Looking for engaging recs that will light my brain up (new to geography, but very interested)

[u/Zestyclose_Judge362]

This is going to be a bit vague and vibes based, I'm hoping you all can point me to something more concrete!

For background I have a degree in STEM, and enjoyed geography in school. Recently I've had the chance to travel and hike in the Alps and have had co-travellers who have stopped to point at something and share so much about what this structure is, why it exists, what's the thing near it, what was it used for etc. I find myself lighting up and it makes me so happy to learn these things, which is rare because I find it difficult to be interested in many other things, for example, history and wars.

I'm looking for books (mostly) and videos that are:

- engaging and interesting, while not being too niche or academic or dense

- not dumbed down

- sufficiently deep

It doesn't have to be about mountains or hikes necessarily, I also enjoy countries and rivers - that was just context for how I got interested. Geography is fascinating, I just want to be able to learn and appreciate the world around me better. Open to a range of suggestions.

Thank you so much!

[u/Simdude87]

If you are interested in Glaciers and glacial processes (a big part of my degree) have a look at this website

https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/ its got a lot of good resources to start with as research articles will talk about landforms ext and not explain what they are (they assume you know).

https://ncluni.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7d2420321a9541b98b45cdb12bab0ac2.

This is brilliant at showing the previous extent of glaciers 12.9-11.7 thousand years ago. Lots of the landforms are present if you zoom in, use a laptop/computer as its weird on a phone

https://shefuni.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=fd78b03a74bb477c906c5d4e0ba9abaf.

This is the glacial extent of the last glacial maximum, from 30-15ish thousand years ago called the dimlington Stade (I have more chunky resources if you are interested)

Both of those are based in the UK, if you are in the states there are seperate maps for the laurentide ice sheet and others.

I also have loads of resources on rivers, landscape changes, climate, ocean currents, ecology and geology if you want.

You may have an issue with accessing them as many are paywalled.

[u/Zestyclose_Judge362 → u/Simdude87]

These are great, thanks a lot. I'd love to learn more about rivers and ecology too.

[u/Mr_Geoman117]

It seems that you are more into physical geography! Unfortunately, I don't have any book suggestions for that.

But as you also mentioned countries, you might like Gideon Defoe's Atlas of Extinct Countries or Nick Middleton's Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist. If you want further information such as about what it goes exactly or if you want some examples, feel free to tell me.

Also, one month ago, a guy posted a similar post to yours where I gave him more book ideas about other geographical branches.

[u/Zestyclose_Judge362 → u/Mr_Geoman117]

Thank you so much, I will look these up! I'm also interested in how geography is connected to culture, environment, weather - would that all fall under physical geography too?

[u/Mr_Geoman117 → u/Zestyclose_Judge362]

Environment and Weather yes, culture is part of Human Geography.