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Encyclopedia of World Geography. Ed. by R. W. McColl. Facts On File Library of World Geography. New York: Facts On File, 2005. 3 vols, acid free $250 (ISBN 0-81605786-9).
The study of geography almost defies definition due to its breadth. As Audrey N. Clark points out in the preface to the Penguin Dictionary of Geography (2003): "Geography as a discipline spans the humanities, the natural and social sciences; has many specialists branches; is concerned not only with the physical phenomena of the planet (as in physical geography) but with the way in which people interact with them, and with each other (as in human geography)" (vii).
The three-volume Encyclopedia of World Geography is one of the latest in a long line of Facts On File reference publications. The title of the work might lead one to expect something similar to the five-volume World Geographical Encyclopedia (McGrawHill, 1995). The latter is a traditional treatment of world geography focusing on physical and political geography. Encyclopedia of World Geography...