Globe Corner Blogs

Living and traveling green doesn’t take great personal sacrifice, but not all of us know how to get started without giving up our habits and routines. “Green” may be a popular trend, but you don’t have to buy expensive “earth friendly” products, eat strictly vegan, or stop going places and retreat to a secluded cabin in the woods to practice eco-living. Allow me to present some Hidden Treasures that will prove it to you.

Wake Up And Smell The Planet, The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day edited by Brangien Davis with Katharine Wroth

“We bet we can guess what your morning routine looks like: You gently click off your solar-powered alarm clock, crawl out of your hemp sheets, don organic cotton slippers a recycled fleece robe, and shuffle across your bamboo floors to the bathroom where you bathe in rain water and botanicals harvested from your own garden.
Not quite? Good.” This is when you snicker and read on.

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Sea of Glory --by Nathaniel Philbrick

I know it is not the most “sophisticated’ way to evaluate a book, but if the book is so engrossing that I miss my stop on the subway…I consider it to be really good. Sea of Glory by Nathaniel Philbrick is one of those books. I am only halfway through the book, but it caused me to do some exploring of my own this morning as I totally missed my subway stop and ended up in a part of Boston I have never been to before.

Philbrick tells the story of the voyage of the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838 – 1842 led by Charles Wilkes; an exploration of the Pacific Ocean. Growing up on the Pacific Ocean, one would think that I would have heard of or possibly learned about this historic feat. But I really don’t recall ever hearing about Charles Wilkes, and I lived in a town where all the schools were named after Pacific Northwest explorers. (I went to McLaughlin.) In this book, Philbrick explains why the U.S. Exploring Expedition–who mapped nearly all of the Pacific Ocean, named Antarctica, and collected a sizable collection of exotic specimens that became the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution–is basically unknown. Just don’t pick it up if you have any pressing engagements.

The Burma Chronicles--by Guy Delisle

Having recently traded in the lush madness of Southeast Asia for the prim, snow-covered streets of Cambridge, I’ve been spending a lot of time in our Asia section–perusing the shelves for books and pictures chronicling others’ adventures through the region, gazing fondly at the photos of Wats and markets I’ve been to, and just generally daydreaming about lychee-flavored ice cream on hot green afternoons.

Recently, while lost in one of my Asian fantasies, I came across The Burma Chronicles, a bamboo-green covered book with a cartoon of the author pushing a stroller past two glaring soldiers with machine guns.  Naturally, I was intrigued. Continue Reading »

The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie -- by Malu Halasa & Rana Salam

It is sunny and almost warm outside, and I have decided that it is time to come out of winter hibernation mode.  I am also adjusting to a new pair of glasses and here all the far-sighted readers out there will feel for me, because the world became so wobbly and curvy that I feel like Alice in Wonderland. I cannot even read anything while my brain is learning to automatically turn curves into straight lines. But even this temporary impairment cannot dim my curiosity, so here I come with a list of hidden eye candy.

These are books that are not meant to be read, they are meant to be adored and looked through many times. I am writing about alternative, strange and very curious fashion photography book gems packed between our guides and maps. Tweaking a well-known expression, I would say that nothing tells you more about a country than it’s street food and street fashion.

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Arctic Wings -edited by Stephen Brown

The Hidden Treasures Series takes flight in Volume IV. Whether an avid birder or just an appreciator of nature, these books on birds are sure to delight.

Arctic Wings is an astonishing photography book of every Arctic bird imaginable. The book is organized by type of bird, each section beginning with a short essay by an expert in that field. The essay is followed by pages and pages of amazing photos of the birds. But wait – that’s not even the best part: it comes with a CD of Arctic bird calls!

Egg and Nest, another photo book, stays true to its title. Unlike the in-the-wild photos of Arctic Wings, the pages of this book look like photos of an art installation. Delicate images that find the beauty in every egg and nest and astound the reader with their intimacy.

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NYC Wallpaper City Guide

Since Dan decided it was my turn to highlight some of the “hidden treasures” of the store, I decided to point out some of the books that get dwarfed on the shelf.

Wallpaper City Guides are small guidebooks that might be hidden in between the larger guidebooks. They are perfect companion guides for the design-conscious traveler: they include “architours” and information on shopping and urban life. The guidebooks include beautiful photographs, and if you collect them they look really cool and colorful as a stack on your bookshelf.

The Marling Menu-Master is another thin book that not only helps you translate food and menus, but also explains the complexities of the menu: terms, dishes, sauces, and even preparation methods.

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Blaeu's Atlas Maior of 1665

Here are some of what I would call “Hidden Treasures of the Store.” If I could, I would call every single map in the store a Hidden Treasure, but I will restrain myself for your sake.  These few things that I mention are not truly hidden, but do get overlooked once in a while.  So feel free to ask about them or come check them out.

Joan Blaeu’s Atlas Maior: This is an amazing atlas of the world from 1665 which contains some of the most beautiful maps I have ever seen.  The best part is if you do not want the whole world you don’t have to get it.  There are separate atlases from 1665 of France, Germany, Italy and other locations.

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Hidden Treasure, Glow-in-the-dark Map of the Universe

Each day, passersby wander into our store to admire our beautiful wooden bookshelves, our selection of floor and desk globes, or our most recent acquisition, the game of Bird-Opoly. Once inside, the more resilient shopper may notice two large map drawers – ostensibly, these drawers serve only as display surfaces but they actually house some of the greatest and most unique treasures in our store.

Here is a small list of some of my favorite “hidden treasures” that aren’t in plain view but deserve to be seen and written about:

Landforms of Asia hand-drawn map by Erwin Raisz: Pen and ink reproduction map of the earth’s physical surface including mountains, plateaus, rivers, and basins. Raisz’s Landforms maps are also available for other parts of the world, including the United States, Italy, Europe, and Mexico.

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