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Alsace Lorraine

Exploring and mapping is not enough; we need to interpret what we've found

Posted by on 05 August 2013
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Exclusive First Read Every week through October 2013, we will
post a short excerpt from our Summer Innovation Book Club Pick: Killing Ideas -
You can kill an idea, you can't kill an opportunity By NewEdge CEO, Dr. Pam
Henderson



A German cartographer, a proofreader, a Latinist, and the
nephew of a saint all got together one day to do a puzzle. They met high in the
mountains of what is now Alsace Lorraine, France, in 1507.


The puzzle they were
trying to complete was the map of the world. The pieces were comprised of
accounts of journeys and pictures of bits of the world.

Some of the pieces were
Ptolemy's; some were the accounts of Bartholomew Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci;
and some were scattered pages bought on the black market.

There may even have
been pieces from Chinese explorations as there is speculation that perhaps this
is how the map makers gained insights regarding the Rocky Mountains of North
America and the Andes of South America'both of which had not yet been explored
by Europeans.

When the puzzle was finished, a new picture emerged. A
picture of the world as having four major parts rather than three.
'
Exploring and mapping new lands is not enough. We need to
interpret what we have found, structure how we will think about the
opportunities.
-
Killing Ideas, Ch 5, Big Landscape
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