World Regional Geography - People, Places and Globalization
The focus of this text is "regional geography", and it carries this out very well, especially considering that this text can save student upwards of $100.
While the concept of "region" in geography can be problematic, it is part of the range of study, and the text is comprehensive in its coverage and breakdowns. The section covering Africa is a good example; in this section, the author incorporates an extensive description of the physical and historical geography along with the analysis of social and economic geography that addresses the thematic issue of modern globalization.
The book's introduction contributes to the comprehensive nature by covering important technological aspects of contemporary geographic practice, and does a decent job of introducing key general geographic concepts.
A caveat here: I believe strongly that the quest for sterile "objectivity" is both impossible and undesirable. The time has come for geographers to take a stand on the issues we study.
Having said that, this text does a reasonable job of remaining fair in its biases, and the book is extremely accurate to the best of my knowledge. I found no glaring errors.
Considering the original publication year of 2012, I have been impressed with the relevance of the content. The use of Wikipedia links for well-proven supplemental or tangential information contributes to the continued viability of the material, as wiki's are routinely maintained and updated as world events unfold, or as new research-based knowledge is constructed.
The general clarity of the book is just fine. The most important enhancement to clarity found in the document is the wonderful call-outs that float over key words when moused-over, providing a definition or example for readers without cluttering the prose.
The book is fairly consistent. After an introduction to the general geographic delineation of a region, each of the "realm" sections start with a focus on historical geography, thereby setting a linear stage for contemporary geography. Even as the book primarily utilizes "Core-periphery" to to frame subject conversations, it continues to weave historical context into the narrative.
Although there are three format versions of this book available from Saylor, only the html online format provides ready modularity. This is mainly by virtue of the table of contents, which is notably absent in both the PDF and DOCx versions available for download. The html version may be found by following the link to Saylor's website at the bottom of their pdf pages.
Using the html book allows a user to access each chapter and subsets of each chapter, on top of the ability to search for specific text within the web pages.
Apart from the introductory chapter, each chapter covers a general geographic "region". This generalization is then used as a framework for exploring geographic relations within the region, as well as between various regional entities. This provides an important continuity, reminding students that no "region" is truly isolated, while simultaneously allowing the instructor to compartmentalize material for instruction.
The chapters are laid-out in similar format, providing consistent structure and flow. It is hard to justify any particular organization in the "regional" geography model that is any better than the one that the author has chosen. Having said that, I would have appreciated seeing a region OTHER than Europe as the first one described. Euro-centrism persists, and should be undermined wherever possible.
Use the html version, or manually reformat the pdf or docx version to mimic the functionality of the html web-interface, which is good.
No perceived grammatical errors.
I found this book to be quite culturally sensitive overall. The author addresses important issues of globalization by placing it in context to people actually living in the regions, often referring to the local struggles against extra-regional forces. This is in stark contrast to the relative lack of exposure students will have had via mainstream media to the cultural struggles of people outside their own narrow identification groups.