Realms, Regions and Concepts

by H.J. de Blij, Peter O. Muller

Now substantially revised and updated, the Thirteenth Edition of de Blij and Muller's Realms, Regions, and Concepts continues to deliver the authors' authoritative content, outstanding cartography, currency, and comprehensive coverage, in a technology-rich package. The text reflects major developments in the world as well as in the discipline, ranging from the collapse of Russia's Post-Soviet transformation to the impact of globalization and from the rise of Asia's Pacific Rim to the war in Iraq.

Realms, Regions, and Concepts , 13e is available in 3

Genres: Geography, Textbooks, School, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Education

672 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Harm J. de Blij (see IJ (digraph); closest pronunciation: "duh blay") is a geographer. He is a former geography editor on ABC's Good Morning America. He is a former editor of National Geographic magazine and the author of several books, including Why Geography Matters.

Dr. de Blij is a Distinguished Professor of Geography at Michigan State University. He has held the George Landegger Chair in Georgetown University's school of Foreign Service and the John Deaver Drinko chair of geography at Marshall University and has also taught at the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Miami.

Reviews

[Liriope · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to buy this textbook for a class; I started reading it on my own before the semester even started. It's very interesting and informative, and well organized, with a clean layout.

I do not regret for a second buying this book, and had I looked through it at the store I would have bought it even if it wasn't required.

[Matt Ely · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a textbook, so take that for what it is. But it's one of the most engagingly written textbooks I've had in my degree. I honestly looked forward to working through these chapters. Honestly, I went slower than I should have many times because there would be some fascinating note that would prompt me to conduct further research and reading on my own, then an hour later I would remember that I was supposed to be doing my homework. Count yourself lucky if you find this on your book list.

[A E Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was an okay book. It is packed with very interesting information but most times it gave me a headache because it was so fast paced. Studying for tests were kind of hard from this book and the structure of it is eh. Regardless, I somehow got an A in an online course with only this book as a resource.

[Darrell Keller · Rating 4 out of 5]

They let their liberalism seep through every now and then, especially about climate change, but overall, a decent textbook. This is one I plan to keep.

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The modern American creed, if one can be identified, has been characterized by urban geographer Brian Berry as exhibiting an adventurous drive, a liking for things new, an ability to move, a sense of individualism, an aggressive pursuit of goals and ambition, a need for social acceptance, and a firm sense of identity"

I️ absolutely love that quote.

But anyways, I️ actually really liked this book. I would never have read it on my own, but I️ was given the job of teaching a world geography class (having no world geography background knowledge...) and this was the textbook for the course. I️ learned a lot. And hopefully I️ passed that on to my students. I’ve added a few places to my bucket list :)

[Eli Lemons · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a textbook for class for me. It covered a lot of information and the way that information was laid out made a lot of sense. The first part of the chapter would detail the region's history, the second part would detail it's culture. My only complaint is that the book is laid out in columns instead of full pages. As a student that just makes everything more difficult.

[Tarissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished this for a Geography college class. The textbook is very informative, yet easy to mentally digest. It reads great as far as a textbook goes.

The only reason why I personally don't recommend it, however, is because as a Christian I do not believe in the millions-of-years-ago theories that make their way into a few of the pages.

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew! Finished...now to the final. The reading wasn't always exciting but I still learned a lot from this massive book.

[Alejandro Hernández · Rating 3 out of 5]

Map of the Modern World, I won the second time around.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A georaphy text that addresses both cultural and physical geography.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally Finished! Now I want to travel around the world.

[Talbot Hook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is honestly the best introductory book to any subject I have encountered thus far. Praise, praise, praise.

[Toni Guyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a textbook, can't say much else- though it's a dry one for sure. Not my favorite subject. Didn't read it cover to cover.

[Rosendo Ramos · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved how they give each region of the world a detail understanding to where people would be able to memorize those nations and area.

[Michael Walsh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Textbook

[George Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as textbooks go, I really enjoyed this one. Got an A in the class!

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Issued for my GEOG101 Class.

[Kaleigh]

Great textbook! Very interesting and quite well updated.

[Lori Kircher · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/5 stars. Didn't enjoy this book. I had to read this for my Geography 142 class. I skimmed parts of it but overall a very boring book; just facts and information about countries of the world. The only thing good about this book is that it helped me with my map quizzes.

[Robert Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent historical and cultural world geography textbook. It has hundreds of maps, but it is much more than maps. It gives a thorough discussion of the history, demographics, economy, culture and religion.
Rather than studying geography by continents, it studies by "realms," which are both geographical and cultural units. Thus Subsaharan Africa is studied separately from North Africa and Southwest Asia. Each realm is divided further into regions. The chapters have an A section dealing with an overview of the realm, and then a B section focusing on the regions.
There are several characteristics of the book which will be controversial, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. The book assumes an old earth, Darwinian evolutionary theory, which it emphasizes particularly in the section on Subsaharan Africa. It supports climate change, and gives evidence throughout of the warming of the earth, particularly as it effects Russia and the Polar regions. The book frequently covers religious groups, but regularly ignores the presence of Christianity. For example, in the coverage of the Middle East, great attention is given to the history of Islam, but no reference is made to Christianity, which has been in the Middle East longer, and impacted the Byzantine empire, and still exists there as a minority faith. In the section on India, it explains Sikhism and Jainism, but makes no reference to Christianity, although there are more Christians in India than the other two religions. It makes no mention of the rise of Christianity from 2% to 30% in South Korea since 1945.
Despite its Christophobia, the book is a very useful resource for understanding our world.