Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation (9th Edition)

Author : Tom L. McKnight Edition : 9 Number of Pages : 720 Publisher : Prentice Hall List Price : $121.00 Amazon Price : $84.98 Used Price : $67.98

Product Description

Carrying forthTom L. McKnight's well-known thematic focus on landscape appreciation, this best-seller fosters a solid understanding of Earth and its physical geography. Its clear, user-friendly writing style, superior art program, and abundant pedagogy appeal to a wide variety of readers. Updates and expands coverage of global environmental change, including a new section on measuring and understanding climate change. Expands section on human alteration of the atmosphere, including ozone depletion and air pollution. Expands sections on tsunamis and human modification of shorelines. A useful reference for anyone interested in physical geography.

Customer reviews

Cd was the bonus by .. Emorie Cox (Lynwood, California)
Buying the book new gives you the opportunity to us the CD that comes with it. And the registration on the book website is also very helpful.

Frustrating read by .. Jonathan Mettin (Philadelphia, PA USA)
This book makes very good use of color, graphics and graphs, which is more than I can say for many textbooks. The information the textbook relays is good, but that is where my praise for this book ends.

With regard to the graphics, the text refers to them often, but more times than not the graphic is not on the page where the referral is (in a few cases, it's not even in the same chapter), causing the reader to constantly be flipping pages to make sense of what the authors are saying. The layout is also all over the place, and in some cases there's a four-line column sandwiched between a picture caption above and a graphic below, and the reader ends up trying to make sense of a paragraph that is completely disjointed before realizing that poor layout caused them to miss a few critical lines that would make the whole idea make sense.

As for the information, the authors all too often say something to the effect of "we'll talk about this later," leaving the reader knowing that this skipped topic is important but still having no grasp of it or how it plays in. And for all the good and interesting information presented, the book has some serious flow issues, making it an alternately difficult and boring read.

If you are looking at this book listing, you most likely are required to get this book for a class. It is in fact cheaper here than in most stores (and definitely cheaper than the campus bookstore), and even the free Super Saver Shipping will get it to your door in under ten days in most cases.

If, however, you are looking for a good textbook for personal reasons, look elsewhere.

my review by .. Crystal L. Guerra (TX, USA)
after ordering the product i recieved an email from the supplier that the product was not in stock and they returned my payment and so i did not recieve the product.

GEO Text by .. Dale H. Cline (Manassas, VA United States)
Perfect condition and quick delivery. It was quicker to order the book then to drive to the campus across town to get it. And cheaper too.

Discovering Physical Geography

Format : Student Edition Author : Alan F. Arbogast Edition : 1 Number of Pages : 656 Publisher : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Amazon Price : $54.99 Used Price : $43.99

Product Description

Physical Geography ( Custom for South Orange Country Community College District )

Author : TOM MCKNIGHT Edition : Custom edition Number of Pages : 443 Publisher : PEARSON Used Price : $10.00

Product Description

Customer reviews

A Fair Attempt by .. William Alexander (Spartanburg, SC)
Although the authors clearly have a deep command and even affection for their subject, the text in this book is often murky. It is a serviceable work for beginners, but certainly not for novices to the area of physical geography. More strict editing and a more "user-friendly" layout in the text are called for, although the graphics do a generally competent job of illustrating more difficult concepts. I would recommend this book with reservations.

BUYERS BE AWARE 8th Edition Published by .. J. Masters (L.A. CA)
Fall 2004 & Spring 2005 Students: the 8th edition of this book is published and comes with a CD, and, in some cases, a free world atlas. Check with your instructor for requirements. In any case, I wouldn't spend $100 for the 7th edition.
Haven't read the book yet, so no rating.

Very well-written and illustrated text with great photos by .. JustMe (Berkeley, CA)
Obviously written by authors who have a deep appreciation for this subject and a desire to pass on their knowledge, this text is useful not just for students of physical geography, but for anyone wanting a deeper understanding of geopolitics, area studies, anthropology, world history, etc. For example, I would have no clue about the culture, history and politics of Central Asia/Afghanistan and vicinity (my area of interest) without having a comprehensive understanding of the physical terrain and climate of this region--and how its inhabitants have adapted to it. I would not have gained this understanding without reading this text.

My only complaint is that I had hoped for more emphasis on environmental issues. The authors may feel that this is beyond the scope of an introductory text; but problems such as the shrinking Aral Sea and tropical rainforest destruction are so widely catastrophic that I believe they deserve greater attention and understanding even at the introductory level.

still on my bookshelf by .. Corin Goodwin (GiftedHomeschoolers.org)
I remember this book from when I was an undergraduate, lo these many years ago (OK, so it was an earlier edition)! I'm glad to see it is still available and updated -- I enjoyed it then and I am using it now in answering the questions my children throw at me.

This is an excellent resource book. I probably wouldn't pick it up as a light read at bedtime, but if you are interested in this topic you could do far worse than to get _Physical Geography_.

Book is conundrum by .. Todd O. Johnson (Lexington, KY United States)
Suffice it to say, this text is awful, an arduous task to understand and conceptualize. I'm taking a lower level geography course with this book as the primary text and find myself ready to punch a wall when attempting to read.

Physical Geography: Science and Systems of the Human Environment

Author : Alan H. Strahler Edition : 3 Number of Pages : 816 Publisher : Wiley Amazon Price : $65.39 Used Price : $19.00

Product Description

Visualizing Physical Geography (VISUALIZING SERIES)

Author : Alan H. Strahler Edition : 1 Number of Pages : 624 Publisher : Wiley Amazon Price : $65.00 Used Price : $59.50

Product Description

Customer reviews

Great Book with Awesome Pictures! by .. lpete (Virginia)
I purchased this book for my Geography class, and I have found it to be very informative. The National Geographic pictures are great and really help to "visualize" the information. The text is easy to read and understand. The visuals are helpful. I really like that it gives definitions of all of the vocab words off to the side of the text so I can easily understand it. Love the pictures!

Great Graphics, Nice Textbook by .. Dr. Mud (Saginaw, Michigan)
This book is a great addition to the list of Physical Geography textbooks. The images and figures are large, high quality, and really help make the material more understandable -- as was the intent! Over all, the text in the book is well written. Alan Stahler is no newcomer to textbook authoring. I have used some of his other Physical Geography texts in my classes before and found them to be just fine. For the most part, Physical Geography textbooks are all quite well written, and are very similar in content. In my experience they are almost interchangeable -- all very good, but none really outstanding, Strahler's other texts included. This book is different, and much better, because of the "visual" approach. I have one major complaint, though (which resulted in my 4-star rating): Strahler's treatment of climate zones. Why does he not follow the Koppen Climate Classification system? I treat climate zones and their associated biomes as the foundation of my class. The Koppen system is logical, understandable, and students can more easily understand how climates are classified by using temperature and precipitation variables. I like the Koppen system! Strahler disregards this system and imposes his own. Gone are the two- or three-letter disignations which, themselves, explain how each zone is classified and where (with respect to latitude) each is located. Strahler's classificaion by names only is not as useful, period. The collaboration with National Geographic, and their great images, is wonderful, and makes the textbook something great. The actual text is good, like every other physical geography textbook, but I find the Stahler approach to climate zones to be quite irritating.