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© 2007 The AuthorsJournal compilation © 2007 Institute of Australian Geographers

my long-held suspicion that ‘native’ plants aremore widely planted than is often acknow-ledged). There are other studies that mighthave been drawn upon here – Ian Halkett’s

TheQuarter Acre Block

prominent among them –but a punchy work of this scope cannot also becomprehensive.

The next chapter discusses nativism andgardening for food, with a few thoughts onquirky and spiritual gardens appended. Theargument that nativism has racist connotations isdismissed as a logical fallacy, but Kirkpatrick isno simple apologist for nativism, particularly inits more extreme ‘local provenance only’ form.Instead, with reference to Zagorski’s data andother research (including that of Tim Low), heacknowledges that the situation is often morecomplex than nativists allow: exotics may providevaluable habitat, and problems of weed invasionmay arise from the

laissez-faire

approach ofsome ‘native’ gardeners. Useful perspectives onfood gardening are offered, although this sectionreturns to the mode of the first chapter, basedmore on personal observation and experience thandata marshalled from a wider range of sources.

The penultimate chapter, on the politicalecology of gardens, is the most polemical.Throughout the work, Kirkpatrick makes nosecret of his politics, and here he launches anall-out assault on the false god of economicgrowth, armed with the works of polymath IvanIllich and economists Herman Daly and E.J.Mishan. This is followed up with a set oftongue-in-cheek precepts for how to garden for‘The [growth] Economy’, and a more detaileddiscourse on gardening sustainably. But justwhen the complexity of gardening for good, notevil, threatens to overwhelm the enterprise, acoda enjoins gardeners to acknowledge theirlack of ecological omniscience, and celebratethe various virtues possessed by just about anykind of garden. The final chapter, as a goodconclusion should, draws the main findingstogether, into what Kirkpatrick calls his ‘succes-sive sifting theory of domestic gardens’: that is,gardens will be comprised of those plants thatsurvive in the environment, are chosen by thegardeners in line with their diversely-shapedpreferences and knowledge (as well as availabilityof plants), and/or have survived from earliergardens. As a rough framework, it seems to workwell, though the limitations of its predictive use– as in ‘How can you tell the attitudes of peoplefrom the plants you see in their gardens’ (backcover) – might have been further explored.

The book is well-presented, though the puta-tive demands of a popular readership haveseen proper referencing passed over in favour of‘further reading’ lists (which, it must be said, dorather suit this style of work, and are sufficientlycomprehensive to be of use to those wishing tofollow up on major arguments and evidence).There are two indexes: one for people, placesand subjects, and a longer one for plant species– a useful feature for the diverse readership thisbook should attract.

The Ecologies of Paradise

is, in sum, anengaging and robust work, liberally pepperedwith fearless observations and significantinsights delivered in wry, conversational style.Kirkpatrick’s approach is idiosyncratic, thoughnot flippant or unstructured: an apt reflection,perhaps, of the subject matter.

REFERENCEHalkett, I.P.B., 1976:

The Quarter Acre Block

, AustralianInstitute of Urban Studies, Canberra.

Andrea Gaynor

University of Western Australia

All Possible Worlds: a History of GeographicalIdeas, 4th Edition

Geoffrey J. Martin, Oxford University Press, NewYork and Oxford, 2005, xviii + 605 pp, ISBN0 1951 6870 4 (hardback), US$85.00.

This textbook is an old stalwart. The first editionappeared in 1972; the early editions were thejoint work of Geoff Martin and the late PrestonJames, but Geoff Martin has taken an increasingshare of the work in revision, and this the fourthedition is the work of him alone. It is well-written, well-produced, and a work of outstandingscholarship.

A brief overview entitled ‘A Field of StudyCalled Geography’ precedes Part 1, on ‘Classical’Geography, which conducts the student throughthe history of geographical thought from theideas of the Classical Greeks, for whomgeographical ideas were intimately intercon-nected with those of other fields such as historyand philosophy, to the Age of Carl Ritter andAlexander von Humboldt. The six chaptershave headings that include ‘Geography in theMiddle Ages’, ‘The Age of Exploration’, ‘TheImpact of the Discoveries’ and ‘An End and aBeginning’.

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Part 2 is headed ‘Modern’ Geography. Thedividing year is taken as 1859, the year in whichHumboldt and Ritter died, Alfred Hettnerwas born and Charles Darwin’s

On the Origin ofSpecies

was published. Chapter 7 seeks to answerthe question ‘What was New?’ Developments inthe physical, biological and social sciences,cartography, and survey techniques (particularlythe ‘Great Surveys’ of the USA) are linked togeographical thinking. Chapters 8–14 examinethe ‘New Geography’ in Germany, France, GreatBritain, Russia, Canada, Sweden and Japan,respectively. Chapters 15–17 deal with the USA‘Before World War I’, ‘World War I to Mid-century’ and ‘Midcentury to the Present. A strongChapter 18 deals with ‘Applied Geography’,mentioning the role of geography and geographersin the World Wars, at the Paris Peace Conference,geography in government more generally and therise of land classification. Chapter 19 describes‘New Methods of Observation and Analysis’,including mapping, aerial photography and otherremote sensing methods, including the uses ofsatellite imagery, statistical techniques and GPS.

A recapitulatory Chapter 20 is headed ‘Innova-tion and Tradition’ and explores several themesincluding the use of systems, regional and processideas and ‘The Population Problem’.

Detailed references are given at the end of eachchapter. As well as a very good conventional‘Index of Subjects’ there is an extremely useful‘Index of Names’, some 50 pages in length. Thisgives the dates and a few lines of biographicaldetail for many hundreds of persons importantin the history of geographical thought – not onlygeographers

per se

, but other scientists, explorersand philosophers.

The book is well illustrated, with many dozensof maps diagrams and photographs. A few ofthese are old favourites such as a sketch byW.M. Davis of an ‘early mature’ valley, and ofmaps of ‘The World according to Ptolemy’, butmany are completely new. The latter includeportraits of significant personalities, photos offieldwork on major expeditions and at meetingsthat later proved to be of critical importance.

This work is designed as a text for the UnitedStates College market – a note in the Prefaceoffers suggestions for its use in this role. In thatcountry, particularly as components of graduateprograms, academic courses in the History ofGeographical Thought still exist in appreciablenumbers, whereas they have largely disappearedfrom Australian geographical curricula. (Austra-lasian readers may thus be disappointed that

there is relatively little material on the Historyof Geography in Australia and New Zealand,although brief biographical material is given ona number of Australian geographers in the‘Index of Names’.)

But this is also a superb work of reference.Here the inquirer will find details of names,places, dates, principal publications and ideas ofmuch of significance in the history of geograph-ical ideas from the earliest identification ofthe subject up to the first two or three yearsof the twenty-first century. University Librarieswill need it.

Patrick Armstrong

University of Western Australia

Granite Landscapes of the World

Piotr Migo

n

, Oxford University Press, Oxford,2006, xxviii + 384 pp, ISBN 0 19 927368 5(hardback), A$320.00.

Rock-based geomorphology concerns thoserocks that produce distinctive landscapes. Basaltcovers 3% of the Earth’s land surface and hasadequate treatment in the guise of volcaniclandscapes. Limestone covers 7% and has ahuge literature. Granite covers 15% and hasmany papers and some books devoted to itslandscapes. Sandstone also covers 15% but hasfew books, and shale which covers 52% has nobooks that I am aware of.

Piotr Migo

n

has produced a new book focusedon the geomorphology of granite terrain, to joinothers by Wilhelmy (1958), Godard (1977) andTwidale (1982). The book makes a significantadvance beyond its predecessors.

He writes: ‘I primarily intend to show thediversity of granite landscapes, at the scale bothof individual landforms, as well as of regionallandform assemblages. More challenging is totake a step further and provide an explanationfor this variety.’ This is what the book is about,plus a final chapter on humans in granitelandscapes. Despite the title the book does nothave a regional approach, and there is, quitereasonably, an emphasis on the places mostfamiliar to the author.

Chapter 1 is about the geology of granite –mineralogy, emplacement mechanisms, tectonicsettings, and fractures. Other aspects of geologyare treated in Chapter 8, and granite weatheringis covered in Chapter 2, including the processes