The Power of Geography Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World by Tim Marshall

​   This is my second read by the author and by now I’m convinced that what Tim Marshall doesn’t know about geopolitics isn’t worth knowing. Which is to say that you can give yourself a splendid, thorough and ingenious look into the makings of the world by reading Marshall’s books.
    Worth Dying For was a terrific look at the significance of flags in nation building. This book, a fourth in his series on geopolitics, follows up Prisoners of Geography (which I would love to read some day if our library ever gets their sh*t together and acquires any of the authors books) in contemplating the significance of individual geographical specifics and the way they shape and inform the nations therein.
    It isn’t reductive and it isn’t determinism, geography is a serious matter. Not enough water and you’re easily ruined, then again same goes for too much water. Mountainous regions may make your country tough to invade, but it’ll also present numerous challenges for goods distribution, transportation, etc. within. Got natural resources? Good. But are they the kind the world is trying to get away from, like oil? Are you handling them properly or letting others exploit them for you? And so on and so forth.
     Marshall spans continents to cover the world at mercy of its geography and then takes it all the way to space, because that is after all, the final frontier and people are inevitable going to want to do that thing that always do with frontiers…mess with them.
      I follow politics, read the news daily, read books about the subject, so a lot of it isn’t new to me, but even if you’re familiar with the facts and data, there’s still so much to be gained from reading this book to have a real expert, someone with real life/real place boots in the dirt experience like Marshall, who is also a first class mind and an intelligent, engaging and even humorous author to interpret these facts and data and to weave them into a cohesive narrative stretching from well into the past right into the speculative plausible future. It’s a first rate education burrito wrapped in a smart, well informed and terrifically informative narrative tortilla. Bleak as all get out, but then again, that’s politics for you. Great read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.