Most introductory textbooks in geography are content-oriented, some pay lip service to basic concepts in geography, and still others are like tombstones conveying concepts and content of a bygone era. Abler, Adams and Gould have presented an introductory text that is rich in concepts, is rooted in contemporary scientific thinking, and conveys a dynamic, futuristic view of geography. The basic thrust in the book is  the circularly causal relationships between spatial structure and spatial processes.  Geographers with a  lands-and-peoples  view of geography will be disappointed

Bhardwaj, S. M.

Stoddard, Robert

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Geography Faculty Publications Geography Program (SNR) 5-1972 Review of Spatial Organization: The Geographer's View of the World by Ronald Abler, John S. Adams, and Peter Gould S. M. Bhardwaj Kent State University Robert Stoddard University of Nebraska - Lincoln, rstoddard1@unl.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/geographyfacpub  Part of the Geography Commons Bhardwaj, S. M. and Stoddard, Robert, "Review of Spatial Organization: The Geographer's View of the World by Ronald Abler, John S. Adams, and Peter Gould" (1972). Geography Faculty Publications. 15. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/geographyfacpub/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Geography Program (SNR) at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Geography Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in The Professional Geographer 24:2 (May 1972), pp. 168–169. Copyright © 1972 by the Association of American Geographers; published by Wiley-Blackwell. Used by permission.   REVIEW    Spatial Organization: The Geographer's View of the World Ronald Abler, John S. Adams, and Peter Gould Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1971. xix + 587 pp.  Most introductory textbooks in geography are content-oriented, some pay lip service to basic concepts in geography, and still others are like tombstones conveying concepts and content of a bygone era. Abler, Adams and Gould have presented an introductory text that is rich in concepts, is rooted in contemporary scientific thinking, and conveys a dynamic, futuristic view of geography. The basic thrust in the book is “the circularly causal relationships between spatial structure and spatial processes.” Geographers with a “lands-and-peoples” view of geography will be disappointed. The book is organized in five parts. Part one sets geography within the broader field of science, scientific thinking and explanation. The function of geography, according to the authors, is the “explanation of classes of events by demonstrating that they are instances of widely ap-plicable laws and theories.” The “classes of events” to be explained by geographers refer primarily to “locations of peoples and their activities.” Thus the authors make explicit the fact that geography is not unique in terms of its method; it uses the scientific method. There is however the distinctive geographic question, viz, “why are spatial distributions structured the way they are.” The emphasis is on why, not simply on how. Part II is devoted to the problems of measurement, relationship and classification. These are not peculiar to geography nor are they novel to this field, yet they are far from being universally and explicitly recog-nized by members of the profession. These three problems are so fun-damental, the authors rightly argue, that scientific growth of the field is impossible without the achievement of precision in tackling them. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 of Part II may thus be collectively considered as an introduction to quantitative geography. The focus throughout however is not on specific method but on how to solve a given problem, and a ve-ritable battery of statistical methods is marshalled towards this end. The numerous illustrations are chosen from a wide variety of spatial processes, including many examples from everyday spatial experience. To those students unacquainted with quantitative methods the plethora of “new” terms and probabilistic expressions may seem forbidding, but the authors have tried to convey their meaning in simple, straightfor-ward everyday language. Parts III, IV, and V of the book, in one form or another, are really con-cerned with spatial structure and process, whether the focus is on loca-tion and spatial interaction, diffusion process, or decision process. The location of human activities and spatial interaction are examined at the macro level, Industrial, agricultural and social processes and resulting patterns are analyzed. The section of the book dealing with spatial diffu-sion process is largely based on Gould's Spatial Diffusion (AAG, Commis-sion on College Geography, Resource Paper No. 4). It stands by itself as the fourth part of the book, not by any necessity of logic, but simply it seems as a matter of convenience for the authors. Spatial organization and the decision process form the subject matter of the last part of the book with a capstone chapter, “The Geography of the Future and the Future of Geography.” Individual spatial decisions are examined in the normative and descriptive framework, thus bringing the analysis of the spatial structure and process to the micro level. The last chapter expresses the philosophy of the authors, their convic-tions regarding the geography of the future and the direction that geo-graphy is likely to take as a discipline. Problems of future spatial organi-zation are briefly outlined under “Short-Term,” “Intermediate-Range,” and “Long-Term.” Convinced that communication revolution will pro-duce an “everywhere” world within the next hundred years, the authors exhort geographers to prepare for forecasting the problems arising from ecumenical levels of spatial organization. In this otherwise fascinating introductory text, one finds a few irk-some details which perhaps may not appear significant from the theo-retical-philosophical perch of the authors. For example, “Modern Geo-graphy (Ca 1800-1950)” is disposed of in about two pages and, as though by design, not a single name of any twentieth century geographer occurs there. Could some geographers like Sauer and Hettner measure up to the authors' view of geographers worth mentioning? Throughout the text, but more explicitly in Chapter 15, the authors stress, and rightly so, the need for geographers to develop predictive ca-pability because future is not an exogenous variable.  And yet one searches in vain for even one real map which portrays any pattern of the future. While the futuristic views are commendable, it is precisely extra-polations into the future that the authors have chosen to avoid except in the opinionated last chapter. Despite the apparent ecumenical philosophy of the authors, the one fact that strikes a non-westerner about the book is the almost religious belief of the authors that the whole world is going to be following a western model of human interaction in which the geographers will be practicing “preventive spatial medicine.” Perhaps geographers from China or India would hold different views. The index of the book is somewhat curiously selective when it comes to including the names of geographers. Several geographers referred to in the text and/or chapter-end bibliographies do not appear, e.g., Ibn-Khaldun, Ratzel, Wolpert, Lukermann, Pred, Warntz, and Zeiinsky to name only a few. The few shortcomings of the book, however, are more than compen-sated by the enthusiasm of the authors throughout the book. Spatial Or-ganization is a competent introductory text for theoretical geography, and despite liberal usage of contemporary jargon and mathematical for-mulae, an earnest effort has been made by the authors to clarify concepts related to spatial structure and organization. Whether or not the dedica-tion “To the generation before us” is meant to convey a hidden sentiment for the “defenders of old order,” the now-generation of geographers will find the book a most useful addition to their bag.  S. M. Bhardwaj  Kent State University   Addendum from Robert H. Stoddard, University of Nebraska–Lincoln:  This book “puts it all together.” It brings the concepts, the methods, and the perspective of contemporary geography together in a single, in-teresting textbook. Instructors who previously have introduced the spa-tial perspective to college students by summarizing ideas scattered in professional journals will welcome this text. In a refreshing style and with contemporary illustrations, the authors have presented the geo-grapher's view of the world in a manner that challenges all readers: the casual student, the serious scholar of behavioral science, and the poten-tial geography specialist. The authors have put it together in an approach that is both exhila-rating yet somewhat confining. By integrating statistical techniques with the discussions on concepts and methods, the authors logically reveal the procedures used for establishing spatial principles and for solving loca-tional problems. Yet this integration makes it difficult to adapt the text for a less mathematical audience, and instructors who wish to assign se-lected themes from the book may be frustrated by the lack of distinct topical units. Also some students experience difficulty in finding concise explanations of concepts that are presented in several sections of the book. Nevertheless, these are minor inconveniences for any instructor who wishes to introduce the basic ideas of contemporary geography and is seeking a textbook that will reveal the exciting aspects of the discip-line. 

Review of \u3ci\u3eSpatial Organization: The Geographer\u27s View of the World\u3c/i\u3e by Ronald Abler, John S. Adams, and Peter Gould

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Geography Faculty Publications Geography Program (SNR) 
5-1972 
Review of Spatial Organization: The Geographer's View of the 
World by Ronald Abler, John S. Adams, and Peter Gould 
S. M. Bhardwaj 
Kent State University 
Robert Stoddard 
University of Nebraska - Lincoln, rstoddard1@unl.edu 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/geographyfacpub 
 Part of the Geography Commons 
Bhardwaj, S. M. and Stoddard, Robert, "Review of Spatial Organization: The Geographer's View of the 
World by Ronald Abler, John S. Adams, and Peter Gould" (1972). Geography Faculty Publications. 15. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/geographyfacpub/15 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Geography Program (SNR) at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Geography Faculty 
Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
Published in The Professional Geographer 24:2 (May 1972), pp. 168–169. 
Copyright © 1972 by the Association of American Geographers; published by 
Wiley-Blackwell. Used by permission. 
 
 
REVIEW  
 
 
Spatial Organization: The Geographer's View of the World 
Ronald Abler, John S. Adams, and Peter Gould 
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1971. xix + 587 pp. 
 
Most introductory textbooks in geography are content-oriented, some 
pay lip service to basic concepts in geography, and still others are like 
tombstones conveying concepts and content of a bygone era. Abler, 
Adams and Gould have presented an introductory text that is rich in 
concepts, is rooted in contemporary scientific thinking, and conveys a 
dynamic, futuristic view of geography. The basic thrust in the book is 
“the circularly causal relationships between spatial structure and spatial 
processes.” Geographers with a “lands-and-peoples” view of geography 
will be disappointed. 
The book is organized in five parts. Part one sets geography within 
the broader field of science, scientific thinking and explanation. The 
function of geography, according to the authors, is the “explanation of 
classes of events by demonstrating that they are instances of widely ap-
plicable laws and theories.” The “classes of events” to be explained by 
geographers refer primarily to “locations of peoples and their activities.” 
Thus the authors make explicit the fact that geography is not unique in 
terms of its method; it uses the scientific method. There is however the 
distinctive geographic question, viz, “why are spatial distributions 
structured the way they are.” The emphasis is on why, not simply on 
how. 
Part II is devoted to the problems of measurement, relationship and 
classification. These are not peculiar to geography nor are they novel to 
this field, yet they are far from being universally and explicitly recog-
nized by members of the profession. These three problems are so fun-
damental, the authors rightly argue, that scientific growth of the field is 
impossible without the achievement of precision in tackling them. 
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 of Part II may thus be collectively considered as an 
introduction to quantitative geography. The focus throughout however 
is not on specific method but on how to solve a given problem, and a ve-
ritable battery of statistical methods is marshalled towards this end. The 
numerous illustrations are chosen from a wide variety of spatial 
processes, including many examples from everyday spatial experience. 
To those students unacquainted with quantitative methods the plethora 
of “new” terms and probabilistic expressions may seem forbidding, but 
the authors have tried to convey their meaning in simple, straightfor-
ward everyday language. 
Parts III, IV, and V of the book, in one form or another, are really con-
cerned with spatial structure and process, whether the focus is on loca-
tion and spatial interaction, diffusion process, or decision process. The 
location of human activities and spatial interaction are examined at the 
macro level, Industrial, agricultural and social processes and resulting 
patterns are analyzed. The section of the book dealing with spatial diffu-
sion process is largely based on Gould's Spatial Diffusion (AAG, Commis-
sion on College Geography, Resource Paper No. 4). It stands by itself as 
the fourth part of the book, not by any necessity of logic, but simply it 
seems as a matter of convenience for the authors. 
Spatial organization and the decision process form the subject matter 
of the last part of the book with a capstone chapter, “The Geography of 
the Future and the Future of Geography.” Individual spatial decisions 
are examined in the normative and descriptive framework, thus bringing 
the analysis of the spatial structure and process to the micro level. 
The last chapter expresses the philosophy of the authors, their convic-
tions regarding the geography of the future and the direction that geo-
graphy is likely to take as a discipline. Problems of future spatial organi-
zation are briefly outlined under “Short-Term,” “Intermediate-Range,” 
and “Long-Term.” Convinced that communication revolution will pro-
duce an “everywhere” world within the next hundred years, the authors 
exhort geographers to prepare for forecasting the problems arising from 
ecumenical levels of spatial organization. 
In this otherwise fascinating introductory text, one finds a few irk-
some details which perhaps may not appear significant from the theo-
retical-philosophical perch of the authors. For example, “Modern Geo-
graphy (Ca 1800-1950)” is disposed of in about two pages and, as though 
by design, not a single name of any twentieth century geographer occurs 
there. Could some geographers like Sauer and Hettner measure up to the 
authors' view of geographers worth mentioning? 
Throughout the text, but more explicitly in Chapter 15, the authors 
stress, and rightly so, the need for geographers to develop predictive ca-
pability because future is not an exogenous variable.  And yet one 
searches in vain for even one real map which portrays any pattern of the 
future. While the futuristic views are commendable, it is precisely extra-
polations into the future that the authors have chosen to avoid except in 
the opinionated last chapter. 
Despite the apparent ecumenical philosophy of the authors, the one 
fact that strikes a non-westerner about the book is the almost religious 
belief of the authors that the whole world is going to be following a 
western model of human interaction in which the geographers will be 
practicing “preventive spatial medicine.” Perhaps geographers from 
China or India would hold different views. 
The index of the book is somewhat curiously selective when it comes 
to including the names of geographers. Several geographers referred to 
in the text and/or chapter-end bibliographies do not appear, e.g., Ibn-
Khaldun, Ratzel, Wolpert, Lukermann, Pred, Warntz, and Zeiinsky to 
name only a few. 
The few shortcomings of the book, however, are more than compen-
sated by the enthusiasm of the authors throughout the book. Spatial Or-
ganization is a competent introductory text for theoretical geography, 
and despite liberal usage of contemporary jargon and mathematical for-
mulae, an earnest effort has been made by the authors to clarify concepts 
related to spatial structure and organization. Whether or not the dedica-
tion “To the generation before us” is meant to convey a hidden sentiment 
for the “defenders of old order,” the now-generation of geographers will 
find the book a most useful addition to their bag. 
 
S. M. Bhardwaj  
Kent State University 
 
 
Addendum from Robert H. Stoddard, University of Nebraska–Lincoln: 
 
This book “puts it all together.” It brings the concepts, the methods, 
and the perspective of contemporary geography together in a single, in-
teresting textbook. Instructors who previously have introduced the spa-
tial perspective to college students by summarizing ideas scattered in 
professional journals will welcome this text. In a refreshing style and 
with contemporary illustrations, the authors have presented the geo-
grapher's view of the world in a manner that challenges all readers: the 
casual student, the serious scholar of behavioral science, and the poten-
tial geography specialist. 
The authors have put it together in an approach that is both exhila-
rating yet somewhat confining. By integrating statistical techniques with 
the discussions on concepts and methods, the authors logically reveal the 
procedures used for establishing spatial principles and for solving loca-
tional problems. Yet this integration makes it difficult to adapt the text 
for a less mathematical audience, and instructors who wish to assign se-
lected themes from the book may be frustrated by the lack of distinct 
topical units. Also some students experience difficulty in finding concise 
explanations of concepts that are presented in several sections of the 
book. Nevertheless, these are minor inconveniences for any instructor 
who wishes to introduce the basic ideas of contemporary geography and 
is seeking a textbook that will reveal the exciting aspects of the discip-
line. 


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Review of \u3ci\u3eSpatial Organization: The Geographer\u27s View of the World\u3c/i\u3e by Ronald Abler, John S. Adams, and Peter Gould

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