Product Description
"The most accessible and informative book available on the major writing systems of the world."—History Today

Without writing, there would be no history and no civilization as we know it. But how, when, and where did writing evolve?

Andrew Robinson explains the interconnection between sound, symbol, and script in a succinct and absorbing text. He discusses each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan, as well as topics such as the Cherokee "alphabet" and the writing of runes. Full coverage is given to the history of decipherment, and a provocative chapter devoted to undeciphered scripts challenges the reader: can these codes ever be broken?

In this revised edition, the author reveals the latest discoveries to have an impact on our knowledge of the history of writing, including the Tabula Cortonensis showing Etruscan symbols and a third millennium BC seal from Turkmenistan that could solve the mystery of how Chinese writing evolved. He also discusses how the digital revolution has not, despite gloomy predictions, spelled doom for the printed book. In addition, the table of Maya glyphs has been revised so that they are up-to-date with current research. 355+ illustrations, 50 in color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

A story well told
How did writing evolve? How do we decipher the extinct languages? What are the connections between sound, symbol and script? If these questions interest you, you will love this book.

In a fascinating and delightful narrative, Andrew Robinson discusses the major writing systems in the world from the ancient hieroglyphs to the current alphabet based scripts. Over 355 illustrations bring to life the different writing formats and the accompanying explanations make the book a joy to read. Robinson's coverage of the history of decipherment of the extinct languages brings a distinct thrill to the subject.

The book is organized into three parts (1) How writing works - starting with Rosetta stone discovery and its decipherment and ending with how proto writing and clay tablets developed (2) Extinct writing - starting with the Cuneiform in Mesopotamia, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Greek Linear B, Mayan Glyphs and ending with the Undeciphered scripts such as Indus script and Linear A(3)Living Writing - starting with the first alphabet, old Greek, Latin, Arabic and Indian scripts and ending with the Chinese and Japanese writing.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs is so elegantly explained that I could actually write my name in Hieroglyphs by the time I went through it. Other highlights are the writing of runes, cherokee alphabet, reading the bones and impact of the latest discoveries on our knowledge of the history of writing.

Easy to read introductory book
An excellent introduction for people looking for a good overview of writing systems. The content is succinct and the large number of illustrations and pictures make it easy to understand and grasp the concepts.

Good on basic concepts but weak on substance
I have always been fascinated with writing systems. This led me to learn to read 8 different languages before I realized it was the writing that interested me much more than the laguages themselves. That is why I am split in my perception of this book. It does an outstanding job of introducing many concepts in a good manner and provides wonderful examples but it is very shallow. That means, I suppose, that it is likely to appeal to more people who want just an "executive summary" instead of being faced with the prospect of actually learning the scripts. In providing the introduction, this book does a magnificent job and whets the appitite for more.

Crowd pleaser
I notice as I write these words that I am taking part in a rather recent venture - the passage and preservation of information through symbols.Naturally, these were originally pictures and over time these evolved into the various scripts we now call alphabets.

This is a good overview of the various worldwide systems used today and in the past.He explains that ALL scripts are a mixture of phonetic and semantic signs - it's only the degree that differs.There is a historical review of hieroglyphs and the origins of writing, then a discussion of the evolution of writing and finally a look at the present and the future where, surprisingly, semantic notation is making a comeback.The book is lavishly ilustrated with charts, photographs and maps.

An overview of writing systems.
A richly illustrated nontechnical introduction to the history of writing. The author briefly touches upon the relationship between language and script and the challenges involved in the classification of writing systems but the bulk of the book is on presenting different families of scripts and accounts of thier development. The sections on extinct writing, such as cuneiform, and on undeciphered scripts were interesting but the book's chief attribute are the illustrations of alphabets, inscriptions, and glyphs, many of which are interpreted for the reader. A similar volume for the more linguistically inclined is "A History of Writing" by Steven Robert Fischer. The author, himself not without contraversy, provides the technical precision that is lacking in Robinson's book and has lots of examples of scripts as well. ... Read more

Product Description

For nearly a decade Garak has longed for just one thing -- to go home. Exiled on a space station, surrounded by aliens who loathe and distrust him, going back to Cardassia has been Garak's one dream. Now, finally, he is home. But home is a world whose landscape is filled with death and destruction. Desperation and dust are constant companions and luxury is a glass of clean water and a warm place to sleep.

Ironically, it is a letter from one of the aliens on that space station, Dr. Julian Bashir, that inspires Garak to look at the fabric of his life. Elim Garak has been a student, a gardener, a spy, an exile, a tailor, even a liberator. It is a life that was charted by the forces of Cardassian society with very little understanding of the person, and even less compassion.

But it is the tailor that understands who Elim Garak was, and what he could be. It is the tailor who sees the ruined fabric of Cardassia, and who knows how to bring this ravaged society back together. This is strange, because a tailor is the one thing Garak never wanted to be. But it is the tailor whom both Cardassia and Elim Garak need. It is the tailor who can put the pieces together, who can take a stitch in time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (80)

"Isn't it superb? .... without a doubt the finest Cardassian novel ever written!" -E.G. The Wire
Actually, lets make it one of the best novels I have ever read. Now Granted, I am a huge star trek fan (which will help you understand this book). However, the beauty of the book is that you don't necessarily have to be a trek fan to read it. It is elegantly written in such a way that there are juicy tid-bits for the trek fans and a wonderful story for the non-trekkers. As mentioned before, the book covers themes such as love, betrayal, loyalty, honor, duty, obligation, shame, humiliation, and none of these are in the least bit cliche.


I know that my review of this wonderful book comes a little over a full decade after it was published but hey, better late than to have never read this book. Mr. Robinson should of considered writinga career as well. I had a month off from the university and, as I mentioned, being a huge trek fan I found myself re-watching some of my favorite episodes of DS9 (most of them involving Garak) I couldn't help but wondering over to Wikipedia and doing some research on plain, simple, Garak. I was intrigued to have found a novel that was rumored to answer one of the main questions all Garak fans have in common: Why was he exiled? Well, suffice to say when I saw that this novel was supposed to answer that AND was written by Andrew J. Robinson himself, I had to buy it and read it over my vacation. I am well pleased that I choose this book to read over the break as I had only a short time to read a book, which I like to do for relaxation.

**********************SPOILER ALERT*************

This book was well worth the read. Being from a military family background myself, I couldn't help but relate somewhat to what Garak was experiencing through young adulthood, through Bamarren (intelligence/military style college), and finally his recruitment into the Obsidian Order. My favorite part was probably his training at Bamarren and his interactions with Paladine and his schoolmates. This was the most interesting as Andrew Robinson does a tremendous job of keeping track of people identified only by numerical designations and then, slowly, by their revealed names. Paladine is actually identified first and Pythas Lok (One of Garak's good friends) is the last.

The missions during which he is involved in the Obsidian Order are nicely done.I felt like I was on the Cardassian/Federation frontier when Garak was interacting with the arrogant Hans Jordt. This goes for the infamous Romulus mission as well (throughout DS9 it is mentioned that Garak worked as a gardener on Romulus for awhile) and the Cardassia II mission which largely led to the incident for which he was exiled (but not entirely responsible).

This book answers so many questions for fans that it is an invaluable piece of trek lore. The novel answers questions about Gul Dukat, Tain, Garak, as well as the coveted reason for his expulsion from Cardassia and a few things fans didnt know. Some things in the novel were only briefly mentioned in the series, but are answered in the book (the shuttle incident).

I only have a couple complaints about the book. The first is the ending, What happened to Paladine? I know that it is often the journey that is important and not the destination, but still! That would of been icing on the cake if we had seen a happily ever after especially after such a long journey, but I know, cliche.

The second complaint (which is in no way related to the book as much as amazon) was the price of the book. I paid a high price for a paper back and granted, the kindle version is $9.00, but is the paperback out of print or something?

Anyway, this book was well worth the cost especially if a good portion went into the pocket of the author. Great book! I will have to re-read it one day (something I rarely do).

Thank you so much for this wonderful book Andrew J. Robinson. The fans really appreciate it!

Sincerely,
a Garak and trek fan.

Truely Spellbinding
This book was a great read . I couldn't put it down.If you haven't read it yet do yourself a favor and do so. The author played the subject on Deep Space 9. He gives a detailed and informed look into the subjects thoughts and feelings. This was a fabulous book.

Was Garak the tailor based on a real spy Fabio Grobart
The character Garak as a tailor, seemed so real, so true to life as to make one wonder if such is based on reality. I personally think, although this is almost certainly unprovable, that he is based on "Fabio" Avram Grobart, Senior Soviet Agent for Cuba.And so when writing memories of Cuba "Love and War in Cuba," this excerpt was including in initial drafts:

"My father Leonard Daley died in Havana; sometime in 1965 --I do not know the exact date--and his death was irregular and sad.One can surmise his death related to British intelligence matters for he would tell me about visiting the Embassy with some frequency, where he had an attentive audience, and commenting that nobody there really knew what was going on in that tropical island.

Dad had a Jamaican tailor in a little cluttered shop in downtown"old" Havana who made him some beautiful suits for formal occasions; he took me there once to have me measured for a tropical white suit, then my only formal wear. Many years latter, while watching the long running TV series "Deep Space Nine," this Jamaican tailor seemed somehow suspiciously like the magnificent character Elim Garak,Obsidian Order spy, who in this tale uses a tailor shop as cover. What prompted this in my fevered mine I do not know and all may merely be an illusion of my aging mind.

My memory of my long unspoken suspicions about the real nature of the Jamaican tailor was so strong that when, as the now banned"El Jigue" I made mention (since erased) of Garak as tailor in the Wikipedia piece on Fabio Grobart, the master soviet agent who initially while "working" indowntown Havana also used a tailor shop as cover. "

Couldn't put it down
I usually stay away from Star Trek novels, due to the tremendous glut of them that have been written, and their non-canon status (as compared to Star Wars novels, which maintain a pretty good internal continuity and are all canon).But Garak is probably my favorite Star Trek character and may actually be my favorite fictional character of all time, so when I saw that Andrew Robinson wrote this one himself, I had to pick it up.You might have trouble finding this book since it appears to be out of print.I had to pay $25 for a used paperback on eBay, but it was worth it.

Robinson writes remarkably well for someone who hasn't done much of it, and you can tell he really owns the character of Garak.The book is written from 3 different perspectives which are interleaved: some sections are journal entries written by Garak (while he is on DS9) about his past, some are journal entries about his time on DS9, and the rest are written in and about the present time of rebuilding Cardassia.The sections written from the last perspective are addressed as a letter to Dr. Bashir. It's a little hard to follow at first, but once you get the hang of it and learn to identify the different sections, it's not that bad.At one point I think Robinson lost the tense of the current section (which bugs my OCD), but other than that he wrote all of it remarkably well.

The backward-looking journal entries detail Garak's childhood growing up in the basement of "Uncle" Enabran Tain's house, learning the trade of gardening from his father.He demonstrates enough mental aptitude (and has the right connections) to attend the prestigious Bamarren academy for intelligence operatives.He excels, and after just 3 years (of 9 total for most students) is hired directly into the Obsidian Order.

The rest of the book details his various missions as on operative, interleaved with the story of the rebuilding of Cardassia.We finally learn the reason for Garak's former exile from Cardassia, and learn about his fatal flaw which caused his downfall as an intelligence operative.We also learn of the beginning of his animosity with Gul Dukat.

I won't give away any more of the story, but it is all very engaging if you are interested in Garak or Cardassian society at all.I highly recommend it for any fans of Deep Space 9.

Very well written.
I don't much care for the "letter to Dr. Bashir" style of the book, but it is certainly well-done, and if I find it hard to visualize the character of Elim Garak progressing through some of the stages outlined here, that is probably more my failure than the author's. Nowhere near my favorite Star Trek book, but well above the midpoint and certainly worth the read. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn from these authors' experiences tailoring TPM to the distinctive needs of North American plants, and how TPM fits into an overall manufacturing improvement strategy.A real-world view on what works and what doesn't, Robinson and Ginder provide an excellent resource for strategic planning and an educational tool for middle and upper management.Includes the seven levels of autonomous maintenance, a discussion of unions and TPM, and a TPM master plan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good book for management who want to implement TPM
Good book if you're interested in (implementing) TPM. The book is very easy to read and does not keep repeating itself. Basically TPM is a(n) (big) extension on Keizen Teian and it might be useful to read a book on that subject as well, but is not necessary to understand the book. The book reviews all the steps how to come to a TPM system, especially the part on the preconditions is interesting, because based on my own experience this help your organization already a lot. The appendix contains a master plan for implementing TPM. In my opinion it is a good start but a more detailed checklist would have been better, but you can't have it all.

TMP
implementacionn del tp ... Read more

Product Description
With contributions from Freeman Dyson, Stephen Hawking, João Magueijo, Steven Weinberg, Philip Anderson, Robert Schulmann, Philip Glass, Max Jammer, Sir Joseph Rotblat, I. Bernard Cohen, and Sir Arthur C. Clarke

This definitive illustrated study of one of the foremost icons of the 20th century commemorates the centenary of Albert Einstein's annus mirabilis of 1905, the same year when Einstein, at age 26, published his groundbreaking Special Theory of Relativity, and when the most famous equation in science, E = mc2, was introduced to the world. Here author Andrew Robinson and 11 essayists, including three Nobel laureates, explore every facet of the life and achievements of the great physicist and humanitarian, honored by Time magazine in its Millennium issue as "Person of the Century."

As the book explains clearly, Einstein's dramatic papers of 1905 overthrew the Newtonian worldview and revolutionized our understanding of space, time, energy, matter, and light. His work had impact far beyond the field of physics, playing a leading role in the century's technological advances and influencing modernism in every field. Except for his last interview that was previously published, all the essays here are original works written especially for this book. The photographs draw on an exceptional archive Einstein bequeathed to Hebrew University in Jerusalem. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The New Universal World Order of Physics, by A. Einstein
Published in 2005, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's miracle year of 1905,this book is a rare treat presented in two parts. Part one deals with Einstein's legacy in physics as seen by his closest associates and admiring colleagues. Part II deals with Einstein the man: his personal life, his political and religious views. It closes with Einstein's final interview and the author's comments on what his life and discoveries all mean. Altogether, it is a fitting tribute to the great man.

In the introduction, Freeman Dyson, a friend and Princeton colleague, summaries the paradox that was Einstein the scientist using as an example Einstein's refusal to accept one of the important consequences of his own theory of relativity: the predicted existence of black holes.Einstein submitted a flawed paper claiming their non-existence, and never changed his mind. Later in his life, he also took a similar stance regarding another of his developments, the quantum theory. Regarding it, in one of his most famous quips he is quoted as having said that: "god does not play dice with the universe."

Chapter 1 is a quick review of Newtonian physics in which the author swiftly takes us through the Greeks, Copernicus, Kepler, Tyco Brahe, Galileo on to Newton with his laws of motion. Significantly, Newton "posited" the existence of gravity without fully understanding it. Thus, Newton's universe was not so much a paradigm shift as the first coherent paradigm of the universe at all. Its primary weakness was that it depended on absolute time and space, which at bottom assumes the existence of a space-time frame of reference that is at rest. This of course was one of the weaknesses that led Einstein to exploit Newton's theory to good effect in his special theory, and later further explored and refined in the general theory. Newton also got in trouble with his "corpuscular theory of light," forcing all those who embraced it into having also to posit the existence of the strange phenomenon of the "ether" as the medium through which light necessarily had to travel. The implausibility of the ether opened up the floodgates to James Clerk Maxwell's rather incredible work, which arguably was indeed the paradigm shift that was needed for Einstein's ideas to take root and to flourish. Maxwell's equations changed the way reality was perceived: from a framework of "material points" to one of "continuous fields."

Chapter II takes us through Einstein's graduation from the Swiss Polytechnic in Zurich. There the young Einstein was growing into a "hard case:" again separated from his family, had become an undisciplined dreamer, "stateless," and with little or no respect for authority (including his teachers at the Polytechnic), but who despite this, was a voracious reader "up on" all of the latest scientific materials. This mixture of personal habits and attitudes landed him not in his preferred role of teacher at the institute, but as a bureaucrat at the Federal Swiss Office for Intellectual Property -- the Patent Office. And as the saying goes, "the rest is history."

Steven Hawking then gives a brief but very revealing history of Relativity. It begins with the Michelson-Morley experiment, which finally dispatched Newton's idea of the "ether" into oblivion and immediately launched Einstein into a frenetic period of creative theorizing. The crowning gem of this period was his radical proposal of the universal constancy of light. This proved to be the Rosetta Stone of relativity. The rest was really no more than tying up the loose ends, which Einstein did in grand style with his now famous equation E=mc^2. The chapter ends with the much more complicated notions that led to the general theory.

Chapter III described the events of 1905, dubbed "the miraculous year." By May of 1905, Einstein had sketched out four papers that would revolutionize our understanding of the universe. The least well-known of his work during this period on the "black body problem of light," would later earn him the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Imagine this: In the span of six months, a 26-year old patent officer, with no contacts with the rest of the physics profession, and whose papers cited no previous scientific authors, had single-handedly formulated the basis for the quantum theory, the theory of Brownian motion, the Special theory of Relativity, and had developed a draft of a paper on the General theory of Relativity. In short, in no more than six months, he had revolutionized our understanding of the universe.

Chapters IV and V deal with the "fallout" of the two most controversial papers of 1905, the General theory and quantum mechanics. Chapter IV deals with the agonizing development of the General Theory of Relativity, the crown jewel of Einstein's work. There were no easy parts to either the general theory, or quantum mechanics, both of which unlike the other papers, got strong "blowback" from the established physics community. However, Einstein held fast and weathered the storm with confidence that his theories would eventually prove to be correct. He was right.

Arguably Einstein should have been considered for a Nobel Prize for any one of his 1905 papers, or even for them collectively, but even as late as 1922, he was not being considered for any of them because of the controversial nature of both the quantum paper and the one on the General theory. In fact, only in 1907 was he promoted in his patent office job. At the time of his promotion, no mention was made of his most famous outside work that was revolutionizing the world of science.He remained at the Patent Office for seven years before leaving to take a lowly teaching job.

The rest of part I of the book is about how physics and the world changed as a result of Einstein's theories, and his own failed search for the "holy grail" of physics, a theory of everything. And while there are certainly better discussions of the latter of these, none are as interesting or as pumped with historical significance as this one.

The second half of the book, chapters 8 to the end, covers in modest detail Einstein's personal and non-scientific public life. And while it is all interesting there do exist better sources for those who wish to know these details. I have read and reviewed several of those books and thus quickly skimmed through the last half of the book. Overall it is a wonderful read. Five stars.

A masterpiece on Einstein's life and work
Very well planned, full of meaningfull illustrations, accurately written and revised,this book deserves special attention of everyone interested in Einsteins's personal life and scientific production. Recommended with enthusiasm.

This book retails for $29.95
This beautiful, hardcover coffee-table book, whose text is as delightful as its scores of photographs, retails for $29.95--not the $35 that Amazon advertises. It is an amazing value in this day when trade paperbacks often retail for $24.95 and higher.

Best of its kind
This is a review of "Einstein: A Hundred Years of Relativity," by Andrew Robinson.

For the last three or four years, I have both actively and passively searched for a good introductory book on Einstein, something that is accessible to me as an intelligent non-scientist, but that is broader in scope than I take most of his biographies to be. I want a good, clear explanation of special and general relativity, but I also want to know more about the pacificist and cultural icon, about Einstein as a humanist. No one book has filled the niche. Either you find good discussions of his physics, or you find books on his love life, or you find books that are beautifully produced but have very little substance.

As the centennial of the "miraculous year" of 1905, 2005 has seen a bumper crop of books on Einstein, many of them poorly conceived and some richly priced. But this book is just what I've been looking for for the last few years.

The Editorial Review is wrong in stating that all entries are new except for Einstein's last interview. In fact, a few pages from Einstein's autobiography are also included--and that indicates one reason why this book is so well done. It is divided into two parts; the first has seven chapters on "The Physicist"; the second has eight chapters on "The Man." All of these are written by Andrew Robinson. But interspersed with this biographical-chronological-topical layout are essays by other authors. Einstein contributes a few pages to Part One and a few to Part Two. But there are also four essays by others in Part One and five essays by others in Part Two. It's thrilling to read Stephen Hawking on the history of relativity and Philip Glass on his operatic take on Einstein. The book is not hagiographical. Freeman Dyson's preface mainly discusses the embarrassing (for Einstein) peculiarity that Einstein did not believe in black holes.

The book is full of other goodies. Though the text is more than one finds in a typical coffee-table book, the illustrations are of that beauty and quantity. It's an illustrated book with well-chosen pictures, always with captions. There are notes in the back, a detailed chronology of his life, and a (non-annotated) bibliography. The whole is made authoritative not only by the caliber of its contributors, but by its use of Einstein's archives housed at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The only way this book could be better is if there were more of it; sometimes the discussions feel rushed and compressed. Also, despite Robinson's literary credentials, I'm not partial to his somewhat awkward, hypertactic writing style. ... Read more

Product Description
What causes an earthquake? When will another big shock shake Tokyo or Los Angeles? Can people create deserts? How are the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect interlinked? Is global warming a force of nature—or of man? This compelling and informative book, illustrated with marvelous photographs and specially commissioned artwork, explains the latest scientific insights into these questions. Each force of nature is separately fitted into the jigsaw puzzle of global environmental change. The revised edition of this widely praised book draws on the dramatic evidence of recent years to evaluate the state of the planet—and man's effect on it—in the new century. 275 illustrations, 135 in color. ... Read more

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Product Description
Planet Terra was a bleak and savage world, a mix of dense jungles and brutal deserts. Two kinds of people visited it: slave merchants and big game hunters. That is, until a fleeing space ship deposits young Lexa of the Clan Sinclair at the edge of the Merica Desert. With no memory of who she is, and what the web-like tattoo on her hand means, she joins a caravan on its journey to Manhat. Meanwhile, two great battle cruisers search for her, for the fate of the galaxy rests literally in the palm of her hand. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A teen Sci-Fi that will be enjoyed by all ages
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (9/07)

Lexa is a teenager that finds herself dumped on planet Terra with no memory of where she came from.Her only possession is a bag that allows her to store things inter-dimensionally.In this bag are several survival items and a hand-held computer named, "Albert."Lexa is discovered by a group of scavenging salvagers, Jax, Dril and Kel.Jax is a very rough character; however, the other two seem to be decent people and Lexa feels that she can trust them.Nobody has a clue about who she really is and her importance in the universe.Unbeknownst to her, she also has a self-destruct key in case she is captured.

Lexa is put to work by Jax.As they travel back to where they can sell their salvage, she has many adventures along the way.She has to figure out who she can and can't trust.She also learns a lot about the dangerous creatures of Terra.This is a learning experience for her.Lexa possesses a high degree of intelligence; she uses this gift to help solve the riddle of the Gordian Maze of Terra.This earns Kel and herself some great rewards that are not easily obtained nor easily held on to.

I really, really loved reading Lexa's story.It is a young adult book; however, I think that people of any age will enjoy it.I know I did.I found myself wishing that I had had books like this when I was a teen.Andrew Robinson knows how to put together a great sci-fi story.He has a very strong heroine, surrounded by characters with their own secrets.He also does a great job of incorporating sci-fi elements such as a variety of dangerous and disgusting creatures, and modern technological devices, such as Albert and the special bag.This was really a fun story to read.If you have a teenager in your life that needs to read a book for school, put "Lexa and the Gordian Maze of Terrs" into their hands and they will be thrilled.Make sure you read it yourself.
... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the text that can both be accessed online and used to create new print copies. This book and thousands of others can be found in the digital collections of the University of Michigan Library. The University Library also understands and values the utility of print, and makes reprints available through its Scholarly Publishing Office. ... Read more

Product Description
Undeciphered scripts have long tantalized the public, whether it’s the possibility of hearing the voices of ancient peoples or the puzzle solver’s taste for the challenges posed by breaking codes. Here, Andrew Robinson investigates the most famous examples, beginning with the stories of three great decipherments: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Maya glyphs, and the Minoan Linear B clay tablets. He then covers the important scripts that have yet to be cracked, such as the Etruscan alphabet and Rongorongo from Easter Island. 350+ color illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Makes decipherment fascinating
A great survey of attempts in modern times -- some successful, some not so much -- to decipher ancient scripts. In an entertaining and articulate way, Robinson helps the reader understand the complexities of decipherment and the methodologies that are used.

Particularly interesting is his account of Michael Ventris's decipherment of Linear B. Significant points are that Ventris was not a professional philologist -- he was an architect. But his architectural training and practices were useful to the effort -- and, rather than shutting out other investigators, Ventris was a collaborator.

Another takeaway is that in decipherment, it's important to be careful about falling in love with your early hypotheses. Robinson's book includes examples of researchers who wasted years, decades, even whole careers, chasing down red herrings.

Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts

Don't try this at home!
If you are ever tempted to have a crack at deciphering an unknown ancient language, read this book and be talked out of it. The main message of this detached overview is that successfully extracting meaning from a forgotten script is a long, long, long, feat of endurance and hard work involving multiple people with a wide range of skills and a bit of luck.

Some successful decipherments such as the ancient Egyptian heiroglyphics, Linear B (perhaps the most famous) and Mayan glyphs (perhaps the most glamorous) are studied and analysed to pick out the successful strategies, after which the prospects for the main extant hidden languages (linear A, Etruscan and Rongorongo among them) are reviewed, mostly pessimistically.

The author has a mix of eye-rolling bemusement and disdain for the legions of amateur (and professional but misguided) would-be decipherers who clearly cause him much pain by invading his professional space, including a barbed plink at 'arrogant' Richard Feynman for his over-hyped claim to have deciphered Mayan glyphs unaided - when in fact as the author points out he simply deciphered the number system, which is usually the simplest part and a convenient entry into a lost script.

Fascinating book, I was a bit let down that he mentioned two of my faves - Nordic runes and the Voynich manuscript - only to say that is not going to mention them; but a good read for a certain geeky type of person, of which I am obviously one. And no I won't be rushing to announce my own decoding of Linear A any time soon

A vivid blend of scholarly analysis and history
Any collection strong in language development and linguistic history needs LOST LANGUAGES. It begins with the stories of three great decipherments - Egyptian hieroglyphs, Minoan Linear B and Mayan glyphs - and considers the remaining enigmatic scripts of the world. The latest scholarship in decipherment as well as the competition for success receives a vivid blend of scholarly analysis and history.

The Urge To Decipher
May 1953 was a newsworthy month: Francis Crick and James Watson announced their discovery of the "double helix" structure of DNA; Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to scale Mount Everest; and Michael Ventris's decipherment of Minoan Linear Script B, a writing system dating from the 2nd millennium BC, was proved to be correct.

As Andrew Robinson notes in his introduction, we all might have different opinions about which of the above accomplishments was the most challenging or significant, but there is no doubt that Ventris's decipherment was in the rarest class of achievement. Great feats of scientific discovery and exploration have been far more common than decipherments of lost languages.

//Lost Languages// is no dry academic exercise designed only to impress or bewilder; it is an invitation to participate in the discovery of how we have communicated to one another down through the last five millennia. He describes a discipline that bridges the sciences and the humanities. It requires the ability to see the underlying structure in what others see only as a mystery, and an appreciation, perhaps even a passion, for the history and culture of the people who created the language. I think anyone who reads this book will appreciate what Robinson has done.

Reviewed by Paul Mullinger

The challenge of a Lifetime, in a very rich edition
Deciphering ancient dead languages is one of the most fascinating challenges a man/woman can face in his/her lifetime, and the moreobstacles faced by the challenger the better. In this regard, the Frenchman mathematician Jean-François Champollion, the decipherer of the Egyptian hieroglyphs in the Rosetta Stone (the name Rosetta derives from the place Rashid in the North of Africa), the most well known block of stone in the world. Alongside with him is the British amateur archeologist and linguist Michael Ventris, who in 1953 broke the code of the so-called Minoan Linear B tablets.COntrary with what happened in the case of the Rosetta Stone, where alongside with the text to be deciphered (in demotic Egyptian and in hieroglyphics), there was not a base text (in Greek) to be confuted with. It is so not surprising that the great majority of decipherers attained its goas before reaching 30 years of age.

The feats of these two men, who depended upon the previous work of many others who trod the same paths before them, is detailed narrated in this very good book, richly illustrated with many ellucidative diagrams, graphs, drawings and pictures of alphabets, sillabarys and hieroglyphs, Egyptian inclusive. Andrew Robinson, the author of this excelent book, is in this regard extremely well equiped to present difficult subjects in a very easy manner to the lay reader like myself, who is only looking for the big picture and do not care about the multitude of details present in this type of work. The chapter on the deciphering of the Maya script by a Russian scholar is also a very informative one, in fact overflowing the reader with a lot of pertinent graphic information.

The scripts still waiting to be broken (Linear A among others and the scripts of the Easter isle) are very fascinating chapters of the book and one almost feels the urge to quit everything immediately and jump right away into the arena of deciphering dead languages.
In my opinion, this book is as good as it could be on the important subject of the decoding of the dead languages of humanity.

This edition of the book is indeed a very rich one and this is the kind of book one feels pretty much comfortable to give as a gift to friends and relatives. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
________________________________________________________________________ ... Read more

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Physics textbooks identify Thomas Young (1773-1829) as the experimenter who first proved that light is a wave--not a stream of corpuscles as Newton proclaimed. In any book on the eye and vision, Young is the London physician who showed how the eye focuses and proposed the three-color theory of vision confirmed only in 1959. In any book on ancient Egypt, Young is credited for his crucial detective work in deciphering the Rosetta Stone. It is hard to grasp how much he knew.
Invited to contribute to a new edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Young offered the following subjects: Alphabet, Annuities, Attraction, Capillary Action, Cohesion, Colour, Dew, Egypt, Eye, Focus, Friction, Halo, Hieroglyphic, Hydraulics, Motion, Resistance, Ship, Sound, Strength, Tides, Waves, and anything of a medical nature. He asked that all his contributions be kept anonymous.
While not yet thirty he gave a course of lectures at the Royal Institution covering virtually all of known science. But polymathy made him unpopular in the academy. An early attack on his wave theory of light was so scathing that English physicists buried it for nearly two decades until it was rediscovered in France. But slowly, after his death, great scientists recognized his genius.
Today, in an age of professional specialization unimaginable in 1800, polymathy still disturbs us. Is this kind of curiosity selfish, even irresponsible?  Here is the story of a driven yet modest hero, the last man who knew everything. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Really and Truely a Man Who Knew Everything
One of the problems with reading the biography (or writing) of a true Polymath, is that to really understand the man's undertakings you practically have to be a polymath yourself.Since Young's talents ran from optics to sound to medicine to magnetism to linguistics to force calculations, and it seems like everything in between, he is a difficult man to tie down.Robinson has done an admirable job of this though I found that some of the science was beyond me.

Considered a genius even by his detractors, the one problem with Young was that HE wanted to be a successful Physician but never put enough time into his practice to be successful.Young seems to be constantly running off at tangents as to what he wants to explore.Maybe the problem of his genius was that nothing (until near the end of his life) could keep his interest long enough for him to become a true expert.He has at least four theories or theorums named after him, but he never got to the real detail in many of his ideas because once he had started on a line of inquiry that proved theoretical results he went off somewhere else.

You could attribute some of his fault at non-detail to his Quaker upbringing.Quakers had little use for frivolity, ostentation or accessories.A true Quaker language would have only nouns and verbs, no reason for all those needless adjectives.In Young's writing he was consistently attacked for the 'tightness' of his writing, which sometimes
was to the point of uncomprehension.To 'protect' his medical practice he wrote many of his non-medical studies anonymously and never was one to 'blow his own horn'.Unlike most men of science from his era (like Humphry or Faraday) he was never knighted because he never campaigned for it.

His one controversy was over his translation of the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone.He published the first breakthrough on the meaning of some of the symbols in the 'cartouches', but because he then went off to study something else, he was surpassed by Compillion who then refused to give him credit for originally cracking the code.Young later did get credit for translating the secondary language (demotics) that took the Egyptian to Greek.Once again, had he stayed with working on the Stone he would have (or should have) broken the hieroglyphic code himself.

Young was a man who couldn't learn enough, fast enough and that's what seemed to haunt him his whole life.He died at 56 and his passing was hardly noted at the time.

NOTE: there are two other books with the same title (The Last Man Who Knew Everything), one on Athanasius Kircher who lived before Young and one on Joseph Leidy (who mostly work in Medicine and Paleontolgy). Neither had the scope or legacy of Young.

Zeb Kantrowitz

It Ain't Easy Knowing Everything...
...and those who do often feel underappreciated by those who don't. Back in my rural childhood, people used "know-it-all" as a painful insult. Not on me, you understand, cuz the one thing I knew best was to keep my mouth shut and my nose in a book.

Author Andrew Robinson has organized this biography of polymath Thomas Young around the hypothesis that Young was and has been underappreciated precisely because of the diversity of his interests and the near-impossibility of anybody knowing enough to evaluate his contributions to so many different fields of knowledge. Young himself was not a boastful man; he was quite self-conscious about his propensity to switch intellectual directions, and quite modest about what he didn't know and didn't choose to learn. At a time in his life when much of his income came from writing articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica, he turned down commissions to write about subjects outside his knowledge, stone-cutting for one. But the list of his articles in the EB shows that he in fact wrote on a vast array of subjects, from bridge-building to hieroglyphics.He was easily the most prolific single contributor.

Young's most enduring contributions to knowledge - and after all, what you know is less important than what you contribute to humanity's stock of knowledge - were in the disparate fields of optics and Egyptology. His 'proving Newton wrong' refers to his demonstration that light behaves as a transverse wave rather than a 'corpuscle' as Newton insisted. Young's most impressive series of experiments concerned the anatomy and function of the eye - often risking his own eyes in the bizarre procedures available to the laboratory techniques of his era.

Robinson clearly regards his subject as a significant figure in our intellectual history who remains underappreciated. Young's personal life and his odd personality become the chief subjects of this biography, though the author analyzes Young's actual accomplishments in science clearly enough. The book falls short, not on content, but on style and organization. Frankly, when Robinson suggests that Young's writing style was less than captivating, I begin to see why the author is enamored of his subject. The book is repetitive at times, and hopscotches around Young's career so that it's easy to lose track of what-happened-in-what-order-and-when.

I have to say that, if he were alive today, Thomas Young would make a fine candidate for Vice-President. Someone who knows almost everything is surely preferable to someone who knows almost nothing except how to skin a moose.

Excellent Short Scientific Biography of Thomas Young
In Robinson's biography of Thomas Young we get an excellent picture of a scientist working in the early nineteenth century as well as the issues and difficulties faced throughout history by those who study, work and contribute knowledge in a broad range of fields and interests (otherwise known as polymaths).

As Robinson himself states in the book, the biography is not meant to be a comprehensive treatment of Young's work in all of the fields to which he contributed nor does it provide an in-depth treatment of Young's work in the areas where he was most influential.Rather, it is an overview of the breadth of Young's contributions and how these contributions came to be accepted within the scientific community of the time.This is most completely described with respect to Young's work in optics (which to the acceptance of a wave theory of light) and his work in languages, most notably hieroglyphics and demotic script.

What I found most interesting about the book was the analysis of Young's character and the advantages and disadvantages he experienced in having such a broad array of interests.The author clearly shows Young's tendency to enter a field of study, make important and sometimes ground breaking advances and then to move onto to other areas.In doing so, we see Young's habit of not rigorously working through all the details or implications of a discovery and the controversy that sometimes leads to.

The book is well written with copious quotes both from Young and his early biographers.While I found these insightful, they were often lengthy and dry and required some work to plow through.I recommend this book to all those who find themselves studying a wide array of topics, those interested in either the history of physics or linguistics and those who wish to see how a person who belongs to a rare group of individuals (polymaths) works and interacts with the learned culture around them.

An Amazing Individual!!!
THhomas Young is more believeable as a character in a work of fiction (comprable to a Nero Wolfe or a Sherlock Holmes) than as a real person.No one can be that smart in so many areas!But the fact that he really lived makes him all the more fantastic.

This is a great biography about an amazing man!

Also recommended: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Only read if...
Only read this book if you are secure with your own IQ.If you are not, you will leave feeling terribly inadequate as Thomas Young was amazingly portrayed in this book!!! ... Read more

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Following the startling events of "New Krypton," Earth finds itself without its greatest protector - Superman! And this "World Without Superman" is a very dangerous place, indeed. The only thing standing between the good (and not so good) folks of Earth and an impending shadow of doom are the all-new Nightwing and Flamebird! But who are these two heroes who have taken their names from legends of Krypton's past? Read on to find out as Eisner Award-winning writer Greg Rucka (FINAL CRISIS: REVELATIONS) teams with rising star Eddy Barrows (TEEN TITANS) to kick off a bold new era for The Man of Steel! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Deceptive title, not a superman story.
These characters were created trying to fill superman's shoes while he was in outer space, however their personalities shifted inexplicably along the story (no simple progression, just inconsistencies along the way).

The story starts with a simple premise (find Kryptonian spies) and shifts drastically to arguments about Kryptonian religion and prophecies.

However, it must be pointed out that these characters (Nightwing and Flamebird) will not play a significant role in the Superman universe, and therefore any investment in them should be seen as a not very intelligent way of spending your money if you are looking for a Superman's centric story (unless you really like the author , whom in my opinion never understood Superman and favored writing stories about supporting characters instead).

Finally, it is important to emphasize that the title of the book is misleading, Superman doesn't participate in this story whatsoever, so the name "Superman" should be dropped, it is not even directly linked with the "New Krypton" storyline that other superman titles covered during 2009.

"They're wearing the symbols of Nightwing and Flamebird, just look at that. Somebody's been reading too many fairy tales."
With Superman's having taken up residence on New Krypton, several costumed crimefighters have stepped up to try to fill his shoes. In Metropolis, the Guardian has been a longtime force, and there's also the fledgling hero Mon-El, Superman's personal choice to replace him. But then two mysterious armored figures begin to appear in the Metropolis skyline, calling themselves Nightwing and Flamebird and exhibiting big league super powers. And Nightwing and Flamebird have an agenda.

If you're sort of caught up with DC Comics' history and continuity and, more specifically, if you're down with the Superman universe, then you just may already have heard of Nightwing and Flamebird. I remember them from a long time ago, when Superman and Jimmy Olsen back in the day used to shrink down to the bottled city of Kandor and would fight crime disguised as Nightwing and Flamebird. I remember Superman and Lois Lane assuming these costumed personas, as well as Power Girl and Supergirl. Years ago a certain young Mr. Grayson was inspired to take up Nightwing as his new code name.

In this present continuity, Nightwing and Flamebird are regarded as mythical figures and revered ancient heroes of old Krypton. So the two characters who adopt these names are quite aware of the impact they'll have on Kryptonians. No SPOILERS here - although, if you're only a casual comic book reader, these are fairly obscure characters - but writer Greg Rucka doesn't waste time in revealing the identities behind the masks, in establishing their mission, and setting up the conflict. What with anti-Kryptonian sentiment sweeping the planet, what with the United Nations having banned all Kryptonians (except Superman) from Earth, the masks and the armor are worn to hopefully mislead people into believing that their innate raw powers are mechanically induced. Because, yes, okay, a little SPOILER: Nightwing and Flamebird are themselves full-bloodied Kryptonians.

But they're on our side and mean to expose and corral a string of Kryptonian sleeper agents deployed by General Zod. But Nightwing and Flamebird are still fairly new to the game and so they don't have an easy time of it. Rucka plays it believable by not depicting our guys as accomplished as, say, Superman. Nightwing and Flamebird can be manipulated, their emotions, their impetuousness, putting them at grave risk. The malevolent Commander Ursa, for one, plays them like a string. It almost costs Flamebird her life.

Looks like Nightwing and Flamebird are hanging out their shingle in ACTION COMICS for a bit while Supes tries to keep General Zod in check in the SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON limited series. But, excepting that Man of Steel-shaped vacuum, ACTION COMICS retains its familiar elements. We revisit the Fortress of Solitude and the Phantom Zone. Lois Lane is a featured character and she re-establishes a relationship with one of our heroes. This is also the point where she starts putting two and two together with regards to her father. It also makes sense that Lois Lane, award-winning journalist and wife of Superman, would have contacts deep within the superhero community ("Oh, I have everyone's number.").

Nightwing and Flamebird go up against militants, both from the Kryptonian side and the Earth's. Which means that we hear some more from the xenophobic General Lane and his all-intrusive Project 7734. This means we get further sightings of Codename: Assassin and that mysterious girl with that tattoo thing on her face. I wish, though, that the General Lane arc would get a move on already. He's made it clear he has it out against Kryptonians, and that he's got some sort of Kryptonian eradication program on boil. I say, bring that sucker to a head.

SUPERMAN: NIGHTWING AND FLAMEBIRD Vol. 1 collects ACTION COMICS #875-879, ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #12, and profile material on the current Nightwing & Flamebird from SUPERMAN: SECRET FILES 2009 #1. These stories are action-packed and you can sense the learning curve the duo is going thru. Greg Rucka doesn't stint on military intrigue and some pretty effed up familial interactions. The lead characters are interesting, although it's not until we get to the story in the annual that we really get the full backstories on them. The villains are up to Nightwing and Flamebird's power levels, and then some. Even if I didn't care too much for the Bonnie & Clyde-type bank robbers. Some other stuff Rucka works in: One of our heroes is afflicted with unpredictable and painful bouts of accelerated aging; the other may be taking their avatar roles too seriously, and perhaps with reason.

One beef I do have is the revolving door of artists on this trade. In the course of five issues, ACTION COMICS features artists Eddy Barrows, Sidney Teles, and Diego Olmos, and so this run suffers from a lack of a consistent visual tone. Meanwhile, I like Pere Perez's pencils in the annual. Thankfully, Greg Rucka is a good enough storyteller that his skills overcome the uneven artwork. Give this a chance. ... Read more

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Text and pop-up illustrations depict six of the world's deadliest creatures, including the scorpion fish, black widow, and cobra. ... Read more

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A being of unknown origin and power who is drawn to scenes of human suffering, Kilroy is an avenger of the innocent and protector of the weak. With topical stories focusing on the little known or forgotten atrocities of the real world, Kilroy Is Here has become a cult classic series where a number of today's top creators honed their craft. ... Read more

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In the annals of world history there are few more striking tales than those of Princely India. The Maharajas became bywords for excess, for lifetimes spent in extravagant expenditure and splendour on an almost unparalleled scale. The Princes, their palaces and feudal loyalties live on, and the full gorgeous spectacle of their life-style is captured for perhaps the last time in the pages of this book. This is very much a visual story, full of dazzling colours: a story of throne rooms with gilded and painted ceilings, crystal fountains and peacocks in terraced gardens, gold and silver treasures, of weddings, celebrations and festivals, and of the Maharajas themselves and their families, in public and in private. ... Read more

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This selection of about 350 letters spanning Tagore's entire life show his interests and ideas as far as possible, and will be a valuable source of information for the understanding of Tagore's personality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Then, planet earth became known to us all: a ghostly sphere..."

"In centuries past, some thought the world was flat, or rested on the back of a turtle; for others, earth was a perfect sphere locked tightly into the heart of other spheres. But its true shape remained unseen by human eyes untikl christmas 1968, when the astronauts of Apollo 8 left the earth gravity to circumnavigate the moon. Then, planet earth became known to us all: a ghostly sphere..." The Shape of the World



Late Antiquity Astronomy:
The Hellenized Egyptian Capital, Alexandria developed 'New Mathematics' that enabled men to travel by land and overseas, measured the distance to the farthest stars, and estimated the number of sand grains in the universe. Alexandrine Astronomers were eventually able to measure by indirect means the radius of the earth, the diameter of the sun and moon and the distance to the moon, the sun, the planets, and the stars. Aristarchus virtually invented modern astronomy; while Euclid wrote the elements of geometry and founded mathematics, and methods of its instruction.
"Alexandria originated the greatest advances of mathematics and along with them the creation of an earth-centered model of the orbits of the planets sound enough to survive ... for the very creator of a new solar system model, Claudius Ptolemy, who wrote ancient astronomy's most encyclopedic work, the Almagest*." Conversing With the Planets
Ptolemy's Almagest is one of the most influential scientific works in history, second only to 'The Elements' by Euclid. A masterpiece of technical exposition, it was the basic textbook of astronomy for more than a thousand years, and still is the main source for our knowledge of ancient astronomy. It develops in a modern format, utilizing medieval Arabic translations to identify and make numerous corrections, adding extensive footnotes that take account of the great progress in understanding the work made in this century, due to the discovery of Babylonian records.

Earth Mapping:
Preparation of most except the largest scale maps, where a flat Earth can be assumed without significant error, demands accurate knowledge of the size and shape of the Earth. The notion that the Earth is spherical in shape was developed by the ancient Greeks. One of the earliest determinations of the size of the Earth, based on its perfect spherical; shape, was made by Eratosthenes the second century B.C. Alexandrian geographer and astronomer.He is noted for devising a system of latitude and longitude, and for being the first known to have calculated the circumference of the Earth. He also created a map of the world based on the available geographical knowledge of the era. He knew that at the summer solstice, the noon sun is directly overhead on the Tropic of Cancer, where the town of Syene (present-day Aswan, Egypt) was located since vertical shadows were cast there at the summer solstice. He also observed that at the summer solstice, angled shadows were cast at Alexandria which is located north of Syene on approximately the same meridian. He measured the angle of the shadow and found it to be 7.2 degrees, or about 1/50 of a full circle. He measured (or possibly estimated) the distance between Alexandria and Syene at 5000 stadia and therefore determined that the circumference of the Earth was 50 times 5000 or 250,000 stadia. Given modern estimates of the length of a stadia, this is remarkably close to the Earth's equatorial circumference of 40,075 km.

Maps of Ancient world:
Around 150 AD, Claudius Ptolemy, an Alexandrine geographer, and astronomer, compiled an encyclopedia of the ancient world from the archives of a legendary library in Alexandria, Egypt. His eight-volume Geography included extensive maps of the known world, all based on a curved globe. Unfortunately, learning and intellect went out of fashion in Europe between 400 and 1200 AD. The storehouses of Alexandrian scientific knowledge were lost to Western society with the advent of the Dark Ages. Sea monsters and Vikings ruled the seas, and ships that ventured too far from shore were sure to fall off the edge of a flat Earth. Maps made in that time were based on religious beliefs or superstitions, not on observations, calculations, or scientific inquiry. Rectangular maps of the Earth represented the "four corners of the Earth." Circular maps usually placed the birthplace of Christianity, the holy city of Jerusalem, at the center of the world.

Cartography and Globes:
Cartographers have long known that the images on maps often do not reflect the actual shapes and relative sizes of continents and seas. In the widely used map projection drawn in 1569 by the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, Greenland is exaggerated 16 times and appears to be bigger than South America, even though it is only about the size of Mexico. The National Geographic's Van der Grinten projection, which has been used for the past seven decades, shows Alaska blown up to five times its real size, making it appear roughly equivalent of Brazil, which is actually six times as large. Garver acknowledged, "The only accurate map is a globe." But globes are awkward to carry around. And no matter what gimmick is used, drawing the surface of a sphere on a flat plane results in distortion. Anyone who tries to flatten a whole peel of an orange can imagine the difficulty. The features of a globe cannot be transferred accurately to a flat map. If the shapes of continents are correct, the sizes are wrong; a system that is accurate at the equator is hopeless at the poles. Endless variations have been tried, from circles to ovals, rectangles, hearts and butterflies, all of them flawed. Competing versions have triggered emotional controversies. "Cartographers since Ptolemy have wrestled with the problem," says Arthur Robinson, professor emeritus of geography at the University of Wisconsin, who devised the projection used in the Geographic Society's new map. "Alas, there is no perfect solution."

Map-makers & Projections:
Most map makers devise projections with mathematics. "Mapmaking is as much an art form as a science," argues Robinson, the dean of U.S. cartographers. Thus he began by visualizing the way each country ought to look on a map, then turned to mathematics to delineate its shape. "What I really did," says Robinson, "was create a portrait of the earth." There are still distortions in his map, both at the equator and at the poles, "Only at these latitudes are the size and shape relationships accurate, as they are on the globe." To convey a sense of roundness, the map has been given curved sides. The Geographic Society's new map, like its predecessor, is centered on Europe, in part it is "the best balance available between geography and aesthetics."

Of Continents and Seas:
In the widely used map projection drawn in 1569 by the Flemish cartographer G. Mercator, Greenland is exaggerated 16 times. The National Geographic's Van der Grinten projection, which has been used for the past seven decades, shows Alaska blown up to five times its real size, appearing roughly equivalent of Brazil, which is actually six times as large. "The only accurate map is a globe," acknowledges Garver, But globes are awkward to carry around. The features of a globe cannot be transferred accurately to a flat map. Endless variations have been tried, from circles to ovals, rectangles, hearts and butterflies, all of them flawed. Competing versions have triggered emotional controversies. "Cartographers since Ptolemy have wrestled with the problem," says Arthur Robinson, professor emeritus of geography at the University of Wisconsin, who devised the projection used in the Geographic Society's new map. "Alas, there is no perfect solution."
Most mapmakers devise projections with mathematics -- and nowadays the computer. But Robinson, who is considered the dean of U.S. cartographers, decided to take a different approach. "Mapmaking is as much an art form as a science," he argues. Thus he began by visualizing the way each country ought to look on a map, then turned to mathematics to delineate its shape. "What I really did," says Robinson, "was create a portrait of the earth."

Early maps exhibition:
An exhibition of early maps and sea charts at Scandinavia House offers both literal and mind-expanding lessons. It presents 76 maps, atlases and sea charts that depict the world, Europe, Scandinavia and Norway, dating from the late 15th century to the late 18th century.The displays begin with an impressive wall of woodblock maps of Europe and the world from around 1500. Most are based on the atlas of the great Greek geographer Ptolemy, the coordinates for which resurfaced during the Renaissance. Although it is not known if the 26 maps of the Roman empire whose coordinates Ptolemy plotted were actually made during his time (second century A.D.), Italian cartographers put them to immediate use: Ptolemy's ''Geographia,'' an influential atlas, was published in Italy in the late 15th century. Included here is a Ptolemaic map published in Ulm in 1482; it isolates Scandinavia for the first time, surrounding its irregular land masses with deep blue water. To its right is one of the first maps of Europe to replace Ptolemy's model with a more accurate projection of the continent, a woodblock published by Schedel in Nuremberg in 1493, a year after Columbus set sail.

Topography & Topographers:
The location of mountains, ocean trenches, ridges, and coastlines are all keys to the analysis of Earth's dynamic processes. Topography is a fundamental databasis available to Earth scientists, to examine the spatial relationships between areas of high topography. They can accordingly study how these relationships arise from plate interactions, that could cause earthquakes, and volcanoes.The resolution of the topographic data set is approximately one km, so a variety of features related to the underlying geology, geologic history and dynamic earth processes that create topography could be enabled for study. The Christian Topography was written over a period of years: the first five books were compiled for a friend, Pamphilus, and the remainder as occasion arose: partly to answer critics of the original books, partly to provide evidence from earlier writers for the truth of his understanding of scripture, and (bk. XI) to describe the animals and other curiosities he had encountered in his travels, especially to the island of Taprobane (Ceylon).

Cosmas Indicopleustes:
Indicopleustes, 'India-voyager,' of Alexandria was a Greek sailor in the early 6th century who travelled to Ethiopia, India and Sri Lanka.He then became a monk, probably of Nestorian tendencies, and around 550 AD wrote a strange book, copiously illustrated, which is the text presented here. There can be few books which have attracted more derision, mixed with wonder, than the Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes.It advances the idea that the world is flat, and that the heavens form the shape of a box with a curved lid.The latter pages of his work are devoted to The approach to scripture is discreditable, and the conclusion made simply wrong.The book isrebutting the criticism of his fellow-monks, that what he was saying was wrong.

The Shape of the World:
Above concise introduction, could be expanded magnificently, with plenty of visual aids, photos and maps, in the beautifully illustrated companion to a six partPBS TV series , a classic documentary that tells the story of exploring and measuring plant earth, with attempts to draw maps for its continents and seas. This amazing book is one of few to mention my synonym Cosmas, but the book surveys the total history of mapmaking from Pythagoras, and Ptolomyto Galileo, up to the NASA space photos of our plant.
The book has reproductions of many of the landmark maps of the ancient and medieval world, with stories of discoverers as Columbus and Magellan who sailed unknown seas, which created the magic of our childhood, that you could recapture now.

... Read more