north pole, south pole: the epic quest to solve the great mystery of earth's magnetism – by...

Book Reviews

The Sage handbook of social geographies

Susan J. Smith, Rachel Pain, Sallie A. Marstonand John Paul Jones III (eds). Sage, London,2010. 614 pp. ISBN 9781412935593.

It is refreshing to read The Sage Handbook ofSocial Geographies, which reflects on diversethemes within the sub-discipline in ways thatare positive, outward looking and stimulatethinking on how we can make our research rel-evant to creating a better world. This editedcollection, perhaps the first of its kind in socialgeography, brings together more than 30renowned contributors engaged in cutting-edgeresearch within the field in an effort to achievethis common goal. The book provides diverseinsights into common themes such as place/space, social inequality, ethics, moralityand justice that are central to social geographyand emphasise the methodological diversityand the multiplicity of directions that are pos-sible through engaging in social geogra-phical research.

The aim of the handbook, however, is not tobe comprehensive but instead offer interestingand exploratory visions of how the social con-nects with nature, the economy, the politicaland the cultural in ways that can contribute to‘new lines of flight’ (p. 30). The handbook isorganised into five sections: Difference andDiversity, Geographies and Social Economies,Geographies of Wellbeing, Geographies ofSocial Justice and Doing Social Geographies.The collection of chapters in each section isedited separately and an introductory reviewsummarises the core issues and connectionswith other themes as well as the significance ofthe theme to the becoming of social geography.Since the book has about 614 pages, this organi-sation of chapters enables readers to engagewith key theoretical debates in sections ofinterest rather than skim through the entirehandbook to find relevant material.

Adopting a creative approach, the editorshave produced an excellent handbook thatwill attract a diversity of readers. It willinspire undergraduate/postgraduate studentsand stimulate lecturers/researchers interestedin the complexity and diversity of the socialrealm. On the other hand, the book will alsosatisfy the curiosity of anyone with an interestin issues of social difference, social economies,well-being and social justice looking for a ref-erence text that delves deeper than a dictio-nary. The accessibility of the book to a rangeof readers is achieved through the inclusion oftables, maps, graphs and boxes summarisingkey ideas in some sections and a deeper theo-retical engagement with relevant concepts inother sections of the handbook.

All the sections of the book are very insight-ful, but the sections on Difference and Diver-sity, Doing Social Geographies and Geographyand Wellbeing kindled curiosity and eagernessto explore the themes further. Such reactionsare a reflection of my research interests that lieat the intersection of ethnicity, affect/emotionand the lived experience of citizenship in thecity, and methodologies that make suchresearch possible as well as relevant. Indeed,the focus on affective/emotional geographiesand ethical spaces is a common thread that runsthrough the handbook and reflects the coreconcern with the materiality and embodiednature of everyday practices by social geogra-phers as well as the possibility for acceptingways of being and living that are different fromour own. However, while there is attention tothe politics of fear, anxiety and resilience insocial spaces, there is less engagement withethno-religious diversity and the transforma-tive potential of the much broader spiritualrealm. On the other hand, the attention to‘more-than-human actors’ (p. 177) and non-Western epistemologies is notable because itstimulates us to rethink the dominant andcentred nature of the Anglo-American/human

New Zealand Geographer (2011) 67, 63–71

© 2011 The AuthorsNew Zealand Geographer © 2011 New Zealand Geographical Society

doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7939.2011.01199.x

subject and takes social geography down newand exciting avenues.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend theSage Handbook of Social Geography becauseits creative and selective approach invitesreflection, curiosity and eagerness to explorethe constitution and multidimensional natureof the social in ways that move beyond thepolitics of identity and resistance.As the first ofits kind in the sub-discipline, it is a book that isenjoyable to read and will definitely add valueto a personal or library collection.

Michele LoboCentre for Citizenship and Globalisation

Deakin University

Towards enabling geographies: ‘Disabled’

bodies and minds in society and space

Vera Chouinard, Edward Hall and RobertWilton (eds). Ashgate, Farnham, 2010. 270pp. ISBN 9780754675617.

In what the editors refer to as ‘the secondwave’ of geographical studies of disability, thisedited collection of 14 chapters from geogra-phers around the world highlights recentdevelopments in the discourse on bodies andspace. Four core elements of the emerging‘second wave’ of research are identified toinclude work that seeks to broaden themeaning of the term disability, includes theembodied experiences of disability and illness,examines the role of technology in creatingmore inclusive environments and recognisesthe important role geography can play inshaping policy that impacts on disabledpeople. While much research and commentaryin both the fields of geography and disabilitystudies has focused on how barriers in theenvironment and practices work to disablepeople with impairments from full participa-tion, these works examine new understandingsof how a wide range of spaces, places and con-texts can operate both positively and nega-tively to enable and disable people of alltypes, levels and description of ability.

For those new to this field of research, theeditors’ introductory chapter sets the stage forpresenting these latest developments by pro-

viding an engaging and informative synopsisof the evolution of geographical studies of dis-ability. From their early focus on documentingthe incidence and distribution of disablingconditions to the identification of access bar-riers in the environment to the examination ofrelationships between the distribution ofhealth conditions and the location of health-care services, the important contributions ofgeographers to current understandings of dis-ability across disciplines are evident. Thepurpose here is to identify emerging trends,these defining elements of the second wave ofresearch, and to profile current research thatexemplifies these core traits. The introductionfinishes with a compelling discussion of thechallenges ahead for geographical work in thearea of disability.

Following the introduction, chapters 2 and 3examine the meaning and experience of thehome for disabled people and those withchronic illness, while chapters 4 and 5 explorethe opportunities for inclusion and empower-ment afforded by the cyber world of the Inter-net to people with mental health impairmentsand people with hearing impairments. Chapter6 challenges the notion of the dichotomy ofthose who are ‘carers’ and those who are ‘caredfor’ and highlights the role of complex net-works of ‘nested interdependencies’ thatsupport people with an intellectual impairmentto achieve independence in their lives in thecommunity. In chapter 7, the focus remains oncarers, but distance is the element of interest inparticular as it relates to siblings of disabledpeople who take on caring roles from afar.

Many of the remaining chapters are richexamples of extending a disability frameworkto populations whose experiences have not tra-ditionally been included in the disability dis-course. In broadening the concept of disability,the collection presents a more universal under-standing of the experience of enablementand disablement with contributors examiningthe relationships between a person’s spatialcontext and their experience of emotional andbehavioural difficulties, aging, obesity anddwarfism. One chapter that seemed to standalone examined both the challenges and poten-tial for geographers to provide a more compre-hensive picture of the experience of disabilityin the arena of social policy. The fact that it

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stood out could reflect its placement in thebook, its unique policy focus or simply that itclosely parallels my own interests.

Written by geographers for geographers withan aim of encouraging wider adoption of dis-ability scholarship into the discipline, this col-lection would certainly be a valuable andrelevant resource for others working in thehealth and disability fields. As a health servicesresearcher, I found the collection of research tobe a very insightful introduction to the uniqueperspectives of geographers on the subject ofdisability that also highlighted areas ofcommon ground, particularly with respect tothe challenges of producing policy-relevantresearch and ultimately using research to makea positive difference in the lives of disabledpeople. A real strength of the book is how itpromotes geography’s achievements in the fieldand its capacity for future contributions andcollaborations with other disciplines.

Laura Wilkinson-MeyersDepartment of General Practice

and Primary CareThe University of Auckland

Injustice: Why social inequality persists

Daniel Dorling. Policy Press, Bristol, 2010. 387pp. ISBN 978847424266.

The purpose of this book lies in its provocativechallenge. Dorling has taken Beveridge’s(1942) heuristic of the ‘five faces of poverty’ –in which the qualities of inequality inhere in thecorporeality of the poor (want, idleness,disease, ignorance and squalor) – and turnedthis thinking on its head. Thus, for Dorling, thenew heuristic becomes elitism is efficient, exclu-sion is necessary, prejudice is natural, greed isgood and despair is inevitable. Elitism is some-thing the rich aspire to rather than the poorgive shape to. Exclusion and prejudice areenacted by those with the resource and capac-ity to establish boundaries and set social codes.The ‘goodness’ of greed can only be understoodby those whose lives can be enhanced by theacquisition of excess capital and unlimitedcapacities to consume. Mental illness andanxiety are the inevitable outcomes of thisrising inequality.

This is a damning and prescient view of therole that wealth and privilege play in creatingthe world as we know it. In eight succinct chap-ters, Dorling sets out this provocative thesisdevoting one chapter to each of his five bigideas bracketed between two introductorychapters and a relatively brief conclusion that isalso an appeal to the book’s readership tothink. ‘Everything it takes to defeat injusticelies in the mind. So what matters most is howwe think’ (p. 320).

All of which begs the question about thestatus and reach of this work in an academiccontext and a fight for the high ground of whatconstitutes ‘great academic work’ finds somepurchase in discussion of Dorling’s book. Tosome, he belongs among the burgeoning groupof writers who synthesise for a more ‘well-read’than restrictively ‘academic’ audience, the con-cerns of 21st century life: authors such asRichard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, OliverJames, Jared Diamond and Jane Kelsey who arefrequently cited in Dorling’s work. From anacademic perspective, it is easy to be deroga-tory and accuse such writers of being populist,lightweight or scaremongering: that theseauthors have some kind of left over, left wingsensibilities that can be foisted on an unsus-pecting population under the guise of ‘scholar-ship’. I resist such stereotyping of this work.The shift in perspective from the ‘have-nots’ tothe ‘haves’ is powerful and too seldom under-taken. The reader is required to radicallyreframe conventional perspectives and leap toones that are much less comfortable. As thereading elite, those who are likely to consumethis book, such a leap confronts us with theconsequential end of our own so-called successand thus is both provocative and salutary. Weare not required to ‘believe’, but we arerequired to seriously consider who and whatreally is the problem here.

Dorling is a geographer, mathematician andstatistician – a professor of human geographyat the University of Sheffield who is affiliatedwith a number of other universities includingthe University of Canterbury in New Zealand.He has made a significant contribution to thespatial visualisation of inequality throughbuilding atlases of inequality in Britain. Suchdetailed and innovative cartography is notpresent in Injustice, but informs the work. The

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combination of simplified statistical tables withhighly readable prose makes this a book for awide audience: undergraduate and postgradu-ate students, teachers, policy-makers and thefamously ‘concerned citizen’.

For some, Dorling’s ability to both synthesisea big picture story about inequality in the afflu-ent west and present statistical information in areadable and digestible form to exemplify thatstory is a strength of Injustice. For others,however, the book may lack the intense focusand narrow purview that characterises a per-ception of scholarly work. It is not a treatise onjustice. In fact, it unquestioningly accepts a veryprosaic and everyday notion of injustice as‘unfairness’. You would not read or be pleasedwith this book if you seek an extension ofRawl’s ideas of justice or if you were seekingpractical policy-level responses to inequality.Rather, if you are open to interrogating whyyou have sent your own children to privateschools or feel more comfortable living in a‘safe suburb’ or know nothing about contem-porary indentured labour practices or are fas-cinated by the cult of celebrities or have takenout private health insurance, then this book is aprovocation to such interrogation. Read it.

Robin PeacePolitics Programme

School of People, Environment and PlanningMassey University

ReferenceBeveridge W (1942). Social Insurance and Allied

Services. HMSO, London.

Agrarian angst and rural resistance in

contemporary Southeast Asia

Dominique Caouette and Sarah Turner (eds).Routledge, London and New York, 2009. 289pp. ISBN 9780415548380.

This edited volume sets out to document theways in which rural people in contemporarySoutheast Asia have resisted agrarian transfor-mations, market integration and globalisationprocesses in diverse and complex ways. Inchapter 1, Shifting Fields of Rural Resistance inSoutheast Asia, Turner and Caouette lay out

the ‘problem’ that the drives the analysis pre-sented in the book: agrarian transition over thepast decade has accelerated the integration ofrural livelihoods into global market exchanges,impacting on people’s access to land, livelihoodsecurity, modes of agricultural production andforms of agricultural outputs. In response tothese wider processes, rural people have beeninvolved in a diverse range of resistance strat-egies, from local-level ‘weapons of the weak’(as documented by Scott 1985) to organisedand overt forms of resistance that focus onsituated conflicts to transnational networksof resistance where resistance is often organ-ised in relation to societal structures such ascapitalism. By documenting resistance strate-gies occurring at a range of scales (individual,local and global) and in a range of sites (Indo-nesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand andVietnam), this edited collection makes a signifi-cant substantive contribution to our under-standing of both processes of agrarian changeand the various modes of resistance to suchchange undertaken by people across SoutheastAsia.

The key theoretical contribution of the booklies in the argument that forms of resistanceoccurring at different scales (individual, local,national, transnational) are more intertwinedthan has been previously acknowledged in theliterature. Building upon the work of Polanyi(1944, 1957), Gramsci (1971) and Scott (1985),the authors of Agrarian Angst and Rural Resis-tance in Southeast Asia seek to demonstratethat contemporary processes of resistanceoften span several modes of ‘action’ (includingindividual ‘foot dragging’, collective protestand global advocacy). Where previous authorshave tended to focus on only one scale or modeof resistance when documenting responses toagrarian change, Caouette and Turner havebrought together a group of researchers whoclearly demonstrate that various modes ofresistance operate in dialogue with the powerto shape responses at other levels. This multi-scalar approach is the primary theoreticalstrength of this volume.

Central to the theoretical contribution of thebook is the aim to extend and enrich the impor-tant work initiated by Scott (1985), whofocused on providing a nuanced account ofhidden acts of resistance, thereby expanding

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our conceptualisation of dominance and resis-tance. Scott has argued that hidden forms ofresistance have the potential to challenge hege-mony when they gain momentum, resulting ina moment when the subordinated ‘speaksdirectly to the powerful’ (Scott 1990, p. 223;cited on p. 268). Documenting such moments isimportant work as it gives credence andsupport to such acts and contributes to a posi-tive discourse of the power of individualagency, which, in turn, can empower furtherresistance acts and movements. Several con-tributors to this book document such moments,thereby extending and enriching the importantwork initiated by Scott (see the chapters byFranco and Borras, Kuhonta, Potter andSmelzer). Other contributors argue for a moreambivalent understanding of resistance actionsand interventions (see Walker,Turner,Tran andCaouette). The overall effect is a volume thatsignificantly enriches our understanding of con-temporary resistance to agrarian change inSoutheast Asia.

The many case studies in this book demon-strate that theorising resistance to agrarianchange requires a nuanced and open approachbecause the ways in which people resist agrar-ian reform and the scales at which such resis-tance is enacted are not stable and fixed.Rather, resistance strategies and actions areformulated in a dialogue with changing pro-cesses and structures of domination. This bookwill be particularly suited to researchers andpostgraduate students working in the broadareas of rural development, politics, humangeography and cultural anthropology.

Linda MalamDepartment of Geography

University of Otago

ReferencesGramsci A (1971). Selections from the Prison Note-

books. Lawrence and Wishart, New York.Polanyi K (1944). The Great Transformation. The

Political and Economic Origins of Our Time.Beacon Press, Boston, MA.

Polanyi K (1957). The economy as instituted process.In: Polanyi K, Arensberg CM, Pearson HW, eds.Trade and Market in the Early Empires: Econo-mies in History and Theory. Free Press, NewYork, pp. 243–70.

Scott JC (1985). Weapons of the Weak: EverydayForms of Resistance. Yale University Press, NewHaven, CT and London.

Scott JC (1990). Domination and the Arts of Resis-tance. Yale University Press, New Haven, CTand London.

Unlearning the colonial cultures

of planning

Libby Porter. Ashgate, Farnham, 2010. 180 pp.ISBN 9780754649885.

For countries with a colonial history, the issueof how to include indigenous peoples in thathistory is challenging as it raises question ofhow their voices should be heard. Equally,indigenous groups have a long and complexhistory of exclusion or marginalisation withinthe processes and systems of governance.Libby Porter’s book is an attempt to examinehow indigenous voices can and should be‘heard’ in planning theory and practice. Herdefinition of planning is broad: ‘the socialpractice of spatial ordering’ (p. 2), which posi-tions it, whether intended it or not, very firmlyin the ambit of planning theory. This, whencombined with a tendency to use the complexlanguage of postmodernism, will inevitablyexclude this book from use by planning prac-titioners, the operators of the very systems theauthor wishes to influence. This disjuncturebetween planning theory and planning prac-tice is long-standing, and it is a pity that suchan important work that could raise planners’awareness of indigenous issues and concerns islikely to be overlooked as being ‘too aca-demic’. It is, however, a volume that will find auseful role in planning and geography coursesaddressing indigenous issues and as aninformed starting point to any serious study ofplanning and indigenous issues.

The book is composed of seven chapters,with the first chapter providing the frameworkand essential definitions for the rest of thebook, situating it within the existing literatureand sensibly stating what it does not cover.Porter makes it very clear from the outset thatthe book is primarily based on the PhDresearch she did with regard to the Nyah andGariwerd people of South-eastern Victoria.She also indicates that she will include mate-

Book Reviews 67


rial from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada andthe USA based largely on secondary sources(see p. 7). This highlights one of the weak-nesses of this book. The inclusion of non-Australian material was surely performed tobroaden the scope of the book and to make itmore appealing to an international audience.Using secondary sources is a perfectly accept-able approach, but in the case of NewZealand, the material is weak and, in places,inaccurate.

In one part, there is reference to the ‘Ngati-haua clan’ (p. 68), while Otago residents will beinterested to discover they were a NewZealand Company settlement (p. 72). Perhapsmore concerning is that the material on NewZealand is based on very narrow and slightlydated sources, missing a wide range of othervery available literature that would betterreflect the influence of treaty settlements thatoften include issues concerned with naming ofareas and features. It raises the question ofsimilar issues with other overseas material.None of this is fatal in terms of the main direc-tion and value of this book, but they are ele-ments that will distract some readers. Thesecond and third chapters then go on toexamine how indigenous people have bothbeen represented in and failed by planningprocedures.

The greatest strength of this work lies inchapters 4–6, which move beyond the theoreti-cal to look at how the sacred places of the Nyahand Gariwerd people were managed by theVictorian planning system including the vexa-tious issue of naming. These are engaging andin comparison with the first three chapters,most readable and accessible, making themvery suitable for undergraduate audiences.Porter is clearly very familiar with this materialand she conveys with great conviction the casethat she makes for more active involvement ofindigenous people and recognition of theirspecial interest in planning systems beyond thetokenism of identification as a heritage site.Thefinal chapter called ‘Unlearning Privilege:Towards the Decolonization of Planning’ is anexcellent final summation of what the book hascovered while also setting an agenda for futureresearch.

This is not an easy book and requires verycareful reading and rereading. Undergraduates

would need guidance to use it, but it willprovide a provocative resource for graduatesand hopefully, some planning practitioners andis a must for any university library.

Caroline MillerPlanning Programme

School of People, Environment and PlanningMassey University

The child: An encyclopedic companion

Richard A. Shweder (ed.). The University ofChicago Press, Chicago, IL, 2009. 1105 pp. ISBN9780226475394.

The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion offersmore than 500 alphabetically arranged topicalentries of leading scholars’ views on ‘children’sdevelopment and the many worlds of child-hood from a variety of disciplinary perspectivesand on a global scale’ (p. xxvii).The inclusion ofmulticultural and international perspectives is akey strength of this single-volume authoritativereference work. Nonetheless, the focus still lieson North America. For example, the entry‘demography of childhood’ first engages withthe ‘United States’ (pp. 244–48) and thenoffers a very broad ‘international perspective’(pp. 248–253).

Contributors belong to ‘medicine, biology,law, education, psychology, literature, religion,anthropology, history, sociology, linguistics,communication studies, folklore, and culturalstudies’ (p. xxvii), which in itself is a very inter-esting combination and allows a viewing ofchildhood from many disciplines and perspec-tives. None of the writers is affiliated with ageography department despite the growinginterest in children in geography, which datesback to Sarah James’ (1990) question ‘[i]s therea place for children in geography?’ in 1990. Forexample, there is no entry for ‘space’, ‘place’ orthe ‘environment’, and ‘spatial abilities’ arehidden among other terms. The term ‘geogra-phy’ is limited to the entry ‘social studies,history, and geography’ and focuses on geogra-phy as a school subject.

Entries on topics such as ‘play’, the ‘builtenvironment’, ‘nature and children’, ‘parks,playgrounds and open spaces’ or the ‘universe

Book Reviews68


of the child’ (independent mobility) are ofdirect interest for children’s geographers. Sur-prisingly, institutions associated with childrensuch as the ‘school’ feature among the topics,whereas the ‘home’, which is often on theresearch agenda for geographers, has notreceived a single entry.The companion is usefulfor its many entries not directly related to thephysical environment but still of interest forgeographers, for example, ‘attachment’ or ‘chil-dren as consumers’. Readers can also findguides to general topics such as ‘theories ofdevelopment’, ‘concepts of childhood’ or one ofthe numerous biographical entries of iconicfigures such as ‘Jean Piaget’.

Most entries span several pages, providing acomprehensive understanding of each term,but this also leads to some confusion. Forexample, the entry ‘family’ is subdivided intothree sub-themes covering the historio-cultural, socio-economic and legal perspec-tives. Such a breakdown makes it difficult tosearch for specific entries and I often got lostin finding an entry. In this regard, the veryextensive index (more than 100 pages) is ahelpful tool. The index may also be helpful fornon-native English speakers or those unfamil-iar with the professional terminology used inthe companion.

One highlight of the book is the more than 40boxes with essays, which are labelled ‘imaginingeach other essays’ (p. vi). These focus on oneaspect of childhood in a specific place and time.For instance, the entry ‘street and runaway chil-dren’ is further explored in ‘The mathematicallife of Brazilian street children’. These essaysbring life to the easily readable and compre-hensive scholarly entries and provide varietywithin the companion. However, the editorsmissed a chance to directly include the voice ofchildren into these essays.As a researcher inter-ested in working with children instead of ontheir behalf, I would suggest including thevoices of children instead of only writing aboutthem from an adult perspective.

According to Richard Shweder, the book hasbeen designed to provide state-of-the-artresearch ‘readily available to a broad spectrumof inquisitive adults, non specialists and special-ists alike’ (p. xxvii), and this aim has easily beenmet by the editorial board. Despite the afore-mentioned limitations, this reference book is a

most useful and timely companion. I would nothesitate in recommending it to anyone inter-ested in child and adolescent research as, in myopinion, any of the papers can broaden one’sunderstanding of knowledge on children, child-hood and adolescence.

Christina ErglerSchool of Environment

The University of Auckland

ReferenceJames S (1990). Is there a place for children in geog-

raphy? Area 22, 278–83.

North Pole, South Pole: The epic

quest to solve the great mystery of

Earth’s magnetism

Gillian Turner. Awa Press, Wellington, 2010.274 pp. ISBN 9780958275002.

Ernest Rutherford is reported to have com-mented that if you ask a geologist to describea stone, he will conjure up the history of theentire Earth.

Those words from page 173 hint at thebreadth of subject matter and depth of cover-age of this fine book, and a deceptively simplequestion – ‘[w]hat draws the compass unerr-ingly towards the North?’ – underlies GillianTurner’s probing account of our deepeningunderstanding of the Earth’s magnetic field.For centuries, mariners and explorers haveappreciated that the Earth’s magnetic polesdo not coincide with its poles of rotation, andit is now known that the magnetosphere pro-tects life on the Earth’s surface from the dam-aging effects of cosmic rays.

During the 12th and 13th centuries, some ofthe detail became evident with the adoptionof the magnetic compass as a navigation tool.This instrument appears to have been devel-oped in China and, as Turner discusses, couldhave been carried from there to Europe orindependently invented in the West. Whateverthe explanation, it facilitated the Europeanage of exploration. As was so often thecase at that time, measurements recorded in

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ships’ logs became information for thinkerswho sought rational explanation throughspeculation, controlled observation, analysisand experimentation. One of them, RogerBacon, had observed that the magneticcompass is not always exactly aligned with thearea’s meridian of longitude, but he could notexplain why. Another, Peregrinus, was able torefute the hypothesis of a functional linkagebetween the North Magnetic Pole and thePole Star, thus showing an internal origin ofthe Earth’s magnetic field. Also, Mercator rec-ognised that the axis of the Earth’s magneticfield is at an angle to its axis of rotation. Thelatter complicated the mariner’s practical taskof determining longitude and did so until 1773when John Harrison produced the first robustand accurate chronometer.

Since then, the quest to solve the mystery ofthe Earth’s magnetism has taken divergentpaths. Mariners and explorers had a pragmaticinterest in the development of reliable instru-ments with which to orient their journeys, andscientists sought strong explanations for theobserved properties of the Earth’s magneticfield.

Among those interested in a fuller under-standing of the Earth’s magnetic field was theElizabethan physician William Gilbert, whocompared the Earth with a magnet. A littlelater, Edmond Halley proposed that the Earthwas composed of a solid inner sphere andouter shell, with a fluid occupying the spacebetween them. Those propositions set inmotion many decades of scientific research inWestern Europe, which Turner elegantly high-lights, and the first half of the 19th centurywas a time of discoveries that were to havemajor implications for Earth science: amongthem, Alexander von Humboldt had observedthat some rocks could be intensely magne-tised, Michael Faraday showed how to gener-ate electricity with a copper disc revolvingin the Earth’s magnetic field rather thanbetween the poles of a permanent magnetand James Clerk Maxwell derived the fourequations that unify our understanding ofelectromagnetism. A little later, ChristopherHansteen was able to show that the geo-graphical positions of the North and Southmagnetic poles had changed since Halley hadlocated them in 1682.

Despite the increasing depth of understand-ing about it, the underlying physical causes oftemporal variations in the Earth’s magneticfield were scarcely known a century ago. Onepointer was provided by Bernard Brunhes, whodiscovered rocks in his native France that hadbeen magnetised with almost opposite polarityto that of the Earth’s magnetic field. A streamof research since then has shown that as theycool, molten rock and fired pottery take on andretain the polarity of the magnetosphere.

In the final five chapters, Gillian Turner takesthe reader on an exhilarating ride thoughrecent developments in Earth science beforeclosing with a thoughtful account of thebroader environmental implications of rever-sals in the polarity of the Earth’s magnetic field.She controls the diverse threads of her narra-tive with great skill and demonstrates howscientific understanding can progress fromcompilations of observations through patternrecognition to hypotheses rooted in physicalprinciples, to deeply satisfying explanations andsuggestions for further research. Her narrativefollows historical order, is clearly expressed andconveys the thrill of the chase. This fine bookwill give great pleasure to all who read it.

Peter HollandDepartment of Geography

University of Otago

Geographies of obesity: Environmental

understandings of the obesity epidemic

Jamie Pearce and Karen Witten (eds). Ashgate,Farnham, 2010. 331 pp. ISBN 9780754676195.

Obesity has become one of the major publichealth issues affecting the global population ofthe 21st century. In high-income countries,population body weights have increasedrapidly over the past few decades and contrib-ute to increasing rates of chronic diseases.Also,low-income countries now face dual burdens ofboth malnourishment and obesity. In NewZealand, approximately 60% of adults and30% of children are overweight/obese andpopulations living in the most deprived areasexperience the greatest burden of obesity andrelated poor health. Thus, Geographies of

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Obesity is a timely and important contributionin understanding the underlying causes ofobesity and its inequitable distribution acrossthe population.

Drawing on the expertise of a multidisci-plinary team of researchers, Pearce and Wittenset out to collate international evidence deter-mining the environmental explanations forunderstanding the obesity epidemic. The focuson the environmental explanations is of par-ticular interest. The traditional public healthemphasis has been to examine the behaviouraldeterminants (eating and activity patterns) ofobesity and this has resulted in numerousbehavioural interventions of minimaleffectiveness. In total, Geographies ofObesity is composed of a useful collection ofreviews of the literature describing the macro-and micro-environmental determinants ofunhealthy diets and inadequate physicalactivity.

The first few chapters of the book provide aglobal and contextual overview for understand-ing the development of obesity among dispar-ate populations. The chapter by Barry Popkingives the current state of play of obesity glo-bally, while the chapter by Daniel Kim andIchiro Kawachi provides the reader with thenecessary understanding of the contextualfactors that describe our neighbourhoods andwider environments. Following then, the bulkof the book is dedicated to collating the currentstate of evidence describing the environmentalcontributions to eating and activity behavioursand the policy options to potentially addressthem. While not all of the chapters are exhaus-tive in their reviews of the research (that wouldrequire volumes), they are inclusive of the mostsalient pieces of work and are appropriatelycautious in their interpretations.

To anyone working in the field of obesity, itwould not be surprising that the conclusion ofthese literature reviews on the contributions offood environments (e.g. food availability,

pricing, accessibility, marketing, etc.) and physi-cal activity environments (e.g. facilities forphysical activity, neighbourhood safety, urbandesign, etc.) is simply that we need moreresearch. However, rather than leave thereader uninspired, the editors conclude thebook with several chapters to advance the field.The chapters on measurement and estimatingcausal effects highlight two of the major meth-odological issues challenging researchers inobesity prevention at the moment. Likewise,the chapter by Kearns highlights the need forqualitative research to determine how socio-cultural environments influence eating andactivity behaviours.

The challenge with any edited book is theopportunity for repetition, and at times, thechapters within this book fall prey. However,the chapters do all stand on their own and willbecome required reading for many studentsstudying obesity. The overwhelming conclusionon the state of the current research is that thecontribution of the environment to obesity ismodest. While the editors have includedadequate discussion on the methodologicalissues that limit the bulk of current research,the reader is left wondering where to next inobesity prevention.While focusing primarily onbehavioural determinants is ineffective, will theemphasis on studying environmental factors beadequate? If so, the next big challenge we faceis in mobilising communities and creating thepolitical will to rebuild healthier neighbour-hoods and environments.

The contribution of this book to the litera-ture that precedes it lies in its primary focus onthe physical environment and how that shapespopulation eating and activity behaviours.Withthat as its aim, it has captured a hole in themarket.

Jennifer UtterSchool of Population HealthThe University of Auckland

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north pole, south pole: the epic quest to solve the great mystery of earth's magnetism – by...

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