The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.30 (876 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0061767905 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-01-15 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A Topographic Tour de Force Turkles As a child I drew hundreds of maps for pleasureand later, professionally, for the States of Connecticut and Delaware. Even without that kind of a background, however, I believe most readers would find this a most interesting tome. History; surveying; mining; geology; canal buildingand the personalities involved, will surely interest the most laconic reader. I'm just sorry that I didn't know of the maps existence when we were in England; for I would sur. "A Dissapointment" according to Fred. This book was a great disappointment to me. I first heard of it in a radio interview with the author on PBS or some similar venue for erudite writers with cultured British accents. "The Science of Geology" he promised, and titillating "scandal, nymphomania" he said, and he promised a great map reproduced with the book. So I bought it.Well, the book describes the circumstances of William Smith as he went about founding the science of Geology, but it in . On the Origin of Fossils Ron Hunka THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLDSimon WinchesterISBN 0-06-093180-9I took a couple of geology courses in college, and, among other things, learned that William Smith was the first to recognize the importance of stratigraphy for the study of the earth and that he bore the nickname "Strata Smith". But in this book Simon Winchester describes the historical context of William Smith's work in detail, with scholarship and wit.Works about the history of science
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. Smith spent twenty-two years piecing together the fragments of this unseen universe to create an epochal and remarkably beautiful hand-painted map. With a keen eye and thoughtful detail, Simon Winchester unfolds the poignant sacrifice behind this world-changing discovery.. But instead of receiving accolades and honors, he ended up in debtors' prison, the victim of plagiarism, and virtually homeless for ten years more. 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. In 1793, a canal digger named William Smith made a startling discovery
In the end, the villains are foiled, our hero restored, and science triumphs. Once upon a time there lived a man who discovered the secrets of the earth. 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). Like Smith, however, Winchester delves into the strata beneath the surface and reveals a remarkable world. He came to understand that the different layers--in part as r