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Reviews

Geography Vol 94 Part 3 Autumn 200 Geography 2009

they should be part of a system

extending out into the community to

help develop zero carbon living.

The book is well documented with

many references to websites for

additional information and case

studies. There are also many

diagrams and illustrations

throughout, though the labels on

some can be difficult to read, as can

the generally small typeface used

throughout the book. The style of

writing is very journalistic, and in

some places, more careful editing is

required. Also the boxes that occur

within the text can disrupt the flow of

the argument and the case studies

that one might expect in such a book

are located on the website and only

referred to in the text and chapter

notes at the end of the book. This is

disappointing as an important

message gets lost in poor book

production and writing style.

Ralph Hebden

Sheffield

The Essential EarthThomas H. Jordan

and John Grotzinger

Basingstoke: W.H. Freeman and

Company, 2008

445pp, 23x27.5cm

Pb: 37.99

ISBN 978-1-4292-0429-3

Jordan and Grotzinger view this

world from a geological perspective,

continually amazed by what we

observe (p. 1), and their book, TheEssential Earth, covers huge ground

between thin covers from the origin

of the solar system to mineral

properties and natural hazards. It is

a thorough and well-researched

introductory textbook of geology for

school leavers and undergraduates.

The colour illustrations are

excellent name a diagram and

youll find it here: alluvial bedforms;

the felsic to mafic igneous spectrum;

cross-section through Antarctica;

layers of the atmosphere; styles of

faulting; and hundreds more.

Chapters begin with vivid cameos

(Shipwrecks: Consequences of

coastal geology), and are well-

structured with the key concepts

helpfully explained. The concluding

questions are sometimes less

exciting though (How do aquicludes

form a confined aquifer?).

In the USA, geology Freshmen will

find this text invaluable. It is firmly

North American (an asteroid the size

of Manhattan) and may have less

impact among UK geographers. As a

subset of geology, landforms appear

mainly in Chapters 5 (volcanoes), 10

(climate and glaciation) and 12

(streams, coastlines and wind). This

sometimes highlights the edges of

our box. Where Jordan and Grotzinger

slide neatly from deltas to turbidity

currents, few British geographers

would feel qualified to peer over the

continental shelf.

The electronic version is

outstanding (http://ebooks.bfw

pub.com/essentialearth1e). Its

videos and animations, hyperlinks

and downloadable diagrams should

be a model for other writers who

believe in books but know that

students mostly stare at screens.

Chris Pyle

The Perse School, Cambridge

Marginalisation inChina: Perspectiveson transition andglobalisationEdited byHeather Xiaoquan

Zhang, Bin Wu and Richard

Sanders

Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007

266pp, 16x24cm

Hb: 60.00

ISBN 978-0-7546-4427-9

Given Chinas current position as an

emerging superpower, this is a very

significant book. Its main theme is

the impact of marginalisation in the

country: the ways in which economic,

social and political changes have

meant a transfer of scarce resources

from marginal areas, sectors and

groups to core areas, sectors and

groups for example, from the rural

to the urban and from the people as

a whole to elites.

The book is in two parts, written

by an impressive international group

of 18 contributors. The six chapters

in Part 1 consider China in transition:

in the contexts of inequality, poverty

and marginalisation. There are six

more chapters in Part 2, exploring

the links between marginalisation

and globalisation. Throughout,

complex concepts are tackled in a

highly understandable and readable

manner.

Overall, the book challenges the

notion that the inequalities and

social injustices caused by

modernisation and globalisation in

China are inevitable. A strong case is

made for forcefully tackling the

problems relating to inequity through

institutional changes, social policy

making and effective responses from

both the Chinese state and civil

society. It is acknowledged that some

progress has been made in these

respects, in the early twenty-first

century, by the Chinese Communist

Party. However, the book questions

how much current political rhetoric

can be translated into reality.

This would be an invaluable

library reference source for both A-

Level and undergraduate geography

students. There are copious,

extremely varied and up-to-date

references at the conclusion of each

chapter for those who wish to

research further.

Trevor Higginbottom

Xiehe Education Organisation,

Shanghai

Tourism in China:Destination, culturesand communitiesEdited byChris Ryan and Gu

Huimin

Abingdon: Routledge, 2009

399pp, 16x23.5cm

Hb: 60.00

ISBN 978-0-415-99189-6

Edited by tourism experts from

outside and within the Peoples

Republic of China, this volume haslaudable aims: not only to introduce

issues of tourism development and

destination management to Western

scholars and students, but also to

introduce the work of Chinese

colleagues who rarely obtain a

chance for their work to be published

in English.

The book contains 21 chapters,

with 34 contributors, many from

China. After an introduction that

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