Constellations
The books around Babe: The Gallant Pig
Every book here sits next to Babe: The Gallant Pig for a reason, and the reason is written on the line between them. Click a book and the books next to it appear beside it, without the map moving. The list below has every reason in words, and a way to make any of these the book in the middle.
How to read it
One book in the middle, its neighbours around it, and a line for every reason they are neighbours. The order around the ring is the ranking: the closest neighbour is at the top, and the rest follow clockwise outward.
- a line drawn on a claim about what the books are — a shared subject, or the same author
- a line drawn on how they sit in the catalogue — the same genre, a similar reading measure — which is weaker evidence and is drawn dashed
- the book you started from
- a book with a solid border has neighbours of its own: click it and they appear beside it, while the ring stays exactly where it is
Every line here rests on the same subject, Places. That is enough to say these 8 books belong next to Babe: The Gallant Pig, and not enough to say how they differ: the catalogue has nothing finer to separate them with. What is doing the ordering below that is how hard each book reads. A fuller subject on the books around this one is the change that would sharpen this map most — and every other map they appear on.
Every line, with its evidence
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Friends 1982 · 600L
The same subject (Places and Animals), the same narrower subject (Farm Animals, Pigs, Farms and Friendship).
same subject · Placessame subject · Animalssame subject · Interpersonal Relationshipssame narrower subject · Farm Animalssame narrower subject · Pigssame narrower subject · Farmssame narrower subject · Friendship
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Mountain Born 1943 · 870L
The same subject (Places and Animals), the same narrower subject (Sheep and Farms) and the same genre (Fiction). Also within 170L of its reading measure.
same subject · Placessame subject · Animalssame narrower subject · Sheepsame narrower subject · Farmssame genre · Fictionreading measure · 170L apart
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A Day No Pigs Would Die 1994 · 690L
The same subject (Places and Animals), the same narrower subject (Pigs and Farms) and the same genre (Fiction).
same subject · Placessame subject · Animalssame narrower subject · Pigssame narrower subject · Farmssame genre · Fiction
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Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer 2015 · 880L
The same subject (Places and Animals), the same narrower subject (Farms) and the same catalogue tag (Humor). Also within 160L of its reading measure.
same subject · Placessame subject · Animalssame subject · Interpersonal Relationshipsboth filed under · Humorsame narrower subject · Farmsreading measure · 160L apart
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Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover 2012 · 490L
The same subject (Places and Animals), the same narrower subject (Friendship), the same catalogue tag (Humor) and the same genre (Fiction).
same subject · Placessame subject · Animalssame subject · Interpersonal Relationshipsboth filed under · Humorsame narrower subject · Friendshipsame genre · Fiction
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Whittington 2005 · 760L
The same subject (Places and Animals), the same narrower subject (Farm Animals and Farms).
same subject · Placessame subject · Animalssame narrower subject · Farm Animalssame narrower subject · Farms
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Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa 2006 · 470L
The same subject (Places and Animals), the same narrower subject (Friendship) and the same genre (Fiction).
same subject · Placessame subject · Animalssame subject · Interpersonal Relationshipssame narrower subject · Friendshipsame genre · Fiction
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Return to Sender 2009 · 890L
The same subject (Places and Interpersonal Relationships), the same narrower subject (Farms and Friendship) and the same genre (Fiction). Also within 150L of its reading measure.
same subject · Placessame subject · Interpersonal Relationshipssame narrower subject · Farmssame narrower subject · Friendshipsame genre · Fictionreading measure · 150L apart
What the map is not showing
Coverage. 3,013 of the 3,815 books in the catalogue carry a curated subject tag, which is the strongest thing one book can share with another. Where a book has none, the map falls back to genre and reading measure — real reasons, drawn on the weaker line, but a beginning rather than a recommendation. The number above is also the work still to be done: a subject on the rest of the catalogue is the single change that would improve every map on this site at once.
Years and sizes. Two books published in the same decade are not more alike for it, and neither are two books of the same size. When they are neighbours here it is because of what they are, not when they were printed or how thick they are — which is why the ring around a book from 1937 can hold one from 1863 and one from 2003, and the list is better for it. The year is printed on a book's line because it is worth knowing, not because it draws anything.
Lists. Awards and recommended-reading lists are not used here at all. Every book on a list shares something with every other book on it, and that something is the list — which is what Treasury is for. Counting lists puts Holes next to The Hobbit.
One layer. This map shows what two books share. It cannot yet show what a book did for a reader — that a journey, or a funny voice, or being believed by somebody, is what made a book matter — because that is not written down anywhere in the catalogue. It comes from readers, and it is the next thing to build.