Judith Schalansky was born in 1980 in Greifswald, Germany. She hasdegrees in both History of Art and Communication Design. Judith currentlyworks as a freelance writer and designer in Berlin and has been teaching coursesin the principles of typography at the Potsdam Technical Institute since 2008.
"(a) cartographical gem"
-The Wall Street Journal - Great New (Armchair) Travel Reads "An
utterly exquisite object: atlas as Wunderkammer and bestiary, bound
in black cloth and sea-blue card...makes a magnificent case for the
atlas to be recognised as literature, worthy of its original name -
theatrum orbis terrarum, "the theatre of the world."
-Robert Macfarlane, The Guardian (UK) "This beautifully illustrated
atlas reveals that cartography and the creative imagination have
always intersected, spurred on by human wanderlust."
-NPR's 2010 Favorites pick "'Paradise is an island. So is hell.' Or
so says Judith Schalansky in the introduction to her charming,
spooky and splendid Atlas of Remote Islands."
-The New Yorker's Book Bench ..".absolutely magical."
-Conde Nast Traveler- CNTraveler.com "The first five times (or so)
that I paged through the Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I
Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will, I fell deeply in love with
the book... Each of author and artist Judith Schalansky's
maps--hand-drawn in shades of gray, black, white, and brilliant
orange on cadet blue paper--transported me to a, usually, remote
island..."
-NationalGeographic.com ..". A testament to the transformative
power of maps. Atlas of Remote Islands is a celebration of what can
still be accomplished with imagination, paper and ink. Holding it,
you feel as if you've stolen the composition book that dreamy girl
in the back row of our high school English class is always
scribbling into. You page through it and think, Oh, my God. She's a
genius."
-Anthony Doerr, TheMillions.com "That impossible-to-please friend,
that cranky relative, that coffee table begging for something more
interesting that last Sunday's New York Times Magazine- worry about
them no more. Here is your holiday gift, your birthday present,
your living room's conversation-igniter."
-HeadButler.com "The most beautiful and powerful book I have ever
seen like this is the Pennyroyal Caxton (King James) Bible, with
haunting engravings by the genius Barry Moser. The second most
beautiful and amazing book like this I have ever seen arrived, slim
and stunning, on my desk days ago: Atlas of Remote Islands. For a
child itching to see the world, for the child inside an aged and
creaky vessel, for all of us who never stopped dreaming of faraway
islands draped in amazing languages and wild stories and a wholly
new angle of light, this is the perfect gift."
-Brian Doyle, The Oregonian ..". hand-drawn maps of the remote
islands and the fascinating stories that go alongside are utterly
captivating..."
-The South Mississippi Sun Herald ..". one of those books that you
can easily spend a day dreamily paging through. Beautiful stories
are crafted from these remote islands histories, giving character
to the pieces of land that could be easily overlooked or forgotten.
You want this book."
-World's Best Ever blog www.theworldsbestever.com "Is it possible
to confuse a romance novel for an atlas?... I opened the pages to
maps that looked as though they were painted in the Middle Ages.
They are clear, artistic, and true to scale. I approached the text
and continued my love affair."
-GoNomad.com "Judith Schalansky's pseudo-tome- the product of a
lifetime of studying maps, typography, art and design- is a
charming romp through 50 of the most remote islands in the world.
But this book is about so much more than maps... it's
beautiful...it's charming, fanciful and is part of a near-perfect
construction of a book that captures the romance of travel... This
is a great coffee table book, perfect for history buffs, dreamers
of anyone who sticks pins in their maps and obsessively uses
"GTrot" on Facebook."
-LostGirlsWorld.com "Gorgeously illustrated and with color maps
throughout... Judith Schalansky lures us onto fifty remote
islands... and proves that the most adventurous journeys still take
place in the mind, with one finger pointing at a map."
-Publishing Perspectives "When we dream of escaping from frantic
modern lives into another more perfect kind of existence, the image
of an island often comes to mind, a refuge where time slows down,
the living is easy and we can at last find inner peace. It's a
fantasy, practically a Jungian archetype now... Schalansky's book
won a prize in Germany as the most beautiful book of the year. It
deserves to win several more. Atlas of Remote Islands is a
stunningly accomplished piece of work, as well as being a rare feat
of total authorship."
-Rick Poyner at the Observer's Room blog "The first five times (or
so) that I paged through the Atlas of Remote Islands, I fell deeply
in love with the book. Each of author and artist Judith
Schalansky's maps transported me."
-Intelligent Travel blog "Last night I devoured the most beautiful
book... It's wonderful: it's like Borges' eccentric encyclopedias.
It is, in a word, great."
-Caustic Cover Critic blog "Judith Schalansky's Atlas of Remote
Islands perfectly merges the experiences of reading Calvino's
Invisible Cities and pouring over an atlas as age eight. I really
can't imagine recommending a book more highly."
-Harry Schwartz Eats The World blog ..".what has to be the coolest
book released all year. Totally amazing."
-Survival of the Book blog "Atlas of Remote Islands is a book that
opens like a trunk of dusty letters in an attic- full of the
promise of the unknown, and the discovery of small delights. There
is poetry in the book's simplicity, and a reminder of the beauty of
print."
-emagazine.com "If you ever wonder what kind of place 'real' books
will have in an increasingly electronic world, the Atlas of Remote
Islands is the perfect example of the power wielded by a physical
artifact. This book is a rare gem. It's like your favourite
children's fantasy book come to life... it's a little like Lost,
and it is like traveling to the moon."
-Writer's Pet blog "It's a delight... a weird and wonderful
assortment."
-Lonely Planet blog "With hand drawn detailed topographic maps and
intricate local histories, each of the islands comes alive through
stories about marooned slaves, lonely scientists, lost explorers,
mutinous sailors, confused lighthouse keepers, and forgotten
castaways."
-Perceptive Travel blog "An armchair traveler's delight."
-The Philadelphia Inquirer
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