12/5/22

Good book, similar to "America's Hidden History". The author claims he's going to make Geography less dry for readers, but I don't think he really accomplishes that by discussing such things as ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greek, Persian, etc. societies. Certainly his tidbits are informational if you are already interested in Geography, but not enough to make the layman suddenly become a fan. I also thought his chapter on climate was too preachy. And I don't know if there's an updated edition, but the copy I read was copyrighted in approximately 1993. He mentions several times about how there's going to be an update to his figures in the late 90's, but it's annoying to know that we've passed that milestone and here I'm reading about outdated material. ( )

Rather tedious at times and much heavier on the history than I expected.

Well that start date is kind of untrue. When I got this from the library I realized it was at 20% already and via LT I realized I'd started and abandoned this in 2015. I nearly did the same in 2016.

While either the e-book format and/or his update have addressed the factual errors mentioned in previous reviews, his updating of this book is random. In one breath he's talking about the fall of Yugoslavia as if it was yesterday and the Euro is a thing of the future. In another, he's talking about the fall of Mubarak and Arab Spring. While the book has good framework, it lacks a good organizational structure and/or cohesive narrative.

That said, some fun factoids and myth debunking: seven seas, four oceans, some of the ancient seven wonders and an interesting read. I enjoyed his snippets on the history behind mythical and biblical places and ongoing geographical questions such as whether Cleopatra was white.

"Of course, the ancients were not the only ones with strange ideas about geography" Oh so he met Sarah Palin in the course of his research. ( )

This was just the book I was looking for. Geography is a science not just of place names and boundaries, but of politics and culture and environment and history. I learned tons about exploration and wars and colonization and weather and climate and more, all in bite-sized chunks that somehow managed to be very accessible without talking down to the reader. I never felt embarrassed by my lack of knowledge, and it opened my eyes to a number of subjects I never knew could be interesting. Definitely recommended as a solid introduction. ( )