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Books : The Map That Changed the WorldIn association with Amazon.comby: Simon Winchester  List Price: $26.00 Price: $18.39 You Save: $7.61 (29%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Format: Bargain Price Label: Viking Manufacturer: Viking Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: August 01, 2001 Publisher: Viking Studio: Viking Sales Rank: 250252 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: From the author of the bestselling The Professor and the Madman comes the fascinating story of William Smith, the orphaned son of an English country blacksmith, who became obsessed with creating the world's first geological map and ultimately became the father of modern geology. In 1793 William Smith, a canal digger, made a startling discovery that was to turn the fledgling science of the history of the earth -- and a central plank of established Christian religion -- on its head. He noticed that the rocks he was excavating were arranged in layers; more important, he could see quite clearly that the fossils found in one layer were very different from those found in another. And out of that realization came an epiphany: that by following the fossils, one could trace layers of rocks as they dipped and rose and fell -- clear across England and, indeed, clear across the world. Determined to publish his profoundly important discovery by creating a map that would display the hidden underside of England, he spent twenty years traveling the length and breadth of the kingdom by stagecoach and on foot, studying rock outcrops and fossils, piecing together the image of this unseen universe. In 1815 he published his epochal and remarkably beautiful hand-painted map, more than eight feet tall and six feet wide. But four years after its triumphant publication, and with his young wife going steadily mad to the point of nymphomania, Smith ended up in debtors' prison, a victim of plagiarism, swindled out of his recognition and his profits. He left London for the north of England and remained homeless for ten long years as he searched for work. It wasn't until 1831, when his employer, a sympathetic nobleman, brought him into contact with the Geological Society of London -- which had earlier denied him a fellowship -- that at last this quiet genius was showered with the honors long overdue him. He was summoned south to receive the society's highest award, and King William IV offered him a lifetime pension. The Map That Changed the World is, at its foundation, a very human tale of endurance and achievement, of one man's dedication in the face of ruin and homelessness. The world's coal and oil industry, its gold mining, its highway systems, and its railroad routes were all derived entirely from the creation of Smith's first map.; and with a keen eye and thoughtful detail, Simon Winchester unfolds the poignant sacrifice behind this world-changing discovery. Amazon.com Review: Once upon a time there lived a man who discovered the secrets of the earth. He traveled far and wide, learning about the world below the surface. After years of toil, he created a great map of the underworld and expected to live happily ever after. But did he? Simon Winchester (The Professor and the Madman) tells the fossil-friendly fairy tale life of William Smith in The Map That Changed the World. Born to humble parents, Smith was also a child of the Industrial Revolution (the year of his birth, 1769, also saw Josiah Wedgwood open his great factory, Etruria, Richard Arkwright create his first water-powered cotton-spinning frame, and James Watt receive the patent for the first condensing steam engine). While working as surveyor in a coal mine, Smith noticed the abrupt changes in the layers of rock as he was lowered into the depths. He came to understand that the different layers--in part as revealed by the fossils they contained--always appeared in the same order, no matter where they were found. He also realized that geology required a three-dimensional approach. Smith spent the next 20 some years traveling throughout Britain, observing the land, gathering data, and chattering away about his theories to those he met along the way, thus acquiring the nickname "Strata Smith." In 1815 he published his masterpiece: an 8.5- by 6-foot, hand-tinted map revealing "A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales." Despite this triumph, Smith's road remained more rocky than smooth. Snubbed by the gentlemanly Geological Society, Smith complained that "the theory of geology is in the possession of one class of men, the practice in another." Indeed, some members of the society went further than mere ostracism--they stole Smith's work. These cartographic plagiarists produced their own map, remarkably similar to Smith's, in 1819. Meanwhile the chronically cash-strapped Smith had been forced to sell his prized fossil collection and was eventually consigned to debtor's prison. In the end, the villains are foiled, our hero restored, and science triumphs. Winchester clearly relishes his happy ending, and his honey-tinged prose ("that most attractively lovable losterlike Paleozoic arthropod known as the trilobite") injects a lot of life into what seems, on the surface, a rather dry tale. Like Smith, however, Winchester delves into the strata beneath the surface and reveals a remarkable world. --Sunny Delaney Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Top of its GenreSometimes sea-changes in thinking come from the most unexpected places. Emerging technologies and an favorable economic conditions facilitated a boom in British inland canal building during the mid-18th century. All that digging revealed previously-unknown, or possibly just unappreciated, fossils. As experience grew, it was observed that the fossils were not just randomly distributed... but what was the pattern? Well, I won't tell the whole story here, but a clever fellow named William Smith applied ... Read More Rating: - OutstandingAfter listening to the audio CD version of this book for the third or fourth time I became hooked on geology and began to wonder why we didn't get a bigger dose of the subject during middle school and high school back in the 1950s and 1960s. It looks like someone dropped the ball. Certainly William Smith and his discoveries belong somewhere -- and probably multiple places -- in the school curriculum. The Map That Changed the World is a great book for anyone who may be curious about what geology can tell ... Read More Rating:  - Waste of timeI think Simon must have read the excellent book Longitude by Diva Sobel, and then tried to write one just like it. It is a story of the poor scientist from humble beginnings, who goes against the Scientific establishment of the day and wins. I was hoping for a book just like Longitude, and the back cover lead me to believe it was, when in fact it really isn't. Also, like other reviewers have mentioned the book is poorly written and the science minimal. If you want historical science ... Read More Rating:  - SosoI am not an expert on geology and although I had just learned about rocks and minerals in school, this book seemed very edious at tmes. I remember cute little details from the book and the main ideas but when they talked about canals, coal, strata, dips etc, my mind went blank. I really tried to read it and absorb it all but I found it difficult. I still think you should give it a try but I found it very "unstable" Rating: - A Life as Geological in TimeAs an ardent student of geology and paleontology for over 50 years, this book was particularly fascinating. It is the story of the birth of a modern scientific standard, the geological map, brought about by the efforts of a man, William Smith. By today's standards, he was an 'amateur', but he literally created the standard through his observation and study and analysis and patience and struggle. The story is told as a walk through time, both geological time and the time of one person's life. In taking us ... Read More Browse for similar items by category:
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