>>>There is a book that compares Middle-earth to our world; I got it for Christmas as a matter of fact. The maps are not accurate compared to those in the other books you are familiar with, but that is because they are very large scale and show all the lands east of Rhun and south of Harad and of the Undying Lands. The book is called "Tolkien: Illustrated Encyclopedia" by David Day, and is quite interesting. Anyway, it shows maps of the Age of the Lamps, of the Ages of Stars, and of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Ages of the Sun, and it shows how Middle-earth slowly evolves into almost looking similar to our own planet. By the Third Age, Harad looks like Africa and Rhun looks like Asia, but still, Middle-earth looks nothing like the Europe we are familiar with. Anyway, I recommend the Illustrated Encyclopedia.