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The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology by Simon Winchester
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
It was interesting learning about the strata maps that helped launch a widespread understanding and acceptance of geology. Overall, this isn't a bad read. I was put off, however, by the author's unnecessary proliferation of sexist, ableist, and anti-asexual notions. For no reason, he took the time to repeat that a female geologist who had shown no romantic interests left this world with her cold, petrified heart in her collection. The sexuality of the men somehow hasn’t come up. He also said of Smith’s wife that she was a burden due to her ill health and somehow didn’t feel it was important to note (granted, I didn’t look this woman up) that her other diagnosis of being ill with hyper-sexuality may have reflected more on the times and their view of women with interest in non-child-making sex than on her actual mental health.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, and Sexism
sewfarsewgood's review against another edition
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.5
A really informative biography about the first geological map. The book doesn't shy away from Smith's problematic personality traits, he wanted to be noticed and would spend money to make this happen, even to his detriment. This book does go in assuming you have an understanding of geology and the strata of fossils, there is a glossary in the back which I wish I had realised a lot sooner than I did. All over an interesting view on quite a niche subject.
daja57's review against another edition
4.0
Simon Winchester also wrote The Surgeon of Crowthorne about a homicidal maniac who made a significant contribution to the Oxford English Dictionary while detained in a mental hospital.
This book is about William Smith, son of a blacksmith, who created the world's first geographical map and virtually invented single-handed the science of stratification, being the first man to realise that fossils could be used to date sedimentary rocks. It is also a tale of a snobbish Georgian upper-class closing ranks against this ill-bred man and consigning him to bankruptcy, debtor's jail, and ignominy before recognising his genius. It's a great story, well-written, which hardly ever flags (though I perhaps didn't want to know quite so much about Oolitic Limestone).
Smith was born in 1769, the year that Josiah Wedgwood opened the 'Etruria' pottery near Hanley, the year that James Watt patented the first condensing steam engine, and the year that Richard Arkwright made the first water-powered spinning frame. It was also the time when agriculture was improving in productivity by leaps and bounds, following the Enclosure Acts, resulting in boom in population which made it clear that Britain couldn't feed its people.
The book is filled with wonderful pen portraits of remarkable characters, albeit cameo roles in Smith's drama. And there is a roll-call of other interesting people who were associated with Smith, from the Duke of Bedford to Selina Hastings, from Adam Sedgwick to Roderick Murchison. from Sir Joseph Banks to Louis Agassiz who invented the concept of the ice age.
This book is about William Smith, son of a blacksmith, who created the world's first geographical map and virtually invented single-handed the science of stratification, being the first man to realise that fossils could be used to date sedimentary rocks. It is also a tale of a snobbish Georgian upper-class closing ranks against this ill-bred man and consigning him to bankruptcy, debtor's jail, and ignominy before recognising his genius. It's a great story, well-written, which hardly ever flags (though I perhaps didn't want to know quite so much about Oolitic Limestone).
Smith was born in 1769, the year that Josiah Wedgwood opened the 'Etruria' pottery near Hanley, the year that James Watt patented the first condensing steam engine, and the year that Richard Arkwright made the first water-powered spinning frame. It was also the time when agriculture was improving in productivity by leaps and bounds, following the Enclosure Acts, resulting in boom in population which made it clear that Britain couldn't feed its people.
The book is filled with wonderful pen portraits of remarkable characters, albeit cameo roles in Smith's drama. And there is a roll-call of other interesting people who were associated with Smith, from the Duke of Bedford to Selina Hastings, from Adam Sedgwick to Roderick Murchison. from Sir Joseph Banks to Louis Agassiz who invented the concept of the ice age.