Four Points of the Compass: The Unexpected History of Direction - Couverture souple

Brotton, Jerry

 
9780141999562: Four Points of the Compass: The Unexpected History of Direction
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 014199956X ISBN 13 : 9780141999562
Editeur : Penguin, 2025

Synopsis

A sparkling exploration of direction, by the acclaimed author of A History of the World in 12 Maps

North, south, east and west: almost all societies use the four cardinal directions to orientate themselves, to understand who they are by projecting where they are. For millennia, these four directions have been foundational to our travel, navigation and exploration and are central to the imaginative, moral and political geography of virtually every culture in the world. Yet they are far more subjective and various – sometimes contradictory – than we might realize.

The Four Points of the Compass takes the reader on a journey of directional discovery. Jerry Brotton reveals why Hebrew culture privileges east; why Renaissance Europeans began drawing north at the top of their maps; why the early Islam revered the south; why the Aztecs used five colour-coded cardinal directions; and why no societies, primitive or modern, have ever orientated themselves westwards. He ends by reflecting on our digital age in which we, the little blue dot on the screen, have become the most important compass point. Throughout, Brotton shows that the directions reflect a human desire to create order and that they only have meaning, literally and metaphorically, depending on where you stand.

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À propos de l?auteur

Jerry Brotton is Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University of London. He is a regular broadcaster and critic as well the author of The Sale of the Late King's Goods: Charles I and his Art Collection (shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and the Hessell-Tiltman History Prize), This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World, and the bestselling and award-winning A History of the World in Twelve Maps, which has been translated into twenty languages.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Penguin
Date d'édition
2025
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
014199956X
ISBN 13 
9780141999562
Reliure
Broché
Numéro d'édition
1
Nombre de pages
208
Coordonnées du fabricant
Van Ditmar Boeken, VDB Sales
sales@vanditmar.nl

Hondiuslaan 44
Utrecht
3528 AB
Pays-Bas

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780802163684: Four Points of the Compass: The Unexpected History of Direction

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0802163688 ISBN 13 :  9780802163684
Editeur : Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly P..., 2024
Couverture rigide