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You Are Here: A Brief Guide to the World
One word binds us geography. We are all geographers, human beings who care about the places we think of as 'home' - our habitat. And yet we have lost touch with the connection between our actions and the state of the planet that we all share. We need a new narrative that restores the connections between humanity and the Earth. We are being confronted by a daily barrage of geographical stories on climate change, geopolitics, population growth, migration, dwindling resources, polluted oceans and natural hazards. These are planetary concerns affecting all people and all places. They are challenges which can be addressed through geography.In this short but powerful book, Nicholas Crane makes the compelling case that never has geography been so important. On this finite orb, with its battered habitat, sustained in dark space by a thin, life-giving atmosphere, we have reached a point in our collective geographical journey where knowledge is the best guarantor of the future.[ published in hardback as YOU ARE HERE]
- GenresNonfictionGeography
110 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2018
10 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Nicholas Crane
32 books26 followersDistilled from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas... accessed 07-Aug-2012:
Nicholas Crane (born 6 May 1954) is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster was born in Hastings, East Sussex, but grew up in Norfolk. He attended Wymondham College from 1967 until 1972, then Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT), a forerunner to Anglia Ruskin University, where he studied Geography.
In his youth he went camping and hiking with his father and explored Norfolk by bicycle which gave him his enthusiasm for exploration. In 1986 he located the pole of inaccessibility for the Eurasia landmass travelling with his cousin Richard; their journey being the subject of the book “Journey to the Centre of the Earth.”
He married Annabel Huxley in 1991. They live in Chalk Farm in north-west London and have three children.
In 1992/3 he embarked on an 18-month solo journey, walking 10,000 kilometres from Cape Finisterre to Istanbul. He recounted that expedition in his book “Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe” which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1997. He made a television self-documentary of the journey in “High Trails to Istanbul” (1994).
Together with Richard Crane he was awarded the 1992 Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his journeys in Tibet, China, Afghanistan and Africa.
His 2000 book “Two Degrees West” described his walk across Great Britain in which he followed the eponymous meridian as closely as possible. More recently he published a biography of Gerard Mercator, the great Flemish cartographer.
In November 2007 he debated the future of the English countryside with Richard Girling, Sue Clifford, Richard Mabey and Bill Bryson as part of CPRE's annual Volunteers Conference
Since 2004 he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town.
Nicholas Crane (born 6 May 1954) is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster was born in Hastings, East Sussex, but grew up in Norfolk. He attended Wymondham College from 1967 until 1972, then Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT), a forerunner to Anglia Ruskin University, where he studied Geography.
In his youth he went camping and hiking with his father and explored Norfolk by bicycle which gave him his enthusiasm for exploration. In 1986 he located the pole of inaccessibility for the Eurasia landmass travelling with his cousin Richard; their journey being the subject of the book “Journey to the Centre of the Earth.”
He married Annabel Huxley in 1991. They live in Chalk Farm in north-west London and have three children.
In 1992/3 he embarked on an 18-month solo journey, walking 10,000 kilometres from Cape Finisterre to Istanbul. He recounted that expedition in his book “Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe” which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1997. He made a television self-documentary of the journey in “High Trails to Istanbul” (1994).
Together with Richard Crane he was awarded the 1992 Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his journeys in Tibet, China, Afghanistan and Africa.
His 2000 book “Two Degrees West” described his walk across Great Britain in which he followed the eponymous meridian as closely as possible. More recently he published a biography of Gerard Mercator, the great Flemish cartographer.
In November 2007 he debated the future of the English countryside with Richard Girling, Sue Clifford, Richard Mabey and Bill Bryson as part of CPRE's annual Volunteers Conference
Since 2004 he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 19, 2022
The first half of the book is integral reading for any prospective A-Level geographer. The last chapter adds nothing new to the genre, but most weird are the two chapters on Chinese palaeo-cartographic examples wedged in the middle. Peculiar.
February 11, 2019
4.5.
The book reads like a rather delightfully written long essay on how geography connects all of us, beyond simply the bits of land that we choose to occupy. It starts of rather poetic in its description of nature and the interconnectedness of geological systems.
However, the curse of our times is climate change, and there isn’t really a poetic way to talk about that, is there? As Crane moves into the recent past, the present and the future, his writing goes from poetic observations on nature to.. well, some amount of anger and fear. And who can blame him, really?
This book is written for the layperson, not an expert. Each chapter reads a bit like a synopsis of a lengthier book; and, speaking as a layperson, I would gladly read a whole book on each topic, especially if they are written in such accessible language.
The book reads like a rather delightfully written long essay on how geography connects all of us, beyond simply the bits of land that we choose to occupy. It starts of rather poetic in its description of nature and the interconnectedness of geological systems.
However, the curse of our times is climate change, and there isn’t really a poetic way to talk about that, is there? As Crane moves into the recent past, the present and the future, his writing goes from poetic observations on nature to.. well, some amount of anger and fear. And who can blame him, really?
This book is written for the layperson, not an expert. Each chapter reads a bit like a synopsis of a lengthier book; and, speaking as a layperson, I would gladly read a whole book on each topic, especially if they are written in such accessible language.
December 25, 2021
A short book about geography, and how the science of geography has and does shape human life and communication. 120 pages to cover such a vast topic is perhaps not nearly enough, but gives a good introduction.
February 20, 2022
This was an interesting little book with a focus on climate change. The author stresses the importance of a knowledge of basic geography in understanding the world we live in, and the urgency of curbing our impact on its ecosystems.
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October 28, 2020Super informative. The chapter considering urbanization has paved the way for new ideas introduced in my English class. Tribute to the author.
November 21, 2018
Crane definitely loves Geography, but he doesn't point out too many interesting new insights for Geography students, nor does he really point out how geographers could critically analyze the world or the subject itself. It still is a pleasant read and definitely shows the importance of geographical knowledge in today's world.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews