I generally like history and science, but there was not much that I liked about this book. I found the writing style too academic. The book didn’t generate any excitement and I didn’t see any enthusiasm that the writer may have had for the subject matter. After having read about half the book, I placed it on my “did not finish” pile. Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for the advance review copy.

On December 7, 1972, the Apollo 17 takes the famous "Blue Marble Shot" of Earth, with the South Pole at the top. But you wouldn't know it now because NASA inverted the image to align it with the public's expectations of what is "up" and what is "down." Being that Earth is a metal layered globe, the cardinal directions are relative. East and West are culturally flexible and true North changes by about 15 km every year. Linguistically, the directions are "deictic" meaning that they shift according to a person's point of view. The U.S. identifies itself on an East-West axis, but Canada is North-South. If you are Inuit, living above 68° N, the Pole Star is impractical and unreliable. For the ancient Egyptians, Upper was south, and Lower was north due to the Nile's flow. Scientifically speaking, "there is no reason why North should necessarily sit at the top." After all, the world's first compass, invented by the Chinese, pointed South. Beginning with the East and ending with the West, Brotton attempts to answer the question of the dominant North.

While I took plenty of notes from this one, I don't think Brotton is quite successful here. It's no secret that the North is dominant due to European influence. But one either needs a timeline of colonization to explain that OR have a book of global fun facts about the cardinal directions instead. Brotton tries to do both, and the crowded structure of the book leads to a lot of back and forth. What's more, although Brotton criticizes the West, it is still the dominant perspective throughout the book. The cultural nuances of Chinese, Islamic, and Indigenous cosmology are lost as Brotton jumps from one to the other as needed. I even had to fact check a few. But Brotton's passion for maps certainly comes through. Their descriptions of famous maps and types were excellent! Despite being two books fighting for space, it certainly offers food for thought! At the very least it'll convince you to readjust your perspective.

I found this very intressting and it has got me to think more about directions and the meaning people give it. But I found the begining of the book a bit confusing (not that I envy anoyone trying to write about this subject) and the uneddited e-book arc did not make things easier. Some of the sentances has random words in the middle of them that are not a part of the sentence and others have numbers ahead of tjem and I almost through they were footnotes at first.
But if the formation gets fixad this is a solid recommendation for those intressted in the subjekt, passning or not.

The thesis of this book is fascinating as we explore our preconceived notions of directionality and the ways that it differs across time and cultures. I enjoy the briskness of the writing style, as well. Interestingly, while I had initially been drawn in by the shortness of the book, I found that in some ways, it was a disservice to the subject matter as it felt like too much was packed into too little space at times. Overall, easy to recommend as a short and exploratory non-fiction read.

I enjoyed this book, but it was a bit chaotic/confusing at times (although I don’t envy the author the challenge of describing different perceptions/myths from so many different cultures over time.) I think the author just tried to pack too much in so that it felt “spread thin” on too many topics. But it was interesting and had me thinking about directions in a way I never have before!

I found this book to be just okay. The idea of breaking down our preconceived notions of the directions and what really are north and south, etc. is an interesting one, but I found the writing style a little dry and it was hard to keep my attention on what I was reading. It is a short book though, so those more interested in the subject might enjoy it, as it does go by relatively quickly.

This book was surprisingly interesting. The premise of the book to investigate the meaning of the four cardinal directions in different cultures throughout the history was a novel idea for me. The brevity of the book and its brisk pace is also a draw. The book accomplishes two purposes: it provides stimulating information and its lessons make you think. It is a great book for contemplative readers.

A thoroughly research and contemplative examination of our sense of direction. The names and history we use for direction are fascinating and Mr Britton does a great job of explaining how different cultures evolved different sense of direction based on their own beliefs, location and circumstances. He crafts a great narrative and it was enjoyable to read.

Interesting premise and a book packed full of research and information. The book didn’t quite hold my attention so wasn’t quite a fit for my interests. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Jerry Brotton's Four Points of the Compass is an intellectual adventure that reorients our understanding of the world. With a historian's eye for detail and a storyteller's flair, Brotton unveils the complex and often surprising ways cultures have interpreted and utilized direction.

This book is a revelation. It challenges our assumptions about the seemingly simple concept of north, south, east, and west, demonstrating how these directions have been imbued with cultural, religious, and political significance throughout history. From the eastward orientation of ancient Hebrews to the Renaissance's northward gaze, Brotton expertly navigates a global tapestry of directional perspectives.

A particular highlight is Brotton's exploration of how our digital age, with its emphasis on GPS and virtual maps, is transforming our relationship with physical space and direction. He raises thought-provoking questions about the implications of this shift.

Four Points of the Compass is not just a history book; it's a philosophical inquiry into the human experience. Brotton's writing is both engaging and informative, making complex ideas accessible to a wide audience. It's a must-read for anyone interested in history, geography, or simply expanding their worldview.

Got to read this book through Netgalley.

The description of the book really intrigued me and the book kinda lived up to the expectations as well. it was an eye-opener for me that the four directions (North, South, East, West) that we assume to be set in stone (that north will be upwards, south downwards) are actually subjective. Different cultures and societies have interpreted these differently and have evolved (at least initially) based on their subjective understanding of the direction. The author shows various examples of how different societies have treated directions. Starting from the past like why Europeans drew north at the top, Islamic religion revered south to how have terms such as Middle East, West Indies, etc have come about.

The book is a thoroughly researched book, it gives a taste of several sub-topics within the book. Such as how directions are related with languages, weather, mythology, and many more sub-topics. I probably would have enjoyed a bit more detail on several topics. It was like a very well looking meal which was served beautifully and tasted also amazing but the portion size was pretty small. The book is just about 200 pages and thus, couldn't go into too much detail.

Also, since this was an ARC received on Kindle, there were several images which I wasn't able to see which would have been even better to help me understand the topic better.

Overall, this book is a keeper and I might actually go back to this book again once it gets published.

A comprehensive overview of how different cultures discuss and formalize directions. Earliest societies recognized solar travel as East-to-West; later ones discovered magnetism, resulting in a polar North-South focus.

The writing is a combination of history, science, mythology and cultural studies. The chapter on the West examines the political consideration of 'The West' and western culture as it is perceived in recent history.

The book is well-written with extensive citations. The galley did not include the plates/illustrations, which I would like to have seen.

This is a really neat idea for a book. So much of the "western" world (an idea that Brotton interrogates fairly well) simply assumes that north should be the default direction at the 'top' of the map, and that's how it always has been. AS someone who has deliberately put maps "upside down" and challenged students to think about why - and as someone living in Australia - book that shows exactly how and north doesn't HAVE to be the default top, and that historically it hasn't been, is a wonderful thing.

Brotton mingles a lot of different ways of thinking about the world in this book. There's linguistics - the ways in which different languages' words for the cardinal directions reflect ideas about the sun, rising and leaving, and other culturally important ideas. Like 'Orient': it comes from the Latin for 'rising', as in the sun, and came to mean 'east'... and of course 'oriental' has had a long and difficult career. But in English we still orient ourselves in space. Then there's the connections with various types of weather, in various parts of the world, something I had not considered; and of course there's an enormous amount of association with mythology from all over the world, often privileging the east and rarely making the west somewhere to be revered. (Three out of four cardinal directions have been regarded as most important over time and space; not the west, though.) Then of course there's history, as humans learned what was actually out there in various directions, and associated people and places with specific directions (hello, Orient). And the act of cartography itself has had an impact on how people think about direction and the appearance of the world - Mercator, obviously, and the consequences of his projection particularly on Greenland, but even how vellum (real vellum, ie made from calfskin) was shaped and therefore impacted on how things were drawn on it.

Is the book perfect? No, of course not; it's under 200 pages, it can't account for every culture and language. But I do think it's done a pretty good job of NOT privileging European languages; there's an Indigenous Australian language referenced, which is rare. (I should note that anyone who thinks they can do any sort of navigation by the 'south polar star' like you can with the northern one is in for a very, very rude shock.) There is some reference to South American cultures, and I think passing reference to North American ones; some African cultures are also referenced. China and some other Asian societies get more space.

This is a really good introduction to the idea of the four directions having an actual history that is worth exploring for its consequences in our language and our history. The one thing that disappointed me is that there's no reference to Treebeard's comment about travelling south feeling like you're walking downhill, which seems like a missed opportunity.