Introducing Human Geographies

Product Information

The textbook is clearly written and easily understandable even for students who are encountering the basics of human geography for the first time. The last chapter on the environment was the only chapter that was sorely inadequate in what it introduced. It was half the length of every other chapter in the book. While not a physical geography course, all human-environment interaction (one of the five themes of Human Geography) has an impact and relationship with the planet. This was a missed opportunity to put into context the physical implications from the twelve chapters prior. There are no major errors that I noticed. It looks unbias. It presents multiple perspectives. However it does not use enough information from different sources. I found the materials to be consistent and useful. Chapters begin with a list of student learning outcomes followed by a chapter outline that is presented as a numbered list with the chapter number before the decimal, and the section after the decimal. For example: English is my second language. It is hard for me to evaluate the grammatical mistakes. I have noticed no grammatical errors.

The textbook is organized in 13 chapters, each one covering a specific topic. The flow is traditional for human geography texts. The text is written with a clear language. It is easy to follow the content. Even if English is not the first language of a student, the theory and concepts can be understood easily. The text is clear, concise, free of unnecessary jargon and suitable for an introductory course. Terminology from the discipline is defined and introduced in context, often using illustrative examples. The language is not complicated, overly academic or excessively wordy. For courses that are more rigorous are for majors, instructors may wish to provide additional readings from research or professional publications. including Laklak Burarrwanga, Ritjilili Ganambarr, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Banbapuy Ganambarr, Djawundil Maymuru, Sandie Suchet-Pearson, Sarah Wright, Lara Daley and Kate Lloyd)

Contribute to this Page

Reviewed by Serena St. Clair, Adjunct Faculty (formerly full time faculty-retired), Rogue Community College on 1/2/22 The book provides comprehensive coverage suitable for an introductory human/cultural geography course. The Student Learning Outcomes, Chapter Outlines, maps, tables and graphs are useful guides for reading online or in print. The supplemental resources/further reading sections (Works Consulted and Further Reading) are helpful for students or instructors who want to delve more deeply. At the end of each chapter, Key Terms Defined offers easy reference and a good way for students to build vocabulary and facility with terminology. It would be helpful to include a comprehensive glossary at the end of the book, along with a full index. Sample Questions, exercises and slides accompany each chapter. Instructors can use them as they are or revise as they see fit. Most data that is used for each chapter is up-to-date. The text can be easily updated as the editions change. However it might be difficult to update maps and images. Introducing Human Geographies is the leading guide to human geography for undergraduate students, explaining new thinking on essential topics and discussing exciting developments in the field.

The chapters are arranged by topics, and each chapter is organized into smaller reading sections that can be easily assigned for individual or group work. Most of the chapters include short introductions. It seems like the text is written in such a way as to make updates relatively easy and straightforward. The big topics here seem to be consistent in most human geography textbooks over the years, and they serve as the foundation for this book. Supporting materials including text examples, maps, diagrams, etc. should be relatively straightforward to revise with future revisions. Introducing Human Geographies is a ‘travel guide’ into the academic subject of human geography and the things that it studies. The coverage of the new edition has been thoroughly refreshed to reflect and engage with the contemporary nature and direction of human geography. I think the challenge for writing a textbook in this subject is the ever changing nature of the human-environment experience. The world, from a geographical standpoint, is a dynamic system. This textbook covers the basic framework for HG which hasn't changed for several decades, however, the living examples of geographical concepts will need to be illustrated by accompanying lessons, assignments, instructor lectures, and current event/media. The text provides a comprehensive introduction to the traditional topics in human geography and covers all areas and concepts appropriately. Each chapter starts with Student Learning Outcomes and Chapter Outline sections, and ends up with two very helpful to the students sections – Key Terms Defined and Works Consulted and Further Reading. Most of the chapters have also Summary sections. The text is illustrated with maps, tables and figures, but the use of these illustrative materials should be more balanced between the chapters. Chapter 5 The Geography of Language for example, contains only one map, whereas in the following chapter (about religions) the reading material is supported with 13 maps. Some of the maps are from 2015 and need updating.There are thirteen chapters. Each chapter focuses on a subdiscipline of human geography. However the chapters are not as comprehensive as a regular human geography textbook. Most of the relevant theory for each subdiscipline of human geography is covered, but postmodern geographic theory is missing.