Following the hugely successful hardback this extraordinary tale of the father of modern geology looks set to be the non fiction paperback for 2002. Hidden behind velvet curtains above a stairway in a house in Londons Piccadilly is an enormous & beautiful h&-coloured map
- the first geological map of anywhere in the world. Its maker was a farmers 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 & 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."