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

Rating:
Summary: Winchester rules
Review: Of all of the journalists who tackle history Winchester is the best! I have read every book I could find by this author because he is a great researcher as well as a weaver of tales. I still cry when I remember "The Professor and the Madman". This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know more about maps, geology and history. Thumbs up!!!

Rating:
Summary: Great Listening!
Review: Simon Winchester's reading of "The Map That Changed The World" was wonderful. The author's enthusiasm for his subject shines through in his reading, transforming what might otherwise be too complicated a subject for me to follow. I was totally engrossed and went on to buy the hardcover book as well as research the history of Will Smith and his map even further via the internet. I fully endorse all the other positive reviews of the book adding my own enjoyment of the thoroughness of Winchester's depiction of the religious, cultural, and sociological dimensions of life in England during the early 1800's as well as the biography of this remarkable man whose innate curiosity, genius and pure love of his subject produced a remarkable work of art and science.
I equally enjoyed and recommend the audiobook version of Winchester's "The Professor and the Madman."

Rating:
Summary: It changed the way we THOUGHT about the world
Review: Inside the front cover of my edition is a reproduction of `the map' as produced by William Smith, whereas the back cover has the Royal Geological Survey map produced in 2001. The striking similarity between the two is a testimony to the work of Smith.

Smith did not set out to produce a geological map of the British Isles, but to earn a living in the canal boom years before the advent of the railway era in Britain. The Somerset Coal Canal is another one of his legacies, and he also worked extensively throughput the Somerset coal field, to the South and West of Bath. His true insight may well have been at Mearns Pit, in High Littleton in this coal field. Like many noteworthy discoveries, Smith took many years to work out his ideas, to publish them (and even more to get credit for them).

Geology was at the forefront of science in late 18th century. There were lots of gentleman-scientists, who had rock collections. Slowly, Smith sought to bring order to the series of rocks that were visible in Britain, and he did this by comparing fossils from different locations. His insight was to realise that the order of rocks (in terms of strata) was passed on; if A is above rock B, and B is above rock C, then A must be above rock C. Seen from the 21st Century, that seemed obvious, but at the time it was a real struggle to breakout of the dogmas of the era. At the beginning of Smith's life, Bibles were still printed which declared the date of the earth's creation.

Simon Winchester has written a thoroughly absorbing account of Smith's life and work, and inhabited the pages with snippets of information about the life and times. It is well researched, and uses letters and diary entries of Smith and his contemporaries that survive. Smith cuts a figure of tragedy at times, with disappointment seeming to follow him around. His ideas were all but stolen, he spent some weeks in jail for debt in the summer of 1819, and he missed out on several chances to work abroad, staying for hollow promises of work in London.

I enjoyed the line-drawings of fossils that headed each chapter, and the glossary of geological terms was a useful addition. I also never realised that the house that has an inscribed tablet championing Smith (a little over 4 miles from where I live, myself at the Northern limit of the Somerset coal field) is the wrong house! A very good read, and one of the growing series of history of science books published in the last few years. What Smith's contemporaries failed to do in the early years of the nineteenth century, Simon Winchester has done; hailed a truly remarkable man who travelled the length and breadth of Britain to produce a lasting product; a map. Fortunately Smith was recognised in his lifetime (eventually) and honoured accordingly. Now we can do the same.

Peter Morgan, Bath, UK ([e-mail])


Rating:
Summary: An interesting biography buried in distractions
Review: While this book does include much interesting information, it also is longer than it needs to me and suffers from a bit of a split personality. Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is the biographical material on William Smith. We are provided with a pretty clear picture of the man and his career, and how he conceived and developed his theories that gave birth to the modern science of geology. Had the author stayed focused on the biography, this book would be much more concise and enjoyable. Unfortunately, this book is also a history of the early development of geology as a science, with many digressions into the careers and personalities of the other early English scientists in this field. Throw in a heavy amount of geological details and a completely superfluous chapter about the author's attempts to retrace Smith's travels, and Smith's story becomes lost in a maze of distracting details, most of which aren't necessary to appreciate the contributions Smith made, or the story of his life. Also, for someone not intimitely familiar with English geography, it is difficult to visualize the relative locations of much of this narrative. A basic map showing the various towns, cities and regions would have been helpful to those of us with only the most general sense of the layout of the English countryside.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: It was a very enjoyable and easy read. There are parts scattered throughout the book where the author tends to ramble and wander onto tangents. The book would have been stronger and tighter if the author had stayed on topic. The line drawings peppered through the book add a nice bit of visual detail but I would have liked to have seen even more of them used.