The world-changing true story of the mission to discover the shape of the earth . . .\n'This rollicking story of adventure and scientific exploration is as gripping as any novel . . . a book that sparkles with intelligence and wit' Alex Preston, author and journalist\n'Crane has a rare knack for showing people things they really ought to see across space and time without them having to get out of their chair' Joe Smith, director of The Royal Geographic society 
_______\nThe year is 1735. 
Twelve unruly men board ships bound for South America. 
Their mission? To discover the true shape of the earth. 
They will be exposed to a wilderness of dangers none can imagine. 
The survivors won't return for ten years. 
_______\nThey knew the world wasn't a sphere. Either it stretched at the poles or it bulged at the equator. But which?\nThey needed to know because accurate maps saved lives at sea and made money on land. But measuring the earth was so difficult that most thought it impossible.\nThe world's first international team of scientists was sent to a continent of unmapped rainforests and ice-shrouded volcanoes where they attempted to measure the length on the ground of one degree of latitude.\nBeset by egos and disease, storms and earthquakes, mutiny and murder, they struggled for ten years to reach the single figure they sought.\nLatitude is an epic story of survival and science set in mountain camps and remote observatories.\nA breathtaking tale of courage in adversity, it is celebrated today as the first modern exploring expedition. 
_______\n'Latitude is a thrilling story of courage, survival and science. It's an extraordinary, visceral and vivid read' Geographical Magazine

Latitude: The astonishing journey to discover the shape of the earth

Biographies & Memoirs

CRANE, Nicholas

Historical

Michael, Joseph

Gerhard 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 Mercator’s 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 the maps themselves: maps that brought to a rapt public wonders as remarkable as today’s cyber-world. 
Nick Crane's new book is a scintillating account of the climax of the map-makers’ century (and of Mercator’s life) - the miraculous compression of the planet which revolutionised navigation and has become the most common worldview we have.

Mercator

Leaders & Notable People

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

CYCLING IN EUROPE.

Pan.

BBC-TV personality Nicholas Crane follows in the footsteps of eight intrepid early explorers who set out to chronicle the state of the British nation. These travelers range from Gerald of Wales, who embarked on a seven-week journey around that country in 1188, to journalist H.V. Morton, who crossed the length and breadth of England by car in the 1920s. Each one—including Celia Fiennes, Daniel Defoe, and William Cobbett—left behind narratives for us to enjoy. Crane shares their passion, imagination, and curiosity.

Great British Journeys

Travel

Europe

Phoenix

How much do we really know about the place we call 'home'? In this sweeping, timely book, Nicholas Crane tells the story of Britain. The British landscape has been continuously occupied by humans for 12,000 years, from the end of the Ice Age till the twenty-first century. It has been transformed from 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. The twin drivers of landscape change - climate and population - have arguably wielded as much influence on our habitat as monarchs and politics. From tsunamis and farming to Roman debacles and industrial cataclysms, from henge to high-rise and hamlet to metropolis, this is a book about change and adaptation. As Britain lurches from an exploitative past towards a more sustainable future, this is the story of our age.

The Making Of The British Landscape

History

What is England and who are the English? There is a line from one end of England to the other. This is the line of longitude - 2 degrees west - and it describes a cross-section through the country. The author follows this line as closely as physically possible on foot - terrain ranging from open moorland to urban back-streets. The line begins at Berwick-on-Tweed on the border with Scotland and runs south through the wilds of Northumberland and includes the Yorkshire Dales, Pennines, Birmingham suburbs, Cotswolds, Salisbury Plain, Dorset and Isle of Purbeck.

Two Degrees West: A Walk Along England's Meridian

Chivers Audio Books

An enthralling biography of the man who created the first real map of the world and changed civilization Born at the dawn of the age of discovery, Gerhard Mercator lived in an era of formidable intellectual and scientific advances. At the center of these developments were the cartographers who painstakingly pieced together the evidence to create ever more accurate pictures of the planet. Mercator was the greatest of all of them-a poor farm boy who attended one of Europe's top universities, was persecuted and imprisoned by the Inquisition, but survived to coin the term "atlas" and to produce the so-called projection for which he is known. Devoutly religious, yet gripped by Aristotelian science, Mercator struggled to reconcile the two, a conflict mirrored by the growing clash in Europe between humanism and the Church. Mercator solved the dimensional riddle that had vexed cosmographers for so long: How could the three-dimensional globe be converted into a two-dimensional map while retaining true compass bearings? The projection revolutionized navigation and has become the most common worldview. Nicholas Crane-a fellow geographer-has combined a keen eye for historical detail with a gift for vivid storytelling to produce a masterful biography of the man who mapped the planet.

Mercator: The Man Who Mapped the Planet

Henry Holt and Co.

“Crane’s book is quite probably destined to become the standard text.”—Simon Winchester, The New York Times Gerhard Mercator lived in an era of formidable intellectual and scientific advances. At the center of the exploratory vortex were the cartographers who were painstakingly piecing together the evidence to create ever more accurate pictures of the planet. Mercator was the greatest of all of them. His inspiration—the map—solved the dimensional riddle that had vexed cosmographers for so long: How could the three-dimensional globe be converted into a two-dimensional map while retaining true compass bearings? His resulting projection revolutionized navigation and has become the most common worldview. For the first time, people were able to see the world on paper and their place in it. Nicholas Crane, a geographer himself, has combined a keen eye for historical detail with a gift for vivid storytelling to produce this masterly and highly acclaimed biography of the man who mapped the planet.

Holt Paperbacks

Ctc Route Guide to Cycling in Britain and Ireland

Gausden, Christa

Haynes Pubns

Cycling in Europe

Sports & Outdoors

Oxford Illustrated Press

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Books by CRANE, Nicholas