Geography Books

I purchased this book as I enjoy simulations. This volume contains ten simulations that cover history, politics, and geography. They are easy to understand, come with detailed instructions, and the students enjoy them. One aspect I enjoyed about this book was that the instructions break down how to utilize the simulation with different level students-from basic to advanced. This is helpful for teachers who have a diverse student population. I ran the Alliance simulation dealing with World War I this semester and my students really enjoyed it. I found that the simulation did indeed work for all levels of students. I plan on using the U.S. geography simulation and the Peace in the Middle East simulation when I next reach those eras in my class. A+++

This useful and easy-to-read book promises to make life far more interesting for social studies and intro college instructors. I found the volume to be fun, accessible, and quite interesting. It provides a variety of well-designed and thoughful lessons in a friendly and conversational tone. There is no pretension and no effort to talk down to the reader-- it was very much like picking the brain of a more experienced colleague. The ten simulations are self-contained and manageable. I have not yet used them in my class, but I am looking forward to doing so. On the whole, I strongly recommend this volume to my teaching colleagues, at a variety of levels, across the nation.

Its is a fast and confotable way to travel all over the US

One out of every eight people in the United States lives in California and it has been almost five centuries since the first Spanish explorers came upon the peninsula of western Mexico and were sure they had discovered the fantasy island of Queen Calafia and her lost tribe of Amazons written about in the 1510 romantic novel "The Adventures of Esplandáan" by Garcí Rodriguez Ordóñez de Montalvo. So covering the history and people of California in the same pages that are accorded all of the other 50 states covered in the America the Beautiful Second Series is a daunting task for author Ann Heinrichs. All she can really do in these pages is introduce young students to the state.

Chapter One, "In California, They...," establishes the key idea of diversity as the one word that best describes the state, whether you are talking landscape or residents. The state's history is laid out in the next three chapters. Chapter Two, "The Early Years," starts with the first Asian people to cross the land bridge to North America before moving on to the Spanish and Mexican periods of California history. Then comes the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846, which ended up with the area as part of the United States. Chapter Three, "Gold, Railroads, and the Promised Land," begins with the 49ers showing up to pan gold, continues as California becomes a state, and ends with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the Great Depression. "Modern Times" is the title for Chapter Four, which looks at how World War II transformed California into a modern industrial state and the issues it faces today.

"California Landscapes" are explored in Chapter Five, which includes the impact of both the movement of tectonic plates and El Nino on the state. Chapter Six, "California, from Top to Bottom," is a detailed look at the regions of the state, starting with the North Coast and Wine Country up north to the Inland Empire and Deserts of the South. The major cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego are covered as well. California Politics is the subject for Chapter Seven, "Government and Politics," where sharp-eyed readers will note that the music for "I Love You, California," the state song, was written by A. F. Frankenstein.

The economics that make California "A Wealthy State" are the province of Chapter Eight, which covers farming, manufacturing, mining, fishing, transportation, and communication. The recipe for this book is Gazpacho, based on California's bounty of fresh vegetables (assuming you like a cool summer soup). The citizens of the state are the topic for Chapter Nine, "The Faces of California," the fastest growing developed area in the world. Diversity and ethnic trends, as well as migrants and immigrants, are covered. Finally, Chapter Ten, "Creations and Recreations," begins with writers who have lived and worked in California, from Jack London, Mark Twain and John Steinbeck to Dashiell Hammett, Jack Kerouac, and Amy Tan. Heinrichs wisely stays away from trying to include Hollywood in this chapter, but does touch on architecture, the performing arts, and team sports, ending the chapter talking about festivals and recreational activities.

This last chapter underscores that Heinrichs is just scratching the surface on the topic of the state of California. This volume has lots of full-color photographs, and maps on key subjects like natural resources and population density. There is a Timeline that compress U.S. and California state history, along with several pages of Fast Facts filled with statistics. If young students want To Find Out More there is a list of books, organizations, and Internet sites for further study. Also, there are the accustomed sidebars that provide details on such interesting things as the Le Brea Tar Pits, Ronald Reagan, John Muir, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and "Gag Me with a Spoon!" Granted, this look at California only touches on the rich history of the state, but as you would expect from this series it provides young students with a solid start.

This is a must read for anyone interested in Northwest Indiana and/or the South Chicago suburbs. I use it as a reference when exploring the "Region". I have also used it as a gift for friends that grew up here and have since relocated.

I went to a book signing when this book was first printed, a few years ago and purchased this directly from a store and had it signed by Ken Schoon. I have lent it to several family members, who swore they'd return it and I had to retrieve the book from their house. If you're from the NW Indiana, you'll be amazed at the detailed facts about the area and even specific landmarks that still exist today, like "Ridge Road" in Hobart, was the ridge of lake michigan, where the indians had a path. Stuff like that. I highly suggest this book.

I actually purchased this book directly from Collins Press as a pre-order!

It's about time this unsung hero had a deserving biography written and Michael Smith was the writer who accomplished this!

Don't look to Dan Simmons' "The Terror" for the true story of Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier - it's fiction. This is the book to read the true story of Captain Crozier's life and career.

The only other biography written about Captain Crozier was published in 1976 by the Government of the NW Territories, written by Mae Fluhmann titled "Second In Command". I only got to read it through my main library's inter-library loan program and the book came from a library in Alaska. I could not check the book out so I had to read it at the library.

Banbridge has not forgotten their native son - a memorial to Captain Crozier stands in the town square directly across from the house he was born in. Holy Trinity Church in Banbridge has a memorial from the brothers and sisters of Francis Crozier.

Superb book and highly recommended!

Francis Crozier made six exploration voyages to both the north and south poles in the 1800s. He traveled with and was respected by many of the well known explorers of his day such as Ross and Parry. Because he was an Irishman of modest means, he was passed over for honors other, lesser, men received. His accomplishemtns and fascinating history are brought to live in this well-researched story.

Hugh Gaitskell is largely a forgotten presence in the Labour Party of today but as Brian Brivati (intentionally or otherwise) manages to convey to the reader, this neglect may have something to do with the fact that this former British Labour Party leader had a style and a substance that has rarely been seen since. Although clearly not as sympathetic towards his subject as Gaitskell's earlier biographer, Philip Williams, he still leaves us with an impression of a man who was much misunderstood and maligned by many at the time in his own party.

Hugh Gaitskell was a passionate orator who for much of his life, struggled with the twin impulses to on the one side conceal that passion in favour of reason and sense, and on the other, to realize that that same passion could be useful as a political weapon to disarm his opponents not just in his own party but also beyond in the Conservative and Liberal parties of his day. For much of his short political life, Brivati contends that when the former wasn't predominating, the latter could appear to disastrous party political consequences. The dispute over 'specs and false teeth' around the time of Gaitskell's one and only budget points to the stubbornness of a futile passion for the Atlanticist policies of the post war Attlee Government over what could have been a more reasonable accommodation with Nye Bevan as the Minister for Health and powerful ex-officio leader of the Left. Gaitskell then went on to foolishly support the expulsion of Nye Bevan for his controversial attempts to foist a left wing direction on the opposition when Labour left office in 1951. Brivati shows us that the always deeply complex and fascinating Gaitskell was at his most ineffective when his drive for what was `reasonable' could become a `passion' not justifiable by the facts that at other times he could be equally passionate to elicit both from himself and others.

However, another more effective and controlled passion dominates his years as leader of the Labour Party afte! r 1955. See in particular, Brivati's account of the 1956 Suez crisis, the defense debates/ of 1960-61 and the famous Common Market speech of 1962. These controversies contain some of Gaitskell's finest and most brilliant speeches, and with the proper access to the video and sound recordings, this would be self-evident to anyone who listened.

Brian Brivati has written a biography from the perspective of someone who likes distance from his subject - he wasn't born until two years after Gaitskell died. The ultimate achievement of this biography is that it is finely balanced between the 'hero' of Philip Williams'' richly documented 1978 biography, and the villain of Michael Foot's biography of his 'hero' Nye Bevan. Unlike Brivati, both Williams and Foot had the fortune or misfortune to have known Gaitskell personally. Where these two had been inspired to write dramatically diverse but equally passionate accounts, Brivati 's sense of balance leads him to weave a careful line in and around the two sides to Gaitskell's reputation - both then and subsequently. He therefore succeeds in dropping by at both camps. Unfortunately. this approach is likely to be infuriating to the supporters of both left and right for its seeming willingness to play the part of appreciative guest at both houses and to then show that what was offered was far from being the poisoned chalice that each side would like to claim of the other. As an admirer of Gaitskell to the point where I once lobbied hard to meet his first major biographer, Philip Williams, I have to admit to sharing in that infuriation whilst also rejoicing that by the end, the side Brivati chooses to leave us with, veers more conclusively towards the 'hero'. In the final analysis, it is his interpretation of the depressing years for the Labour Party subsequent to Gaitskell's death in 1963 which become their own justification for why it is still hard for some people to move beyond their fascination with Gaitskell's style, democratic socialist beliefs and rare ! sense of integrity. Brian Brivati is no less caught and trapped than Philip Williams and Michael Foot once were.....

Hugh Gaitskell was leader of the British Labour Party from 1955 till his tragic premature death in 1963. That period, in which Labour was continuously in opposition, was marked by internal strife between Right and Left within Labour's ranks, on such issues as nuclear disarmament, with Gaitskell representing the pro-Nato, Atlanticist wing of British social democracy.
Brivati's book is a model biography: balanced, historically-informed, and original. It portrays Gaitskell as a politician of immovable convictions about the proper end-state of a good society, and fewer fixed ideas about the means to achieve them. Most important, it relates Gaitskell's ideas to the changes in western society that have taken place since his death, and tries to assess his historical significance. And it compares him with his obvious successor, Tony Blair, who succeeded where Gaitskell failed in getting Labour to jettison its historic commitment to public ownership. Brivati sympathetically portrays Gaitskell's revisionism, which was 30 years ahead of its time; his irrevocable commitment to the values of western liberal democracy, an instinct that led to his courageous and historically vindicated stand opposing unilateral nuclear disarmament; and his insights into the political implications of what was then known as the Common Market. But Brivati also makes a telling point that Gaitskell's belief in equality and indicative planning has been rendered largely irrelevant by modern economic developments. There are still aspects of Gaitskell's political judgement that are timeless strengths and that stand out from this book. Brivati comments, "Gaitskell's revisionism offered a process of asking of each institution and relationship in our society: What is it for? Who [sic] does it benefit? Should it be changed?" That process of interrogation is an essential one for a healthy democracy, even if Gaitskell's criteria for answering those questions have been superseded by events. Moreover, Gaitskell, so far from his image of a dry technocrat, was a man of passion combined with a critical intellect. Though the collectivist ideology that informed his egalitarian principles has now (as Brivati again rightly comments) slipped into history, the wish for a more tolerant and gentle society has not. To that extent, Brivati's book is an inspiring as well as a scholarly and informative read.

If you love beaches and barrier islands-this book is a must have!!! I have spent many days on the beaches of North Carolina and beaches around the world and this book was an absolute pleasure to read.

I have been in love with the North Carolina barrier islands since I was a lad and this is a dream book. Beautiful images and a truly scientifically rigorous text by Orrin Pilkey, academic doyen of beach erosion and barrier islands, makes for a wonderful read about these hauntingly beautiful features. I found the accounts of barrier islands elsewhere in the world to be even more fascinating than the ones I am familiar with on the US East coast. Mary Edna Fraser's batiks really add to the book to make this into a wonderful mix of science and art.

"We may well be grateful to Brown for this book on the condition of mankind as it appears to an erudite, clear-sighted, critically appraisng scientist...the latest phase of technical-scientific progress, with its fantastic increase of population, has created a situation fraught with problems of hitherto unknown dimensions, this objective work is of high value." Also recommended by Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, this is an early and still highly valuable contribution to "future shock"-type planning and anticipation, hmmm, hum a few bars.

I reread this book 35 years after college. It reveals amazing insight. Brown said in the 50's that we would pretty much go down the tubes when our resources ran out unless citizens of the world act intelligently together. So far, we have ignored his warnings and pursued narrow self-interest with great zeal. Though he did not anticipate the information revolution, he still could be right that a depleted world will one day support only a limited population living an agrarian lifestyle.
(You can read all his conclusions in the last 15 pages)

Blevins brings to light the somewhat obscure life of Sacajawea's son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, and weaves it into an enjoyable and meaningful novel. Charbonneau was half Indian and half white, which explains his dilemma of being torn between two worlds. Taken into custody by William Clark, Charbonneau begins his early education in both Protestant and Catholic schools in St. Louis, goes to Europe with Prince Paul of Wurttemberg for six years to continue his education and culture, comes back to St. Louis and then enters the fur trade. As the years go by, we see how he attempts to balance himself between the Indian and white man's world. Blevins' writing is very descriptive in detail, particulars and trivia of the present moment. It is as though he himself was there and lived it. I do not normally read fiction based on fact, but this is an exception to the rule.

This book is a fictional biography of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. Very little is known of Jean Baptiste but Blevins imaginatively builds his novel around the small historical record. His characterization is plausible and enjoyable to read. It contains many vignettes that relate to events in the Fur Trade Era so interest is maintained. It is remarkable that Blevins was able to capture many insights into what it is like to be a half-breed. My Mother was Pawnee and my Dad was of Scottish extraction. I can vouch for some of the more contemplative passages in the novel that express Jean Baptiste's feelings regarding his special social status. For buckskinners, this is an important piece of literature that helps to fully express the society of the fur trade. For everyone else, it is just a good read.

This beautifully produced volume deserves a prominant place on anyone's coffee table. Abstractors and professional landmen, especially if they live in Louisiana and its surrounding states, will fall in love with it.

This coffee table volume was produced to celebrate the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase. It contains 193 high-quality reproductions of important maps illustrating the development of Louisiana from the early sixteenth century to the present. Each map is accompanied by an historical essay placing the map in its cultural context. There is a detailed cartobibliography and list of selected readings.

The maps themselves are wonderfully reproduced. Here are a couple of examples of the essays:

"21. A Map of Louisiana And Of The River Mississippi by John Senex. London, [1718 or 1719]. The Historic New Orleans Collection

"A restless band of Carolina tranders--who crossed the Appalachian Mountains seeking closer economic relations with Native American nations to the west--galvanized English interest in Louisiana and the Mississippi River valley. In light of this development, English mapmaker John Senex responded to market demands with this map, copying liberally from Guillaume de L'Isle's ca.1718 Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi. This plagiarism did not, of course, include L'Isle's notation about French claims to Carolina. Interestingly, Senex dedicated his map to William Law, the father of financier John Law, whose scheme to develop French Louisiana eventually caused the ruin of many European investors."

***

"74. Louisiana from Mathew Carey's General Atlas Improved and Enlarged: Being A Collection of Maps of the World and Quarters...[Philadelphia, 1814]. The Historic New Orleans Collection

Mathew Carey became a pioneer American map publisher following his immigration to Philadelphia from Dublin in 1784. Carey set up a publishing firm financed by the marquis de Lafayette, with whom he had earlier become friends in Paris. His success in publishing Guthrie's Geography Improved led him to similar projects. Carey's American Atlas of 1795 was the earliest atlas of the United States. His American Pocket Atlas, in which the map of Louisiana appeared, was published in editions of 1796, 1801, 1809, 1813, and 1814. He had issued the earliest printed map of Louisiana as a state in 1813, which appears here in an enlarged version from his 1814 General Atlas. This map was probably compiled by Samuel Lewis, Carey's principal mapmaker."

This book makes for fascinating reading and study.

Robert C. Ross 2008

This book reconstructs the time period between 1965 and 1991 and recaptures what it was like to be a part of the collection of researchers, programmers, secretaries, students, and artists, who played a part in creating what is now called Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It is really the story of architect Howard Fisher who, while at Northwestern University, conceived of the idea of using digital computers for mapping in the graphics domain of software programming. It presumes to be about the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis, but more importantly it is about the people who populated the Laboratory. The author not only identified and connected the dots...he identified thousands of additional dots representing people and events and connected all of these to each other and to the major dots!! This obviously was a system project to synthesize all of the known elements during 1965-1991....

This is an authentic, highly accurate, and exquisitely analytical historical account of the evolution of the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis which was located organizationally in the Graduate School of Design and incorporated architecture and community planning. The author has devoted considerable time and effort to rummage through numerous boxes and files of documents, videos and records, and to conduct many interviews with the individuals to verify the elements of his story. One can conclude that the volume is based on fact and has not relied simply on human memory and anecdotal evidence....

Chapter 1 follows Howard Fisher as he assembled the coalition of alliances that brought the Laboratory into being in 1965. It provides some context for other university centers of innovation where computer mapping and geographic information systems were under construction in the same period....

Chapter 2 describes the development of SYMAP (SYnagraphic MAPping), the software that served as the primary focus for Fisher's efforts. By 1970 Jack Dangermond, a graduate student of landscaping architecture, had utilized SYMAP to produce a number of regional air pollution studies. This work was to lead later to his creation of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) which was eventually destined to become a leader in GIS.....

Chapter 3 examines the efforts of Laboratory staff to use computer tools for environmental planning, leading away from SYMAP toward a set of grid-based analytical software. These efforts included examining environmental planning concepts developed at other universities including the University of Wisconsin (Phillip Lewis) and Pennsylvania State University (Ian McHarg). McHarg's text, "Design With Nature" was considered as one of the foundations of subsequent GIS practice; (Note: The reviewer met Professor McHarg later in 1983 when he was invited to Sedona, Arizona, for discussions on community planning for the proposed City, and was aware at that time of his contributions at the Harvard Laboratory.). An outgrowth of the Delmarva Project (Carl Steinitz) was GRID (David Sinton) made available by 1969; this software also used FORTRAN subroutines and eventually led to IMGRID to be followed by MAP (Map Analysis Package). One must keep in mind that computer systems were being modified and expanded affording the researchers at Harvard opportunities to redesign these experimental software programs to fit into the new operating system configurations....

Chapter 4 covers the theoretical realms of spatial analysis developed under the leadership of William Warntz. Considerable attention is given to theoretical geography as it evolved at the Laboratory, including the fact that the University had years earlier abolished the Department of Geography! Geography had returned to Harvard with a mathematical 'division of sets' underpinning called The Sandwich Theorem. In 1968 GRASP (Generation of Random Access Site Plans) was created by Eric Teicholz depicting architectural floor plans using vector graphics displayed on hardcopy plotter output and graphics screens. This led to OTOTROL, COMPROGRAPH, and ARK-2 There was a great interest in creating software packages which could generate architectural applications softwre with a strong mathematical emphasis....

Chapter 5 explores the developments made possible by expanding computer display beyond the line printer. The early Laboratory rose to about 40 staff around 1970 and declined to six by 1972. One of the better known participants was Ivan Sutherland hired as Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering. His Sketchpad concept for graphics using a lightpen, based on his earlier lightgun effort in SAGE at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, allowed the user interface with mapping programs to be improved. During this period OTOTROL was developed. Subsequently, SYMVU which dealt with 3-dimensional surfaces, evolved largely due to the influence of Frank Rens. Another graphics approach named CALFORM was introduced as well. There was a significant impact from the U.S. Census Bureau's DIME files resulting in a reexamination of topology theory. A little later, ARPANET was utilized and interactivity began to emerge as a significant technique in the time-sharing toolkit. Much of this experimentation relied on newer hardware invented by Tektronix and other engineering firms. The man-machine interface was becoming more prominent despite esentially monocolor screen displays....

Chapter 6 covers the period of transition, decline, and rebuilding. It is essentially a reporting of how technical proposals were written, grants were obtained, experimentation was conducted, results were reported and evaluations occurred, and how this spiral path either went positive or negative. One of the major reasons for Lab decline by 1972 was simply that funding dried up. Many researchers decided that their career paths should take them to other universities to continue their work in spatial analysis and to teach; some entered the world of GIS as illustrated by ESRI (Jack Dangermond) and Caliper (Howard Slavin). A few hung on as budgets shrank working with Allan Schmidt. An expansion of ideas occurred when The Defense Intelligence Agency contracted with the Lab using Kindler Associates as an intermediary since Harvard wouldn't permit any classified (secret) contracts. The Central Intelligence Agency's public domain World Data Banks also were involved in some of these projects. The departures of Fisher and Warntz were also accompanied by a diffusion of staff personnel into other parts of the University and outside. A University Committee published an Evaluation Study in 1974 which eventually would result in a major change in Laboratory direction: the Harvard faculty wanted a Laboratory serving internal requirements and not one oriented to the outside....

Chapter 7 deals with the emergence of a topological approach to cartographic data structures, a development that began the next period for the Laboratory. About this time, the author joined the Laboratory and developed POLYVRT which could easily convert geographic base files. This led to the design for GEOGRAF which was essentially a database manager. This fit nicely into the CODASYL (COnference on DAta SYstems Languages) network database technology. Topological data structures for cartographic products was emphasized. A pilot project, Urban Atlas, based on this for the U.S. Census Bureau's Geography Division was undertaken in 1975. Then the EATDIME processor renamed CYCLONE based on dynamic memory allocation was created which opened the door to much larger projects. A new direction for the Harvard Laboratory had been achieved....

Chapter 8 explores the ODYSSEY system of software produced in the late 1970s. Initial thinking began in 1976 when the author and colleagues used CYCLONE as a starting point to design ODYSSEY. This development continued through 1981 and is described in fairly great detail including flowcharts used to illustrate the strategy. ODYSSEY served as the prototype for the modern geographic information system and is easily understood by readers with an elementary comprehension of topographic mapping and GIS....

Chapter 9 covers the diverse collection of projects and products that occurred alongside the ODYSSEY project. By 1980, the Laboratory was again at a point of great accomplishment and unknown potential, at a peak higher than in 1970. Many products ancillary to ODYSSEY were created including BUILDER for 3D architectural rendering, SEURAT for terrain display, and ARTIST for sketching. Monocolor screens gradually were replaced with color displays which used Tektronix and AED terminals....

Chapter 10 examines the conflicts over the direction of the Laboratory's work and the decline that followed. The commercialization of ODYSSEY is described including a report recommending the entire intellectual property of the Lab be transferred to a for-profit company. The use of the Harvard name became an issue. By 1981 it became clear the Lab was changing and departures were prominent....

Chapter11 describes the final period of the Laboratory and its disappearance in 1991. The Lab was to continue for 10 years operating at a modest level of performance mainly in research. Very quietly in June 1991 the Laboratory ceased operaton....

Chapter 12 reflects on the lasting aspects of the Laboratory and why it still matters to the science and practice of GIS. The most enduring traces are of the more than 130 people who created the concepts, wrote the programs, debugged the software, and made it all work for more than 25 years. A few have passed away but most continued their careers. They had dedicated their lives and intellectual energy --- they had fallen in love with the Laboratory!! As the Lab faded from view.... the world of GIS began to open.

Each chapter ends with notes on the materials cited in that chapter. A complete bibliography appears at the end of the volume. An accompanying CD contains movies produced by Laboratory staff and recent interviews with some who were associated with the Laboratory....

It is reading recommended for community and urban planners, geographers, map-makers, GIS users, and architects and should be mandatory for students enrolled in GIS curriculums....

Leonard C. Silvern
Systems Engineering Laboratories
Clarkdale AZ

Nick Chrisman has preformed an important service for the geospatial community with this book. It is a very compelling story of early days of the development of GIS and computer cartography. This is the story of the Harvard Lab but Nick makes it abundantly clear that the events at the Harvard Lab were not the only things going on with computers and maps at the time. He gives credit where credit is due and does a good job of giving the impression of the intellectual ferment of the times, with important ideas and insights coming many people, from freshman to senior scientists. It must have been wonderful to have been a part of such an event/place/process. I hope that this book is widely read by the GIS community, but I think it also is an important addition to the literature of the history of science and technology.

The story of the decline and end of the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis provides insight into campus politics and the debate over the role of a university in commercialization of intellectual property.