Hi all-

I'm the Review Editor for the "Atlas and Book Review" section of the WAML Information Bulletin. I'm seeking reviewers for the following four books (descriptions for these books are taken from Amazon):

The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps, Michael Blanding, 2014, 978-1592408177
Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewers-both as beautiful works of art and as practical tools to navigate the world. But to those who collect them, the map trade can be a cutthroat business, inhabited by quirky and sometimes disreputable characters in search of a finite number of extremely rare objects.
Once considered a respectable antiquarian map dealer, E. Forbes Smiley spent years doubling as a map thief -until he was finally arrested slipping maps out of books in the Yale University library. The Map Thief delves into the untold history of this fascinating high-stakes criminal and the inside story of the industry that consumed him...

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Computing in Geographic Information Systems, Narayan Panigrahi, 2014, 978-1482223149
Computing in Geographic Information Systems considers the computational aspects, and helps students understand the mathematical principles of GIS. It provides a deeper understanding of the algorithms and mathematical methods inherent in the process of designing and developing GIS functions. It examines the associated scientific computations along with the applications of computational geometry, differential geometry, and affine geometry in processing spatial data. It also covers the mathematical aspects of geodesy, cartography, map projection, spatial interpolation, spatial statistics, and coordinate transformation. The book discusses the principles of bathymetry and generation of electronic navigation charts

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RDA and Cartographic Resources, Paige G. Andrew, Susan M. Moore, Mary Larsgaard, 2014, 978-0838911310
As the cataloging universe moves ever deeper into the era of RDA: Resource Description and Access, specialist catalogers need information on managing the materials in their areas of responsibility.  In this manual, three expert catalogers offer a summary and overview of how to catalog cartographic resources using the new standard. Through abundant examples and sample records to illustrate the work, the authors: Take a close look at what remains familiar from AACR2, and what is new and different in RDA. Offer guidance for creating authorized geographic subject headings using Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Resources (FRBR) and Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD). Present a detailed examination of geographic subject headings and subdivisions.

Designed for both practicing map catalogers and catalogers new to cartographic resources, this volume will be a one-stop resource for all catalogers of cartographic materials looking to understand the differences between cataloging using AACR2 and cataloging using RDA.

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Globes: 400 Years of Exploration, Navigation, and Power, Sylvia Sumira, 2014, 978-0226139005
The concept of the earth as a sphere has been around for centuries, emerging around the time of Pythagoras in the sixth century BC, and eventually becoming dominant as other thinkers of the ancient world, including Plato and Aristotle, accepted the idea. The first record of an actual globe being made is found in verse, written by the poet Aratus of Soli, who describes a celestial sphere of the stars by Greek astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus (ca. 408-355 BC). The oldest surviving globe-a celestial globe held up by Atlas's shoulders-dates back to 150 AD, but in the West, globes were not made again for about a thousand years. It was not until the fifteenth century that terrestrial globes gained importance, culminating when German geographer Martin Behaim created what is thought to be the oldest surviving terrestrial globe. In Globes: 400 Years of Exploration, Navigation, and Power, Sylvia Sumira, beginning with Behaim's globe, offers an authoritative and striking illustrated history of the subsequent four hundred years of globe making...





The deadline for these reviews would be in about 5 1/2 weeks (I will send you more specifics if wind up reviewing one of these books). Please contact me off-list if you're interested and I'll send you the book, the reviewer guidelines, and a due date.

Ilene

Ilene Raynes
Jerry Crail Johnson Earth Sciences and Map Library
University of Colorado Boulder
184 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309
303-492-4487
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