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Historical A Wheel of Memory: The Hereford Mappamundi by Naomi Reed Kline $59.95 / Univ. of Michigan Press / 2001 Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Naomi Reed Kline, professor of art history at NH's Plymouth State College, presents a cogent summary of the Hereford Mappamundi map by extracting information from a snarl of contradictions, and leading the user into a labyrinth of exotic creatures, wordplay, theology, and art. Today, we are accustomed to visual representations where north is "up," geographic location is determined by the measurement of latitude and longitude, and the United States occupies the center of the world. In the Hereford Mappamundi, however, Jerusalem is found at the center of the map, and heaven, in the east, at the top. On this CD-ROM, from the top of one's screen going counterclockwise are links to particular categories, such as "Strange Races," "the Bible," and "the Crusades." A glossary link at the lower right corner of the screen provides definitions for a lengthy list of words, and within any text element, underlined words indicate a hyperlink to the glossary. Terms printed in dark red highlight particular sections of the illustration under discussion. Not only that, thumbnail images can be enlarged for comfortable viewing, and a mouse-controlled grid can be moved across the map in order to examine small sections of the map in greater detail. However, the CD-ROM is not without its faults. The CD must be loaded into one's drive each time (the disk cannot be copied to the hard drive), navigating through the map takes getting used to, the menus at the top of each page can be confusing, and the typeface is small, often getting lost against the background graphics. The text is also written at a scholarly level, which may prove difficult for younger students to understand. Despite these shortcomings, A Wheel of Memory: The Hereford Mappamundi should prove to be an invaluable resource for both the teacher and student of medieval maps, art, and life. —Ellen B. Cutler

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