# The Map That Changed the World

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/simon-winchester/the-map-that-changed-the-world/9780141941646

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![The Map That Changed the World](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/simon-winchester/the-map-that-changed-the-world_978-01-4194-164-6.jpg?v=2026-04-24%2000%3A40%3A05)

- Book: [The Map That Changed the World](https://www.bookquiver.com/simon-winchester/the-map-that-changed-the-world) ([The Map That Changed the World.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/simon-winchester/the-map-that-changed-the-world.md))
- Authors: [Simon Winchester](https://www.bookquiver.com/simon-winchester)
- Publisher: Penguin
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-01-4194-164-6
- Published: 2002-07-04
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

The extraordinary tale of the father of modern geology. Hidden behind velvet curtains above a stairway in a house in London's Piccadilly is an enormous and beautiful hand-coloured map - the first geological map of anywhere in the world. Its maker was a farmer's son named William Smith. Born in 1769 his life was beset by troubles: he was imprisoned for debt, turned out of his home, his work was plagiarised, his wife went insane and the scientific establishment shunned him. It was not until 1829, when a Yorkshire aristocrat recognised his genius, that he was returned to London in triumph: The Map That Changed the World is his story.