The Map That Changed the World

Simon Winchester (author, reader)

HarperAudio, 2001; unabridged, 9CDs

ISBN: 0694525219

Genres: audiobook, biography, geology, history, science

Issues: gifted, intellectual property rights

In 1793, William Smith, a social nonentity of the time, made a hugely important discovery that was the beginning of the science we know as Geology. This was a time when the Bible was very much taken literally, when it was accepted without question that the world was created in six days by an omniscient God, that every living thing on the Earth in 1793 was as God had made it during that first week.

Smith, however, realised that the fossils found in one layer of rock were very different from those found in another, suggesting some sort of natural progression or change. Initially fascinated merely by the many different strata, or layers of rock that he had observed in his work as a canal engineer, Smith's discovery of similarities and significant differences between the fossils in each of those layers led him to the conclusion that by tracing the fossils, he could make a map that traced the layers of rocks as they curved, dipped, disappeared and reappeared right across England, possibly even the rest of the world.

Smith's fascination with rocks became an obsession, one that would see him spend the next twenty years striding across the English landscape, finding and identifying fossils and the type of rock in which they were found, studying the order of the strata beneath the earth, until he became adept at predicting where to find coal, amongst other things. In 1815, with the financial support and encouragement of a small group of dedicated scientists, including the famous Sir Joseph Banks, William Smith published a hand-painted map more than eight feet (2.5m) tall and six feet (2m) wide.

The story, mores the pity, does not end there. Science at this time was a rather elitist occupation, and discoveries were credited only to aristocrats and gentleman. Yeoman such as Smith were regarded as aspiring to positions beyond their natural place in society, regardless of their innate ability or sound scientific practice. As a result, four years after the publication of Smith's map, another was published by more socially acceptable ‘scientists' - gentleman to whom geology was merely a hobby. This map, a direct and obvious plagiarism, resulted in Smith losing a great deal of money and ending up in debtor's prison. On his release, a completely disillusioned Smith left London, living as a homeless man for ten long years, during which time, amongst other things, his wife went mad. The determined efforts of a kindly aristocrat and the loyal group who recognised the true value of Smith's discoveries, the ‘father of geology' was eventually brought back to London and his life's work recognised by his fellow scientists.

Available in book and audio format, this is a remarkable story, carefully and lovingly researched by the author who gave us The Surgeon of Crowthorne (a.k.a. The Professor and the Madman) and is equally fascinating. The audio format makes what can be a ‘heavy' read very approachable. Simon Winchester is a good reader and his fascination with William Smith and the period in which he lived and worked, is evident in his voice.

Winchester himself studied geology at Oxford and the depth of his understanding of the significance of Smith's work, as well as his passion for the science of geology, enliven what could, in other hands, have been fairly stolid writing. Many apparently irrelevant discussions of discoveries and progressions of the period - steam engines, various mining equipment, the ‘canal mania' - are gently woven into William Smith's journeyings, each apparently obscure reference having some significance, if only small, to the culmination of his work.

This is a truly enjoyable story to listen to, and demonstrates very clearly the way in which, whether we recognise it or not, the development of geology affected the development of today's society. You'll never look at rocks and fossils the same way again!

Also available in book form.