Category Archives: Africa

Don’t Just Recycle Book Cycle

Posted on December 2, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Over the years I’ve seen photos of the quaint Book-Cycle shop in Exeter, UK, but never thought to explore what it was all about until TBTP reader Evan S. suggested a post on the project. Since 2007, Book-Cycle has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, Bookstore Tourism, Europe, Libraries | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Into The Wild

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

The South Africa-based design studio Muti has released a killer series of book cover redesigns for group of iconic novels. I love the fresh typography and the great color palette.

Posted in Africa, Art, Books, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Actual Cultural Appropriation

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

These days we hear the term cultural appropriation in reference to everything from music to hair styles, but there are more serious instances where the phrase takes on real significance. For example, a recently completed exhibition at London’s British Library Ritblat Treasures … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Art, Books, History, Libraries, Museums | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

March of the Penguins

Posted on January 29, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Paper penguin sculptures have been popping-up in cities around the world to raise awareness about protecting Antarctica from exploitation. The penguins were created by German artist Wolfram Kampffmeyer for the new Greenpeace campaign titled March of the Penguins. The sculptures have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Art, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Public Transport, South America, USA | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

What’s Your Endonym

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

An endonym is the name of a country, region, or geographic area as it’s known by the people who live there. These names may legally designated by a government or just commonly used terms. The clever endonym map of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Maps, Middle East, USA | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Libraries On Wheels

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Rural communities in Zimbabwe seldom have their own libraries, so in 1995 educator Obadiah Mayo founded the Rural Libraries & Resources Development Programme to bring books to the countryside. Today, his organization has fifteen donkey-powered mobile library carts that each … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, Libraries | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Mother Tongues

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

The National Geographic’s senior graphics editor Alberto Lucas López created this wonderful pie chart to illustrate the proportional representation of the world’s twenty three most spoken languages. López based the graphic on native speakers, with each language marked by black … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, Maps, Middle East, South America, USA | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Really Big Books

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Thanks to the British Library, bibliophiles and map geeks can now view the second largest atlas in the world online. The colossal book was a gift from Dutch merchant Johannes Klencke in 1660 to King Charles II of Great Britain. The massive … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Books, ebooks, Europe, History, Libraries, Maps, Middle East, Museums, Photography, Tech | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

All Roads Lead To Rome

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

University of Chicago geography major Sasha Trubetskoy created this clever metro map-styled visualization of major Roman roads circa 125 AD. Although he admits to taking some liberties with road names, it’s a brilliant idea. You can learn more about his … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Europe, History, Maps, Public Transport | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Unforgivable

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

I’m usually drawn to street art that is amusing, snarky, or lyrical, but I was blown away by Cuban artist Erik Ravelo’s series “Unforgivable”. These heartbreaking images use street art to challenge  the world’s complacency, and the inaction of our … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East | Tagged , , | 1 Comment