Welcome to Litsy!

The author looks at various countries around the world and shows how their geography helps or hinders them in their attempts to expand, develop, or defend themselves. Fascinating and a welcome aid to understanding the stories behind the news.

#sunshinewellness #bookclubchoice

This was interesting, but dated at this point- it was published in 2016. I read it for #FoodAndLit #SouthKorea but the Latin American chapter was my favorite.

⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This is a very informative book about geopolitics, but it is too out of date at this point. Thus, I spent a lot of time researching the timeline and further development of various conflicts and economic interests between 2015 and today. I would love to read an updated version and wonder if one is in the works. I'm hesitant to rate it a Pick for this reason, but it's still a decent starting point for understanding geopolitics!

Tim Marshall makes geopolitics easy to understand by personifying countries and regions, telling the stories of their history and motivations in a relatable way. He sometimes strays too far into giving his own opinions, but I learned so much about the world that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who dreads the geography questions in a pub quiz.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Been having a tough time recently with one thing and another. Resuming Litsy + bath bomb time to try to ease the strain a little. This bomb is from Lush. It made a delicious pattern as it dissolved 🛁📚🗺️🌎

Broad high level discussion of 10 most pressing current geo-political border conflicts on the globe. I say discussion because author‘s biases were annoyingly obvious. 20 -30 pages is not enough to provide a meaningful understanding of any of these hotspots, but for a 10,000 foot view or initial introduction, it was okay.

#bookspinbingo
#September2022

6/10

This is a relevant book for now. For someone with not much understanding of the subject, it was easy to understand and enjoyable to read.

Here is my Bookspin for October! @TheAromaofBooks

Contemplated recycling last month's list as I've not done very well this month... but then I realised how many books I've bought since then, so probably not going to be able to resist 😁

Hope I can dive into it for October! I've got a few secret favourites that I'm hoping come up in the bookspin draw 😅

This book explains the history, sociology, psychology, inventions, wars, political manoeuvrings and much more about our world today, as seen through the lens of geography. I wish I‘d learned this back in school as it would have saved me a lot of head scratching since then. But hey, everyday‘s a school day, right? Learn something new every day! 💡

understands the geographical borders of the countries around the world and the problems arise

This is an interesting look at how geography and, in some cases, the arbitrary drawing of lines, has impacted the success, behaviors and even existence of many of the world‘s countries. I learned a lot from it. I‘m using it for #India, but it would also work for China, Japan, the Koreas, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Israel.

#ReadingAsia2021

Interesting Non-fiction that explains how geography leads to political issues and positioning.

“Why do you think your values would work in a culture you don‘t understand?”

Getting all my ducks in a row ready for #ReadingAsia2021 😉 👍

@Lucy_Anywhere you were right, this is a fascinating intro into geopolitics! I haven‘t studied anything like this since undergrad 20 years ago.

It was interesting to look both back and forward at the natural and drawn borders of countries and how this shapes global human, governmental, and resource interactions. 4⭐️

@TheAromaofBooks This is my actual #bookspin 👍🏻

Here‘s my card! I swear I will not get caught up in #BookspinBingo...again...lol. 😂 It was really great for my #TBR though. 👍🏻

Thank you once again, Sarah!

(Cindy, I finally did fall asleep! 😂😂)

What an entry in the geo-politics field! ❤ I'm fairly new to this perspective and it's so informative.
"In peacetime, most of the world is getting ready for war." A funny world we live in ???
#politics #geography #world #nonfiction

Just finished this book, and I dont want to add any spoilers in my review, but it was a surprisingly interesting book! It explains in layman's terms how political decisions are mainly affected by geological constraints, which is something I never really had that clearly in my head. At first, I was worried it would be a dry book, but the author does a wonderful job explaining everything in a way it makes it fun! I recommend it for sure!

A nice introduction on how geography influences history. I think he may try to cover too much and sacrifices depth.

This was an interesting read for me, but mostly because after the first two chapters I was reading it from a critical viewpoint to identify all of the author's terrible biases. History and current events seem roughly accurate (I'm not a history scholar), but always presented through an imperialistic perspective and glossing over social aspects of historical geography. Not recommended except from a critical standpoint.

Vladimir Putin says he is a religious man, a great supporter of the Russian Orthodox Church. If so, he may go to bed each night, say his prayers and ask God: 'Why didn't you put some mountains in Ukraine?' #firstlinefridays

The chapter on Africa is infuriating. The DRC's mineral wealth "condems it to bring exploited by outsiders", but South Africa's advanced development is due to "its natural wealth of gold, silver and coal". The impact of slavery on the continent's economy gets one paragraph, 90% of which is dedicated to explaining that Europeans didn't invent slavery! The Arabs did it first and "the Europeans followed suit"! Jesus Christ!

Argh, no! I am so sick of this fallacy! People in agricultural and industrialized societies spend a HUGE proportion of time on acquiring basic food and shelter compared with hunter/gatherer societies. This has been WELL documented. Agricultural led to LESS leisure time, not more. And there is ample evidence of "ideas" (art, philosophy, political systems) in non-agricultural cultures. This is such imperialistic BS.

I was really enjoying this until got to the chapter on the USA. Falls into standard rhetoric traps denying agency to the Native Nations of the region ( e.g. "Their descendents would go on the deny the native inhabitants their freedom, but that was not the intention of the first settlers." ) And then some anti-Mexican rhetoric ("it's proximity causes America problems, as it feeds its northern neighbor's appetite for illegal labour and drugs").

Fascinating geopolitical look at our planet. How the natural world impacts on politics and people.

A Journey around the World

Geography is everything and this book is fantastic so far, especially while snuggling with my dog and a hot cup of coffee on a lazy Sunday morning.

#Firstpicture #PrisonersofGeography #TimMarshall #NonFiction #Maps #Geopolitics

Not sure how or why this arrived on my doorstop but I‘m pretty pumped up. Perhaps it‘s #JolabokaflodSwap ?

I don‘t regret buying this book and hope to read Tim Marshall‘s other titles! The chapter on China was very informative and much needed considering China‘s fast growing Economy, the Belt and Road initiative, the occupation of Xinjiang and the recently leaked documents about the Chinese Concentration Camps in East Turkistan. #prisonersofgeography

Like some other people mentioned, some chapters are more interesting than the others, and some chapters are just informative (without so much of arguments). But the author covers different aspects not only the « geographic » parts but cultural part for example, and I learned a lot (I like the Africa and the Middle East chapters); I enjoyed reading this book and I will try to read it again soon.

This is my current read & first Litsy. It got off to a good start. Some chapters were more interesting than chapters. I felt other chapters had facts I considered irrelevant as far as the title of the book & country are concerned. I have the blue cover edition. Sometimes I just stare at how pretty the book is. I can't wait to finish it. I would definitely recommend picking it up. This is a book to read to discover what the media does not cover.

I'm still (so painfully slooowly) working on this. In the last few days I've read the Africa and Middle East sections which were both infuriating. This book is informative but it gets a bit dry for me so it's both interesting and a struggle to read. I'll be putting it aside again for a few weeks.

#getoutthemap #lilithjuly @KarenUK @Cinfhen

Straight to the point and hugely educational. A must-read!

I'm reading about geopolitics and the section on China begins thusly. I'm partly amused by the turns of phrase and partly alarmed that I keep running into this US/ China/ South China Sea problem every few days since my daughter was stationed in Guam! 😠😫😭
Worry aside, this chapter on China is fascinating.

I'm finding this slow going yet interesting. I'm only through the first chapter (Russia) and it's already opened my mind to new ideas about the way countries relate to one another.

Up next

Struggled to get through this. Extremely dry writing on a very interesting topic.

Subway reads 🚇📘 Should be a quick read on an interesting topic.