Why in The World: Adventures in Geograhy

Anchor Books, 1992

A MAN WHO ONCE held the unique title of Geographer of the United States, George Demko is Dartmouth's public-policy impresario, bringing in top thinkers on topics ranging from the global environment to the future of state government. Now, in this global romp of a book, he convincingly argues that geography is to space what history is to time, an analysis of "the why of an ever-changing universe." Although Demko scorns the memorization of trivia that burdens the study of geography in high schools, facts and weird maps make this book a brilliant source of dinnertime conversation. The reader will impress spouse and friends with great stories about killer bees, which country telecommunicates more than any other, the most disputed rock in the world, Napoleon's biggest geographic mistakes, and why, geographically speaking, a straight line isn't always the shortest distance between two points.

Demko knows killer bees.

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A MAN WHO ONCE HELD the unique title of Geographer ofthe United States, Demko is a public-policy impresario.