Rachel Hewitt
Auteur van Map Of A Nation: A Biography Of The Ordnance Survey
Werken van Rachel Hewitt
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Geslacht
- female
- Nationaliteit
- United Kingdom
- Land (voor op de kaart)
- United Kingdom
- Opleiding
- Oxford University (BA, MSt)
University of London (PhD) - Korte biografie
- Rachel came to Wolfson College in October 2011, to continue her Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship, and to take up the Weinrebe Fellowship in Life-Writing. She is a member of the English faculty, and attached to the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing (OCLW) at Wolfson College.
Her research is concerned with Enlightenment and Romantic biography. Her first book, Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey, charted the early life of Britain's national mapping agency. Her current research concerns the emotional impact of the French Revolution.
She is one of the ten New Generation Thinkers selected by the BBC and AHRC to disseminate their research through radio and festivals.
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Good and entertaining account, but I would have liked more technical details and local history of the survey and its consequences and perhaps less of the elite social history. The coverage of the Ordnance Survey of southern England and Ireland is enlightening, but the coverage peters out before mid-19th century -- thirty years before the First Series maps were completed, and before the work was well underway with the survey of Scotland. It would also have been interesting to highlight further the parallel work before and during the period covered of mapmaking in France and triangulation of India.
For map lovers, the paperback format unfortunately makes some of the illustrated maps illegible, and cannot hint at the beautiful detail of the later 6" and 25" per mile maps.… (meer)
For map lovers, the paperback format unfortunately makes some of the illustrated maps illegible, and cannot hint at the beautiful detail of the later 6" and 25" per mile maps.… (meer)
Packed full of great history and research, but Hewitt hasn't got Peter Moore's knack of telling the story so you can thoroughly revel but also retain. So saying, it will stay with me as a terrific reference book and one to dip into, now I know what treasures lurk inside.
Puts the Ordinance Survey right on the map :). Something we walkers and scramblers have always loved, maps carried next to our hearts across the hills and through the rain, sleet and (rarely) burning sun. Winter nights on the kitchen table plotting routes. And 20 years ago wished for abroad in countries where whole hillsides seemed to be missing from the local maps! A moment in time just as the world changes - GPS, SATNAV, satellite pictures. The author places the start of the Ordinance Survey firmly in the military world, beginning with the Highland clearances and wars with France, continuing with Ireland and the the mapping for taxation, the massive social implications of fixing place names and not forgetting the struggle of the 20th century for access to land. The military, economic and political setting gives the book a real bite without detracting from the heroics of the multitude of people who walked the land actually doing the mapping.… (meer)
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Statistieken
- Werken
- 3
- Leden
- 440
- Populariteit
- #55,641
- Waardering
- 3.8
- Besprekingen
- 19
- ISBNs
- 7
The author is trying too hard to make this book be an Everything book. I wasn't looking for a book on Everything. I wanted to read a book about badass women from the late 19th century who were outside being awesome. Instead, this book is about (1) the author's grief (2) the author's running (3) the author's grief (4) sometimes we learn about cool women from the 19th century (5) the author's grief (6) how awful it is to be a women (7) the author's grief (8) scary statistics about being female today (9) the author's grief.
Having just lost two very important people in my life last year, I get the desire to unload grief everywhere. It's omnipresent and hard to shake. Maybe that's also why I was in no mood to listen to the author unload her own grief in this book. Like, lady, I can't. Also, that's not why I picked up a book called "In Her Nature: How Women Break Boundaries in the Great Outdoors" (not "Rachel Hewitt Lost Five Family Members: A Memoir and Rant").
Also, while I don't disagree that sexism is still pervasive in twenty-twenty-freaking-four, the scaremongering about how awful it is to go outdoors is a pet peeve of mine. I'm tired of people saying that I'm going to get assaulted if I go outside. You know what that does? That scares me away from claiming my rightful space in the outdoors. I refuse to be fear mongered to. Granted, I am privileged to live in a safe area. I acknowledge that. But still, freaking stop. Also: not what I was expecting to read about in a book that is nominally about badass historical sportswomen.
So, if you have any desire to read about badass women mountaineers from the 19th century and have no desire to skim, SKIP THIS BOOK.… (meer)