Why am I passionate about this?

I am an anthropologist and professor at Cornell University, where I taught 20-year-olds for thirty years. It was my job to explore the world, learn about it, and then educate others, underscoring the notion that all peoples and cultures are equally interesting and valuable. I started out, as a graduate student, watching macaque monkeys for my research, testing if their behavior might give us clues to the evolution of human behavior. But then I switched to science journalism for the popular audience and have, for decades, written for magazines, newspapers, and many books about the intersection of biology and culture on human thought and behavior. 


I wrote...

Here Begins the Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk, and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of the World

By Meredith F. Small,

Book cover of Here Begins the Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk, and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of the World

What is my book about?

In 1459, a monk named Fra Mauro and his team finished a world map on the island of San Michele…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of This Earthly Globe: A Venetian Geographer and the Quest to Map the World

Meredith F. Small Why did I love this book?

As a Venetian, diRobilant knows everything about the city and its history, and his writing is historically accurate and pulls the reader into unsolvable Venetian conundrums from long ago. This new book is about a series of old volumes that contain reprinted stories of exploration and travel (such as Marco Polo’s travels) that initiated travel writing as we know it.

I had written briefly about this little-known Venetian editor and publisher myself in Inveting the World, but diRobilant delves much deeper and wider into that history. A Master Class in engaging and informative nonfiction writing. 

By Andrea Di Robilant,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked This Earthly Globe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the author of the best-selling A Venetian Affair (“A narrative of novelistic resonance . . . Astonishing” —The Washington Post), the story of an Italian Renaissance book editor who introduced European minds to the wider world through his passion for geography

In the autumn of 1550, a thick volume containing a wealth of geographical information new to Europeans, with startling wood-cut maps of Africa, India and Indonesia, was published in Venice under the title Navigationi et Viaggi (Journeys and Navigations). The editor of this remarkable collection of travelogues, journals and classified government reports remained anonymous. Two additional volumes delivered…


Book cover of Great Maps: The World's Masterpieces Explored and Explained

Meredith F. Small Why did I love this book?

This is a large-format book full of some of the most historically consequential and beautiful maps of the world. The pages also include invaluable close-ups of sections of various maps, which allow the viewer to dig in and look at details. And you can’t beat Professor Brotton for accuracy. Since I needed to write a chapter on the story of world maps and previously knew nothing about this history, I needed a “guide book,” and here it is.

The illustrations are so very well done that you feel like you are standing in a museum looking closely at these maps. And Brotton’s commentary explains why these maps are important. As an anthropologist, I especially appreciated the inclusion of so many non-Western world maps and learned so much of their history from this book. This book would also make a great present for children who are curious about the world and it’s geography.

By Jerry Brotton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Great Maps as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A superbly illustrated guide to 64 maps from all around the world!

From examples of medieval Mappa Mundi and the first atlas to Google Earth and maps of the moon, this captivating maps book is a must-have for all history and geography enthusiasts and explorers!

Embark on a visual tour of the world's finest maps! This fascinating world atlas book:

* Analyses each map visually, with the help of pull-outs and graphic close-up details
* Traces the history of maps chronologically, providing a fascinating overview of cartography through the ages
* Tells the story behind each map - why it…


Book cover of Irresistible North: From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers

Meredith F. Small Why did I love this book?

Di Robilant again, of course. This book follows the trail of the story, apocryphal or not, made up or true, of the two Venetian Zen brothers who supposedly sailed to the North Sea in the 14th century. I loved this book because it is like a mystery story, full of questions with no real answers, and yet, in the end, I was convinced by Di Robilant’s investigation that Zens did indeed make it to Greenland and places North in the 1300s.

I really love a nonfiction book by an author who takes a sort of obscure topic and drills down to find the truth. The combination of geography, cartography, Venetian life, and mystery is indeed “irresistible.” 

By Andrea Di Robilant,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Irresistible North as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A century before Columbus arrived in America, two brothers from Venice are said to have explored parts of the New World. They became legends during the Renaissance, and then the source of a great scandal that would discredit their story. Today, they have been largely forgotten.
 
In this very original work—part history, part travelogue—Andrea di Robilant chronicles his discovery of a travel narrative published in 1558 by the Venetian statesman Nicolò Zen. The text and its fascinating nautical map re-created the travels of two of the author’s ancestors, brothers who claimed to have explored the North Atlantic in the 1380s…


Book cover of Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics

Meredith F. Small Why did I love this book?

When we think of maps, we usually assume they are about established geography, but that is completely wrong. Maps have been used to hold and elucidate everything about human behavior, especially politics and world affairs, and they vary dramatically in their presentations; the word “geopolitics” is spot on. 

You might envision the world as a blue, green, and brown sphere, but geographers (and world leaders and their kind) then load on every layer possible about how humans divide up this global space. Think of nations, names of continents, where people live, what they eat. And then think of maps that illustrate over the global landscape where we get sick (or not), what we eat, what we grow, how we earn money, where we shop—it’s mindboggling how geography can explain much of what people do, and how that can be exploited.  

During much of our lives, we don’t even think about it, but we should, because it’s all manipulation, and dangerously so at some level. Spend time with this book, and you will re-think how the world operates. And think of this, you North Americans and Europeans: some map of the world map made in Australia put Australia in the center, as it should be. Our Western view is not everybody’s view of the earth. 

By Tim Marshall,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Prisoners of Geography as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this New York Times bestseller, an award-winning journalist uses ten maps of crucial regions to explain the geo-political strategies of the world powers—“fans of geography, history, and politics (and maps) will be enthralled” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram).

Maps have a mysterious hold over us. Whether ancient, crumbling parchments or generated by Google, maps tell us things we want to know, not only about our current location or where we are going but about the world in general. And yet, when it comes to geo-politics, much of what we are told is generated by analysts and other experts who have neglected…


Book cover of Children Just Like Me: A new celebration of children around the world

Meredith F. Small Why did I love this book?

As an anthropologist, I am always trying to enlighten Westerners that not everyone looks or acts as they do. So, I love this book with the usually great quality photos and accurate explanations by DK. Its point is not that you might have new kids in your classroom who don’t yet speak English and maybe eat food that you don’t recognize.

The point is that there are vast differences in the ways kids grow up around the world because there are so many different cultures and customs besides Western culture. In fact, Western culture only accounts for 1.2 billion people on the planet, while the remaining 6.8 live and act differently than we do. They dress, think, worship, play, and eat differently as well. And yet (also the point), we are all one species with so very much in common. 

Read this, look and look at the photos by yourself, and then find some children and show these photos and descriptions. You will have so much fun and possibly change little lives.

By DK,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Children Just Like Me as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 7, 8, 9, and 10.

What is this book about?

A favorite in classrooms, libraries, and homes, Children Just Like Me is a comprehensive view of international cultures, exploring diverse backgrounds from Argentina to New Zealand to China to Israel. With this brand new edition, children will learn about their peers around the world through engaging photographs and understandable text laid out in DK's distinctive style.

Highlighting 36 different countries, Children Just Like Me profiles 44 children and their daily lives. From rural farms to busy cities to riverboats, this celebration of children around the world shows the many ways children are different and the many ways they are the…


Explore my book 😀

Here Begins the Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk, and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of the World

By Meredith F. Small,

Book cover of Here Begins the Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk, and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of the World

What is my book about?

In 1459, a monk named Fra Mauro and his team finished a world map on the island of San Michele off the north coast of Venice. It now hangs in the Museo Correr in Venice. Seven feet in diameter, this map is shockingly accurate for a time when cartographers only had information from merchant traders who had sailed less than half the globe. This is the first world map based on science rather than religion. 

Fra Mauro’s map was also the first map to show that a ship could sail around the tip of Africa and enter the Indian Ocean, which was previously considered a sea. It is also covered with over 3,000 inscriptions explaining the geography, peoples, customs, and resources outside the West.

Book cover of This Earthly Globe: A Venetian Geographer and the Quest to Map the World
Book cover of Great Maps: The World's Masterpieces Explored and Explained
Book cover of Irresistible North: From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers

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After Me

By J. Shep,

Book cover of After Me

J. Shep Author Of The December Issue

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

J.'s 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

"an intense narrative of family and intangible inheritance. . .this novel unfolds like a fragrant, steeped tea." -Chanticleer Book Reviews, 5 Stars

"like a glorious sunrise, we are gifted the 'après,' the hope and goodness of 'after me.'" -Maria Giuseppa, author of R&R:  A Feast of Words

A man in France receives a package from America containing an autobiographical manuscript relating the events of a summer long ago. 

When Ellande and Madeleine-Grace visit the family summer house on the Alabaster Coast of Normandy for the first time without their parents, they find themselves growing aware of the importance of their…

After Me

By J. Shep,

What is this book about?

A man in France receives a package from America containing an autobiographical manuscript relating the events of a summer long ago.

When Ellande and Madeleine-Grace visit the family summer house on the Alabaster Coast of Normandy for the first time without their parents, they find themselves growing aware of the importance of their parents' choices in raising them. Under the care of their beloved Aunt Adèle, they explore their heritage and what their parents stood for while determining the value of customs and traditions of both family and France's stunning Pays de Caux. In the face of cruelty, carelessness, and…


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