NICHOLAS CRANE

A biography of the genius who mapped the world and for ever changed the face of the planet - by a bestselling author.Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) was born at the dawn of the Age of Discovery, when the world was beginning to be discovered and carved up by navigators, geographers and cartographers. Mercator was the greatest and most ingenious cartographer of them all: it was he who coined the word atlas and solved the riddle of converting the three-dimensional globe into a two-dimensional map while retaining true compass bearings. It is Mercators Projection that NASA are using today to map Mars. How did Mercator reconcile his religious beliefs with a science that would make Christian maps obsolete? How did a man whose imagination roamed continents endure imprisonment by the Inquisition? Crane brings this great man vividly to life, underlying it with colour illustrations of the maps themselves: maps that brought to a rapt public wonders as remarkable as todays cyber-world.

How much do we really know about the place we call home? In this sweeping, timely book, Nicholas Crane tells the story of Britain.*****Over the course of 12,000 years of continuous human occupation, the British landscape has been transformed form a European peninsula of glacier and tundra to an island of glittering cities and exquisite countryside.In this geographical journey through time, we discover the ancient relationship between people and place and the deep-rooted tensions between town and countryside. From tsunamis to Roman debacles, from henge to high-rise and hamlet to metropolis, this is a book about change and adaptation. As Britain lurches towards a more sustainable future, it is the story of our age.A geographers love letter to the British and the land that formed them ... dramatic, lyrical and even inspiringSunday TimesA magnificent, epic work by a national treasure ... A tour de force Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

One word binds us all: geography. We are all geographers, human beings who care about the places we think of as home - our habitat. And yet we have lost touch with the connection between our actions and the state of the planet that we all share. We need a new narrative that restores the connections between humanity and the Earth. We are being confronted by a daily barrage of geographical stories on climate change, geopolitics, population growth, migration, dwindling resources, polluted oceans and natural hazards. These are planetary concerns affecting all people and all places. They are challenges which can be addressed through geography.In this short but powerful book, Nicholas Crane makes the compelling case that never has geography been so important. On this finite orb, with its battered habitat, sustained in dark space by a thin, life-giving atmosphere, we have reached a point in our collective geographical journey where knowledge is the best guarantor of the future.[NOTE: published in hardback as YOU ARE HERE]

Along our shores, towering cliffs from the age of the dinosaurs rise beside wide estuaries teeming with wildlife, while Victorian ports share waterfronts with imposing fortifications.And the people who have lived, worked and played on this spectacular coast - from Stone Age fishermen to seafarers, chart-makers and surfers - have an incredible tale to tell.Coast: Our Island Story is an enthralling account, sparkling with geography, history, adventure and eccentric characters, told with Nick Cranes trademark charisma and wit.

Alone - though he was just married - and on foot, Nicholas Crane embarked on an extraordinary adventure: a seventeen-month journey along the chain of mountains which stretches across Europe from Cape Finisterre to Istanbul. His aim was to explore Europes last mountain wilderness and to meet the people who live on the periphery of the modern world.

Intrepid presenter Nicholas Crane investigates eight epic journeys, following in the footsteps of our greatest indigenous explorers.Nick presents eight of the most interesting traveller-chroniclers to have explored and reported on the state of the nation. From Gerald of Wales who embarked on a seven week journey around the wild perimeter of Wales in March 1188, to HV Morton, the journalist and travel writer who crossed the length and breadth of England by car in the 1920s. Others include Celia Fiennes who started her many journeys around Britain on horseback in the late 1600s at the age of 20, Tudor antiquarian John Leland, Daniel Defoe, William Cobbett, Thomas Pennant, and William Gilpin, who travelled through the north of England by boat in 1770.

Absorbing and exhilarating . . . This book will literally expand your horizons MICHAEL PALINA panoptic, deeply researched and compelling history of our nation PATRICK BARKHAMA fascinating, immersive history of Britains footpaths and routeways from the Mesolithic era to the present day - from the acclaimed geographer and author of The Making of the British LandscapeA book to read and savour at home, and then stow in the backpack alongside thermos, sandwiches and an Ordnance Survey map PETROC TRELAWNYWalking defines us as human beings. But how much do we know about the paths that we walk? Why do they matter? What caused so many to be lost? And can we create more of them?In The Path More Travelled, acclaimed geographer and travel writer Nicholas Crane explores the hidden history of Britains coast-to-coast web, from prehistoric routeways walked by European migrants 12,000 years ago to pilgrim ways and coffin roads, turnpikes, towpaths and city pavements. We discover how land-grabbing Norman barons began the enclosure of our countryside, and how our beloved national parks and long-distance trails emerged from the ashes of two world wars.Along the way, Crane takes the reader on some of his most memorable walks: along the Hadrians Wall Path, into the icy Cairngorms and to the banks of the Severn where he discovers footprints from over 7,000 years ago. The Path More Travelled is a passionate ode to walking - and a call to rediscover and protect the lifeblood of our landscapes.Wonderfully immersive and full of fascinating detail FIONA ROBERTSONEvocative, beautifully written and witty, it is also a passionate statement on the human freedom to roam VANESSA TAYLOR