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Prisoners of Geography – Tim Marshall

This is by far the best book I have read this year. Despite the crazy work schedule during the week that I was reading this book, I just couldn’t put it down, or rather, hit the pause button. Of course, the fact that there were only 5 days before the library loan ended also motivated me to listen to the book at breakneck speed. I took every single chance that I got – daily walks, lunch and tea breaks, short breaks between work calls and tasks, before going to sleep, while doing household chores. In the words of the social scientist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, I was in the flow (more on Mihaly’s book Flow to follow in another book review)

 

The book is a captivating take on how geography plays a pivotal role in political strategies of nations. The author, Tim Marshall, is a journalist and explains strategies of various countries beautifully and systematically. He takes us through 10 maps to explain the global politics – Russia, China, USA, Latin America, Western Europe, Africa, Middle East, India & Pakistan, Korea & Japan and finally the Arctic. A lot of the moves by countries, that until now used to puzzle me, make complete sense now (duh!!). Being an Indian, the one region about which I knew pretty much everything that the author knows, was, not surprisingly, India & Pakistan.

 

I wish our history and geography lessons in school were taught this way. I used to hate memorizing  events, movements, people, dates and countries, physical features, imports, exports. Were it not for the end of year exams, I would have happily not opened my History and Geography textbooks at all. But, I was a changed person while reading this book - I kept browsing maps to learn about the boundaries, physical features and neighbouring countries as I was listening to each nation’s history. What a fun and great way to learn! What are you waiting for? Buy, beg, borrow or steal and read (listen to) the book.

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