The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World

I wasn't very interested in any form of politics before I read this book. I bought it because it was about geography, and I LOVE my world geography. I read the book's intro when I found it in the local shop, and it was basically 'love at first read'. I knew I had to buy this so I checked the price on it; pretty good, a lot lower than the RRP. Then I checked Amazon just to be sure if I could save money or not, and what do you know, the price here is lower! So immediately I added it to my basket, and also saw a book written by the same author, called "Prisoners of Geography", which was written before this one. So I decided to get both and actually read that one first instead of this one. Both are just as good as each other in my opinion. I'm really glad I purchased both of these books; I learnt a TON from them, it didn't feel like a chore to read through them, I enjoyed the writing style and tone, kind of casual, and informal, but also sometimes felt dramatic, and engaging (Why do I feel like I'm writing an English essay all of a sudden). I HIGHLY recommend this book to ANYONE who has any sort of interest in either geography, politics, or both!

A run through the histories of nine countries and outer space, all with a primary focus on how their geographies affected and affect their histories. While I enjoyed reading this book, I wondered why he picked these nine countries. He offers some rather feeble reasons for the choice of countries in the introduction, but why is there no China or Russia, why no USA or any other country from the Americas? And of those included, why Greece? Why Spain? Are these really going to be significant players of the future? This book sometimes reads like a collection of Wikipedia articles. The chapters are essentially very condensed potted political histories of each of nine countries, with a tenth chapter devoted to space. As might be expected, there is a consistent undercurrent of the geography that has shaped his chosen set of countries, but there is next to nothing about culture or arts – nothing about the books and music, the arts of the countries concerned, the carpets in Iran and so on... (well, there are three paragraphs about music, television, and cultural issues in the UK chapter.)The book is rich in cliches (“it is not all doom and gloom”) and some rather feeble humour (“The nuclear issue remains live and the Strait of Hormuz remains narrow” and “to compromise is sin, to resist is divine”). In the Spain chapter, after referring to the “piratres of the Caribbean” who “sailed the open sea”, he goes all Blackadder (“In 1586 Phillip II of Spain came up with a cunning plan” and “What, other than everything, could possibly go wrong?”).One apparent contradiction: On page 147 “The list of potentially hostile countries capable of mounting an invasion is short: China and, at a push, Russia.” And, on page 150 [On the UK's nuclear deterrent]: “As for why it needs such a deterrent, supporters point to the potential threat of Russia, North Korea and Iran.” So which countries are the main threat?

The book is divided into ten chapters of approximately 30 pages each. A lot of that is taken up by obvious geographic descriptions and a chuck of the remainder with well known historical facts, leaving a few pages per chapter in which Mr Marshall concludes each chapter with his neo-con "Western" worldview. Absolutely nothing new, nothing of interest here. Don't bother with this book, save your time and money.

I like the range of interesting information and the way its set in historical context. Plus the easy writing style makes it a very comfortable read.

It's hard to put down. Each chapter leaves you thinking "the next one cannot be better" and yet it is. It has a friendly, informative tone. You can dip in and out. After reading the first book I would it worrying how tense the world is, then half way through this book it starts to have a calming effect - to find out what's really going on around the world and how most countries do not want to take risks.