false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167571832m/25014.jpg 25014 20 Once upon a time there lived a man who discovered the secrets of the earth. He traveled far and wide, learning about the world below the surface. After years of toil, he created a great map of the underworld and expected to live happily ever after. But did he? Simon Winchester (<I>The Professor and the Madman</I>) tells the fossil-friendly fairy tale life of William Smith in <I>The Map That Changed the World</I>.<p> 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). While working as surveyor in a coal mine, Smith noticed the abrupt changes in the layers of rock as he was lowered into the depths. He came to understand that the different layers--in part as revealed by the fossils they contained--always appeared in the same order, no matter where they were found. He also realized that geology required a three-dimensional approach. Smith spent the next 20 some years traveling throughout Britain, observing the land, gathering data, and chattering away about his theories to those he met along the way, thus acquiring the nickname "Strata Smith." In 1815 he published his masterpiece: an 8.5- by 6-foot, hand-tinted map revealing "A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales."<p> Despite this triumph, Smith's road remained more rocky than smooth. Snubbed by the gentlemanly Geological Society, Smith complained that "the theory of geology is in the possession of one class of men, the practice in another." Indeed, some members of the society went further than mere ostracism--they stole Smith's work. These cartographic plagiarists produced their own map, remarkably similar to Smith's, in 1819. Meanwhile the chronically cash-strapped Smith had been forced to sell his prized fossil collection and was eventually consigned to debtor's prison.<p> In the end, the villains are foiled, our hero restored, and science triumphs. Winchester clearly relishes his happy ending, and his honey-tinged prose ("that most attractively lovable losterlike Paleozoic arthropod known as the trilobite") injects a lot of life into what seems, on the surface, a rather dry tale. Like Smith, however, Winchester delves into the strata beneath the surface and reveals a remarkable world. <I>--Sunny Delaney</I> 1413457 2001 The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology total:678|5:97|4:237|3:252|2:75|1:17| 678 2356 1118 111 5 1 false false Wed Sep 10 03:40:07 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 10 03:42:47 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 04 14:43:50 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 11 09:08:27 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sun Feb 03 14:30:47 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 14:42:27 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 13:48:18 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 23 06:53:58 -0700 2009 Krakatoa when I went shopping for my BCUK NSSEBS partner and this was on her wishlist, and then I really didn't want to read the book next at the top of Mount Toobie (apologies to those of you getting a feed of this, you'll be out of your miser...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 05:36:54 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 06:08:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Sep 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 18:00:54 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 23:25:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Nov 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 23:14:20 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 01:01:24 -0800 2009 The Professor and the Madman. As an autodidact, I love the work of men like William Smith, the father of geology, being celebrated. He's the guy who figured out the idea that the rocks and sediments of the world were deposited in regular strata which could be identifi...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Tue Jan 06 12:28:54 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 12:33:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 14:46:55 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 14:56:13 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Feb 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Sep 26 16:46:44 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 16:46:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 17:49:20 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 17:49:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 08 07:05:09 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 28 18:31:07 -0700 2008 The Professor and the Madman: a quick read of intriguing characters with a driving narrative. Instead, I dropped it partway through because of its relentless (and redundant) contrast between rational scientific thought (lightness) and backwards faith-based i...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Apr 03 10:40:12 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 17 08:10:00 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 13 05:06:08 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 02 16:13:52 -0700 2007 Fri Jan 11 22:47:12 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu May 31 07:56:20 -0700 2007 Thu May 31 10:57:37 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 02 04:34:48 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 04:43:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Mar 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Apr 10 15:28:00 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 19 18:49:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 true false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Mar 26 09:05:24 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 09:33:14 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 13:44:39 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 07:35:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Sun Nov 02 06:59:36 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 05 00:29:06 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=25014