Enjoyable Readings/Resources for Geography and Related Topics

[WoroRelu]

Well, I guess I didn't post it successfully last time, so I'll start over again and hope I don't forget to press Submit.

I'm starting this thread to post and discuss blogs, books, articles, magazines, etc. that are interesting in regards to mapping, geographic study, and other related disciplines (geology, history of exploration, etc.) I'll just post my top 3 right now, and I'll likely edit later to give them better descriptions when I've gathered my thoughts again.

First is Floating Sheep - floatingsheep

Description: Mapping geo-coded information from social sites (Twitter), in relation to interesting, current, or just entertaining topics.

Second is The Atlantic Cities - The Atlantic Cities

Description: Web-based magazine on urban planning and community growth. A publication of Atlantic Media Company.

Finally is Geography: A Very Short Introduction, by John A. Mathews and David T. Herbert TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a tiny URL

Description: A fine small book with a decent broad view of Geography as a field of study, and focused on advocating integrative geography. Packed with good general information, and influential on my decision to be a Geography major.

[Korash]

Actually you did, just that both of them got caught in the moderation queue. One of the things that often have things go into the queue are outside links posted by new people in the guild. Usually 5 posts will cure that. This is all to avoid spammers and such.

I deleted the other thread as it was a duplicate of this one.

[WoroRelu]

Yeah, I realized that after I posted this one and noticed that the redirect wasn't the standard "Thank you for posting, you will now be redirected to your post". I guess I wasn't paying attention earlier. Thanks for sending this through the tube though. I hope it can end up being an interesting and useful thread.

[WoroRelu]

Another one I wanted to post for anyone who may be interested in Chinese current affairs and such from a focused, outside observational perspective, is Tea Leaf Nation | E-Magazine - Making sense of China through social media - this site is an E-Zine focusing on current events inside Chine and has some interesting coverage. The article I enjoyed the most so far was a look at the black market demand for non-Chinese powdered milk in the mainland.

I would love to see posts and recommendations from others as well, if they have any. Furthermore that I would like to state now that the editorial stances of these publications do not represent my own - I read them for entertainment and as part of my routine to get perspectives from all angles on particular stories to form my own opinion down the road.

[WoroRelu]

I would like to ask anyone if they have a favorite published world atlas, or atlases related to specific topics (as my birthday was today, I received a couple of atlases that, while being published for a more general audience, I am till thoroughly enjoying).

Also, does anyone have a favorite published book on societal or geographical development, along the lines of Jared Diamond's Guns, germs, and Steel? I'm not saying something that conforms to his particular views, but something that is of similar length and covers topics such as the role of geography in cultural or technological development, etc.

Also, I have recently been looking for guides on combat evolution, just general guides, for help in establishing historical contexts for weapon technology - I currently have an interest in various eras of naval combat and navigation, so any suggestions would be appreciated.