Customer Reviews

Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Country Facts That Helped Me Win the National Geographic Bee

5 star:		(5)
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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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Thought it was interesting that all of the other reviews are by kids who know Andrew personally...

This book was bought for my school library and I quickly realized that all of the information given is available in almost any encyclopedia or website. Token details on each country and while the information is there and in one place, it really isn't worth the purchase price.

I showed it to our geography teacher and he basically said that it was OK, but certainly not something he would use a lot.

This book is crazy awesome! It has all the information that one would ever need about geography. Everything from basic facts to unique details about an assortment of countries is neatly compiled into an easy to use guide. Anyone remotely intersted in geography should buy this book. Also anyone that needs to know anything about geopgraphy for a class or report should buy this book. It is worth much more than it costs!

I bought the book to study for my school Geography Bee. I recieved the bok the next day and began reading it. The book is arranged in alphabetical order for all 193 countries. My school geography bee was less than a month away when I started studying but it paid off. I won my school geography bee with ease. Later that week Itook the Qualifying test for state level. After my principal sent in my test i checked my answers and had a great score. This book is a great study tool for any kind of geography.

I purchased Afghanistan to Zimbabwe last year along with other study resources before the bee season. I use it often, now that I'm preparing for the State bee, but as I look through it I realize that everything in the book is from an almanac or World Factbook. There is no information in the book that takes more than a tiny bit of researching, it seems like the author copied it right out of the almanac. Come to think of it, I could write something like this, and I've never won the National Geographic Bee. Afganistan to Zimbabwe has limited information, although I must say it is still useful and I can't say putting this book together was easy. It is a somewhat helpful but very unessential study guide.

I read this book and found it very informative. One of my friend's son used this along with National Geographic Bee Study Guide, Geography Bee Complete Preparation Handbook and the mygeotrivia website to prepare for the Geography Bee contest.

This book really is great. If you are looking for a reference book for ANY type of social studies, geography, history, area studies or just any class at all, this should make your wish-list. It is laid out well in an appealing format, and the information is all there. The author compiled it to study for the National Geography Bee, and then went on to win both that competition and even the International Geography Competition. I know him personally, and he put a ton of work into this book. It truly shows, and this book is definitely worth waht is charged. This book is a must for schools, as it will help anyone to study anything at all pertaining to geography or world cultures. I enjoyed reading this book, and I wholeheartedly believe you will too.

There is some controversy about "Afghanistan to Zimbabwe". Is it an awesome study guide that can help you win the national geobee or is it a stripped down book of commonly available information with absolutely no additional content. Well, it's actually both those things. There isn't any content here about how to study or what the bee will be like. There are no practice questions or advice about tactics except the one laid out in the into an implicit in the bones of the book: choose a limited set of information about each country and then learn that set for every country. That's what this book is - a short list of facts about each and every country. Commonly available information, to be sure.

What Wojtanik brings to the table is his choice of which facts he thinks are salient. Only peaks over 8,000 feet are worth learning, for example. There are the basics - population, density, capital, size, economic highlights, disasters, rivers, lakes, highest lowest etc... and that's it. Certainly this brevity is useful. I noticed, however, that the winning question of a later national bee (Which Vietnamese city is located on a river of the same name? A: Hue) isn't covered here and this study guide wouldn't have won it for you that year. That being said - there certainly is a place for this book as raw material for cramming. If you are looking for a book that combines some reference information with study guides, advice, and sample questions, check out "The Geography Bee Complete Preparation Handbook: 1,001 Questions & Answers to Help You Win Again and Again" by Matthew T. Rosenberg.

I was roommates with the author at the 2004 National bee, and while he was away getting interviewed, I managed to sneak a peek at his book. I was overwhelmed by the information presented in just the first few pages I read, and while I have yet to read the actual published work, I can definitely say that this book is an asset to any geography classroom or geobee contestant, and that the author deserved his win (well, maybe I deserved it more :-P).