A Great Book For The Lounging Explorer, To my couch and beyond.

Mostly I read regional books on history, folklore, etc., and even some books on cartography and exploration. I'm currently reading Phantom Islands of the Atlantic, about islands on old maps that have gone missing, or never existed to begin with (the Isles of St. Brendan, for example). It was written by a New England fellow who has crossed the ocean numerous times on a wooden boat, using only the tools that were available durring the Discovery age. Highly recommended for the types who are into that sort of thing. He goes into great detail about the knowledge of our world through the ages, as it was percieved by the many great exploring civilizations. It's interesting to note that in Columbus' time, it had been accepted theory that the world was round for centuries. He was simply the first to try and prove it, (or the first sancioned by a Monarchy, for that matter).

Angela picked up a book for me on her travels last night. The Atlas of The Celtic World reviews 3000 years of cultural history, and tries to link many diverse groups throughout Europe and even the mediterranean, through a common culture and their related languages. Even if those very groups felt no connection to one another. It should be a very interesting read.

Thanks, I will have to check into that one. I seen another celtic book at B&N and I can't for the life of me remember the name, but it was a historical one that even had traditions, poems, etc... in it.

oldraven! Your Celtic atlas books sounds fascinating and one I definitely want to get! I bought me a couple of world atlas books for Christmas and if one can read one of those, well I am doing it! I am really bad when it comes to geography and the one world atlas book I am reading not only shows the map, but give many details about all the countries which I love reading. I bought it through Barnes & Noble! The only thing I don't like about either of my atlas books is that the maps overlap onto the next page leaving some cities in the middle of the book and hard to read. Oh well.

Thanks, OR!

No problem. One thing about this atlas, there aren't many maps. There is a lot of focus on the cultures themselves, so lots of reading, but only about 20 maps of Britain and Continental Europe. There aren't any of the modern cities listed on the maps either, so you have to have a regular atlas (or google earth) close by for reference. But the knowledge you can gain from this book is eye opening, to say the least.

Like how the kilt was a modern invention, and the tartan (not the plaid) was developed as a marketing scheme in the 18th century. Or that the Celts sacked Rome in 390BC, but withdrew to their own lands instead of settling, sealing thier own fates for the future. They invented Chain Mail, and the Roman Legionaries took their helm design from the Celts. The bagpipe is a Middle Eastern invention, no more popular in Scotland than any other part of Europe until Britain began using them in Highland Military Regiments, as it was falling in popularity elsewhere.

In general, I'm finding most modern accepted 'facts' of Celtic culture are often over romanticized or outright inventions of recent history.

Really fascinating, OR! I had heard the bagpipes were a middle eastern invention. In fact, I had heard it orginally came from Egypt! Oh well. As the Wicked Tinkers say, "the pipes originated in the middle east, but Scotland perfected it!" LOL

sounds like you have some really fascinating material to study from. I just love history! Thanks for sharing!