Rating: 
Summary: Geological Textbook or Biography ?
Review: This was a disappointing book and for the first half was more like a geology and paleontology textbook than a biography. It was difficult reading and required determination to fight through the technical jargon. It was only at about the mid-point of the book that the politics, intrigue, romance and other essential elements of a good story came into play. The writing style does not lend itself to easy reading either. Many sentences are far too long - and even have long sub-sentences in the middle, split by the unusual punctuation of dashes - before the original sentence is again picked up and concluded. Coincidentally, or maybe not, this writing style appears more frequently in the rather dry first half of the story than in the latter half where the action begins to pick up. There was also a great deal of repetition, almost as if the author, Simon Winchester, was trying to pad out the book. Perhaps the truth is that the whole story could, and perhaps should, have been told in just a few chapters rather than the whole 300 pages. In fact the five page prologue to the book presents a concise precis of its entire contents. Winchester did succeed though in gaining the reader's sympathy for the man, William Smith, who produced the map that changed the world. Set in England 200 years ago, the story of Smith's brilliance in geological pioneering investigation, hands-on field work, identification of fossils and understanding of the importance of their place in the various geological stratas, is fascinating. As a man of humble origins, his battle against the dilettante, upper class, amateur academics who ignored or vilified him was as big a challenge as his real work. The map signed by W. Smith and dated August 1st 1815 was finally accepted as the first true and accurate record of "A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales with part of Scotland". He was to be the inaugural winner of the Wollaston Medal, the geological equivalent of a Nobel prize, in 1831, in the autumn of his life. The book is well worth the read but be prepared to work hard to get the most out of it.
Rating: 
Summary: The map changed the world but the book will not!
Review: Let begin by saying that I loved Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman. It truely was a fantastic read. The Map That Changed The World on the other hand is a complete disaster. It is the opposite of his first book. Mr. Winchester looses control and focus in the course of this book. The reader never really understands William Smith as a human being. The jacket summary that is supplied on the inside cover of the book implies that we are to meet William Smith and speaks of his mentally ill wife who is stricken with nymphomania. But he fails to deliver any human character or motivation for William Smith. The science becomes clouded by a loss of focus as the author moves back and forth through time. As a reader one never gets a clear understanding of the chronologic order of William Smith and his discoveries. At one point the author tells the reader of his own experience growing up at an english boarding school and its proximity to a site that Smith made some important observations. How that pertains to Smith and understanding Smith and his ideas is beyond me. Certainly it helps understand the author's passion for geology and Smith but that is not the intended focus of this book. I gave this book one star but there was no designation for zero stars. Avoid this one and try Winchester's other book - The Professor and The Mad Man. In the future I will be very cautious in considering any future writings by this author.
Rating: 
Summary: History, goelogy & a biography all in one.
Review: For anyone with even a mild interest in geology, this book is one of the most fascinating biographies of the year. William Smith was a self-educated surveyor and canal digger who overcame tremendous obstacles to reveal the very foundations of modern geology. Winchester tells this fascinating tale of intellectual history in a wonderfully accessible manner, using clear and striking language to weave a compelling historical tale. The subject matter truly comes to life in Simon Winchester's skilled storytelling. If you like intellectual histories/biographies such as Lesley and Roy Adkin's "The Keys of Egypt," Dana Sobel's "Longitude," or Giles Milton's "Nathaniel's Nutmeg," then give this book a try and I don't think you will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Science, Snobbery, and Success
Review: Simon Winchester has produced a worthy successor to The Professor and the Madman, his study of one of the unlikeliest contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary. The Map That Changed the World is the story of William Smith, a self taught and brilliant geologist who created the first geological map of England and Wales. This book is a delight for several reasons. First, it successfully evokes the atmosphere of the late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century, an exciting period when scientific inquiry was beginning to challenge old certainties. William Smith did not just develop a new way to depict the earth's surface, he was developing a new theory about the earth's history and thereby challenging religious orthodoxy. Secondly, this book works because William Smith himself was such a pleasant, unpretentious fellow. His singleminded devotion to geology brought him into contact with many British aristocrats, whom he seems to have treated in the same down to earth style he used for everyone. This, along with some disastrous financial and marital decisions,led to Smith's impoverishment and imprisonment for debt and (probably worst of all to him) his blacklisting from membership in the elite Geographical Society. It is good to know at the end of the book that Smith overcame these setbacks and by the end of his life was receiving the honor and acclaim he deserved. The third reason to buy this book is Simon Winchester's writing itself. As in everything he produces, Winchester sparkles and charms. So buy the book, along with anything else by Winchester you can find.
Rating:
Summary: Good story saves sketchy writing
Review: I got this book after hearing an interview with Simon Winchester on NPR. He said that he did a lot of research into the forgotten William Smith's life, and discovered a compelling story that he wanted to share with the world. All of that is very clear after reading this tragic hero's tale. Unfortunately Winchester is a professor writing a text book. It is a footnote-fest on every page, where clearly these could have been written into the story by a more lucid writer. He uses them as a crutch. I also felt that the flow of time was awkward; reading from chapter to chapter was like riding in a jerking bus. One minute Smith is in his thirties, the next he's an indeterminate number of years older, and then all of a sudden he's a rheumatic old man. To give Winchester credit, the book is an easy read, and the passion he has for the story is palpable. He structures the book cleverly with an initial look forward in time and an intermission in modern-day England. But though I'll always remember the story and its hero, sharper prose would have had me evangelizing about Smith and firing off letters to the British Museum to restore to this great man's memory the respect it deserves. Borrow this book. The fold-out map on the dust jacket is a very nice touch.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating read!
Review: Anybody who has ever had Geology 101 in college or basic earth science in high school should remember hearing about "Strata Smith," the founder of the science of stratigraphy, and will revel in reading this book. Very well written, it tells the poignant story of the Englishman who, early in the 18th century, made the world's first geological map. William Smith was a poorly educated surveyor and a digger of canals. In the course of his digging he realized that the rock strata of England occurred in orderly fashion, in layers that could be identified over wide areas by the fossils they contained. He literally tramped throughout the kingdom, drawing sketches and making notes. At last he created his great geological map of England, a work of scientific artistry that hangs today on a wall in the headquarters of the Royal Geological Society in London. But his ideas were stolen by aristocratic wannabe geologists who took all the credit and refused the commoner Smith admission into their Society. He spent several homeless years, eking out a living as a surveyor and gardner, before a true nobleman discovered who he was and what he had done. He was brought to London and showered with honors, including the very first Wollaston Medal, the earth-science equivalent of a Nobel Prize. A wonderful, heartwarming story!
Rating:
Summary: More for Rock Doctors..........
Review: One could not imagine a more dry topic but Winchester has mangaged to put some passion and "excitment" into this matter, but its not enough to carry this "novice" reader. His use of footnotes is annoying at times as they are often mildly related facts which may have been dug up during his research . Not in the league of D Sobel's "Longitude" or Winchester's other book on the compilation of OED but still a fitting recognition of what was a major contribution to science. Wait till its in soft cover for better value
Rating:
Summary: A book that reads as slow as the plates move...
Review: This is perhaps the most poorly written book I have ever read. I purchased the book initially due to a review in Business Week magazine. While the map the covers the book is beautifully and deliberately created through hard work by William Smith, the content of the book was obviously rushed and unedited by the author. There is no excuse for 10 line sentences that ramble on with a half a dozen commas to become a paragraph. The text has no natural pattern and is painful to read.
Rating: 
Summary: factual errors
Review: This book made interesting reading and I would say it was well written. However, it only gets two stars because of the sloppy editing... if I'm not an expert and caught some errors on the first read, how many more are there that I didn't notice. For example, the author states that stromatolites and trilobites were extinct by the end of the Carboniferous Era. Well, in fact, it's pretty widely accepted that trilobites lived past the Carboniferous, and stromatolites still exist today. After reading the book, I found Stephen Jay Gould's review of it; he noticed not only substantial errors in natural history, but in the accounts of people's lives and motivations. There's no excuse for this kind of poor work.
Rating:
Summary: A Dissapointment
Review: 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 no way gives any idea what the science of geology really is or what part, other than an originator, Smith might be said to have played from a modern perspective. Although Winchester says that Smith's work was eclipsed by more modern work even in Smith's lifetime, he gives no hint as to what these others added, or what anyone else added later either. It is like talking about the invention of the steam engine without mentioning what it might become, how it might evolve, or how it might be applied. Well you might say, the usual reader probably knows something about steam engines. Yes I reply, but is that true of geology? As for scandal and titillation, there is none. Forget that too. I didn't miss it but since it was promised I looked for it. Finally, the MAP reproduction: such a disappointment! What we get is a 21x26-inch magnification of the 74 x 105-inch original. It is printed in a peculiar orange and yellow predominantly which may or may not be true to the original, but is very low contrast here. Mostly, it is too small to read place names or feature. It is like looking at a "thumbnail" copy of some picture on a computer, but on the computer you can click and enlarge it if detail interests you. There is however no way to get the detail here. Print is "greeked" or otherwise unreadable. So despite many tantalizing references in the text to places Smith went and geological formations he saw, it is impossible to refer to the map to examine these. I suppose that the fact that author and publisher did not put map references in the text (typically in a form like "column C row 7") showed that they were aware that the map would not be good enough. So much the pity. It counts as another promise not kept to me.
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