Customer Reviews
Excellent Book - By: Mr AI, 17 Nov 2007 
This is a wonderful book that has lasted on our coffee table for longer than most!
The book steps through history from the earliest maps to the latest digital offerings. Each page has a full size extract from the map in question & a facing page that gives background & often a smalll thumbnail of the context or some detail of the whole. The pages are arranged & cross-referenced in date order. Some of the more striking maps have additional double page spreads, & there are two-page commentaries on tangental topics from time to time.
The text is fascinating & brings lots of world history that I kind-of new about into a new context: the graduallly expanding knowledge of the world. Seeing how california went from island to peninsula, how the fabled southern continent appears & disappears, how sea-monsters graduallly die out, who spain, the netherlands or the UK is at war with, & so on.
I suspect this isn't a book that will teach map-fans much (but is so beautiful to own nontheless), but for those with a casual interest I think it is a complete gem.
History of the influence of maps, not of maps - By: , 08 Mar 2006 
Beautifully produced book which concentrates on the political & social history of maps rather than the details of mapping & cartography.
Beautiful History of Maps - By: M. R. N. Shackelford, 24 Jan 2006 This is a beautifully produced book - with large pages displaying the example maps in excellent resolution.
The author takes a historical trip from the very earliest maps, scratched on whatever came to hand, up to the latest satellite images of the earth - which are more photograph than map.
The book also follows the story of human civilisation, & explains how maps have been pivotal in many phases of history - for explorers, the military, planners etc.
My only gripe is that the text provided for each map is limited to one (facing) page - which limits the potential for detail.
