In a flip of convention, my giant, framed world map displays the southern hemisphere — Australia included — at the top. It's a twist, but not strictly speaking a distortion.

Make the world map a double-sided circle, like a vinyl record. You could put the Northern Hemisphere on the top side, and the Southern Hemisphere on the bottom, or vice versa.

For centuries, sailors who had been all over the world knew where the most fearsome storms of all lay in wait: the Southern Hemisphere. “The waves ran mountain-high and threatened to overwhelm [the ...