Cover of A History of the World in 12 Maps

A History of the World in 12 Maps

by Jerry Brotton · first published 2014

2mentions
2recommended by
2HN commenters
2019–2025first – last mentioned

100% recommend

Argues that, far from being purely objective documents, maps are profoundly subjective expressions of the people who crate them and are intimately tied to the views and agendas of particular times and places. "A fascinating look at twelve maps--from Ancient Greece to Google Earth--and how they changed our world In this masterful study, historian and cartography expert Jerry Brotton explores a dozen of history's most influential maps, from stone tablet to vibrant computer screen. Starting with Ptolemy, "father of modern geography," and ending with satellite cartography, A History of the World

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What Hacker News says

  • skytreader · Nov 6, 2019 · Recommends

    …history of seemingly-mundane, everyday objects. The search for literature in this vein has been predictably difficult but I've been fortunate to come across two great books of this theme. The first is A History of the World in 12 Maps by Jerry Brotton. The main idea of the book is somewhat like a visual variant of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: that our maps shape our perception of the world and, in turn, our place in it. I actually tried…

    on “Ask HN: What Are You Reading?” ↗
  • nesk_ · Sep 18, 2025 · Recommends

    I definitely recommend you to read A History of the World in 12 Maps by Jerry Broton. It's very interesting and you learn a lot about our world and its history.

    on “This map is not upside down” ↗

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