2-11-18  I am reading a wonderful book  Nowherelands by Bjorn Berge.  It chronicles about 50 countries that have existed for various periods of time ( usually short ) and then disappeared.  He just has a few pages for each one with interesting vignettes. I am not a history fan but he makes it very palatable.  He also includes a stamp from his collection for each country.  I was surprised to learn that Vancouver Island which is very close to me — actually issued their own stamps in 1860.  This is primarily a fun history book with a side of philately.