The SSL ‘Book of the Month’ feature highlights a book in our collection that has been chosen by one of our Subject Consultants. This may be a recent addition to our stock or an existing item that we would like to share with you.
September’s Book of the Month was selected by Andy Kernot, Subject Consultant for Geography, Social Policy & Intervention, Public Policy, and Internet Studies.
Myths of geography: eight ways we get the world wrong
Paul Richardson
The Bridge Street Press, 2025
Why was it chosen?
Our maps may no longer be stalked by dragons and monsters, but our perceptions of the world are still shaped by geographic myths. Myths like Europe being the centre of the world. Or that border walls are the solution to migration. Or that Russia is predestined to threaten its neighbours.
Book Overview
In his punchy and authoritative new book, Paul Richardson challenges recent popular accounts of geographical determinism and shows that how the world is represented often isn’t how it really is – that the map is not the territory.
Along the way we visit some remarkable places: Iceland’s Thingvellir National Park, where you can swim between two continents, and Bir Tawil in North Africa, one of the world’s only territories not claimed by any country. We follow the first train that ran across Eurasia between Yiwu in east China and Barking in east London, and scale the US-Mexico border wall to find out why such fortifications don’t work.
Reviews
As continents, borders, nations, economic growth and sovereignty become the buzzwords of today’s global conflicts, Paul Richardson’s Myths of Geography skewers each one with elegant precision. His book places political geography at the heart of how we understand the challenges of the twenty-first century. A bracing and important book
Jerry Brotton, author of Four Points of the Compass: The Unexpected History of Direction
Our world can sometimes seem upside-down. Perhaps it is. In detailed and fervid prose, Paul Richardson dismantles eight myths we have come to tell ourselves about geography. By revealing important truths this folklore conceals, he shows us how our geographical imagination has far-reaching consequences. From Hadrian’s Wall to the US-Mexico border, from the Eastern Sahara to the ice of Antarctica, from silk roads to Ethiopian castles, Richardson takes us to places that invite reflection – and action. After reading Myths of Geography, no news report, no map, no journey will appear quite the same again
David Rooney, author of About Time
In this original and stimulating challenge to our assumptions about the shapes of our geographies, Paul Richardson changes the way we see the world – from how many continents there really are to the myths and realities of border walls and the nations they seek to contain
Isabel Hilton, contributing editor of Prospect
How can I access it?
We have one lending copy of this book, which is located on our New Books Display Area (around the corner from our Issue Desk). Its shelfmark is GF41.RIC 2025.
What would your SSL Book of the Month be? Do you have a favourite book in our collection? If so, we would love to know what it is. Add a comment below or email us.