Ketchall et al

Misguided semi-geniuses: Need for education and rubbing elbows with peers? as a check .

Book Reviews' Review --- January 31

Deforesting the Earth: Is there an abridged abridged version? Or a review in the form of a summarizing article?

In Defense of Food: What we all know in one place. We all agree with it. And we will read it while sipping a soda as we get depressed finding out that even more official places have been bamboozling us with self-interested advice.

Glacken: The book seems to be a narrative recap of Western thoughts. I could not tell from the review if the Chinese contemporary of Malthus was actually mentioned in the book or if the reviewer extended Western thought to include China, or if the Carl Lewis' Medieval Model could have been extrapolated from pre-1800 materials. So did the reviewer expect to find more in what he concedes is already a heavy volume not pandering to easy conclusions?
..... It appears that this substantial book may be more useful for Western Traditions / Humanities studies, than as a resource for Geographic studies except as a tool for well-rounded thinking. Yet, the reviewer is a geographer.

Peirce Lewis Reading

.....This article made me go and look up Wilbur Zelinsky and realize much more than the sample article his place in cultural geography. The main point from the article beside getting acquainted with WZ is the emphasis that is brought out regarding field work: go look for and figure out the answer.

.....Small puzzle: Why does Lewis mention that it was an overall relief when WZ stepped down as head of the department? This act as an antithesis to his whole upbeat paper.

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1975 Phograph of Wilbur Zelinsky

http://www.amergeog.org/gr/apr06/wood.html

Zelinsky Reading

.....This excerpt comes from a 1951 publication, a time when the Civil Rights Movement edges toward a critical point. What were the reason for this research? Was is strictly scholarly or did it have other motives behind it? As a general rule, the geographer or other researcher needs to give some serious considerations to the uses and consequences of their work. As we identify and observe a phenomenon and bring attention to it, are we also creating or recreating it?

.....The survey has become significant mostly for historical purpose. The mobility of the American population, the influx of immigrants, the changing nature of the economy have transformed the South, so that it would be interesting to compare "The concept of the Solid South [that] is firmly entrenched in the public consciousness," (178) with the reality of the current South, and to determine where and how much this Solid South is still prevalent.
..... The nature of the changes in the region demands very different categories to define the region. Vehicle choices should replace the mule/horse debate. Mobile homes and trailers used as residence, as well as air conditioned homes designed at the national level would have to be included. There is in this article no use of patterns in food or drink selections, something which can still be effectively done today. There would also need to be a specific treatment of large urban areas to see how they differ among themselves and from their counterpart elsewhere.

.....Of interest in this article is also the reminder of how far we have come in graphic presentation : we have been mostly liberated from the use of hachures in maps. But we should also appreciate the difficulty and the work involved in these maps.
.....Of special interest, is the use of an Edward Tufte sparkline (173) much before Mr Tufte advocated their reincarnation. This little gem will be forwarded to him.

.....The main lesson to be drawn from this article is the questions of boundaries. As we create or firm up delineations, are we creating a source for problems? See the partition of the Middle East after WWI, various demarcation lines, and the break up of Yugoslavia. Can a boundary even be all inclusive, or will it always have an element of arbitrariness?

Pitty Patter

..... Footsteps are heard on the other side of the dark space. They stop.
Knock Knock
..... Silence
Knock Knock
..... More silence. The light mechanical noise of door knob turning is heard
and some light reaches into the darkness from around a shadow.
......A query slinks heavily toward the end of the lighted space.
Anyone there?
..... Silence.
Anyone there?
..... The noise of an exponential number of switches being yanked swallows the darkness.

HA HA GOTCHA

..... and fades to the echo of a frantically beating heart.

WELCOME TO BLOG WORLD

..... All is big. All is bright. Except for the little dot made by the shadow.
..... All is quiet, but for a murmur.

What now?

..... Is the space growing or the spot shrinking as it crouches and gathers onto itself:

What now?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . What now?
........................................................................................................ What now?