Since everyone here seemed to be talking about John Jakle book I had no choice but to buy the book; just to not be left out of the conversation. . I was surprised gladly. I remember writing a jeux des paroles in this message board about a certain book: " Very easy to read but not easy to understand" . Prof. Jakle's book is not one of those but one: "Not only easy to read but easy to understand" . That's a rare quality in Geografy books. Books by old geografers were simply but boring, books by 'the new geografers" tend to be fascinating but abstruse.  Not to blame the authors; not easy to write clearly when you are not sure where you are getting to.

   By the way... I also wanted to say something about Willburnh  latest posts on tourism. Quite agree with most of what she said. One thing bother me though: she talks often of landscape appreciators as being this or that. I say there isn't such persons as 'landscape appreciators' , at least not in the sense of some people being violinist, or a gangster or a poet. What there is, is some people with the ability to appreciate landscapes when and if they want to do it. Not a tittle or a profesion and not even a hobby.

      I doubt very much that (even among the illustrous members of this forum) there are people that embark on trips to a place with the aim to appreciate the landscapes there. They might go, as tourists, to enjoy, admire, contemplate, marvel, etc. etc., and if they have the ability to appreciate them, d'autant mieux .  But, as no one would say of himself: "I am a landscape admirer or contemplator", neither is to say "I am a landscape appreciator".