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Package: Introduction to Geography with Connect Plus Access Card
Getis "Introduction to Geography 14e" is written to clearly and concisely convey the nature of the field of geography, its intellectual challenges, and the logical interconnections of its parts. Even if students take no further work in geography, they will have come into contact with the richness and breadth of Geography and have new insights and understandings for their present and future roles as informed adults. This new edition provides students content and scope of the subfields of geography, emphasize its unifying themes, and provide the foundation for further work in their areas of interest. A useful textbook must be flexible enough in its organization to permit an instructor to adapt it to the time and subject matter constraints of a particular course. Although Getis "Introduction to Geography" is designed with a one-quarter or one-semester course in mind, this text may be used in a full-year introduction to geography when employed as a point of departure for special topics and amplifications introduced by the instructor or when supplemented by additional readings and class projects.
453 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
12 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Getis
49 books1 followerArthur Getis received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He is the coauthor of several geography textbooks as well as two books dealing with map pattern analysis. He has also published widely in the areas of urban geography, spatial analysis, and geographical information systems. He is coeditor of Journal of Geographical Systems and for many years served on the editorial boards of Geographical Analysis and Papers in Regional Science. He has held administrative appointments at Rutgers University, the University of Illinois, and San Diego State University (SDSU) and currently holds the Birch Chair of Geographical Studies at SDSU. In 2002 he received the Association of American Geographers Distinguished Scholarship Award. Professor Getis is a member of many professional organizations and has served as an officer in, among others, the Western Regional Science Association and the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 3, 2020
4.25 stars.
(Reading dates are estimated.)
I don’t often review textbooks, but I thought this one noteworthy.
WHAT I LIKED
1. content. Obviously, I’m a geography nerd. I’m reviewing a *textbook* for heaven’s sake. The content of this book was FASCINATING (with the exception of 2 chapters)
2. Anecdotes. Not too many textbooks lead with a relevant anecdote before diving into the material, and I gotta say, it was an incredibly welcome change. I loved seeing the material “in practice” before really reading in-depth about the theories. Excellent structural choice, writers and editors.
3. Anecdotes part 2. In addition to the beginning anecdotes, other relevant tales were scattered here and there throughout the book. Man, I cannot emphasize enough what a DIFFERENCE that made. I felt like I could actually connect to the material with those tangible examples.
4. Hunting for Oxford commas. Because, as previously mentioned, I am a nerd, I get distracted by typos in books. Specifically, commas/lack thereof. And lemme tell ya, hunting for commas in this book was a blast. I think I found two spots of missing commas. It was delightful.
5. Voice. Textbooks tend to be patronizing, whether they intend to or not. It’s just a fact of life. And while this book did have the occasionally patronizing section, I was impressed with the overall amicable tone. I felt that the authors were genuinely trying to educate rather than prove their own superiority by spouting off facts. This made a world of difference in the reading process.
6. Summary and questions. Okay... admittedly, I didn’t read the 1-2 page summary/questions at the end of each chapter. I only skimmed them because I had just read the whole chapter, and my chapter units in class were so short, I didn’t have any time to forget the knowledge before the next chapter unit started. That said, I think the summary/questions make a fantastic addition for people in conventional fall/spring semester classes. They’re a great learning tool.
7. MAPS! I LOVE MAPS. This book is what inspired me to impulsively purchase a large laminated map for my wall that I’ve been marking with dream destinations and important study locations since it arrived. I didn’t realize how much I liked maps until I actually sat down and read this whole textbook cover to cover (sans index and back notes). The inclusion of relevant maps was SO HELPFUL. And they were all so well-placed!! And relevant!!! That never happens in textbooks!!!
8. Independent instructional value. As previously mentioned, my class was REALLY short. Because of this, my professor decided our quizzes and tests would be almost exclusively over book material with a few supplemental questions covering PowerPoints. There were no lectures. The powerpoints were condensed versions of the textbook teachings with a few extra examples. (Don’t get me wrong, I loved that format. All classes should be taught that way. It was fantastic.) Incidentally, this meant that the book served as the classroom instructor. This meant that the book had to present all the information, anticipate student questions, and respond accordingly, as a teacher would. AND IT DID THAT. Seriously, awesome book.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
1. Business and Geography. There’s a chapter in this book on business models as they relate to geography. That’s totally necessary for an education in geography, I get that. But god. That chapter was painful. I really enjoyed the book up until *that* chapter. I am not a fan of business education and often avoid it at all costs, so obviously personal preference is at play here, but it was brutal. (Mind you, it got better towards the end. Maybe because I saw the light at the end of the tunnel by that point?)
2. Index. This is a VERY minor concern, but there were a few terms missing from the index that I wish would’ve been in there. Would’ve made my life a little easier to be able to directly reference specific words in the index. That said, the index was still great for most searches.
(Reading dates are estimated.)
I don’t often review textbooks, but I thought this one noteworthy.
WHAT I LIKED
1. content. Obviously, I’m a geography nerd. I’m reviewing a *textbook* for heaven’s sake. The content of this book was FASCINATING (with the exception of 2 chapters)
2. Anecdotes. Not too many textbooks lead with a relevant anecdote before diving into the material, and I gotta say, it was an incredibly welcome change. I loved seeing the material “in practice” before really reading in-depth about the theories. Excellent structural choice, writers and editors.
3. Anecdotes part 2. In addition to the beginning anecdotes, other relevant tales were scattered here and there throughout the book. Man, I cannot emphasize enough what a DIFFERENCE that made. I felt like I could actually connect to the material with those tangible examples.
4. Hunting for Oxford commas. Because, as previously mentioned, I am a nerd, I get distracted by typos in books. Specifically, commas/lack thereof. And lemme tell ya, hunting for commas in this book was a blast. I think I found two spots of missing commas. It was delightful.
5. Voice. Textbooks tend to be patronizing, whether they intend to or not. It’s just a fact of life. And while this book did have the occasionally patronizing section, I was impressed with the overall amicable tone. I felt that the authors were genuinely trying to educate rather than prove their own superiority by spouting off facts. This made a world of difference in the reading process.
6. Summary and questions. Okay... admittedly, I didn’t read the 1-2 page summary/questions at the end of each chapter. I only skimmed them because I had just read the whole chapter, and my chapter units in class were so short, I didn’t have any time to forget the knowledge before the next chapter unit started. That said, I think the summary/questions make a fantastic addition for people in conventional fall/spring semester classes. They’re a great learning tool.
7. MAPS! I LOVE MAPS. This book is what inspired me to impulsively purchase a large laminated map for my wall that I’ve been marking with dream destinations and important study locations since it arrived. I didn’t realize how much I liked maps until I actually sat down and read this whole textbook cover to cover (sans index and back notes). The inclusion of relevant maps was SO HELPFUL. And they were all so well-placed!! And relevant!!! That never happens in textbooks!!!
8. Independent instructional value. As previously mentioned, my class was REALLY short. Because of this, my professor decided our quizzes and tests would be almost exclusively over book material with a few supplemental questions covering PowerPoints. There were no lectures. The powerpoints were condensed versions of the textbook teachings with a few extra examples. (Don’t get me wrong, I loved that format. All classes should be taught that way. It was fantastic.) Incidentally, this meant that the book served as the classroom instructor. This meant that the book had to present all the information, anticipate student questions, and respond accordingly, as a teacher would. AND IT DID THAT. Seriously, awesome book.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
1. Business and Geography. There’s a chapter in this book on business models as they relate to geography. That’s totally necessary for an education in geography, I get that. But god. That chapter was painful. I really enjoyed the book up until *that* chapter. I am not a fan of business education and often avoid it at all costs, so obviously personal preference is at play here, but it was brutal. (Mind you, it got better towards the end. Maybe because I saw the light at the end of the tunnel by that point?)
2. Index. This is a VERY minor concern, but there were a few terms missing from the index that I wish would’ve been in there. Would’ve made my life a little easier to be able to directly reference specific words in the index. That said, the index was still great for most searches.
December 27, 2011
I really enjoyed reading this book and the class that came with it. I enjoyed learning that there is more to geography than just maps and earth science. It was great!!!
June 17, 2015
this was just for class but still very informative
December 12, 2017
Excellent textbook
February 18, 2019
Decent geography intro book.
Read
April 19, 2020good
May 23, 2021
I only read a couple of chapters before I gave up on my class readings...
Read
August 30, 2010My first text book for grad school!
Want to read
March 4, 2013good
June 20, 2021
Good and easily undertand
January 7, 2015
Books I have to read for school,
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews