A review by lakecake
The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology by Simon Winchester

3.0

This story was just "eh" for me. It's a necessarily cursory look at William Smith's life--necessary because there isn't really a lot known about certain parts of his life, and also because it was meant to be a short book. Maybe it would have been better if we had had more of a look at him, but most of the time I was thinking, "OK, but so what?" So he made this map...and it was the first of its kind...so what? It never really gains a sense of urgency. This is a rare misfire from Winchester.