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Rating: 
Summary: Carol, Michigan Human Resources Rep.
Review: Complete Idiot's Guide to Geography is a pleasure to have on my shelf as a reference. The broad arrayy of descriptions has given my kids and I many interesting nights at the dinner table. It gives us an approachable avenue to a subject my kids previously found hard to grasp. Thanks Tom! What is next?
Rating: 
Summary: Too Many Errors
Review: geography overview made interesting in this format presented
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Summary: Very concise but not interesting in application.
Review: I have taught high school geography for 10 years and this book covers the basic facts for all the countries, but I do not believe this is what geography is all about. The real "fun" in geography is applying the facts to the real world. Why does Pakistan and India not get along? Why might the U.S. be willing to go to war with China over Taiwan? What does Latin America and South Africa have in common? How has physical geography influenced how Europeans have related to western Africans? Facts are great but geography is about using the facts to answer the big questions. This book does not make the jump from facts to application.
Rating: 
Summary: Good guide with one exception
Review: I was extremely disappointed with this book. I was truly looking for a geography book for idiots. What I was hoping for was a book that I could go to a map of any country and see important cities, rivers, mountains and other pertinent facts. This is not that book. The Index is HORRIBLE! I do crossword puzzles and they often have clues for relatively unknown countries. You cannot find them is this book. The index does not list all of the countries, and if they are listed the maps are terrible. The maps are very small and use real fine print. I have 20/20 vision and absolutely cannot read the names of cities on these maps. I cannot say enough bad about this book. This IS NOT a book for geographical idiots.
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Summary: Great book for people that don't know geography!
Review: If you don't know geography, then this book is for you! This is the place to start at least. Most of the country desciptions are very short, but it doesn't matter that much because the book covers the whole world and it's hard to remember a lot of information about each country.
Rating:
Summary: Too Many Errors
Review: In addition to several mistakes mentioned by other reviewers, I would like to draw attention to the nearly useless "Former Yugoslavia" section. While having a single section for the five new countries may have may arguably have *some* sense when the book was originally published in 1997, it certainly doesn't now. While some of the countries were heavily affected by ethnic strife -- as the author keeps pointing out -- Slovenia, bordering Italy, Croatia, Austria and Hungary, has been an economic success story and will be joining the EU on May 1st. Its experience over the past decade has been completely diferent than, say, Bosnia, but the reader of this book is never told that. The country doesn't even get its own listing, as the author was still stuck in the old "Former Yugoslavia" mindset when the book was written.The idea behind the book is good, but if the volume simply reinforces some misconceptions and fails to provide any true insight in the subject matter, it doesn't accomplish its task, no matter how worthwile it may be. In other words, I doesn't deserve anything more than one star.
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Summary: Idiots Guide to Geography
Review: The task of educating a reader on the subject of global geography in a one volume text is daunting to say the least. The author has concentrated his efforts in providing a synopsis of global geography. The book is divided into four parts. The first provides an overview of geography that introduces the terminology and basic maps reading skills. The second and third parts include a total of twenty chapters dedicated to describing and illustrating the geographical features of the earth. Only major geographic features are presented in these chapters. The reader should not expect descriptions of smaller features. For example the chapter discussing North America is accomplished in twelve pages. But at the end of those twelve pages the reader should have a mental sketch of the terrain including major rivers, mountain ranges, surrounding bodies of water, bordering countries and large lakes. Reciting and locating Canada's ten provinces and two territories will also be a much easier task. The final part of the book deals with population growth and environmental issues that effect our planet. Minimal information is provided on the cultural and social aspects of each geographic region. This exclusion has been noted as an oversight or deficiency by previous reviewer's. However if I may retort, the author has developed a reference book that strictly follows the definition of geography. Geography is defined as the study of the earth and it's features. Certainly these features affect how we interact with each other but any attempt to touch upon them is beyond the scope of this book. Readers should refer to geography books pertaining to the specific region of interest for detailed information regarding the relationships of those cultures. For those searching for detailed information on specific regions will also find this book inadequate and ultimately be disappointed. The books weakness is that the maps are black and white, very simplistic and unexciting. Overall the book provides an excellent geographical overview of the earth and is recommended for those readers who are looking to recapture what they have forgotten since high school geography.
Rating:
Summary: Sun-Tzu1
Review: The task of educating a reader on the subject of global geography in a one volume text is daunting to say the least. The author has concentrated his efforts in providing a synopsis of global geography. The book is divided into four parts. The first provides an overview of geography that introduces the terminology and basic maps reading skills. The second and third parts include a total of twenty chapters dedicated to describing and illustrating the geographical features of the earth. Only major geographic features are presented in these chapters. The reader should not expect descriptions of smaller features. For example the chapter discussing North America is accomplished in twelve pages. But at the end of those twelve pages the reader should have a mental sketch of the terrain including major rivers, mountain ranges, surrounding bodies of water, bordering countries and large lakes. Reciting and locating Canada's ten provinces and two territories will also be a much easier task. The final part of the book deals with population growth and environmental issues that effect our planet. Minimal information is provided on the cultural and social aspects of each geographic region. This exclusion has been noted as an oversight or deficiency by previous reviewer's. However if I may retort, the author has developed a reference book that strictly follows the definition of geography. Geography is defined as the study of the earth and it's features. Certainly these features affect how we interact with each other but any attempt to touch upon them is beyond the scope of this book. Readers should refer to geography books pertaining to the specific region of interest for detailed information regarding the relationships of those cultures. For those searching for detailed information on specific regions will also find this book inadequate and ultimately be disappointed. The books weakness is that the maps are black and white, very simplistic and unexciting. Overall the book provides an excellent geographical overview of the earth and is recommended for those readers who are looking to recapture what they have forgotten since high school geography.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok, but where's the rest of it?
Review: This book is good for someone that has no idea where Canada is but it falls short due to errors and cultural information. The amount of facts could be located in the CIA World Factbook. A geography book shouldn't just allude to national GDPs but to the traditions, cultures and people that make each one unique. This book glosses over these things too quickly and stresses political and economic factors. Whilst important, they are not the only things constituting nations.
Rating:
Summary: Ok, but where's the rest of it?
Review: This book is good for someone that has no idea where Canada is but it falls short due to errors and cultural information. The amount of facts could be located in the CIA World Factbook. A geography book shouldn't just allude to national GDPs but to the traditions, cultures and people that make each one unique. This book glosses over these things too quickly and stresses political and economic factors. Whilst important, they are not the only things constituting nations.
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