Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation (8th Edition) [Hardcover]

Tom L. McKnight (Author), Darrel Hess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 18, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0131451391 | ISBN-13: 978-0131451391 | Edition: 8

For introductory Physical Geography courses. The only text to focus thematically on landscape appreciation, this best-seller fosters a solid understanding of Earth and its physical geography. Its clear, user-friendly writing style, superior art program, and abundant pedagogy appeal to a wide variety of students. This edition includes the newly revised and expanded Student Animations CD that helps students understand difficult physical processes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is much to recommend this text. It is beautifully produced which makes it a delight to read. There are copious full-colour diagrams. Each chapter is finished with summary, key terms, questions and references. In addition to this, the book also has a series of animations on CD. These are extremely high quality animations which allow some of the more difficult aspects to be explained easily. Overall, this is a highly competent text with much to recommend it. Illustrations and CD are outstanding. ...the book represents a great resource for those needing to know more." Dr Paul S Ganderton, the Teaching Ecology Group's Book Review Editor

From the Publisher

Written from a landscape appreciation point of view, but is now balanced by greater focus on Earth processes that underlie the landscape. Illustrations have been completely revised to increase quantity, quality, and utility. The written text has been tightened so that despite a twenty percent increase in the number of illustrations, the text remains the same length. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 8 edition (June 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131451391
• ISBN-13: 978-0131451391
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #92 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Geography > Regional

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very well-written and illustrated text with great photos, May 23, 2004

By 

JustMe "myratings" (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

Obviously written by authors who have a deep appreciation for this subject and a desire to pass on their knowledge, this text is useful not just for students of physical geography, but for anyone wanting a deeper understanding of geopolitics, area studies, anthropology, world history, etc. For example, I would have no clue about the culture, history and politics of Central Asia/Afghanistan and vicinity (my area of interest) without having a comprehensive understanding of the physical terrain and climate of this region--and how its inhabitants have adapted to it. I would not have gained this understanding without reading this text.

My only complaint is that I had hoped for more emphasis on environmental issues. The authors may feel that this is beyond the scope of an introductory text; but problems such as the shrinking Aral Sea and tropical rainforest destruction are so widely catastrophic that I believe they deserve greater attention and understanding even at the introductory level.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars still on my bookshelf, February 19, 2004

By 

Corin Goodwin (GiftedHomeschoolers.org) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

I remember this book from when I was an undergraduate, lo these many years ago (OK, so it was an earlier edition)! I'm glad to see it is still available and updated -- I enjoyed it then and I am using it now in answering the questions my children throw at me.

This is an excellent resource book. I probably wouldn't pick it up as a light read at bedtime, but if you are interested in this topic you could do far worse than to get _Physical Geography_.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Fair Attempt, August 3, 2007

By 

William Alexander "Alexander, Shaun" (Spartanburg, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation, Animation Seventh Edition (Hardcover)

Although the authors clearly have a deep command and even affection for their subject, the text in this book is often murky. It is a serviceable work for beginners, but certainly not for novices to the area of physical geography. More strict editing and a more "user-friendly" layout in the text are called for, although the graphics do a generally competent job of illustrating more difficult concepts. I would recommend this book with reservations.