Geography For Dummies
by Charles Heatwole
Foreword by Ruth I. Shirey
Geography For Dummies
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
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Copyright 2002 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Library of Congress Control Number: 2002100155
ISBN: 0-7645-1622-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
1O/SW/QY/QS/IN
About the Author
Charles Heatwole is Professor of Geography and Chairperson of the Department of Geography at Hunter College of CUNY. He holds a B.A. in Social Studies Education from Florida Atlantic University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Geography from Michigan State University. In between those schools he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. He attributes his affinity for geography to a childhood passion for stamp collecting, frequent family relocations pursuant to his fathers work as a defense contractors field representative, and a superb high school geography teacher.
Charlies research has focused on cultural geography, and especially the geography of religion. He has also been involved in geographic education, serving five years as co-coordinator of the New York Geographic Alliance a teacher training network affiliated with the National Geographic Societys Geography Education Program. In that, and subsequent capacities, he has helped organize and conduct numerous workshops and institutes devoted to the teaching of geography.
Charles lives in Manhattan with his wife, Debbie, and daughter, Mary. He enjoys jogging and, of course, travel. His favorite professional activity is teaching Geography 101.
Dedication
In grateful memory of the 343 members of the New York City Fire Department who perished in the events of September 11, 2001 and two very dear people from the National Geographic Society, Mr. Joe Ferguson and Ms. Ann Judge, who were aboard the airliner that struck the Pentagon.
Authors Acknowledgments
This is the place where authors wax humble about how they couldnt have done blah blah blah without the help of Tom, Dick, and Harry. Well, theres a reason for that: they couldnt have.
Thanks must go first of all to Carolyn Krupp, my agent at IMG Literary. It was she who telephoned out of the blue to tell me about this project and why I was the person to do it. To this day I have no idea how she got my name or number. In any event, Thanks, Carolyn.
At Hungry Minds, Inc., thanks also go to Linda Brandon, my editor, and Roxane Cerda, the acquisitions editor for this book. Both ladies were extremely helpful, encouraging, and patient when I needed it most. Through the magic of modern electronics, I was able to complete this book without ever meeting Linda and Roxanne face-to-face. Indeed, to this day I dont know what either of them looks like. Ladies, I hope we meet someday. At the very least, I owe you lunch.
I thank everybody at Hunter College who indulged me in ways great and small while I was writing this. In my case at least, writing a book and being department chairperson proved incompatible. Something had to give; and more often than not it was my professional duties. Special thanks, therefore, are due to Anthony Grande, Assistant to the Chair, for doing so many little things that added up to a lot of time for me to work on this. Thanks also to my departmental colleagues Allan Frei, Ines Miyares, and Randye Rutberg for supplying several essential tidbits of information.
It has been my privilege to be acquainted with a number of outstanding K-12 teachers. Among other things, they taught me how much easier it is to borrow an idea than to invent one. I suspect this manuscript contains several quips and ideas which, though they popped up in my mind, probably originated in one of theirs. Proper attribution escapes me, so Ill just say, Thanks to you all.
I want to thank all of the students I have had in my classes at Hunter College over the years. So much of this book is an outgrowth of classroom experience things you say and do in class as a result of years of trial and error. If this book communicates effectively in whole or part, then much credit is due to the thousands of student guinea pigs who sat through my lectures.
Finally and most of all, thanks to my wife and daughter, Debbie and Mary, for being so loving, supportive, and basically putting up with this. They spent a lot of time together while daddy hunkered down. I was away too long.
Publishers Acknowledgments
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