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Nature 455, 168-169 (11 September 2008) | doi:10.1038/455168a; Published online 10 September 2008

Open Innovation Challenges

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There's no place like home?

Yi-Fu Tuan1

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A bold attempt to synthesize the effects of geography on the world's population through maps highlights some interesting paradoxes, explains Yi-Fu Tuan.

BOOK REVIEWEDThe Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization's Rough Landscape

by Harm de Blij

Oxford University Press: 2008. 304 pp. $27.95, £14.99

For those who want to be on top of world events, yet feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that floods into their homes and offices through the media, The Power of Place is an excellent start. In his new book, professor, writer and broadcaster Harm de Blij uses the geographer's favourite tool, the map, to help us feel somewhat in control of this mass of information — the resurgence of religious fundamentalism, the levelling of the playing field for the well educated, the roughening of the landscape for the illiterate and poor, the threats of climate change and of nuclear and biological terrorism.