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The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
by: Simon Winchester

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 550.92
EAN: 9780060931803
ISBN: 0060931809
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: August 01, 2002
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: July 30, 2002
Sales Rank: 33693
Studio: Harper Perennial

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Product Description:

In 1793, a canal digger named William Smith made a startling discovery. He found that by tracing the placement of fossils, which he uncovered in his excavations, one could follow layers of rocks as they dipped and rose and fell -- clear across England and, indeed, clear across the world -- making it possible, for the first time ever, to draw a chart of the hidden underside of the earth. Determined to expose what he realized was the landscape's secret fourth dimension, Smith spent twenty-two years piecing together the fragments of this unseen universe to create an epochal and remarkably beautiful hand-painted map. But instead of receiving accolades and honors, he ended up in debtors' prison, the victim of plagiarism, and virtually homeless for ten years more. Finally, in 1831, this quiet genius -- now known as the father of modern geology -- received the Geological Society of London's highest award and King William IV offered him a lifetime pension.

The Map That Changed the World is a very human tale of endurance and achievement, of one man's dedication in the face of ruin. 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

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Top of its Genre
Sometimes 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 knowledge of the fossil finds to his knowledge of mapmaking and spearheaded entirely new ways of thinking about each. Canals, fossils, mapmaking, British canal building... this could been dry subject material, but author Simon Winchester delivers an engaging tale without fictionalizing or speculating. This is historical nonfiction dedicated to a very narrow subject(specifically: one man's inventive idea to map the hidden, ... Read More

Rating:

- Outstanding
After 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 us about the world we live in.

Rating:

- Waste of time
I 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 Longitude instead.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

Rating:

- Soso
I 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"

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