Coğfrafya Neden Önemlidir

by H.J. de Blij, Fatma Yavaş (Translator), Baki Kaya (Translator)

“Dünyayı coğrafyanın dinamik disiplini aracılığıyla yorumlayan, kışkırtıcı, yüksek tempolu bir kitap... Eğer coğrafyadan gözünüz korkuyorsa bu kitabı
okuyun, daha önce hiç rastlamadığınız sırları keşfedeceksiniz.”

David Miller, National Geographic Haritalar, Kıdemli Editör
“Olağanüstü...aydınlatıcı ve ilginç bir yolculuk.”
David J. Smith, Christian Science Monitor

“Carl Sagan kozmoloji için ne yaptıysa Harm de Blij da coğrafya için onu yapıyor ki, bunu onun dışında hiç kimse başaramazdı. Hayat verdiği bir konuda onu izleyerek, dinleyerek veya okuyarak bitimsiz bir yolculuğa çıkmış olacaksınız.”

Bill Moyers, The Power of Place’te

Küresel bağlantıların ve değişim hızının artmasına rağmen, coğrafya hakkında her zamankinden daha az bilgiye sahibiz. Çoğumuz anaokulundan üniversite
eğitiminin sonuna kadar tek bir coğrafya dersi almadan geçip gidiyoruz. Harm de Blij’ın inandırıcı bir şekilde ele aldığı üzere, coğrafi cehalet büyük bir risk
oluşturmaktadır.Şimdilerde klasikleşen kitabının bu ikinci baskısında de Blij, coğrafyanın
ne denli önemli olduğunu, Çin’in ufukta görünen gücünden AB’nin sorun haline gelen intizamsızlığına, Kuzey Kore’nin tehlikeli nükleer arzularından Arap Baharının devrimci umutlarına birçok aydınlatıcı başlık altında
ortaya koymaktadır. Dünya coğrafyası hakkındaki kavrayışımızı geliştirerek çevremizdeki olaylara daha iyi karşılık verebilir ve kendimizi önümüzdeki
küresel sınamalara karşı daha iyi hazırlayabiliriz.
Coğrafya Neden Önemlidir:

Hiç Olmadığı Kadar tam da başlanması gereken yere işaret etmektedir. Harm de Blij Michigan Eyalet Üniversitesi Coğrafya Profesörüdür. ABCTelevizyonunda Good Morning America programının yedi yıl süreyle coğrafya
editörlüğünü yapmıştır. NBC News haber kanalının Coğrafya Analizcisi olarak çalışmıştır. PBS kanalının “The Power of Place” dizisinin yazarlığını ve yorumculuğunu yapmıştır. Otuzdan fazla kitabın yazarıdır, National
Geographic Society’nin ömür boyu onur üyesidir

Genres: Geography, Nonfiction, History, Science, School, Politics, Economics

488 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2012

About the author

Harm J. de Blij (see IJ (digraph); closest pronunciation: "duh blay") is a geographer. He is a former geography editor on ABC's Good Morning America. He is a former editor of National Geographic magazine and the author of several books, including Why Geography Matters.

Dr. de Blij is a Distinguished Professor of Geography at Michigan State University. He has held the George Landegger Chair in Georgetown University's school of Foreign Service and the John Deaver Drinko chair of geography at Marshall University and has also taught at the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Miami.

Reviews

[Nicole Means · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geography is way more than knowing the trivialities of locations of every single region of the world. As a high school Geographer teacher myself I often encounter students, parents, and even friends who think Geography is much more than memorizing trivial facts in an almanac (which is the approach my own geography high school teacher used). Rather, it deals with how we are all connected in areas such as national security, environment, essentially understanding how interconnected even the most remote regions of the world are to the rest!
Harm de Blij does a great job of explaining why Geography is such an important topic in today's ever-changing and globalized society. I read this book out of sequence--starting with the last chapter about Africa and working my way around the book's various regions. Each chapter does an amazing job at explaining why geography matters today more than ever. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in becoming more geographic literate--as essential skill in truly understanding other regions as well as world events.

[Erik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like a stuffy old man ranting about 'kids these days' not knowing enough about [insert topic here] anymore. de Blij misses many opportunities to actually expand on the power of geography to enrich and expand on the insights gained in other fields like history and sociology, and instead resorts to what amounts to a sort of factionalist chest thumping about the virtues of his chosen field.

To me, the worst part of this book is the cherry picked facts and the rampant Islamophobia. de Blij mostly describes 'the geography of terrorism' as being wherever Islam is. For a geographer, he sure spends a lot of time discussing the supposed imperial ambitions of muslims and the specific characteristics of their "medieval" religion, rather than exploring the various intersecting sociopolitical and geohistoric factors that have led to increased instances of terrorism in certain parts of the world.

This book could have been much more, but if you're interested in why geography actually matters, I recommend looking elsewhere.

[Claire Felong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every thinking person should read this book. Most comprehensive and logical history of the universe and earth I have ever read. First half is slow as ihe covers physical geography from the big bang to birth of man but I learned a lot about geological ages and where we are currently (surprisingly we are in an interglacial period of an Ice Age!). But most amazing is how he is able to align physical geography with anthropological geography and how it affects history. He brings us up to date on each of the continents and I feel I have a true grasp of post USSR and current Middle-East situations and how the US makes many poor geopolitical decisions because so many State Department and military decision makers do not have a firm grasp of the culture they are supposedly in charge of. He confirmed what I was feeling that today's students don't learn much about geography and how it works against us.

[Ariel Lynn]

I am sure that Harm de Blij is a very nice man, but this book sucked. I had to read it for my AP Human Geography class and though many of the points he made in this book were good and I agreed with most of them, the way he went about explaining them was tedious and unnecessary. It took half an hour to get through just one chapter, sometimes more, and I find that excruciating. It's time I will never get back. Also, as a writer, one is supposed to make the reader care about what he/she is reading. Mr. de Blij seems to be unacquainted with that craft. I am so glad that this is finally over.

[Vaughn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished reading a review copy. A pretty quick read that doesn't get caught in pretension. Most value I pulled from this were random facts, which I assume was author's point — there are all kinds of fascinating things that we might just realize if we were more familiar with what to used to be common sense geography. Off the top of my head, I recall the author's statistic that more than 98% of the world continues to remain in the hyper-immediate municipality in which they were born. We like to think about the world as being ever-mixing, but 98% is a huge.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Globalization is making it pertinent that we understand what is happening in all sectors of the world.
What a great, easy, smooth read. A little slice of the geography pies and a real eye opener to why geography really does matter...

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating information sometimes delivered in the most boring manner, at other times I couldn't read it fast enough.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to the vast applicability of the study of geography. Harm de Blij outlines the importance of geographic thought, inquiry, and understanding by focusing on climate change, terrorism, the rise of states, (particularly China and Russia), and development in Africa. Overall I thought the book did a good job of proving his point, (though I have a few small issues with the terrorism section in particular). de Blij writes thoughtfully and passionately, but certainly not concisely, and some of his more long-winded explanations might turn less determined readers (...or high school students required to read it...) away. As someone who considers myself relatively well-versed in the realm of geography, much of what this book had to say was not new to me, but I still found it worth the read for the perspectives developed and new information learned.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of pluses about this book, but a number of minuses, too. Much of the information and analysis about the economic, cultural, physical and political geography is detailed and enlightening. On the other hand, as the author regularly comments, things are changing rapidly these days, and some of his facts and arguments are now outdated, just three-and-a-half years after writing. His analysis of the geographic background and implications in the Islamic world are open-eyed and compelling, but while the information about China and the "New Chinese Empire" are excellent, the analysis seems hands-off and forgiving. Similarly, his discussion of Africa and the status of American geographic knowledge and education, are alternatively detailed and overwrought with whining and hand-wringing preachiness.

[Hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm inspired to spend more time studying Geography now thanks to books like this one. The author discusses the sad history of Geographies fall from academia's required courses and the disaster that has resulted from it. The first major fallacy of Geography is that it is nothing more than maps. Geography affects cultures, politics and even how wars are waged. Geography can even reveal intentions of world leaders.

History is replete with examples of World Leaders who misunderstood and underestimated Geography, from Napoleon & Russia to Robert McNamara & Vietnam. Yet despite these catastrophic blunders the average American is even more Geographically illiterate than ever before with the consequences and implications being as obvious as the failed strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book all about the importance of geography in our understanding of the world, although as a former Geography major you don't have to convince me. So, the parts where he's trying to convince you it's important I kind of skimmed past.

The book looks at 3 main challenges in current events--climate change, the rise of China, and terrorism. The examination of these issues was all very interesting, although as a 10-year old book, there was some not-so-current stuff and I kept wondering how much out-of-date info there was. Still, worth reading.

[uma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my AP Human Geography class, which I loved. The concepts I learned in that class fascinated me and increased my world-awareness. But this author's voice is unbearable. It was still great info, but the voice was so pretentious and arrogant and patronizing that I found myself either clawing at the pages or falling asleep. Ugh.

[Andrew Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is more of a political commentary of our current world meta than a thorough explanation why Geography actually matters that much. Overall, the author attempts to discuss the importance the Geography, but he ultimately turned his book into his opinions and viewpoints in the geopoplitics of the world.

[Simon Bager · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re totally new to geography or haven’t read about it since school/high school, there’ll be a lot of interesting information in this book. If you’re an expert, there’s not a whole lot of new stuff here. But it’s conveyed in a well-written manner, so still worth a read..

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I read only about the first third of this book.

It’s the author’s tone, both arrogant and petulant, that I cannot stomach. The author seems to relish a contrarian perspective, building up its separateness with excessive focus on differences at the expense of the commonalities, and with insinuations as often as solid arguments. Putdowns are served to fellow researchers, shoot, people of all ranks and roles, in every chapter. I am left with the sense, surely exaggerated due to my annoyance, that the author takes everyone but himself and his preferred references, truth be told to us readers, as closet idiots.

“Make no mistake”? Repeatedly??? Or, as a genre the world would be better off without, the “I told you so” vignettes. The author is the unsung hero every time, but in only some was I even convinced the “other’s” perspective was small minded.

Geography’s interesting. On the other hand, geography being useful, relevant, and enlightening does not automatically make it more so than the other subjects or disciplines it would displace if, as is argued would be an improvement, more schools taught and more students studied it. But I probably wouldn't even be crafting a counterargument if I didn't find the book's tone so offensive.

[Procrastinationismyspecialty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes me reconsider taking Geography this semester, i'm a book nerd but even I can't read at least more than 1 page before loosing interest. I'm sorry Blij but the schools did you wrong for making freshmen and up read a book for an older demographic. It felt like a task rather than me trying to learn about Geography, the words become baseless for a while and I find myself having to go back to read paragraphs that I didn't really read. I'm sure when my maturity matches my literary level I can re-read this but for now somehow help me out with this question: In chapter one of “Why Geography Matters” de Blijj is making his case for the importance of geography. Choose ONE reason de Blijj thinks that geography is important for students to learn and explain why you agree or disagree with his reason

[Kennedy Mesker · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone not entirely familiar with the realm of Cultural Geography in general, Blij did a fantastic job of explaining to the reader the many reasons why geography holds significance in modern society. That being said, I did feel as if the book was rather repetitive. After reading the first chapter, I got the gist of the entire book. Reading the rest of it wasn't necessary to understand the point that Blij was making.

[Abi Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phew this book took me forever. Despite it being long and in some places boring, the overall book was very enjoyable and interesting. De Blij explains a wide range of topics in great detail and manages to make it relatable and accessible. In fact, the parts I did not enjoy were not any fault of the writing itself, just my own interest in that particular topic. An enjoyable read indeed. I now feel much more knowledgeable about Geography.

[Moin Uddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Why Geography Matters" by Harm de Blij is a captivating exploration of how geography influences our world. From politics to culture, de Blij shows how geography shapes our understanding of global issues. Through engaging anecdotes and insightful analysis, he makes a compelling case for the relevance of geography in our interconnected world. Whether you're a student or a curious mind, this book will change the way you see the world around you.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and informative. I did get lost in the numbers a few times and it is obviously dated, but it provides a solid foundation for understanding the political strife in the world. DeBlij makes a convincing case for how lack of geographical knowledge and arrogance led the west to create much of the political unrest and animosity in the world.

[Russell Kohler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The topics are current, themes well-threaded together. As long as you have a detailed mental map (provided maps are sparse), this dense read covered a lot of ground on contemporary international affairs.

[Mary Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about why the subject of geography matters with long statistical discussions about teaching geography in schools. I am going to search for books on how the land, natural resources, and weather effect us now and in the past.

[Brian Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geography is a lot more than memorizing world capitals! A LOT MORE!! de Blij's book is one of the best at describing why geography matters in everything we do, with many amazing and very interesting stories. I highly recommend this book!

[John Lockenvitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew I would enjoy this book when I bought it. Good discussions on climate change, terrorism, and why Africa needs to be more than just a place in the news for outsiders.

[Emily Wilkerson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book could be a two page article but instead it's a 330 page book. I hate it.

[Mia El-Yafi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important arguments, but they can often be one sided and problematic in nature (eg, the Middle East chapter where Islam was described as a violent and terroristic religion).

[Nurullah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coğrafya öğretmeni öğrencisi vs değilseniz size bir şeyler katar fakat zaten coğrafya ile uğraşıyorsanız okumanıza bence pek gerek yok

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book for the fast pace and interesting opinions.

[K. Blaha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book fails to live up to its name--it didn't explain his definition of geography and it didn't convince me why it matters. (I care about geography, but not additionally because of this book.) I generally really like non-fiction, and was prepared to be swept away by gazillions of things I didn't know, a la Jared Diamond. Instead, I would characterize "Why Geography Matters" as "old man yells at clouds, geography edition." I gave the book a try after seeing positive reviews here and on amazon and I'm very disappointed. As a caveat to this review, I quit 150 pages in.

The central claim of the book is that geography is critical to policy, and that most Americans are worse than ever at it. I agree with both points. But instead of laying out examples with meticulous research and multiple supporting arguments, the author makes editorial article level claims. The part of the book that I read felt like a prolonged editorial article, rather than a work of long non-fiction with structure and referenced arguments. It felt insubstantial.

The introduction, which means to define geography, does a poor job of it. The field is hard to define--I know a professor of geography and I confess that I got lost during her spiel too. But de Blij includes things that I would argue are NOT geography--he details a little girl who saves a beachful of people after observing the ocean receding, and inferring that a tsunami would follow, based upon what she learned in class. I would consider that natural science or fluid dynamics, not geography. He never names or defines any subcategories of the field (engineering is quite the wide net but specialties like electrical engineering and civil engineering have well-defined emphases), so it's a bit hard to follow along with his conception of the field. I felt like if it was about the natural world, then he called it geography.

My favorite portion of the book was a lengthy aside about climate change and how climate has changed over the multi-billion year history of the planet. It was a good read, and information I didn't know, despite the fact that his argument about the chapter was a bit muddy.

The section on the Vietnam War was brief and uninformative, and didn't even contain a map. He broadly asserts that a lack of geographical knowledge hurt the war effort, but I cannot recall a single specific example. I recall only vague assertions such as that knowing the religious and cultural map of the inhabitants would have helped. Again, it's an argument I am predisposed to agree with; it was the lack of argument that was the issue. And after that section he whinges about pass-fail grading and grade inflation as supposed consequences of the war, with as little concern as ever about evidence or numbers or citations.

In short, I am shocked at the relatively high ratings for this book. For Big Picture geography, I readily recommend Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse." De Blij criticizes Diamond's geography, but again, it's just an assertion with no supporting arguments. Diamond lays out and cites his arguments, so at least he gives you a place to branch out from. "Why Geography Matters" was as intellectually stimulating to me as listening to an uncle prattle at Thanksgiving.

[Sydney Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely enamored with this book. de Blij is brilliant and articulate, he helped me begin to think about the world spatially (which is something I challenge with). I want to be a history teacher, so these ideas are important when thinking about how to incorporate geography into my curriculum.

His section on terrorism is eye-opening, but don't let yourself be limited by what he thinks--it is important to think about all of the issues he raises through your own critical eye and world perspective. I appreciated everything he had to teach me because it helped me understand the world in a new way.

I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who doesn't feel comfortable thinking geographically or who loves to do it--this is a valuable book to have read.