More A level Geography textbook reviews 2

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Essential AS Geography (2000) by Simon Ross, John Morgan and Richard Heelas Stanley Thornes. About £17

This text makes a serious attempt to find the middle ground between GCSE and the old-style A-level and to ‘speak’ directly to the student. There are sections advising students on study skills such as how to take notes, how to tackle a field investigation and the types of question likely to be set. It is laid out attractively with a supporting website.

Like other texts, this one deals well with the global-scale population topic for WJEC. You can be ‘picky’ – there’s no stage five on this version of the DTM (demographic transition model) and you might want more detailed (or different) case study material. Tectonics appears as a subset of the ‘Earth stories’ chapter and while tectonic hazards is adequately dealt with, there would be a need to add a lot of case study material to meet WJEC requirements.

The drainage basin chapter ‘Running water’ is one of the highlights, with the water balance and hydrographs covered in some detail. There isn’t enough on floodplains and flood events for WJEC purposes, but this can be compensated for. ‘Rural environments’ has exercises based on rural Norfolk (eg nearest neighbour analysis) and is good on conflicts (case studies include Aylesbury Vale, remote rural Wales and county structure plans for Bedfordshire and Devon).

Similarly in ‘Urban environments’ British cities are covered in some detail, with maps of deprivation (London) and ethnic groups (England only). Social issues such as homelessness get an airing, along with changing patterns of retailing. Redevelopment case studies include Glasgow and London Docklands. ‘Life on Earth’ includes the woodland ecosystem, heather moorlands, succession and case studies of a hydrosere and the management of Ynyslas sand dunes.

On the whole, this is a text covering the essentials (as promised), but one which is short on detail. Students will need more detailed case studies if they are to aim for A grades and a wider variety of cases to meet WJEC requirements. The need to cover every specification has led to the inclusion of material on topics not needed for WJEC (eg coastal geomorphology and economic geography). At times I did feel this book is a rather ‘dumbed down’ version of the kind of A-level text we’ve traditionally used. It is perhaps best suited to those students aiming for a C grade who are not likely to continue to A2. (Feel free to disagree – email me at geography@btinternet.com)

Some parts of the website are more actively kept up-to date than others. There are four additional case studies, but nothing had been added in the previous twelve months when I looked. However, the monthly news section is kept up-to-date (March 2001 included updates on foot and mouth, flooding in Mozambique, refugees and UK weather patterns). An archive of these collections of news stories is available, all with links. Another feature of the site is Geonet – providing useful links to sites on the web, but much stronger on physical geography than human.

A2 Geography (2001) by Ann Bowen and John Pallister, Heinemann. (About £19.)

This volume complements AS Level Geography by the same authors and the two books have been written to form 'coursebooks' for the AQA specification A. Those of us familiar with the old AEB syllabus will recognise themes such as "Population pressure and resource management" which turn up here as chapter headings.

The book begins with that old undergraduate problem "What is Geography?", but we can rest assured most students will not bother to read this and will sensibly search for "...the bit I need for the essay for tomorrow". The authors seem blissfully unaware of the disintegration of geography at the highest academic level. However, we are told "...if the subject can be mapped, it is spatial and therefore geographical." So folks, Geography is about maps (and History is about chaps?).

From the perspective of the WJEC A2, the useful chapters are on coasts, glacial environments, managing cities and tourism. Parts of other chapters, such as the section on food surpluses and shortages in PP & RM (mentioned above), are also relevant for WJEC students. (The chapter on geomorphological processes concentrates on plate tectonics and is more useful for AS, as is the cities case study on reversing decline in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.)

Like most texts, classic geographical concepts and key diagrams are complemented with a good range of case studies. Mostly these take the form of a page or more with the appropriate maps and diagrams (eg The North Sea storm of 1953, Purbeck, Spurn Head, North Norfolk, North Yorkshire and the Netherlands in the coasts chapter). There was a certain predictability about some of the examples chosen, but highlights include 'Easter Island: The theory of Malthus in Action', waste management in Surrey and tourism in Mauritius and Costa Rica. Sadly not much in the way of material from either Scotland or Wales (not even in the glaciation chapter).

From a production point of view the maps, diagrams and photos are all full colour (non-garish) and beautifully produced. Perhaps the OS extracts are not as clear as might be wished for, but with the same maps available online it is possible for students and teachers to access a 'truer' version minus the blue-beige cast. There are numerous 'adapted' newspaper extracts and information boxes explaining key ideas. These are supplemented by boxes of short questions distributed throughout the text, a number of essay titles and at the end of each chapter a data response based exam-style question plus a synoptic essay. Unusually there are mark schemes provided for these towards the back of the book, perhaps making it useful for the highly-motivated student who likes to do additional study, but means there is little point in teachers setting the questions for homework. Each chapter has its own list of 'key terms' at the back of the book, but the editors have sold us short with a two-page index.

In all plenty of bits for which could be useful for tomorrow's essay, but if it doesn't happen to be in the index you might just have to read the book to find them.

Core Higher Geography (2000) Kenneth Maclean and Norman Thomson, pub. Hodder & Stoughton. About £18

One of the things that always surprises my students is that I did not sit A levels. As a Scot I did five Highers in one academic year at the age of 16 (including a Geography project). Having banked my qualifications, I spent my sixth year of High school messing about with a dissertation on Lenin's political thought, doing an 'O' in statisitcs, making an animation film and learning how to throw a pot. Sadly those days are long gone. Highers, like A levels, have been transformed and the two sets of qualifications have probably never been closer.

Core Higher Geography has been written to cover the eight core topics of Unit 1 of the Scottish Higher Still syllabus (as prescribed by the SQA). Unit 2 (applications) is covered by the six texts which form the Aspects of Applied Geography series from Hodder & Stoughton. Scottish teachers know better than I do whether this book meets the distinctive needs of Unit 1, but the authors determination to use 'where appropriate Scottish exemplars' does mean this book has quite a few case studies not found elsewhere.

As you might expect with a Scottish book, the chapter on glaciation is particularly good. Plenty of clear colour diagrams with some exceptional cross-sections, appropriate map extracts and well chosen photographs. Vegetation succession following retreat of the ice also gets coverage. Heather moorlands and lots on podsols. Psammosere at Tentsmuir, Fife. An unusual case study of plant succession on derelict land, which students are more likely to have observed.

Scottish case studies given an in-depth treatment include the Tay-Earn basin and the floods of 1993 (the highest discharge ever recorded in the UK) and an urban chapter concentrating almost exclusively on Edinburgh. Unlikely gems include a map of refugee movements in former Yugoslavia (1991-9).

The authors recognise that some students may be forced to work through sections of the syllabus on their own, so each chapter starts with a bullet-point summary and a note of the techniques students need to master in connection with the topic. Each chapter has two or three pages of assignments (and extra assignments), putting to shame many A-level authors who often pay only lip service. A list of key terms and concepts with page numbers, suggested readings and internet sources closes each chapter.

In total this text is an attractive package, both in production terms and in being supportive of the learning process. In my day we had atlases, books of air photos and worksheets cranked out on a Gestetner (prehistoric I know). Today's Higher pupils just don't know how lucky they are...

Landmark AS Geography (2000) by Robert Prosser, Michael Raw and Victoria Bishop, pub. Collins Educational. Landmark Geography series.