La lunghezza effettiva della vita è data dal numero di giorni diversi che un individuo riesce a vivere. Quelli uguali non contano.
Not an Atlas?We do not claim to present an all-encompassing, true-to-scale, and objective view of the world with the collection of maps, that are published in this book. Rather we follow the idea that maps are by no means just representations of reality. Maps articulate statements that are shaped by social relations, discourses and practices, but these statements also influence them in turn. Hence, maps (and atlases) are always political.
This Is Not an Atlas seeks to inspire, to document the underrepresented, and to be a useful companion when becoming a counter-cartographer yourself.
Four weeks before Oliver Sacks died, I received a letter from him. In our all too brief correspondence, he never e-mailed. He wrote beautiful, longhand letters on heavy, cream-colored stationery with a blue fountain pen, the script slanting to the left. They were always peppered with cross-outs and insertions that gave a glimpse of his overflowing mind.
“Ideas are cheap. It’s data which is hard to get.”
And whom do I call my enemy?An enemy must be worthy of engagement.I turn in the direction of the sun and keep walking.It’s the heart that asks the question, not my furious mind.The heart is the smaller cousin of the sun.It sees and knows everything.It hears the gnashing even as it hears the blessing.The door to the mind should only open from the heart.An enemy who gets in, risks the danger of becoming a friend.
In a world where the question often arises of what one person can do to resist, contribute or make a difference, here is an answer that begins right outside our door.
