Words on the Map

Boston and Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Company, and The Riverside Press, 1962. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. William Barss (Decorations). The format is approximately 6.875 inches by 10.25 inches. [10], 274, [4] pages. Illustrations/decorations. Index of Names. Index of Places. Gift inscription, NOT FROM AUTHOR, on half-title page. DJ has substantial edge wear and some other wear, soiling, chips and small tears. "Brief essays, in alphabetical order, on the derivation of some two hundred fifty place names. All of the states and cities of the United States are covered, as well as most of the major cities and countries of the world."--Library Journal. In this book of language, Professor Asimov ranges over the whole world digging up the roots and histories of hundreds of place names from Aachen (derived from the Latin "Hot Springs") to Zanzibar ("land of the Zenj"). The words on our maps are, after all , but a kaleidoscopic reflection of human history and the book is overflowing with a thousand surprising and fascinating bits of information. The Roman Caesars, for example, have left their mark on many cities, but who would suspect that New Jersey is names for them, or that the Canary Islands are names not for the birds, but for the wild dogs that lived there. Residents of Iowa may be surprised to learn that the name presumably means a place of :the sleepy one," while New Yorkers commemorate the yew tree. The book is divided into 250 one-page essays, in which over 1500 names are discussed. Isaac Asimov (born Isaak Yudovich Ozimov; circa January 2, 1920 - April 6, 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was prolific and wrote or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His books have been published in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification. Asimov wrote hard science fiction and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, he was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation Series; his other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series. The Galactic Empire novels are explicitly set in earlier history of the same fictional universe as the Foundation series. Later, beginning with Foundation's Edge, he linked this distant future to the Robot and Spacer stories, creating a unified "future history" for his stories much like those pioneered by Robert A. Heinlein and previously produced by Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson. He wrote hundreds of short stories, including the social science fiction "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French. Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much nonfiction. Most of his popular science books explain scientific concepts in a historical way, going as far back as possible to a time when the science in question was at its simplest stage. He often provides nationalities, birth dates, and death dates for the scientists he mentions, as well as etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Examples include Words on the Map, Guide to Science, the three-volume set Understanding Physics, and Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery, as well as works on astronomy, mathematics, history, William Shakespeare's writing, and chemistry. Asimov was a long-time member and vice president of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs". He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association.