From Publishers Weekly
Mapping the world is one of humanity's most enduring passions, something we've done with varying degrees of success for over a thousand years. Short, a geography professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has managed to compile an astonishing number of those efforts in his latest book. From aboriginal rock carvings to Native American celestial charts to modern-day satellite maps, all types of maps are included in this gorgeously illustrated volume. The book's chronological structure is simple yet elegant, drawing readers along as cartography develops in different lands and different cultures. And its histories are nothing if not comprehensive, with examples plucked from countless periods. But rather than combining the mesmerizing illustrations with poetic odes to humanity's quests, Short offers text that's almost jarringly basic (e.g., "The producers of maps are called mapmakers"). But the engrossing visual tale of humankind's struggle to chart the world-part adventure, part art-is enough to stand impressively on its own. 200 photos, maps and diagrams Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Edward K. Werner, Library Journal 10/15/2003
A handsomely illustrated introduction to the history of maps... elegantly reproduced maps that richly supplement the authoritative text... highly recommended.


Science News 09/27/2003
Short puts the many maps printed on these pages in the context of history.


Laszlo Buhasz, Globe and Mail 11/01/2003
Accompanied by hundreds of color photographs and illustrations of maps, some of which are truly works of art.


Globe and Mail 11/22/2003
Sumptuous illustrations... crystal clear prose and not a jot of pretentiousness.


William R. Green, The Leading Edge (Society of Exploration Geophysicists) 12/2004
A very visual history... If you enjoy old and new maps as I do, this book will be a treat.


Jonathan Sher, London Free Press 12/06/2003
The strength of the book is its breadth and its central thesis -- that all map-makers make judgements.


Joseph Kula, CanWest News Service 12/20/2003
Amply illustrated book shows how far we've come in a relatively short time when it comes to mapping our routes.


Alexander Varty, Vancouver Georgia Strait 12/04/2003
A seductive investment... Almost every page here is a voyage of discovery, and of wonder.


Fred Donnelly, New Brunswick Reader 01/24/2004
Finely produced... amazing breadth... a valuable introduction to cartography... the author reminds us that objective-appearing maps can be deceptively subjective.


Dave Obee, Victoria Times-Colonist 01/04/2004
Brilliant guide to using maps... a superb resource to help us understand the maps we use.


Book Description
The history of mapping from prehistoric times to the present. This book explores how maps were developed and why they reveal as much about the people who created them as they reveal about the world. Throughout the ages, maps have reflected religious beliefs, disseminated propaganda, expressed cultural attitudes, and promoted new theories. Through accessible text and color images, the book traces the fascinating history of cartography. The ancient Greeks were brilliant cartographers whose mapping skills were honed as a result of the global conquests of Alexander the Great. Their understanding of a spherical Earth and how to depict it on a flat sheet of paper was nearly lost during the Middle Ages. The book explains why in the 15th century, the value of sea charts rivaled gold as a primary target for buccaneer captains. Later, maps became status symbols among wealthy merchants who built vast fortunes thanks to thriving trade routes made possible by reliable sea navigation. The World Through Maps is abundantly illustrated with historically important maps to explain the development of cartography. Significant maps include: - Aboriginal Dreamtime map - Ancient Greek maps including Ptolemy's map - Medieval maps of Europe - Ortelius's Atlas, World Theatre - Early maps of the New World - Lewis and Clark's maps of exploration - Modern maps in the age of satellites Contemporary maps are so accurate and plentiful that they are often taken for granted. The World Through Maps is a lively book that tells why this was not always so.


From the Author
This beautiful and informative book examines the history of maps and mapmaking. It looks at the full historical range of maps and mapmaking from the earliest maps carved on rocks to satellite images. Maps from around the world are included. Maps are technical documents and so some of this book is concerned with the technical aspects of maps. But they are also social documents that reveal the impress of power. Maps tell us where things are. But in what they include and exclude, what they emphasize and ignore and how they present information, maps reveal much about the social environment in which maps were produced and consumed. The World Through Maps is unique in that it covers the full range of historical and geographical range of mapmaking, and is sensitive to questions of power and authority as to technique and design. It carefully deconstructs the social meaning and political implications of maps as well as recording the technical accomplishments of mapmaking. The book is illustrated with an unmatched range of beautiful and fascinating illustrations. There is no other single volume that contains as many apt and informative color reproductions. Hopefully I’ve written it in a style that is fresh, informative and engaging. If you can only have one book on the history of cartography; this is the book. John Rennie Short


About the Author
John Rennie Short is a professor of Geography at the University of Maryland, and is a leading authority in geographic studies.


Excerpted from The World Through Maps by John Rennie Short. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From Chapter 1: Introducing Maps The Language of Maps Maps are central to the human experience and mapmaking is a major social achievement. In many ways, the history of maps and mapmaking is the history of human society. This book explores the most human of enterprises by looking at the evolution of maps through history, and the major developments in mapmaking. Maps represent a vital form of human communication. Like all systems of communication we can identify different elements: the producer, the medium, the message, and the consumer. The producers of maps are called mapmakers. They range from highly skilled specialists to the person who sketches a rough route map for friends coming to dinner. Through the ages most mapmakers have remained anonymous. This book will look at many of the maps created by these unknown people. It will also consider maps that are the work of known individuals who gave maps and mapmaking a distinctive signature, from the early cartographic works of the 2nd century C.E. geographer Claudius Ptolemy, to the 20th-century maps of Richard Edes Harrison, the US cartographer whose striking maps were published in Time magazine during the Second World War, to the demands of Arno Peters that the world look at itself anew, with a different map projection. The term "map" comes from the Latin mappa, meaning "cloth." Over the centuries, maps have been (and still are) produced in many different forms. They have been carved in stone, painted on silk, printed on paper, inscribed on wax tablets and stored as computer images. There are common maps, and there are rare maps, either the few remaining examples of multiple copies or unique maps made with one viewer in mind. There are many different types of map, from simple route maps to maps of countries of the world. Their uses also differ: to plot a journey, to claim territory, or to locate phenomena as varied as air temperature and variations in human health. Maps are used to describe the world, to explain history, to guide action, and to justify events. Like language itself, maps are called upon to perform a variety of roles, and they embody a variety of messages. There are obvious messages, such as "this is the location of Toronto" and more complex ones. For example,18th-century English and French maps of North America were not just depictions of land; they were acts of colonial assumption. Consumers of maps can be specific audiences as well as more general readers. Access to maps produced in time of war, for example, is usually restricted for fear that vital information will fall into enemy hands. Military maps convey a great deal of information about the mindset and objectives of the producers of the map, and hence about their attitudes, actions, and conduct during the war. But when the war is over, restricted maps can have a wider circulation and their message changes for the reader. Maps have always had a symbolic importance. The first maps, carved in stone and drawn in sand, had as much a symbolic as practical value. They gave meaning to life as well as direction, by locating, or "centering" people. And even today contemporary maps reveal just as much about ourselves as inhabitants of the world as they do about the geography of the world. When we use national boundaries, for example as important elements in map design, we signal the importance of nationalism to individual and group identity. Maps also have a decorative purpose. Many maps are extremely beautiful and intricate. Some are designed specifically as art objects, but even the most practical have an esthetic quality to which many people are instinctively drawn. Maps are as much works of art as they are products of technical achievement. Maps are pictures of the world that embody changes in artistic depiction, scientific inquiry, and the way we view and understand the land around us. They are material objects, social documents, and historical artifacts. The history of cartography is a complex story of changes in artistic representation, technical progress, and social construction, all of which bear the mark of economic and political power.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The history of mapping from prehistoric times to the present.

This book explores how maps were developed and why they reveal as much about the people who created them as they reveal about the world. Throughout the ages, maps have reflected religious beliefs, disseminated propaganda, expressed cultural attitudes, and promoted new theories.

Through accessible text and color images, the book traces the fascinating history of cartography. The ancient Greeks were brilliant cartographers whose mapping skills were honed as a result of the global conquests of Alexander the Great. Their understanding of a spherical Earth and how to depict it on a flat sheet of paper was nearly lost during the Middle Ages.

The book explains why in the 15th century, the value of sea charts rivaled gold as a primary target for buccaneer captains. Later, maps became status symbols among wealthy merchants who built vast fortunes thanks to thriving trade routes made possible by reliable sea navigation.

The World Through Maps is abundantly illustrated with historically important maps to explain the development of cartography. Significant maps include: Aboriginal Dreamtime map Ancient Greek maps including Ptolemy's map Medieval maps of Europe Ortelius's Atlas, World Theatre Early maps of the New World Lewis and Clark's maps of exploration Modern maps in the age of satellites

Contemporary maps are so accurate and plentiful that they are often taken for granted. The World Through Maps is a lively book that tells why this was not always so.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal