Geography For Dummies

The whole world in the palm of your hand

Ever wonder how you can have a rainforest on one side of a mountain and a desert on the other? Or zoom around the globe with Google Maps and wonder how everything got to where it is now? The answer is...geography.

In Geography For Dummies, you'll discover that geography is more than just cool trivia--it explains tons about the world around us. From understanding the basics--like how to read maps and geographic coordinates--to learning about how the continents got to their current positions, you'll learn fascinating things about the planet's people, cities, resources, and more.

In this book, you'll discover:

• How geographers make and use maps to understand and tell useful stories about the earth
• How weather and climate shape the planet, impact the water supply, and change landscapes
• How humans use (and overuse) the planet we live on to our advantage

Geography For Dummies is an incredible exploration of our planet and the people who live on it. This book takes a huge subject and makes it accessible for the rest of us!

Autorentext
Jerry T. Mitchell, PhD, is Chair of the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina and an avid world traveler.

Klappentext

The whole world in the palm of your hand Ever wonder how you can have a rainforest on one side of a mountain and a desert on the other? Or zoom around the globe with Google Maps and wonder how everything got to where it is now? The answer is...geography. In Geography For Dummies, you'll discover that geography is more than just cool trivia--it explains tons about the world around us. From understanding the basics--like how to read maps and geographic coordinates--to learning about how the continents got to their current positions, you'll learn fascinating things about the planet's people, cities, resources, and more. In this book, you'll discover: How geographers make and use maps to understand and tell useful stories about the earth How weather and climate shape the planet, impact the water supply, and change landscapes * How humans use (and overuse) the planet we live on to our advantage Geography For Dummies is an incredible exploration of our planet and the people who live on it. This book takes a huge subject and makes it accessible for the rest of us!

Inhalt

Introduction 1 Part 1: Getting Grounded: The Geographic Basics 5 Chapter 1: Geography: The Why of Where and Why You Should Care 7 Chapter 2: Thinking Like a Geographer 19 Chapter 3: Lining Up Locations 29 Chapter 4: Truthiness in Mapping 41 Chapter 5: Telling a Spatial Story 59 Part 2: Let's Get Physical: Land, Water, and Air 79 Chapter 6: Shape-shifting Earth 81 Chapter 7: A Nip and a Tuck: Giving Earth a Facelift 103 Chapter 8: Making a Splash on Earth 119 Chapter 9: Warming Up and Chilling Out: Why Climates Happen 137 Chapter 10: Connecting Climates and Vegetation 159 Part 3: Peopling the Planet 179 Chapter 11: Nobody Here But A Few Billion Friends 181 Chapter 12: Shift Happens: Migration 203 Chapter 13: Culture: The Way We Live 219 Chapter 14: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors 239 Part 4: Putting the Planet to Use 261 Chapter 15: Takin' Care of Business 263 Chapter 16: Earth's Resources: Always Hungry for More 283 Chapter 17: Downtown to the 'Burbs: Urban Geography 301 Chapter 18: Only One Home: Impacts on the Environment 323 Part 5: The Part of Tens 343 Chapter 19: Ten Organizations for Geography in Action 345 Chapter 20: Ten Interesting Career Paths for Geographers 351 Chapter 21: Ten Things You Can Forget 357 Chapter 22: Ten Great Places for Online Geography 365 Index 371