The Map That Changed the World
William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
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In 1793, British canal digger William Smith noticed that the rocks he was excavating were arranged in layers, and that the fossils found in one layer were very different from those found in another. Determined to create a map that would display this hidden underside of England, he spent 20 years traveling the country and studying rock outcrops and fossils. In 1815, Smith published his groundbreaking geological map. But in a cruel twist of fate, his work was plagiarized and he was soon in debtors’ prison.
Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman, tells the fascinating story of Smith’s remarkable scientific achievement, fall from grace and ultimate recognition as the father of modern geology. This New York Times bestseller is a tale of endurance and achievement, of one man’s dedication in the face of personal crisis and how his work helped create the world that we know today.
Simon Winchester is the New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman. He is a writer and an adventurer, and has had an award-winning thirty-year newspaper career.
“Winchester masterfully weaves a compelling history.” — Newsday
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Winchester, whose previous effort was the bestseller The Professor and the Madman, tells the remarkable story of William Smith, whose geologically correct map of England and Wales, dated 1815, became the bedrock for the modern science of geology. Winchester's strength is his ability to meld into compelling narrative a host of literary conventions, such as foreshadowing and fictionalized, internal dialogue. With descriptive contemporary visitations to places significant to the story and well-chosen historical detail, he makes immediate not only the magnitude and elegance of Smith's accomplishment, but also the thrill of each of the moments of genius necessary to reach his ultimate conclusion. But intellectual discovery is only half this story. Winchester writes with verve and conviction when relating the class and cultural wars that enveloped Smith soon after the publication of his map. It was plagiarized, stolen through the intrigues and machinations of George Bellas Greenough, an immensely wealthy gentleman and a founding member of the Geological Society of London, which, in a spectacular embrace of injustice, initially denied Smith membership. After a brief incarceration in debtor's prison, Smith left London and its scientific circles, not returning until his reputation was resurrected years later, when he became the first recipient of the Wollastan Medal, geology's Nobel Prize. Smith's life provides a terrific plot to frame his contribution to science. Winchester's wonderful account does credit to it. 60 illus. not seen by PW.
