AP Human Geography Summer Reading Writing Assignment

A Book Review of
Why Geography Matters by Harm de Blij

Kirsten Hughes
August 27, 2012

I. Summary
Harm de Blij is an author, professor and television personality that specializes in
geopolitical and environmental issues. He was born in the Netherlands a little before World War
II and received his early schooling in Europe. His undergraduate and graduate education was
completed in Africa and in 1959 he completed masters and doctoral degrees at Northwestern
University. Dr. de Blij has received numerous honorary degrees from universities and honors
from geographical societies.
In addition to his education, his credentials include appearing as the Geography Editor on
ABC's "Good Morning America and as the Geography Analyst on MSNBC; publishing more
than 30 books ranging from scientific and education titles to a book that was awarded a medal by
the French wine organization, OIV; and, being named chairs at Georgetown University,
Marshall University, and the Colorado School of Mines. He is currently a John A. Hannah
Professor at Michigan State University where he was previously named a Distinguished
Professor of Geography. Through the public lecture circuit and appearances in the media, he has
spanned the globe in work that involves research and teaching. He speaks Dutch, Afrikaans,
German, and some French. In his spare time, he enjoys wine collecting, soccer, baseball, and
playing the violin.
In his book, Why Geography Matters, de Blij argues the need for more study of
geography and less study of history. First, he highlights that geography is a subject that is
understudied in public schools and through the lack of studying geography, the use of maps has
dwindled, environmental awareness has declined, and business people and politicians are at a
disadvantage in the competitive world. Dr. de Blij also emphasizes that geographic knowledge is

a crucial ingredient of our national security and while geography itself cannot solve certain
developments such as Weapons of Mass Destruction, geography provides approaches to the
subject that are important. A second highlight of the book is his discussion on Chinas ascent as
the first non-Western power whose geography has been complex and changing over the years,
and whose growth in economics and politics has made it a major player on the world stage. A
third highlight of the book is suggestion that the well-being of Africa matters and not just on the
relentless acquisition of commodities that can obtained from the continent.
II. Intent
There are several universal lessons that the book teaches and that the author intends for
the reader to learn. One is that maps are the language of geography and often the most direct and
effective way for communicating about geography. The mother of all maps is the globe, and no
household, especially one with school-age children, should be without one. (page 23). A second
universal lesson is even though modernization is occurring in many parts of the world and there
may not be as many population explosions as there have been in the past, old habits die hard.
Cultural preferences and religious differences continue to divide a world in which hundreds of
millions of farmers still subsist in ways as old as history itself. (page 106). A third universal
lesson is terrorism and organizational networks create entirely new challenges for the
international community. Prevention and interdiction, not force and retaliation, are the keys to
security. (page 160). This reader believes that with the increase of terrorism over the past years,
the study of human geography will be needed in almost any chosen career because all careers are
affected by increased security in some way.

III. Relevance
This book has helped to open my eyes to the depth of geography and how there
are many areas that need to researched, discussed, and especially brought to the attention of
interested and responsible citizens in our nation. With the U.S. being the super power of the
world, this book contains many topics that could be debated and the conclusions from the debate
would still need another discussion. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to have
a better understanding on whats going on in the world and that should actually be everyone
because what impacts one impacts another in some way. I would also recommend this book as a
general read for any college student. Some of the ideas presented such as changing
environments and disappearing boundary lines should be of interest to any person. Finally, I
would recommend this book to our politicians. Our leaders need to know world geography and
the current issues and need to be able to talk intelligibly when visiting other countries.
IV. Themes of Geography

Location is one theme of geography and can either be absolute or relative. Absolute
location provides a definite reference to locate a place, such as latitude or longitude, or even a
street address. Relative location describes a place with respect to its environment and its
connection to other places such as Iran is west of Afghanistan. The book mentions Afghanistan
the longitude and latitude of this country is 33.9791 N, 66.4849 E. The relative location of
Afghanistan is west of Iran, north of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, east of China and
south of Pakistan. Movement is another theme of geography and can apply to humans, ideas,
goods, services, and resources. This book mentions how after Maos demise in China the
economy was down due to the failed efforts of the Great Leap Forward Mao had put in place.

Years later China found its economy back up and moving. An example of this is the creation of
factories by the border of Russia which allowed the trading goods with the Russians. This is an
example of Chinas economy moving forward to a better standpoint by having its economy
running again after the Great Leap Forward incident.

Bibliography

H.J. de Blij. Retrieved on August 21, 2012 from http://deblij.net/.

Michigan State University Department of Geography. Retrieved on August 21, 2012 from
http://www.geo.msu.edu/faculty/deblij.html.