The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
- List Price: $26.00
- Binding: Paperback
- Publisher: HarperLargePrint
- Publish date: 08/01/2001
Obsessed with printing his discovery, by creating a map that would show this hidden underside of England, he spent 20 years travelling the length and breadth of the kingdom by stage coach, studying rock outcroppings and gathering information. In 1815, he published an epochal and remarkably beautiful hand-painted map more than eight feet tall and six feet wide. But four years after this triumphant publication, and with a nymphomaniac wife going steadily mad, Smith ended up in debtors prison, swindled out of his profits.
Luckily, just when it seemed he would be lost to the pages os history forever, King William offered him a lifetime pension, and this quiet genius was finally showered with the honors that he rightly deserved. Here now is his astounding story.
