Geography is everywhere! And here's how!

It's the Summer Holidays; it must be, as the other day, I found that I was walking aimlessly around the local library. I don't usually have time for such things, unfortunately, but I must admit throughout my aimless 'browsing', I stumbled on a whole section of Geography books I hadn't previously seen. Not my fault either, as the label above the stand read "History"! Well, if you're a budding geography reader and like just picking a spine or two, then investigate other sections of the library. You never know, there could be hydrology in 'Crafts and Arts', geology in 'Poetry' and climatology in 'Psychology'.

It got me thinking though. Despite the fact that there is a clear section devoted to Geography, every subject has got, in varying degrees, an embellishment of Geography in them. I decided to prove this, so I went to random aisles and picked up three random books.

The first was a short little book by John H Arnold, called History: A Very Special Introduction. I didn't read all of it, but just a few pages; just enough to be satisfied that History had some connection and relevance to Geography. Indeed, it seems to! Arnold describes History to "begin and end with questions" and classifies the subject therefore as "a process". Well, Geography is very similar. Geographers come up with processes (like longshore drift, stoping, and isostatic adjustment) by asking questions: how, when, where and why? When their theories are accepted, peer geographers continue to delve deeper into the subject asking further questions: "so why does this happen here and not there?" or "is it sustainable?" Geography therefore could likewise be called a process, as Arnold believes History to be.

The next book I randomly selected was a  Philip Swindells work called Formal Ponds and Water Gardens. I was very pleased to stumble across some geographical references in his Introduction. Did you know that water gardens have had a very long and fascinating history? They developed "out of the need to bring irrigation to crops" in the "Middle and Far East" in "warm or mild climates". In other words, they developed originally to combat the particularly difficult climate that the Middle and Far East is well known for; climatology is a branch underneath the hierarchy that is Geography.

I decided to finish this rather unscientific study of the literary interconnections between Geography and the rest of the world with a look at Fiction. By no means a classic, but the book I randomly selected was Saki's A Shot in the Dark. In the first chapter, one of the characters buys a couple of paintings; "two views from Durham Cathedral". I had only been filming at Durham's Cathedral last week, so I instantly made the geographical link. Durham Cathedral was built around an incised meander, on a hill which, back in the day, provided good views of invasions in the surrounding area, and the river provided defence. It's not surprising therefore that the paintings came from Durham Cathedral and no surprise that one of the characters in the text bought two of them.

So, my little experiment has proven to some extent that Geography is literally everywhere; read between the lines in nearly any book, and you'll find some sort of Geographical references. It passed the time for me, anyway! Try it yourself!