Nicholas CraneRecensioni

This is the straightforward telling of an outrageous expedition. Two British cousins in their early 30s ride their bicycles from Bangladesh to Urumqi in 50 days, from the ocean to the place on earth furthest from any ocean. They go through Kathmandu, Lhasa, and Golmud to get to Urumqi.

The really outrageous thing, they carry no food, no tents, very limited water, just one set of clothes... at least they had sleeping bags! They just rely on the people they encounter along the way for food and water and places to sleep. They brought enough money to pay folks for the accommodations at least. Traveling with such a small amount of gear, they could use lightweight racing bikes. These were superlative athletes too. They were constantly at their limits... not just physical limits, but psychological. They spoke essentially no Chinese and had very limited information about their route. The road would switch from tarmac to gravel and back, according to no discernable pattern. They had maps, but whether a town on the map actually existed anymore was uncertain.

I followed their route on Google maps quite successfully. I didn't find every town mentioned but almost all of them. That map search I think helped keep me engaged. The book does have rough maps too.

I keep mulling over this approach of just counting on people to help. Much of the time they were eating and sleeping at commercial establishments, so that is straightforward. But in remote country they'd stop at any hut or tent to ask for food and shelter, or flag down trucks to get water. Probably Wyoming Utah Nevada is not quite as large an empty expanse as western China, but it's plenty of empty space all the same. I can't really imagine knocking on people's doors at random, outside of an emergency. Is that just my own limitation, or are people in the remote Western USA less generous... or certainly a foreign visitor can expect a different sort of hospitality. Would a Chinese cyclist be treated kindly on some remote road in Wyoming? The expectation of a British tourist to be treated hospitably in remote China... is that some kind of colonialist attitude?

Anyway, if you like tales of rotten roads, headwinds, rain squalls, etc. - this is certainly an expedition of an extreme sort!

From Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Francis Drake to lesser-known scientific explorers and even an unknown mariner, a batch of new nonfiction works share previously overlooked stories set during the age of discovery. These titles expand our thinking about the people and missions that jumpstarted maritime travel and commerce.
Latitude: The True Story of the World’s First Scientific Expedition
Nicholas Crane, Oct 2021, Pegasus Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Themes: World history, Maritime history, Expeditions, Age of Discovery

LATITUDE is a fast-paced nonfiction narrative tracing the adventures of a dozen eighteenth-century European scientists who made important discoveries about global navigation and other amazing achievements.
Take-aways: STEM educators will find this true story of scientific discovery to be an engaging way to teach youth about perseverance and the quest for knowledge.

"Latitude: The Astonishing Adventure That Shaped the World" by Nicholas Crane is a well-researched account of an expedition that calculated whether or not the Earth is spherical or oblong.

The book tried, but failed, to show the European adventurers who traveled to South America as comically inept. The failure was due to the fact that the scientists were given little exposition and few character traits, thereby causing tremendous confusion when their names were brought up again and again. The excitement of the book came from the conflicts between these scientists, all of whom we are told have giant egos. Their egotism is only shown in their professional conflicts.

Throughout the book, the adventuring scientists faced the natural dilemmas of any explorer - mosquitos, unbearable cold, unbearable heat - that occasionally sidetrack them, but nothing that is near fatal enough to possibly doom the expedition.

"Latitude" ended up being a bore for me because I found the events circular and the biographies of the characters one-dimensional. I was hoping for something more disastrous or incompetent, but it seemed to be just a regular expedition with a few conflicts of little significance.

I don't think it's maybe the best written book, but some of that is obviously down to the paucity of material about the man himself and to an extent the period. I'd have preferred a bit more detail on the maps (and globes) themselves and why they were so revolutionary rather than lists of people who were present at some event, but none-the-less it was worth the read to get a better feeling for the revolutionary times Mercator was living in and the impact he and his fellows had.

What a good book. More than simply a biography of Mercator, but also a history of the Low Countries, its Renaissance and cartography. In a way it has to be, as Mercator was rather a passive figure and a quiet family man; and his letters from the first half of his life appear to have been destroyed to protect the innocent when he was imprisoned. A very useful approach for someone like me though, who really knows nothing about the Low Countries or their history. This book is very much in the style of popular non-fiction, but is the product of real scholarship. The breadth of Crane’s references are really quite amazing. In places the information comes so thick and fast you’ll have to wait until after breakfast. I learnt loads. I’ve read a few popular-style books on mapping over the years but stopped as they all seem to regurgitate the same information. This book does not and really stands apart.

Britain is a unique country, not only does our little island have some of the planets oldest rocks in the Hebrides, but it is still being formed by waves in the present day. Starting way back in the Mesolithic, Nick Crane takes us back to the time when the glaciers were retreating and the first Britons made their way across the land bridge from the continent and made their home here as the land surrendered to the waves. When we became an island, our resources and place on the gulf stream made it attractive for all sorts of visitors. The Romans were the first to try, but succeeded on the second attempt. And have been followed by a whole variety of others, including Saxons, Vikings, Normans and the Dutch. Each wave of people shaped and moulded the land to their needs leaving us with the landscape and cities that we had today. These ages were punctuated with significant events; wars, plagues, the land grabs of the enclosures and the industrial revolution; adding their own to what we have today.

For a small island we have so much history that is both deeply fascinating and complex. Nick Crane has had a good stab at distilling all of that into a single book, but it cannot be anymore that an overview. It is fairly well written, the narrative is full of detail and fascinating anecdotes, but I’m not completely sure why he has ended up writing a history book, though there is some overlap in what he has done with Coast. Overall, it is not bad. I have read most of his books so far, and I must say that I prefer his travel books to this.

An enjoyable but frustrating read. A long walk, across the watershed of Europe from northern Spain to Istanbul, in the company of Mr Crane. An amiable, likeable companion. Up to a point. Completed the walk was certainly an achievment. But along the way we lost sight of why he was doing it in the first place, except to be able to produce a book about it in the end. He treks determindly on, as do we, plodding through too many descriptions of pathways, great views, fleeting passers by. He is remarkably ill equipped often getting lost because of poor maps and getting himself into difficulty by being poorly equipped. There is the lack of a big picture just endless days in the mountains. Tit bits of research into history added from post-hike research only add to the sense of a manufactured task whose end product was a book.

Eight chapters, in each of which the author (the 'Coast' presenter) recreates a journey (or part of one) made by a doughty British explorer in years gone by.
I'd heard of Gerald of Wales (here accompanying the Bishop to drum up support for a forthcoming Crusade), Daniel Defoe (as he explores Essex) and William Cobbett (who fulminates against the Establishment and the Great Wen of London, as he pursues his Rural Rides.)
I THOUGHT t I'd heard of John Leland...but was thinking of John Cleland...so not the author of 'Fanny Hill', but Henry VII's antiquary who drives himself mad trying to survey the entire land for his master.
And totally unknown too were Celia Fiennes, the first Englishwoman to visit every county in England in the 1700s; William Gilpin, whose focus on the 'picturesque' leads him to propose further demolition of Tintern's ruins to create a truly artistic scene; and Thomas Pennant anf HV Moreton who took on the remoter parts of Scotland.
Crane follows in their steps, noting the stuff that remains and that which is totally altered. He brings in the politics and economy of the time, and gives an insight into the personalities and preoccupations of the eight. Lovely photography throughout.½

A succinct but whirlwind journey through selected epochs and regions. Crane looks at Earth's connected components: the lithosphere (land), atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water) and biosphere (life), showing us how far we've come as a species and how far we need to go to survive. Geographers must play a key role in this.½

Not having read a book like this about human geography before, I found this really enjoyable, with plenty of interesting anecdotes to illustrate the points being made. However, I feel that too much time was spent on the early chapters about prehistoric Britain, and too little descriptive analysis of the past 100 to 150 years.

Awesome, lush, informative, with everything in the world crowded in but it never feels pressed for space. Seems to devote a slightly inordinate amount of time to environmental stuff but that's my pre-crisis thinking that needs to change.

history

A good book that places the cartographer in relation to some of the religious and political questions of his time. The reader also gets some insights on Exploration and the book trade of the sixteenth century. Sadly there is not a colour reproduction of Mercator's final world map...but I guess that's hard to come by. But I wish you all would read this book, for it is a considerable achievement.

An excellent book about Gerard Mercator, the father of modern map making. Or, how do you make a three dimensional globe fit on a two dimensional map. Without his grid system, GIS specialists would have a much harder time on the job....

The book is well researched, very interesting, and discusses the extreme changes of religion, personal freedom, and the role of kingdoms that is the background of Mercator's Life.

Mercator is an interesting person - born to a peasant family with the patriarch working as a shoe maker, Mercator manages to eke out an education when his uncle the priest sponsors him to the local college. After graduating, Mercator starts on the path that sets him up as a famous geographer - learning surveying, map making, and consolidating sources to create the most accurate maps of the time.

Overall, this dense book portrayed a man who lived an amazing life. Fully researched, with a strong background in the politics of this world. Not only do I know more about Mercator's life, but just want it meant to be living in world where Protestantism (and free thinking) was just starting.

One thing I would change is to place the different illustrations and figures in context with the narrative. It's hard to understand the maps and reasoning when the examples are all clumped together.

"Mercator" faces the problem that while the man behind the projection shaped the way we, hundreds of years after his death, see the world, he didn't actually live an interesting life.

As a result, we slog through chapters on his life and the development of his cartographic craft, with the occasional, and much more interesting, references to wars and destruction occurring around Mercator. More words are devoted to the (generally low) sales of his maps than to the time he spent imprisoned on charges of heresy.

This book also had the "honour" of being the first book I ever read on a Kindle. I'm not sure if it added or took away from my normal reading experience but perhaps add a 1/2 star to my rating if you're reading a hard copy.½

Interessante biografie met ruime aandacht voor de omgeving waarin Mercator leefde en werkte. De figuur van Mercator is een beetje in de schaduw van Vesalius terechtgekomen. Dit boek biedt voldoende informatie om hem de plaats in de geschiedenis te geven die hij verdient

This digital atlas app is pretty spiffy. I like how it's organized by region instead of by continent, recognizing that culture and land that shapes us more than country or continent labels. A user can easily zoom from global view to local using her fingers and select icons to learn statistics such as climate or wildlife. There's also photographs, sound effects, and a little animation. The text is a more dense that would be ideal for a younger child, so I would recommend this to good readers in the 9-11 age range. This atlas should probably also be paired with another, so children aren't confused by the regional organization.

An honest account of Nicolas Crane's walk from Finesterre to Istanbul, across the mountains in the way.
I particularly enjoyed the section through the Alps and the Carpathians. He writes with sympathy and awe about the mountain people he meets, mostly shepherds and he writes knowledgeably about the land and its history.
This is a book you can pick and choose from, but it is also a coherent whole; he talks honestly about how much he misses his partner and of their brief meetings over the 18 months of the walk. He also talks honestly about how he felt at the end of the walk.½

Nicholas Crane retraces the journeys of eight adventurers, beginning with Gerald of Wales in 1188, John Leland in1536, CeliA Fiennes in 1600,s, Daniel Defoe, Rev William Gilpin and Thomas Pennant in the 1700,s, William Cobbett in the 1800s and HV Morton in the early 1900s. These travellers, especially in very early times travelled under extremely tough conditions and mostly, seemed to enjoy themselves immensely.
This was an enjoyable book to read, filled with many photos. It,s also a BBC series available on DVD.½

The two degrees west meridian constitutes the spine of England, the mast from Berwick to Birmingham to Bournemouth that keeps the sails from Cornwall to Norfolk in the wind. Thus, Crane's journey along and within a two kilometer band inside this meridian offers a randomly selected cross section portrait of the English landscape, an undertaking typical of a country that gave us the ministry of silly walks. Bound by his self-inflicted rules, Crane travels through the realm of the kingdom.

England is a highly civilized place. In many other countries, his stroll would be either much more dangerous or much less pleasant. In Switzerland, a walk from north to south would sooner or later meet the Alps, which, given his two kilometer band constraint, would pose world-class obstacles in his path. In Austria, a (flopped) reality TV series followed the participants along a West-East path which resulted in a climbing equipment-fest by boring hikes through the empty plains. England is lucky in having no mountains or wide rivers to speak of, a dense road network and high population density. Even though Crane's encounters in the countryside often are with the sad, the old, the outcast and the losers of modernity, he always finds both company, food and shelter in proximity.

As a middle-aged white guy, Crane falls in the neat non-threatened, non-threatening spot. How would a trespassing young bearded Muslim carrying a backpack fare? The liberal right of way in England also contrasts favorably with the ubiquitous "no trespassing" signs in the US. Being a good sport is also very English. The US produces The Amazing Race, the UK this somewhat bland journey through nowhere. As a reader you expect something to happen, but it doesn't (at least, if you expect more than a warm bear in a pub).½

Klassieke biografie, interessant vanwege de figuur uiteraard.½

Crane's definitive biography of Gerard Kremer -- the man who would later become Gerard Mercator -- is breathtaking in its scholarship. While the early years are filled with "may haves" and "could have beens," once he becomes a scholar, his history lights up with excitement. Even though Mercator never left Northern Europe, he invented italic script, met the great humanists of the day, and mapped the world twice over. He collated and synthesized every ancient text and every map as well as created a now-universal projection system for cartography. This biography is a must-read.½

Brilliant! Strangely, I already have the H.V.Morton book and would love to read in more detail about the journeys of Gerald of Wales. Learned some interesting historical facts, and really got carreid away with the travellers.

Great book about an extraordinary person, the Flemish cartographer Gerard De Kremer, better known as Gerardus Mercator. He designed the world map that we still use today and was a scientist, humanist and excellent mapmaker. Nicholas Crane reconstructs his life and works and puts everything in the context of the age of humanism.

A biography of the man who gave to the world of cartography the Atlas and the Mercator Projection. Crane sets the story amid the chaos of reformation Europe and the news from explorers of a growing world. Despite all that, the book is rather dry and Crane seems to stretch to make Mercator a heroic man of his era. I really had to struggle to complete it, but I suppose I’m a better man for it.