Mercator : The Man Who Mapped the Planet

by Nicholas Crane

• ISBN13: 9780805066258
• ISBN10: 080506625X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2004-02-01
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

"Crane's book is quite probably destined to become the standard text."Simon Winchester, The New York Times Gerhard Mercator lived in an era of formidable intellectual and scientific advances. At the center of the exploratory vortex were the cartographers who were painstakingly piecing together the evidence to create ever more accurate pictures of the planet. Mercator was the greatest of all of them. His inspirationthe mapsolved the dimensional riddle that had vexed cosmographers for so long: How could the three-dimensional globe be converted into a two-dimensional map while retaining true compass bearings? His resulting projection revolutionized navigation and has become the most common worldview. For the first time, people were able to see the world on paper and their place in it. Nicholas Crane, a geographer himself, has combined a keen eye for historical detail with a gift for vivid storytelling to produce this masterly and highly acclaimed biography of the man who mapped the planet. Nicholas Crane, a geographer and adventurer, is the author ofTwo Degrees WestandClear Waters Rising. He lives in London. Born into the age of Discovery, Gerard Mercator lived through an extraordinary era of intellectual and scientific expansion. Among those fueling this progress were the cartographers, who painstakingly sifted through the constant flow of new information and evidence to create ever more accurate pictures of the planet. Mercator was the greatest of them alla poor boy from the Low Countries who attended one of Europe's top universities, was persecuted and imprisoned by the Inquisition, but survived to coin the term "atlas" and to produce the so-called projection for which he is known. Devoutly religious, yet gripped by Aristotelian science, Mercator struggled to reconcile the two, a conflict mirrored by the growing clash in Europe between humanism and the Church. Before 1568, navigation charts used by sailors did not correctly account for the fact that the world was round. Mercator solved the dimensional riddle that had vexed cosmographers for so long: How could the three-dimensional globe be converted into a two-dimensional map while retaining true compass bearings? The projection revolutionized navigation and has become the most common worldview. Even today, NASA uses Mercator's projections to map Mars. Mercator's equations allowed cartographers to produce charts from which they could easily navigate, regardless of the size distortion the map produced. On a broader scale, the map brought about a paradigm shift in our conception of the world. For the first time, people were able to see the world on a single sheet of paper and to see their place within it. Nicholas Crane, a geographer himself, has combined a keen eye for historical detail with a gift for vivid storytelling to produce a masterly biographythe first ever in Englishof the man who mapped the planet. "[Crane's] book is quite probably destined to become a standard text."Simon Winchester,The New York Times "Nicholas Crane brings the great cartographer to life in an engaging biography carefully constructed by integrating Mercator's known accomplishments, with key social, military, political and meteorological events of sixteenth-century Europe."The Washington Post "This rich and rewarding biography of the man who changed the way we look at the world . . . stands at the peak of Crane's achievements so far."The Times(London) "As a portrait of a genius, as a biography, as a history, as a rich, lively though dignified narrative and as a colorful adventure, this story of the stoic individual who not only mapped the planet but opened man's eyes, is a marvellous, unforgettable book. It is

Author Biography

Nicholas Crane, a geographer and adventurer, is the author of two acclaimed books, Two Degrees West and Clear Waters Rising. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

“Nicholas Crane brings the great cartographer to life in an engaging biography carefully constructed by integrating Mercator’s known accomplishments with key social, military, politcial and meteorological events of 16th-century Europe.” —The Washington Post

“A gracefully written, highly readable and painstakingly researched volume.” —Financial Times