Product Description

In this collection of essays on "objects" in the landscape, some of the leading names in the "new geography" explore the way we understand objects and their relationship to ourselves and world around us.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #433596 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 350 pages

Review
"Patterned Ground sets itself apart from this crowded genre by creating a landscape of essays that are at once familiar in their topics and yet also powerfully new by their juxtaposition with each other . . . The themes of Patterned Ground are powerful in the ability both to tie together disparate essays and to challenge the reader to reassess preconceptions of process, landscape and materiality. There is a subtle and playful lyrical connectivity to the arrangement of the essays. . . Ultimately, Patterned Ground succeeds because both the editors and the authors have created a compilation of vignettes that interrupt the reader''s normal flow of experience and create renewed perceptions of place." -- Jack Livingston "Cultural Geographies" (01/01/2005)

Customer Reviews

Well Grounded
What did you think of geography at school? It was never my best subject and I remember it mainly being about sheep farms in Australia (yawn, yawn). Okay, I've forgotten a lot about the really fascinating lessons we had. Geography can mean all sorts of things of course and this book does explore many aspects - psychological, sociological, cultural - as well as the forms of geography we are more familiar with. And it does encourage you to look at the world around in new ways. What is more important than the world around you?

I must declare an interest - I know two of the editors - but I promise they haven't bribed me to write a good review, otherwise it would have been a five-star rating. I docked one star for the lapse of certain writers into socio-politico-god-knows-what jargon. Persevere, though, through those because they are still interesting, if less accessible. And there are plenty more items here that read much more easily. I was initially disappointed to discover that a book called "Patterned Ground" wasn't a history of pub carpets but after reading it I'm not disappointed anymore.