The Trivia Lover's Guide to the World

Gary Fuller's entertaining and engaging guide enhances geographic know-how with good, old-fashioned fun, using trivia to open up new worlds of knowledge for all readers. Often dismissed as unimportant, trivia here highlights issues that are far from trivial, pondering, for example, what peaceful country requires citizens to keep guns in their homes? what continent contains at least 75 percent of the world's fresh water? and why aren't New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia the capitals of their respective states? An inveterate traveler and geographer extraordinaire, Fuller provides extensive background, clear illustrations, and thorough explanations for each intriguing question, carefully grounding the text in practical geographic concepts. Both enjoyable and enlightening, this book challenges today's global generation to truly get to know their world.

Auteur
Gary Fuller taught at the University of Hawai'i for thirty-five years before broadening his scope to lecture aboard cruise ships. A former winning contestant on the TV program Jeopardy! and a seasoned world traveler, Fuller is eminently qualified to educate as he entertains. He currently resides in Kailua, Hawai'i.

Contenu
Chapter 1: The Effects of Geographic Ignorance on the Modern World
Chapter 2: We Think Big, Sometimes Too Big
Chapter 3: Maps are Flat, the World Isn't
Chapter 4: Africa Bashing? What's That?
Chapter 5: Things Aren't Always Where You Think They Should Be
Chapter 6: State Capitals and American Politics
Chapter 7: The Exception to Everything
Chapter 8: Married to a Stranger
Chapter 9: Why Old Maps Look Funny
Chapter 10: Military Uses of Geography
Chapter 11: Really Big Cities
Chapter 12: Agriculture and Tourism
Chapter 13: Geography and Tourism
Chapter 14: Geographic Pockets of Isolation: Preserving Old Ways
Chapter 15: Geographic Incoherence
Chapter 16: Countries Breaking Apart
Chapter 17: Unity in Disunity
Chapter 18: Maps Fool Us Again!
Chapter 19: Culture Hearths: Ancient and Modern
Chapter 20: Population Decline: Change on the Horizon
Chapter 21: Geographic Differences and Civil War
Chapter 22: New Agricultural Crops
Chapter 23: Domestications
Chapter 24: Continental Tidbits
Chapter 25: Islands Divided
Chapter 26: Oceans and Seas
Chapter 27: Bridges
Chapter 28: Rivers
Chapter 29: Medical Geography
Chapter 30: Border Issues
Chapter 31: Geography of Sports
Chapter 32: Geography and Religion
Chapter 33: The North
Chapter 34: Prison Islands
Chapter 35: Canals
Chapter 36: Land and Sea Battles
Chapter 37: Buildings
Chapter 38: Mountain Peaks
Chapter 39: Lakes
Chapter 40: Outliers
Chapter 41: Cities: Planned and Fiat
Chapter 42: Whatever Happened to . . . ?
Chapter 43: The Wild West
Chapter 44: Spatial Diffusion
Chapter 45: Parks
Chapter 46: Climate and Weather