Summary

` It is a safe bet that Key Thinkers will emerge as something of a ′hit′ within the undergraduate community and will rise to prominance as a ′must buy′ - Environment and Planning

`Key Thinkers on Space and Place is an engagingly written, well-researched and very accessible book. It will surely prove an invaluable tool for students, whom I would strongly encourage to purchase this edited collection as one of the best guides to recent geographical thought′ -Claudio Minca, University of Newcastle

`Key Thinkers is the best encyclopedic tool for human geographers since the Dictionary of Human Geography . It takes into its orbit discussions of the lives and work of the last three decades′ major thinkers on space and place. It is hugely useful for students who want an easy way to access the roots of where some major themes and debates in contemporary geography. It is organized so that each chapter details the scholar′s biography, their contribution to spatial and place-based theory and the controversies that arise through their work′ - Stuart Aitken, San Diego State University

Key Thinkers on Space and Place is a comprehensive guide to the latest work on space. Each entry is a short interpretative essay of 2,500 words, outlining the contributions made by the key theorists, and comprises:

· a concise biography, indicating disciplinary background, career trajectory and collaboration with others

· an outline of the key theoretical, conceptual and methodological ideas each has introduced to human geography

· an explanation of the reaction to, and uptake of, how these ideas has changed and evolved over time

· an explanation of how these theories have been used and critiqued by human geographers

· a selective bibliography of each thinker′s key publications (and key secondary publications)

The text is introduced by a contextual essay which outlines in general terms the shifting ways in which space and place have been theorised and which explains how Key Thinkers on Space and Place can be used. A glossary that defines key traditions, with cross-links to key theorists and a timeline of key article/book publication date is also included.

Choice Review

Editors Hubbard (Univ. of Kent, UK) and Kitchin (National Univ. of Ireland) here update and expand the first edition (CH, Jan'05, 42-2577), drawing on contributors who are mostly Commonwealth academics. Like the earlier volume, this second edition looks at the influence of space and place on culture, economics, society, and politics. Each entry consists of a biography and a discussion of the context of an individual's work, a review of that person's spatial contributions, an explanation of the significance and controversial nature of that individual's key ideas, and a bibliography of key primary and secondary sources. The featured scholars transcend the boundaries of geography to include anthropologists, sociologists, and philosophers, among others. The glossary and index are both helpful. The editors acknowledge that the book's group of some 60 individuals does not represent an exhaustive list of scholars or even a list of the most influential. Rather, it is a representative compilation of contributors to spatial theory from the past 50 years. This edition also seeks to be less Anglo-American-centric. Although it features 14 new entries, inclusion is limited to those whose writings are readily accessible in English. The larger criticism, then, is not of who is included or excluded, but of the work's narrowness of scope. Useful for comprehensive collections. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and researchers/faculty. D. Liestman Viterbo University