The Power of Geography
Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World
Tim Marshall
Having read it
★★★★☆
An insightful and interesting read of certain countries, their histories and contemporary current affairs and issues that have been (and are being) driven by the geography they have.
It has a good narrative and flow and it shows many threads that have, can and do affect short- and long-term decisions and happenings to countries successfully and peacefully interacting which makes for a good book showing the actual realities that are presenting a potentially difficult future for all of us.
A good passage
Empires rise, and they fall. Alliances are forged, and then they crumble. The post-Napoleonic Wars settlement in Europe lasted about sixty years; the ‘Thousand-Year Reich’ lasted for just over a decade. It is impossible to know precisely how the balance of power will shift during the coming years. There are undoubtedly economic and geopolitical giants that continue to have huge sway in global affairs: the USA and China, of course, as well as Russia, the collective nations of Europe in the EU, the fast-growing economic power of India. But the smaller nations matter too. Geopolitics involves alliances, and with the world order currently in a state of flux, this is a time when the big powers need small powers on their side as well as vice versa. It gives these countries, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UK, an opportunity to strategically position themselves for future power. For the moment, the kaleidoscope is still being shaken and the pieces have not yet settled.
A second good passage
The waters around the UK continue to play a central role in its culture and national psyche. In recent centuries they have protected it from the excesses of politics and warfare on the European mainland. This partially explains why the sense of belonging to a common European home is not as strong on the island as it is in many EU countries. The carnage of the two huge world wars did not shake the UK in the way it did the mainland. The psychology of separateness had an influence, albeit unquantifiable, on the Brexit vote.
A third good passage
Looking back at this ‘pale blue dot’ from space, as the cosmonauts and astronauts did together then, is a way to dissolve the ‘us and them’ virus which has infected us from the beginning. Space gives us a chance to stretch our minds to the limitlessness of the universe. Humans have always looked up, deep into the night sky, and dreamed. Now we’ve actually reached the high ground; it is manifestly our destiny to go higher, and we will get there more quickly if we do it together.
The sky is not the limit.