Geography 2009

Geography
excellent name a diagram and youll find it here: alluvial bedforms; the felsic to mafic igneous spectrum; cross-section through Antarctica; layers of the atmosphere; styles of faulting; and hundreds more. Chapters begin with vivid cameos (Shipwrecks: Consequences of coastal geology), and are wellstructured with the key concepts helpfully explained. The concluding questions are sometimes less exciting though (How do aquicludes form a confined aquifer?). In the USA, geology Freshmen will find this text invaluable. It is firmly North American (an asteroid the size of Manhattan) and may have less impact among UK geographers. As a subset of geology, landforms appear mainly in Chapters 5 (volcanoes), 10 (climate and glaciation) and 12 (streams, coastlines and wind). This sometimes highlights the edges of our box. Where Jordan and Grotzinger slide neatly from deltas to turbidity currents, few British geographers would feel qualified to peer over the continental shelf. The electronic version is outstanding (http://ebooks.bfw pub.com/essentialearth1e). Its videos and animations, hyperlinks and downloadable diagrams should be a model for other writers who believe in books but know that students mostly stare at screens. Chris Pyle The Perse School, Cambridge The book is in two parts, written by an impressive international group of 18 contributors. The six chapters in Part 1 consider China in transition: in the contexts of inequality, poverty and marginalisation. There are six more chapters in Part 2, exploring the links between marginalisation and globalisation. Throughout, complex concepts are tackled in a highly understandable and readable manner. Overall, the book challenges the notion that the inequalities and social injustices caused by modernisation and globalisation in China are inevitable. A strong case is made for forcefully tackling the problems relating to inequity through institutional changes, social policy making and effective responses from both the Chinese state and civil society. It is acknowledged that some progress has been made in these respects, in the early twenty-first century, by the Chinese Communist Party. However, the book questions how much current political rhetoric can be translated into reality. This would be an invaluable library reference source for both ALevel and undergraduate geography students. There are copious, extremely varied and up-to-date references at the conclusion of each chapter for those who wish to research further. Trevor Higginbottom Xiehe Education Organisation, Shanghai

Vol 94 Part 3 Autumn 2009

they should be part of a system extending out into the community to help develop zero carbon living. The book is well documented with many references to websites for additional information and case studies. There are also many diagrams and illustrations throughout, though the labels on some can be difficult to read, as can the generally small typeface used throughout the book. The style of writing is very journalistic, and in some places, more careful editing is required. Also the boxes that occur within the text can disrupt the flow of the argument and the case studies that one might expect in such a book are located on the website and only referred to in the text and chapter notes at the end of the book. This is disappointing as an important message gets lost in poor book production and writing style. Ralph Hebden Sheffield

Reviews

The Essential Earth

Thomas H. Jordan and John Grotzinger
Basingstoke: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2008 445pp, 23x27.5cm Pb: 37.99 ISBN 978-1-4292-0429-3
Jordan and Grotzinger view this world from a geological perspective, continually amazed by what we observe (p. 1), and their book, The Essential Earth, covers huge ground between thin covers from the origin of the solar system to mineral properties and natural hazards. It is a thorough and well-researched introductory textbook of geology for school leavers and undergraduates. The colour illustrations are

Marginalisation in China: Perspectives on transition and globalisation

Edited by Heather Xiaoquan Zhang, Bin Wu and Richard Sanders
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007 266pp, 16x24cm Hb: 60.00 ISBN 978-0-7546-4427-9
Given Chinas current position as an emerging superpower, this is a very significant book. Its main theme is the impact of marginalisation in the country: the ways in which economic, social and political changes have meant a transfer of scarce resources from marginal areas, sectors and groups to core areas, sectors and groups for example, from the rural to the urban and from the people as a whole to elites.

Tourism in China: Destination, cultures and communities

Edited by Chris Ryan and Gu Huimin
Abingdon: Routledge, 2009 399pp, 16x23.5cm Hb: 60.00 ISBN 978-0-415-99189-6
Edited by tourism experts from outside and within the Peoples Republic of China, this volume has laudable aims: not only to introduce issues of tourism development and destination management to Western scholars and students, but also to introduce the work of Chinese colleagues who rarely obtain a chance for their work to be published in English. The book contains 21 chapters, with 34 contributors, many from China. After an introduction that

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