The Map That Changed the World: The Tale of William Smith And the Birth of a Science

Winchester, Simon

ISBN 10: 0670884073 ISBN 13: 9780670884070

Publisher: Viking, 2001

Synopsis

An extraordinary tale of the father of modern geology from the author of the international No.1 bestseller THE SURGEON OF CROWTHORNE. Hidden behind velvet curtains above a stairway in a house in London's Piccadilly is an enormous and beautiful hand-coloured map - the first geological map of anywhere in the world. Its maker was a farmer's son named William Smith. Born in 1769 his life was beset by troubles: he was imprisoned for debt, turned out of his home, his work was plagiarised, his wife went insane and the scientific establishment shunned him. It was not until 1829, when a Yorkshire aristocrat recognised his genius, that he was returned to London in triumph: THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD is his story.

About this title

Review:

Simon Winchester has a very simple formula, of which The Map That Changed the World is a perfect example--namely that the history we have forgotten is infinitely more interesting than the history with which we are all familiar. After the success of The Surgeon of Crowthorne, which documented the life of WC Minor, the American surgeon and major contributor to the first Oxford English Dictionary, Winchester now turns his attention to William Smith, the 19th-century Briton who can justly lay claim to being the founding father of geology.

The book has all the usual attributes of a pacy historical read: a self-educated, unrecognised scientist spends years roaming the British countryside, compiling a map of the geological layers beneath the surface, only to have his ideas ripped off and to wind up homeless and penniless in Yorkshire with a wife who is going bonkers. And it gets better: in a bizarre Dickensian twist, Smith finally gets his just accolades when he is recognised by a kindly liberal nobleman and is reintroduced to London society as the geologist par excellence. Of itself, the story would be more than enough recommendation but there is a subtext running though the book that is in many ways just as compelling--namely, how some parts of history get written in stone and others in dust. Most secondary-school students get to learn of Charles Darwin and The Voyage of the Beagle. Yet how many people could stick their hands up and say they had heard of Smith? But is evolution any more important a field as geology? Is history ultimately an exercise in who has the best PR? Winchester may not have the answer, but he'll certainly make you think.--John Crace

Review:

Simon Winchester has done a considerable service to geology in rescuing Smith from comparative obsurity -- London Review of Books, August 9, 2001

This book is a love song to geology... Winchester has written a stylish and engaging work of narrative history which I think is his best book yet -- Daily Telegraph, June 30, 2001

Who could have dreamed that such an intriguing yarn could have been dug out of geology, or that rocks could become the new rock 'n' roll?...enthralling -- The Financial Times, August 19, 2001

Winchester is a great story-teller, and this is a great story -- Arena Magazine, August 2001

elegant, affectionately told account...Truly a map that changed the world -- Sunday Times, July 17, 2001

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0670884073
• ISBN 13: 9780670884070
• Binding: Sports Apparel
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352