Nicholas Crane – författare

Brought to you by Penguin. The 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.An almost forgotten moment in history, a story for our times, this is the true story of the mission to discover the shape of the earth. Pre-order it now . . .They knew the world wasn''t a sphere. Either it stretched at the poles or it bulged at the equator. But which? They 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.The 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. Beset by egos and disease, storms and earthquakes, mutiny and murder, they struggled for ten years to reach the single figure they sought.Latitude is an epic story of survival and science set in mountain camps and remote observatories. It is also a story of exploration in which an unruly gaggle of misfits made breakthroughs in rubber and platinum, gravity and fogbows, quinine and Inca archaeology. A breathtaking tale of courage in adversity, it is celebrated today as the first modern exploring expedition.© Nick Crane 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

How much do we really know about the place we call ''home''? In this sweeping, timely book, Nicholas Crane tells the story of Britain.

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 geographer''s love letter to the British and the land that formed them ... dramatic, lyrical and even inspiring'' Sunday Times''A magnificent, epic work by a national treasure ... A tour de force'' Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

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 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 colour illustrations of the maps themselves: maps that brought to a rapt public wonders as remarkable as today''s cyber-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 PALIN''A panoptic, deeply researched and compelling history of our nation'' PATRICK BARKHAMA fascinating, immersive history of Britain''s footpaths and routeways from the Mesolithic era to the present day - from the acclaimed geographer and author of The Making of the British Landscape''A 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 Britain''s 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 Hadrian''s 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 ROBERTSON''Evocative, beautifully written and witty, it is also a passionate statement on the human freedom to roam'' VANESSA TAYLOR

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]