I’m quitting this website. It’s difficult to manage and expensive.
Moving back to the old site – which ain’t so great either!
Bookmark: https://sites.google.com/site/gravesgeography/
Third Edition
Steven Graves
“Doing Geography” rather “About Geography”
Introduction to Human Geography: A Disciplinary Approach is a free textbook, available in a digital online format. The text has been adopted by more than 100 colleges and universities across the United States. It features a US-centric focus in an effort to leverage students’ existing knowledge. Additionally, there is special attention to ‘geography as a craft discipline’ via multiple examples of geography as a way of understanding the world and a methodological toolkit for solving real-world problems. My intention is to turn away from geography as a trivia and geography as a travel log. I like trivia and I love to travel, but those elements of geography are exceedingly remote to the efforts of academic and applied geographers. This book is an introduction to human geography for those who want to think spatially and to use geography to make the world a better place.
Access
One version of the text is housed on a Google Site, Graves Geography. Unfortunately, misguided instructional technology departments at some schools (including my own!) have blocked student access to all Google Sites over unfounded ADA compliance fears. This text is as ADA compliant as the vast majority of government websites, and I remain open to suggestions from users of the text who need additional accessibility features.
You can also purchase softbound copies of the second edition from Lulu Press. The author gets only a few dollars per sale, so there’s little incentive for me to use these print-on-demand publishers, and they seem to raise the price of the text without my knowledge at random.
The full text is available via Dropbox or Google Drive in .pdf (Adobe) format. Some users may find the file too large, the main webpage has access to individual chapters. You can also find a table with links to each chapter on this website on the Chapters Page.
For instructors
Instructors considering adopting this text can obtain ancillary materials or the master copy in Microsoft Word format by contacting:
Steven M. Graves, Department of Geography – California State University, Northridge
Forthcoming:
- Individual Chapters (housed on this website)
- Sway versions of the chapters or perhaps basic web versions of the chapters for even better ADA compliance.
- “Lab” Exercises that accompany the text – with data downloads.