Don't Know Much about Geography: Everything You Need to Know about the World But Never Learned

Version: Abridged
Author: Kenneth C. Davis
Narrator: Kenneth C. Davis
Genres: Science & Technology
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published In: September 1998
# of Units: 3 CDs
Length: 3 hours
Ratings:
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Overview

Was there an Atlantis? What's the smallest country in the world?What's the difference between a jungle and a rain forest? Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don't Know Much About® History, Don't Know Much About® the Civil War and Don't Know Much About® the Bible, turns his inimitable wit and wide-ranging knowledge to the subject of geography, and proves once and for all that there is a lot more to it than labeling countries on a map.

From often amusing perceptions people have had through the ages about the world and the universe to the changing map of today, Davis shows how geography is really a great crossroads of many fields: biology, meteorology, astronomy, history, economics, and even politics. In this lively, entertaining, and endlessly fascinating presentation, you'll hear about the personalities that helped shape the world and learn the answers to questions that have vexed most of us since grade school. Along the way, Davis offers an affectionate ode to the earth: a celebration of the earth, a searching investigation of the destruction of our habitat, and a practical guide to saving our home planet.

For anyone who has felt geographically ignorant ever since gas stations stopped handing out free maps, Don't Know Much About® Geography is enormously informative entertainment.

Selected Reviews

Wish there had been more

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 3/5

It was OK!

by Pamela Buchheit
  • Book Rating: 3/5

More...

Read All 7

Reviews (7)

Wish there had been more

Written by Anonymous on April 10th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 3/5

The book is listed as unabridged, but at the end of the book, the narrator claims the book has been abridged. I hope the narrator is the right one--there was a lot of interesting information in this book, but I wish that a bit more time had been spent in each area. It was fun to listen to, but don't expect to retain much.

It was OK!

Written by Pamela Buchheit on February 10th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 3/5

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great! It did have some really interesting topics. If you've read any of his other books, you'll know how he states a topic or question and follows with a reply. That's how the whole book is designed. It was neat, but some of his topics were uninteresting. I think it may be because it's an older book, written in 1999. It also doesn't get very in depth about any of the topics. He merely gives a very brief summary on each. I'm mixed about this one, you may like it, but you probably won't remember much about it.

Dont know much about Geography

Written by Philly form N.O. on September 9th, 2006

  • Book Rating: 4/5

Very good refresher on the basics of Geographic Concepts. Worth Listening to for anyone.

Don't Know Much About Geography

Written by Johnnyy2k on June 21st, 2006

  • Book Rating: 2/5

This title is not up to par with others in this genre (A Brief History of Almost Everything for example). It lacks the wit to be entertaining, is too shallow to be informative, and contains way too many "Earth Day"-type underpinnings to be taken seriously. Were you aware that the rainforest is being "decimated" or that there is a hole in the ozone??? Even if you have somehow missed that newsflash for the past 30 years, you will be made aware after being reminded of it on several occasions. I'm disappointed to say that you would have to have known squat (what a 6th grader learns) about geography to find much of use here.

Still Don't Know Much About Geography

Written by Dale from Saskaoon, SK on November 11th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 3/5

This is a fairly entertaining audio book, but a lot of it doesn’t seem to have much to do with geography. About a third of the material was about environmentalism and cosmology. Both are fine topics, but not what I was expecting based on the title. Maybe the author ran out of material and filled in with material from his Universe book. The author did a good job presenting geography without maps. If you know absolutely nothing about geography you might have trouble following some of the material on audio book. Topics such as the 7 wonders of the ancient world loose some of their impact without pictures. Again, I am not certain what the 7 wonders have to do with geography. There are topics related to geography, such as what is a peninsula, spit, gulf. Much of it is based on a Guinness Book of World Records style, what is the longest river, biggest desert, most populous city style. Overall, an enjoyable if somewhat rambling book.

Learn Something

Written by Blake on February 8th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 3/5

This book is chock full of information that, most likely, you should have learned in High School. I did pick up something new with most of the explanations, but there were some that went in one ear and out the other. I did also like the breadth of topics it covers. Not sticking with just pure geography, but swirling in how geography shapes economic and political landscapes as well.. Overall it’s a pretty good unless you do happen to remember everything from Geography classes from High School. In that case you may find it a bit repetitive.

Don't Know Mich about Geography

Written by Warren Boroson from Hackensack, NJ on November 2nd, 2004

  • Book Rating: 4/5

Very cleverly done--not just dry facts, but historical vignettes--

Selected Reviews

Wish there had been more

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 3/5

It was OK!

by Pamela Buchheit
  • Book Rating: 3/5

More...

Read All 7

Author Details

Author Details

Davis, Kenneth C.

Kenneth C. Davis is the bestselling author of "America's Hidden History" and "Don't Know Much About(R) History", which spent thirty-five consecutive weeks on the "New York Times" bestseller list, has sold nearly 1.6 million copies, and gave rise to his phenomenal "Don't Know Much About(R)" series for adults and children. He lives in New York City and Dorset, Vermont.