A friend of mine recommended this book to me as right up my street. How right he was!

You cannot put it down once you start reading. It tells the story of how the success or otherwise of a nation is largely down to geographical features, also explaining why wars & territorial disputes start and never really go away.

How important mountains & jungles & deserts are for natural defence, how desire for an ice-free port leads to land grabs, how the USA has coined the lot thanks to two great oceans, a giant network of navigable rivers, a seismic mountain range and the ability to do deals in buying Alaska & Hawaii.

No wonder Greenland/Denmark are so nervy, as well as Latin America/Caribbean being on permanent alert.

The book centres on Russia, China, USA, Western Europe, Africa, Middle East, India & Pakistan, Korea & Japan, Latin America and the Arctic region.

There are many fascinating facts throughout the book. I won’t reveal them all, but the notion that Africa is far bigger in relative terms to other continents than depicted on conventional maps amazed me.

There are other books in the series, plus a quiz book to make sure you have been paying attention!

Highly recommended.