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A History Of The World In Twelve Maps (2013)

by Jerry Brotton(Favorite Author)

3.73 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0670023396 (ISBN13: 9780670023394)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: In this long and sometimes tedious account of cartography from Ancient Babylon to Google Earth, Brotton traces the entire development of maps from its earliest beginnings. By way of China, Germany, Britain, France, etc. he chronicles at great length the creation and fortunes of many types of map, their sponsors, their creators, their technologies, and the world views they depended on. It's a hard read, one which took me several months, as I could only manage one chapter (map) a week. I do not recommend it unless you have a substantial interest in mapmaking. 4/10 (February-May 2014)
review 2: Generally speaking a very interesting book. A ton of information, most of which I was unfamiliar with previously, and presented in a way that nicely built upon itself. No... morete that despite the title, it's more a history of map-making as opposed to a history of the world through the lens of map making. Still, don't let that turn you off; maps are an integral part of how we interpret the world around us. In that sense, the book is really a story of how that interpretation has evolved over time.Still, the book isn't without faults. I found it to be at it's most dry when it delved into the bibliographic details of the particular map-makers. Maybe that's my personal taste, but I didn't find that information particularly useful or compelling, nor did it generally add to his greater themes and narratives. Also, a couple of the maps felt like they were tacked on. For example, he has exactly one non-Western map (an ancient map from Korea). This one chapter serves as an awkward time-out from the Euro-centric narrative that he's been building, without providing enough context or depth to adequately give the reader an appreciation for the development of non-western map making traditions. He would have been better off cutting it out, and explicitly focusing the book on Western map-making traditions.Still, those aren't huge complaints, given that this was fundamentally an interesting and enjoyable read. less

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