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The World of Gerard Mercator: The Mapmaker Who Revolutionized Geography
Unavailable
The World of Gerard Mercator: The Mapmaker Who Revolutionized Geography
Unavailable
The World of Gerard Mercator: The Mapmaker Who Revolutionized Geography
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The World of Gerard Mercator: The Mapmaker Who Revolutionized Geography

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The story of discovery and mapmaking is one of pushing back shadows," writes Andrew Taylor, and "none in the last two thousand years achieved as much as Gerard Mercator in extending the boundaries of what could be comprehended." His life encompassed most of the turbulent, extraordinary sixteenth century, a time when revolutions would engulf religion, science, and civilization. Almost extinguished by the Inquisition, Mercator's genius lay in making maps, and his achievement did nothing less than revolutionize the study of geography.

Appropriately for an era undergoing radical change, Mercator was full of contradiction, tied to knowledge and beliefs of the past while forging a new path. He never traveled beyond northern Europe, yet he had the imagination to draw the entire world anew and to solve a problem that had baffled sailors and scientists for centuries: how a curved Earth could be faithfully rendered on a flat surface so as to allow for accurate navigation. His "projection" was so visionary that it is used by NASA to map Mars today. Andrew Taylor has beautifully captured Mercator amidst the turmoil and opportunity of his times and the luminaries who inspired his talent-his teacher and business partner, Gemma Frisius; the English magus, John Dee; his benefactor, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, his cartographic collaborator, Abraham Ortelius. The World of Gerard Mercator is a masterful biography of one of the men most responsible for the modern world.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 26, 2009
ISBN9780802718068
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The World of Gerard Mercator: The Mapmaker Who Revolutionized Geography
Author

Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor is the author of a number of crime novels, including the ground-breaking Roth Trilogy, which was adapted into the acclaimed drama Fallen Angel, and the historical crime novels The Ashes of London, The Silent Boy, and The American Boy, a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller and a 2005 Richard & Judy Book Club Choice. He has won many awards, including the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it three times) and the CWA’s prestigious Diamond Dagger.

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fascinating not only for its portrait of Mercator, but for describing the context in which he was living, between the medieval and modern worlds, between theocracy and scientific rationalism. I would have liked to read more about the processes involved in coming up with his projection, as well as more on the controversies that projection has spawned -- though there is good reason to use the Mercator projection in narrowly technical terms, the cultural and political significance of it is also fascinating. Overall though, well worth the $6 I spent (it was on sale), and a well-written, quick but interesting read.