Maps Way Back Then

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Nature of Science
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Edward Hessler

British author Edward Brooke-Hitching's new book, The Golden Atlas: The Greatest Explorations, Quests and Discoveries on Maps, took him only two years to research and write. I thought it would have taken longer because of the general inaccessibility of these old maps.

In the book, Brooke-Hitching provides a look inside the world of antique maps, a world that is mostly hidden from our view. In addition to their incredible beauty, these maps are reports of  what the world was like or thought to be like. They strike me as conceptual maps.

Nine of these breathtaking maps are included in an article about Brooke-Hitching in Huffington Post. The trade made with the accuracy of modern maps and the old maps is the fascination they hold for viewers. About this Moran quotes Brooke-Hitching: "'There's no room for artistic flourishes, rumors, myths and uncorrected errors....'" Whilte Brooke-Hitching notes the sadness of all this he writes that "'it's also astounding that I can use a small device in my pocket to scour every square inch of the planet.'"

Moran's article includes a promotional video for the book from publisher Simon & Schuster. You may also take a look inside the book at Amazon.