Customer Reviews

The Piri Reis Map of 1513

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If you are interested in maps and the history of the discovery of the americas this book can be recommended. It is sometimes difficult to read. The pages with the maps are not always in the same place where the maps are discussed, which is quite inconvienent. I learnt a lot about the early maps of america and the authors presented their ideas convincingly. The authors should have spent less pages on debunking obvouisly outlandish ideas. All in all I enjoyed the book and the detailed maps in it.

When I bought this book I wanted to find out what the truth is as far as the Antarctic area on the Piri Reis map is concerned. The fact this book was written by a cartographer could shed some light on the issue. Reading the book I became very disappointed by it. The writer knows his maps, that is for sure. He describes the map and the errors found in it in great deal and you can learn a lot of that. But the writer also seems biased on the Antarctic subject. His pictures seem to prove the opposite be he still claims the Antarctic region on the Piri Reis map only coincidentally resembles the real thing.

After reading Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age, I thought this book might clear up some issues and provide some analysis of previous studies done on this map. I feel that this book did a good job in this area. McIntosh goes to town on the sloppy methods used by others over the years and conducts a more unbiased study without putting forth wild theories or making the data fit any preconceived notions. His discussion about Piri Reis' use of a map made by Columbus is worth the read.

Here are a few quotes that I found apt in terms of criticizing earlier studies done. "It appears the method of Kahle, Levillier, Mallery, Hapgood, and others was to ignore the place-names inscribed on the landforms on the Piri Reis map, compare its features with a modern map to 'identify' the features, and then contrast the 'amazing accuracy' of the manuscript Piri Reis map with early printed maps." (pg. 41) Also on this page he notes that Hapgood only really looked at printed maps, which were "more inaccurate for their time", and that "the Piri Reis map is no more accurate than other manuscript maps of its time". McIntosh goes further in stating that "selective use of data can be used to support almost any untenable position". (pg. 68)

I have bought this book as a present for a close friend who's very keen on
the subject and I have translated it into Italian.
I must admit I did not know anything about Piri Reis until he spoke to me about the subject and I did not know anything about cartography too. However, I have soon got involved and I appreciated the translations of the inscriptions on the map and the description of Colombo's journeys and personality, but also the objectiveness of the author.
The book is written quite fluently although quite ripetitive at times and it is obviously very technical.As the general trend is to stop in front of appearence, being an easier way to live ,this book represents a good chance to go deeper into a part of our history and definitely learn something interesting.
There is no other similar and recent evidence available on the market about this subject, therefore I would recommend it to amateurs and beginners like me.