Free (ADE-DRM PDF) Coast Lines: How Mapmakers Frame the World [Geography/Environment]

[ATDrake]

Coast Lines: How Mapmakers Frame the World and Chart Environmental Change by Mark Monmonier (Wikipedia), a Distinguished Professor of Geology at Syracuse University, is his lavishly photo-illustrated How Cartography Works guide to Exactly What It Says In The Title, explaining the tools and techniques that mapmakers use to measure assorted coastal geographical data with an eye to turning it into maps as well as providing records of its change over time, publisher the University of Chicago Press.

This is their featured Free Book of the Month selection for June, and while not exactly a coffee table sort of book, seems reasonably accessibly-written for an introductory audience. I had a quick skim, and the author relates some of methods to travelogue anecdotes about places he's been to in the course of his profession, and seems to cover not just the modern-day stuff, but also historical ways of doing it, which gives this a James Burke's (Wikipedia) Connections (Wikipedia) kind of flavour.

Currently free throughout the month of June directly @ the university's dedicated promo page (ADE-DRM PDF available worldwide in return for your valid email address)

And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because not only are scientific/academic freebies always welcome, but this one also happens to present interesting-looking similar to one of my favourite science history edutainment popularizers, so extra bonus points for added awesome.

Enjoy!

Description
In the next century, sea levels are predicted to rise at unprecedented rates, causing flooding around the world, from the islands of Malaysia and the canals of Venice to the coasts of Florida and California. These rising water levels pose serious challenges to all aspects of coastal existence—chiefly economic, residential, and environmental—as well as to the cartographic definition and mapping of coasts. It is this facet of coastal life that Mark Monmonier tackles in Coast Lines. Setting sail on a journey across shifting landscapes, cartographic technology, and climate change, Monmonier reveals that coastlines are as much a set of ideas, assumptions, and societal beliefs as they are solid black lines on maps.

Whether for sailing charts or property maps, Monmonier shows, coastlines challenge mapmakers to capture on paper a highly irregular land-water boundary perturbed by tides and storms and complicated by rocks, wrecks, and shoals. Coast Lines is peppered with captivating anecdotes about the frustrating effort to expunge fictitious islands from nautical charts, the tricky measurement of a coastline’s length, and the contentious notions of beachfront property and public access.

Combing maritime history and the history of technology, Coast Lines charts the historical progression from offshore sketches to satellite images and explores the societal impact of coastal cartography on everything from global warming to homeland security. Returning to the form of his celebrated Air Apparent, Monmonier ably renders the topic of coastal cartography accessible to both general readers and historians of science, technology, and maritime studies. In the post-Katrina era, when the map of entire regions can be redrawn by a single natural event, the issues he raises are more important than ever.

[ATDrake]

Just a reminder that this will probably be the last day to pick up the freebie if you're interested and haven't already.