The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology

It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that the science of geology emerged thanks to the latest hobby craze of rich English people. Fossils collection was a favourite past time of the nobility and aspirational in the late eighteen, early nineteenth century.Yet that would only be telling half the story. The other half was buried deep until it eventually became too embarrassing to deny – it’s hard to unsee a map. Fossils and their shapes were indeed the topic of conversation with endless speculation on *what* they were. But *when* they were was a question never properly addressed until a not-so-noble man invested all he had, and some more, into his passion for understanding the land as an evolving entity.The book tells the little-known story of an extraordinary man – whose intellectual abilities were of the rare kind of those who answer a question before it even gets asked – a man who not only went unrecognised for his endeavours, he was also positively marginalised and ignored by the high-society founders of what was then the nascent science of geology.Despite having single-handedly created the one and only map of Britain with an astonishing resemblance to the present one, travelling around the country, digging, observing, charting, this man was ignored by the geological society, and worse, his vision was appropriated without acknowledgement. Sadly this is a common story in "intellectual" circles. When an idea is too good, the “good” must have it.It was deemed inappropriate for a man of his standing to champion one of the greatest discoveries of the century, inappropriate for the likes of him to name the rocks – which he understood well enough to put a timestamp on – with non-Latinesque terms.William Smith was this man.Born in 1769, at the dawn of the fortunes of the new extractive industries, having proved his salt with the drawing of a detailed map of the undergrounds of Bath and thereabouts, and with the magical knowledge of where coal was likely to be found, or not, when this translated into great wealth and new riches, William Smith secured a waged position as national surveyor, helping then establish the viability of canal building in different lands. Having been sacked, he went freelance, aiding new landowners to put to use their land – recently acquired thanks to the tail end of the enclosures movement – by facilitating dredging and draining. William Smith’s waged work put him in the best position to indulge his real passion for geological strata. He knew the country deep inside and far and wide. And he injected time into these spaces, the wonder of history into the land.Before William Smith, the world was still largely imagined to be six thousand years old, following Biblical fables. And the fossils being found and collected to adorn the glass cabinets of high-ceilinged mansions, were all different alright, but no noble mind knew or asked what they actually had in common.William Smith, whose passion for understanding rock formation was matched by a curiosity for the fossil shapes found on them, first came up with the idea that the strata fossils occupied was in fact consistent with the times when the species they appeared to represent existed: welcome to rocks periodization and faunal assemblage, elements that will change geology and palaeontology forever and without which we wouldn’t even be imagining an idea of evolution, of the earth or its fauna.Thank you, Mr William Smith.You were juggling two freelance jobs, then when your brother passed, you took in his son and looked after him as your own, giving him the best education, while your wife was disabled. You racked up debt because you wanted a house with a bit of land you could quarry. You had to go around begging for funds to publish your map, but whilst doing so didn’t live up to the expectations of high society, blew those networking opportunities due to an excess of enthusiasm, and some rich prick, as wealthy and entitled as he was clueless and ruthless, stole your map and sold it for a couple less shillings than you, because he and his class believed – and still do – the glory of great discoveries is owed to them, not the likes of you, William Smith, son of a village blacksmith with no penchant for highfaluting Latinisms, who spent your life with a nose in the mud, querying rocks rather than reading about them in the latest geological society bulletin. You weren’t even granted admission to that society. You accumulated debts in your passionate quest for knowledge. You had to undersell your collection to the natural museum, your beloved house and bit of land and everything you owned that you built from nothing. Yet they still jailed you for debts. When you came out, some delayed praise was granted thanks to the hard work of your adopted son, but you died a lonely vagrant in 1839.

A very well researched book on William Smith, the man who made the first geological map. Riveting reading for those interested in geology.

It was definetly a reading adventure - the story of how one mans obsession with strata and rocks and their relative positioning unravelled a whole new science and gave enough foothold for the likes of Alfred Wagner and Darwin to build their theories upon!Simon Winchesters writing makes it throughly enjoyable - the seed of the idea of drawing and catalagoing the netherworld, his growing obsession with it, the friendships he built, the opportunities he leveraged, the insights he garnered, the cold shoulders, penury, ostracisation and finally, redemption! It sure was a roller coaster of a life and thoroughly enjoyable.I wish there were more maps and images on the subjects he was talking abouit though. The whole narrative is very English and onw would need a walking visualisation to relate what he was talking about.

The book was a good introduction to geology for me. It was both educational and entertaining, as it traced the history of stratigraphy and the work of a humbly-born man with an enquiring mind. I read it years ago in preparation for a first geology class, and then lately decided that I wanted to re-read it. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this subject and its history.

Bought for my wife who loves everything map related. It did not disappoint.I had the feeling of ‘being there’ with William Smith when his various journeys are described.