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tashabasha1 's review for:
A History of the World in Twelve Maps
by Jerry Brotton
challenging
informative
slow-paced
there are four main points i want to highlight as to why this got three stars as opposed to my initial rating of four stars in my head earlier on in the week. one point is quite general to all the chapters in the book, two points are specific to chapter twelve and one point is specific to the conclusion.
the first point is the amount of context in each chapter. this might be biased as i am halfway through my history degree. i have to agree with some of the reviews of this book from previous years. the book does have a bit too much history for each map. i do think some of it is irrelevant to the maps.
the second point is less of a criticism and more of a thing i wish brotton would do. granted, i am posting this review in 2024 and the edition of the book i have was published in 2013. i wish brotton would release a more updated version of this book talking about google earth and google maps. google maps is mentioned a number of times in chapter twelve, however it is with conjunction to google earth. i am surprised google earth is still a thing, however many people use google maps, apple maps etc over google earth. so i wish brotton would release an updated version of the book acknowledging this.
the third point is defining aspects of technology. like i mentioned, i know this book was released over ten years ago now, but i feel like i am being explained terms, such as HTTP and URL, which i already know. yes, i am a twenty year old gen z who took gcse and a level computer science so i know those terms already, but some terms we learn at school. granted, google’s pagerank algorithm is worth explaining as i only learnt about it in year thirteen, however the terms HTTP and URL are terms which gen z and gen alpha know already. i guess this book was aimed more at older generations, because when HTTP, URL, and bits came up i kept thinking “oh i already learnt about this pre-covid”.
the final point is about the contents of the conclusion. i have learnt at uni that you do not introduce any new points in the conclusion. brotton, however, introduces a whole new map which i think could have been its own chapter.
the first point is the amount of context in each chapter. this might be biased as i am halfway through my history degree. i have to agree with some of the reviews of this book from previous years. the book does have a bit too much history for each map. i do think some of it is irrelevant to the maps.
the second point is less of a criticism and more of a thing i wish brotton would do. granted, i am posting this review in 2024 and the edition of the book i have was published in 2013. i wish brotton would release a more updated version of this book talking about google earth and google maps. google maps is mentioned a number of times in chapter twelve, however it is with conjunction to google earth. i am surprised google earth is still a thing, however many people use google maps, apple maps etc over google earth. so i wish brotton would release an updated version of the book acknowledging this.
the third point is defining aspects of technology. like i mentioned, i know this book was released over ten years ago now, but i feel like i am being explained terms, such as HTTP and URL, which i already know. yes, i am a twenty year old gen z who took gcse and a level computer science so i know those terms already, but some terms we learn at school. granted, google’s pagerank algorithm is worth explaining as i only learnt about it in year thirteen, however the terms HTTP and URL are terms which gen z and gen alpha know already. i guess this book was aimed more at older generations, because when HTTP, URL, and bits came up i kept thinking “oh i already learnt about this pre-covid”.
the final point is about the contents of the conclusion. i have learnt at uni that you do not introduce any new points in the conclusion. brotton, however, introduces a whole new map which i think could have been its own chapter.