The Mapmakers: Revised Edition
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.25 (674 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0375708502 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 507 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-05-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
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. Eratosthenes, derided by his envious colleagues as a second-stringer, nursed an insatiable curiosity about the natural world. --Gregory McNamee. 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
"Map History Book" according to Kenneth Rittenmeyer. This book is excellent. It describes in amazing detail what it took to map our world. Read this book if your a fan of maps, interested in geography or are interested in some fascinating historical figures that risked their lives to map our world.. Historical book on the mapmakers, but lacking detail on mapmaking This is a well-written book that provides a rich, deep history of the people behind the maps: Mercator, Magellan, Columbus, Cook, Cassini, et al. These historical figures and many others are discussed along with how necessity, ingenuity, and determination combined to drive these men to produce maps used by travellers, adventurers, and politicians.However, a significant lack of technical detail really hurts this book. The author provides ample pages to the mapmakers but not enough to the actual mapmaking process, which. "Where It's At" according to doomsdayer520. I have always been fascinated by maps, as both sources of information and representations of nature's design. I'm glad I'm not alone in that regard, and anyone with an interest in maps or mapmaking will be intrigued by this heavily informative book. Wilford takes us from the very earliest maps of ancient times and lays out in-depth histories of all the uses, effects, and technologies of maps up to the present day. The early parts of the book also tell us about the often unexpected challenges faced by mapmakers, such a
With this revised edition, Wilford brings the story up to the present day, as he shows the impact of new technologies that make it possible for cartographers to go where no one has been before, from the deepest reaches of the universe (where astronomers are mapping time as well as space) to the inside of the human brain. In his classic text, two-time Pulitzer Prize—winner John Noble Wilford recounts the history of cartography from antiquity to the space age. These modern-day mapmakers join the many earlier adventurers–including ancient Greek stargazers, Renaissance seafarers, and the explorers who mapped the American West–whose exploits shape this dramatic story of human inventiveness and limitless curiosity.