A new magazine out of Eugene, Ore., appeals
to the explorer within. Its specialty? Maps and charts.

After all, these days one only needs to log onto the Internet to get a bird's eye view of any country, even your own neighborhood.

Yet, old maps appeal to the explorer within us, and the bi-monthly Mercator's World: The Magazine of Maps, Atlases, Globes and Charts, celebrates this desire to see the world.

The new magazine, published bi-monthly by Aster Publishing Corp. offers a look at how maps, globes and charts have influenced history. For one thing, maps offer a window to thought and how our predecessors viewed the world.

Familiar continents are non-existent or are rendered enormous, while sea monsters cavorted in alien seas, depending on who was doing the inking.

In the January/February edition are celestial maps accompanied by a story on "Europe's Early Infatuation with the Universe," a glimpse of the accuracy and practical nature of mapmaking in early Japan, and a story on a topic of interest to those of us who were recently blasted by high winds, "Tracing the Origins of Wind Heads to Wind Gods."

Each issue sells for $6.95, and if you can't find it at a bookstore near you, check out Mercator's World Wide Web site or write: Mercator's World, P.O. Box 10603, Eugene, OR 97440. An annual subscription runs $39.95.