- Paperback: 528 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; Rev Sub edition (Dec 4 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375708502
- ISBN-13: 978-0375708503
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 2.5 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #532,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
The Greco-Egyptian emperor Ptolemy III made a shrewd hire when, in about 240 B.C., he appointed a bookworm and poet named Eratosthenes to be the librarian of the great Alexandrian Museum. Eratosthenes, derided by his envious colleagues as a second-stringer, nursed an insatiable curiosity about the natural world. Acting on hunches and sailors' reports, he decided to conduct an experiment to measure the earth's circumference, which he eventually reckoned to be 46,000 kilometers--a little far off the actual mark of 40,000 kilometers but close enough that both Eratosthenes and Ptolemy entered history as founding fathers of the modern science of cartography.
In this vigorous history of maps and their creators, New York Times science writer John Noble Wilford recounts the accomplishments of dozens of cartographers from many cultures and times, among them Gerardus Mercator, Francis Beaufort, Charles Mason, and Jean Fernel. Ranging from ancient Chinese scrolls to the latest satellite images of distant planets, he renders a history full of "heroics and everyday routine, of personal and national rivalries, of influential mistakes and brilliant insights." He also reviews key scientific and technological advances that have accompanied the rise of modern maps, among them the development of fractal geometry, geosynchronous displays, remote sensing, and ever more accurate surveying instruments and techniques. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'A winning chronicle of mapmakers over time and space... Wilford has combined the accounts to offer a variety of adventures and perceptions not so often well described.' Scientific American 'Fascinating... Wilford manages to make everything from the discovery of the longitude to advanced laser-beam technology clear.' Newsweek 'One begins to sense how very much of what we know about the makeup of our planet has come to light just the other day as history goes... Wilford has produced a brisk intelligent history.' New York Times Book Review
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence
One hot afternoon in a June not long ago, our helicopter circled the stark pinnacle of Dana Butte. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
One hot afternoon in a June not long ago, our helicopter circled the stark pinnacle of Dana Butte. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Drawing in the map of the world,
By
This review is from: The Mapmakers (Revised) (Hardcover)
Besides giving you a lot of information this book is also very well written. It feels like in the beginning of the book we have one big white sheet of paper and we have to get our pencils out and start drawing. The first chapters give us some sense about how Europe looked but with the chapters on the Travels of Discovery (Cook for example) we can draw more lines of the coastal areas. When in the 18th century entire countries are mapped the map becomes clearer and clearer. With the coming of computers the pencil lines could now be drawn with black ink.Even for those not really interested in the History of Maps this book is amazing. It is also a book on mathmetics, history and astronomy. Maps are my hobby and I've read a lot about them, but this book is definitely the best so far.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply brilliant,
By
This review is from: The Mapmakers: Revised Edition (Paperback)
I bought this at Schiphol Airport as I had nothing else to read ... doesn't sound much of a recommendation, does it? - but the small cover photo of two surveyors perched on a precarious butte, though simple, begged my attention. It succeeded - and grabbed!This book is deceptively large, due to the small font, tight spacing and thin margins. The narrative style of Pulitzer winner Mr.Wilford makes for easy, yet highly informative reading, taking us from early Chinese maps with their variable scale to modern digital mapping of the cosmos, all the while inserting interesting snippets of fact and conjecture. He draws heavily on other authors (showing the depth of his research), but only to illustrate and augment the narrative. I took longer than usual to read this book, simply because I wished to savour the experience. Required reading for all who wish to know how we came to view the world as we see it now. ...
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cartography, a never ending phenomenon,
By
This review is from: The Mapmakers (Revised) (Hardcover)
I agree with the other reviews about this book, but what I think is missing is emphasis on the more recent usages of maps. At first maps were created to fill in the gaps of undiscovered areas of the world. This is enough to excite the imagination and enthusiasm of anyone with a bent toward histroy. But, maps are now becoming devices for use by agencies and persons more interested in distribution of ideas, beliefs, and the like. Mapmakers have turned their efforts inward as well as outward, as in the case of the maping of Mars and the Moon, to meet the demands of Social Scientists in what we can only hope will be for the benefit of mankind as before. There will be hardly a book, be it historical, about art, or science that can be read after reading this one but that relevence will shine through for the benefit of one discipline or another. Rather than get too involved, however, I recemmend the book be read for the enjoyment of learning. It is well written and most informative.
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