Constellations
The books around The Red Pencil
Every book here sits next to The Red Pencil 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, with its evidence
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Vaino: A Boy of New Finland 1929
The same subject (Wars and Continents), the same narrower subject (Children).
same subject · Warssame subject · Continentssame subject · Placessame subject · Peoplesame narrower subject · Children
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A Time of Miracles 2010 · 700L
The same subject (Wars and Continents), the same narrower subject (Refugees and Children). Also within 80L of its reading measure.
same subject · Warssame subject · Continentssame subject · Peoplesame narrower subject · Refugeessame narrower subject · Childrenreading measure · 80L apart
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Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War 2015 · 680L
The same subject (Wars and Continents), the same narrower subject (Africa and Children). Also within 60L of its reading measure.
same subject · Warssame subject · Continentssame subject · Peoplesame narrower subject · Africasame narrower subject · Childrenreading measure · 60L apart
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Stones for My Father 2011 · 970L
The same subject (Wars and Places), the same narrower subject (Camps and Children).
same subject · Warssame subject · Placessame subject · Peoplesame narrower subject · Campssame narrower subject · Children
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Pran of Albania 1929
The same subject (Wars and Continents), the same narrower subject (Refugees).
same subject · Warssame subject · Continentssame subject · Peoplesame narrower subject · Refugees
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Hidden 2011 · 670L
The same subject (Places and People), the same narrower subject (Camps and Children), the same catalogue tag (Poetry) and the same genre (Poetry). Also within 50L of its reading measure.
same subject · Placessame subject · Peopleboth filed under · Poetrysame narrower subject · Campssame narrower subject · Childrensame genre · Poetryreading measure · 50L apart
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When Stars Are Scattered 2020 · 530L
The same subject (Places and People), the same narrower subject (Camps and Refugees) and the same catalogue tag (Education). Also within 90L of its reading measure.
same subject · Placessame subject · Peopleboth filed under · Educationsame narrower subject · Campssame narrower subject · Refugeesreading measure · 90L apart
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The same subject (Places and People), the same narrower subject (Camps, Refugees and Children).
same subject · Placessame subject · Peoplesame narrower subject · Campssame narrower subject · Refugeessame narrower subject · Children
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.