On The Map-Simon Garfield

In this compelling read about what may first seem to be a dry subject Simon Garfield takes cartography to the streets with a fascinating narrative that reveals the history of many of the world's most interesting maps.

At a time before the Hubble telescope and the tools of modern astronomy their work was Earthcentric. Religion was a big deal and thus Jerusalem was usually at the center or Medieval maps in both the Christian and Muslim worlds.

In many cases cartographers were shaping the way people got around the world by using the Bible, known trade routes and traditional lore as navigation tools.

As maps became more vital they were placed in places of honor like monasteries, libraries or in the collection of learned nobles. As centuries passed maps became a reference guide of sorts for seeing how people throughout time viewed the world they lived in.

Garfield breaks his book down into digestible chapters focusing, in most cases, on a particular map. He then provides context for fascinating stories about how men like Claudius Ptolemy, Matthew Paris, Marco Polo and Winston Churchill influenced the the people of their times by making and studying maps.

Proving the world was round opened up a completely new world view to the travelers of the fifteenth century. As seafarers and explorers changed the configuration of the known world the globe became a new tool in cartography. The development of globes meant that the adventurous could now use expanded map techniques as a guide to a challenging new world.

The rules changed, as noted in Garfield's richly detailed history of all things map, when modern technology and advanced scientific study allowed for doctors to map the human brain.While not geographical in nature, mapping the brain allowed its own world of exploration that offered findings just as significant as the first globes.

Garfield's journey  also answers some intriguing questions as the book progresses, namely
why dragons are on maps, how maps were copied and most of all how they can be used as a barometer of their eras.

The future of maps and how they affect our changing times is also discussed and it is quite clear that Mr. Garfield is worried that our modern age will make the maps we know now obsolete.

On The Map ambitiously covers a lot of ground while focusing on the weird, strange, interesting and  historical world of maps. What all this means is that Garfield has used the field of cartography as a jumping off point for understanding how we have viewed our world throughout history and shape our lives as humans.