The Future of Geography: How Power and Politics in Space Will Change Our World – THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* (Tim Marshall on Geopolitics) Paperback – 1 Oct. 2023

Clear. Easy to understand for the lay person. Interesting views on what could be achieved. Worth the read, I am a space novice and enjoyed it.

Went through the basics of the political theory with some examples. Wish it had gone more in depth

Really enjoyable and interesting read

Comprehensive, highly-readable and clear overview of the current situation of astropolitics.As someone who as a child was excited by Sputnik (1957) it’s been fascinating watching events unfold in the decades since.In space as on Earth, China, Russia and the US are the Big Three, but many other countries are also staking their claims in space.Big prizes are Moon bases and then Mars and beyond, but a host of countries are aiming for lower but strategically important targets, putting up satellites for various reasons.Therefore, we have to face and meet some challenges - “the arms race, the competition for territory and resources, the lack of laws and many other negative aspects” (page 234). Including the massive amount of debris circling the planet.After potted histories of astronomy and space travel, Marshall launches into a fair and balanced account of current astropolitics.It’s interesting that only China appears to have called for the United Nations to have a central role “in managing outer space affairs.” (page 107).And private companies have also emerged as major players – SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, and i-Space in China and Arsenal in Russia (page 86).Marshall details threats of violent solar flares and asteroids (pages 92-4) and it’s unsurprising these concerns are also mirrored in the recently published, equally brilliant, The Earth Transformed by Peter Frankopan (pages 649-50).These two books might be read in tandem to give a complete picture of the history and recent escalation of terrestrial and off-Earth geographical challenges.Marshall has done a competent and enlightening job in giving us the facts and background – we see what needs to be done, but will it be done?

The book was quite well presented- a thorough appraisal of the reality that Space is in many ways just the same as every other sphere of life on Earth - dominated by geo-politics (“posture politics”) on the one hand and unrealistic altruism in outlook on the other. This is where my main criticism would lie. Until the final chapters he took a reporters view- gathered the evidence and presented the case dispassionately without falling into euphemisms. Sadly he drops the ball at the end. He enters his own personal philosophy when considering the contribution offered by Goldsmith and Rees in their book “The End of Astronauts” rather than analysing as with other sections. He would surely have realised (if he had read this?) that the trope “Space is our Destiny” and “Humans are born Explorers” etc has been shown to be false. As a result his personal position of a hopeful future for Human Exploration trumps realities that robotics can and will do the job in most cases and always at lower cost. Since its tax payers who fund all this (for now) he might conclude (as Goldsmith and Rees realise) that the Future of Geography is about to enter a very different world dominated by Big Business and AI/robotics rather than nation states and “grand gestures”.

A very decent read, but 50 pages of this book belong to 'between chapters' . blank pages, chapter titles, obligatory image etc.....

Good synopsis of our achievements in space. In addition explains ongoing research and geopolitical dilemmas. Clearly written and not pompous.

I’d never really thought about links between geography and space, but as with his other books, Tim Marshall does a great job of explaining those links. I’m considering bringing elements of this into Geography lessons I teach.