lot of fantasy authors seem to love maps for their own sake, and provide maps of their world as illustrations. I never saw the point of these; the map never really matters to the story. But history books provide almost the same number of maps -- usually one, before the discussion of whatever -- and it just isn't enough. Those maps really matter to understanding whatever was going on; in the real world, geography is a huge deal.
- ken 6y ago
  My favorite sequence of maps in a book was “Black Hawk Down”. The first chapter begins with a world map, showing Somalia, and it lays the geopolitical setting for the events. The second chapter has a map of Somalia, showing where Mogadishu is, and sets the scene there. It keeps zooming in, until the final chapter shows a map so tight it has individual people (who you have since met) and which side of the street they were on.
- grawprog 6y ago
  >the map never really matters to the story. It's more about deepening the story I think and making it 'bigger' I guess or another type of story telling. You look at a fantasy map and there's typically places on the map not even mentioned in the actual story as you say, but that helps build the setting. Look at the map for the lord of the rings for example. A good number of the places in that map are barely mentioned in the actual trilogy. Yet that map's become one of the most iconic in fantasy in general. It's more about what the maps inspire in your imagination while you read. When some random fantasy city name gets mentioned, you can look at the map and get perspective about where it is in the world. It's also helpful I think to keep the world consistent for authors. It gives them a frame of reference for scale and distance in their stories and likely helps keep track of all the random names and cultures and such that they make up for their stories.
  - readwind 6y ago
    Imagine if the lord of the rings' world was like when we were still conquering and exploring all around, and then some dude, tolkien's lost brother, or something, twin, perhaps, with co-systemic minds, mapped out the unmentioned parts, and then you could just span the two things together. Fun times and theories co-bro. Anyways.

by ngold 6y ago

TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago

Child labour is an untapped resource. If it were somehow possible to let kids chop wood for 10hrs, as the need arose, or whatever, and then they could go / go back to school when they were ready. Certainly would have helped me a lot.

zozbot234 6y ago
Agreed. There is a severe lack of mindfulness and focus in modern education, and strenuous physical exercise like chopping wood can be a real mindfulness-workout.

thaumasiotes 6y ago

> I struggled with geography until I discovered history Tangentially, a lot of fantasy authors seem to love maps for their own sake, and provide maps of their world as illustrations. I never saw the point of these; the map never really matters to the story. But history books provide almost the same number of maps -- usually one, before the discussion of whatever -- and it just isn't enough. Those maps really matter to understanding whatever was going on; in the real world, geography is a huge deal.

ken 6y ago
My favorite sequence of maps in a book was “Black Hawk Down”. The first chapter begins with a world map, showing Somalia, and it lays the geopolitical setting for the events. The second chapter has a map of Somalia, showing where Mogadishu is, and sets the scene there. It keeps zooming in, until the final chapter shows a map so tight it has individual people (who you have since met) and which side of the street they were on.
grawprog 6y ago
>the map never really matters to the story. It's more about deepening the story I think and making it 'bigger' I guess or another type of story telling. You look at a fantasy map and there's typically places on the map not even mentioned in the actual story as you say, but that helps build the setting. Look at the map for the lord of the rings for example. A good number of the places in that map are barely mentioned in the actual trilogy. Yet that map's become one of the most iconic in fantasy in general. It's more about what the maps inspire in your imagination while you read. When some random fantasy city name gets mentioned, you can look at the map and get perspective about where it is in the world. It's also helpful I think to keep the world consistent for authors. It gives them a frame of reference for scale and distance in their stories and likely helps keep track of all the random names and cultures and such that they make up for their stories.
- readwind 6y ago
  Imagine if the lord of the rings' world was like when we were still conquering and exploring all around, and then some dude, tolkien's lost brother, or something, twin, perhaps, with co-systemic minds, mapped out the unmentioned parts, and then you could just span the two things together. Fun times and theories co-bro. Anyways.