The Future of Geography: How Power and Politics in Space Will Change Our World
Tim Marshall
Spy satellites orbiting the moon. Space metals worth more than most countries’ GDP. People on Mars within the next ten years. more
320 pages, Hardcover
First published Elliott Thompson
3.97
Rating
2690
Ratings
249
Reviews
Tim Marshall
15 books 2004 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.Tim Marshall was Diplomatic Editor and foreign correspondent for Sky News. After thirty years’ experience in news reporting and presenting, he left full time news journalism to concentrate on writing and analysis.
Originally from Leeds, Tim arrived at broadcasting from the road less traveled. Not a media studies or journalism graduate, in fact not a graduate at all, after a wholly unsuccessful career as a painter and decorator he worked his way through newsroom nightshifts, and unpaid stints as a researcher and runner before eventually securing himself a foothold on the first rung of the broadcasting career ladder.
After three years as IRN’s Paris correspondent and extensive work for BBC radio and TV, Tim joined Sky News. Reporting from Europe, the USA and Asia, Tim became Middle East Correspondent based in Jerusalem.
Tim also reported in the field from Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia during the Balkan wars of the 1990’s. He spent the majority of the 1999 Kosovo crisis in Belgrade, where he was one of the few western journalists who stayed on to report from one of the main targets of NATO bombing raids. Tim was in Kosovo to greet the NATO troops on the day they advanced into Pristina. In recent years he covered the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria.
He has written for many of the national newspapers including the Times, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, and the Sunday Times.
Bio photo credit © Jolly Thompson
Community reviews
Tim Marshall, British journalist, author and broadcaster, specialising in foreign affairs and international diplomacy is back with yet another book founded on geo-politics, and this time the venue is space. This has everything from the history of space exploration all the way to the impact of science-fiction. Yet again put together in very accessible language and from neutral fact-based stance this a must-read, dare I say, for anyone interested in the future of mankind. Yeah, that's right, three exclamation marks, that were well deserved in this on paragraph. I can honestly say that I learned something new on every single page of this book from the fact that countries like Nigeria and Djibouti have satellites, to the impact of fraud and corruption on the Russian space programme. more
This is a super fun, entertaining book about serious topics. You really don’t expect to be laughing when reading about near future space age, but this author is incredibly witty and it fits. I read and enjoyed “prisoners of geography” that brought valuable insights. I wasn’t expecting this book to be about space. It was very well timed though, since India successfully landed an unmanned craft on the South Pole of the moon this week. more
This is the first book I have read in this series by Tim Marshall and what better way of doing things than by starting in the future. This is one of those books that is about a subject that you may have no opinion on at the start but by the end of the book you’ll be chomping at the bit looking for somebody to discuss what you’ve learnt and willing to join you as a pioneer to Mars. The book is well structured, a book about the future starts off in the past, the initial space race between USSR and USA. It explains why they were in this race and how the feat was achieved by those rather brainy sciency guys, as each milestone was reached Marshall shows us where the opposition was. This section of the book felt like a proper good page turning spy novel. more
I withdrew my original review because it was not a review of the book but of a review of it in the Times Literary Supplement sometime in May 2023 by a Brandon J. Weichert, a former congressional staffer, geopolitical analyst and senior editor at 19FortyFive. com and author of 'Winning Space: How America remains a Superpower'. Mr. Weichert's review annoyed me to such an extent that my review of this book became a denunciation of his review. more
I highly recommend anything by Marshall. He has a gift for presenting the complex in a simple and accessible way. Fascinating read. more
I loved the first section about the history of our understanding of space. From Ancient Greece, The Abbasids to The Renaissance up to the space race it was all fascinating when all put in its context. I also quite enjoyed the China chapter and Marshals writing style is always digestible, informative and a pleasure to read. However this very much lacks a sense of focus present in the previous two books. I know when it comes to space it’s going to be more speculative some of which was insightful but it didn’t paint a clear picture or theme in the way he managed previously and seemed a little haphazard. more
This book was interesting but kept dropping bombs like “the moon has the perfect fuel source for nuclear fission reactors and could power all of Earth for 10,000 years” or “a rogue nation could launch a nuclear bomb into low orbit and take out every single satellite in operation and leave a radiation field satellites can’t function in for years to come” that just made me unnerved For the USA being so ahead in space technology you would think we’d have politics and human rights figured out. more
An eye-opening book about space development. These few years the media has been focusing on geopolitics that there is not much attention devoted to space discovery. It's unbelievable that human made such a big progress in the last two decades. Worth reading. Better than focus our attention on Russia and China. more
This book should have been a chapter. When a book called “The Future of…” starts with the Big Bang, it’s never a good sign. Otherwise easy and comprehensive writing, important themes and clear idea repeated over 250 pages. . more
Wir wissen alle, dass die Ressourcen auf diesem Planeten endlich sind. Wenn wir unseren Lebensstandard halten wollen und auch künftigen Generationen ermöglichen möchten, müssen wir uns daher woanders nach Rohstoffen umsehen. Eine naheliegende Lösung sind dabei die anderen Himmelskörper in unserem Sonnensystem. Der nächstgelegene ist natürlich der Mond und er ist rohstoffreicher, als die meisten von uns wahrscheinlich vermuten. Der Aufbau von Rohstoffminen auf dem Mond mag für viele noch wie ferne Zukunftsmusik klingen, aber die Pläne dazu sind in vollem Gange. more
Space exploration is not a topic I’m particularly interested in but I’ve seen some of the authors other books and thought it might be interesting. I think the most glaring problem is it feels quite clear that the author is not an expert in this (extremely complicated) topic. Instead, he compensates with seemingly irrelevant points and lame attempts at humor throughout. Oh well. more
Great insight into the future of tech and space. Sci-fi becoming realities. 🫢🤔. more
“To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would limit the human spirit”. Stephen Hawking“What we know is a drop. What we don’t know is an ocean”. Isaac Newton This is the latest (third) instalment in the author’s “Prisoners of Geography” series, which gives a fascinating account of how geographic realities influence the decision making of nation-states. In this instalment the author opens the question of how the drive to discover, explore space will lead to great new opportunities but also very real flashpoints between the great powers on Earth. more
Space: the final frontier. These are the pages of The Future of Geography, by Tim Marshall. Its 320-page mission: to explore not only our world but the strange new worlds that we, as a species attempt to seek out and exploit. To seek out new life and new civilizations (if any exist). To boldly go where no book has gone before. more
An interesting and informative look at the race to claim the future y way of geography. Tim Marshall does a great job of charting the course of history in space by the human race. He takes us through to the present and the countries jockeying upfront in the race to put a stake in the ground in space, while grappling with the challenges of sustaining life there. He speculates and imagines future challenges grounded in science, politics, and the human propensity to dominant. This is a well written and easily digestible book about the future of geography in space. more
Wasn’t in the mood for this when I started. I was a bit wary of this, since his chapters on space in his previous book were kinda boring. I didn’t want an extension of that. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked how it built up from the history of astronomy to make it clear that fighting over the heavens was inevitable. more
This is the third book of 'Geography' series written by Tim Marshall and kudos to his vision. In this book,he ventures out of this planet into space;more specifically to Artificial Satellites,Moon,Mars and ISS. Though,the book is more about cooperation in space,space wars and astropolitics(geopolitics played in space by USA and allies with China/Russia and allies);the author also writes about new space technologies,colonisation of Mars etc. Forget Star trek and Star wars,read this book if you are interested in astropolitics. more
I enjoyed this book because it offered an interesting perspective on the future potentials of space, but at times felt more like a history of space exploration than one of Marshall’s usual geopolitics books. Compared to previous works like Prisoners/Power of Geography, I have to say I was slightly disappointed by this book. Perhaps that is because this is very speculative stuff, but this is still overall an interesting read which offers much food for thought. . more
The weakest of the three, probably because it’s necessarily a bit more vague. As it gets speculative it gets really fascinating though. more
Satisfyingly educated on the history of human space endeavours, militarisation of satellites, moon bases and astro-politics. I love Tim Marshall. more
Space may be the final frontier but it's made in the Holywood basement - 1998 CalifornicationFast forward to 2023, Tim Marshall who used to be my favorite GeoPolitic writer wrote his latest book. Described the history of human space oddisey human in the past 100 years, I supposed to know what I expect. A Meh. Most of the old articles you can find on wikipedia, and latest update you will hear from Elon Musk's twit. A Cliche. more
I really liked the space chapter of Prisoners of Geography, and this is just that expanded. Starts with 50 pages of the history of astronomy and space travel, which is interesting, but a weird start for a book about the "future of geography". There's a fair bit of interesting stuff in the book, but a lot of repetition about usa vs china vs russia (understandably), and the same few points about whichever gets to space first could control that vantage point and stop others. The writing style keeps it moving though, so I still enjoyed it, I just wish there'd been a bit more to it. more
After analysing many topics including geographical regions, the nationalism of flags and potential conflicts on terra firma, Tim Marshall extends his predictions beyond Earth with The Future of Geography. It’s another intriguing slice of geopolitics placed against the backdrop of science. Much like his other books, the author begins with a history lesson that includes all the big names. Aristotle, Galileo, Hawking, Gargarin and Armstrong among others. In a simple yet effective manner, we see the long road travelled to reaching the stars. more
If you gave Tim Marshall the task of writing an interesting yet entertaining book about the single most boring subject in the history of the world … he would not only succeed but it would probably also be the best book you’ve ever read. Personally, I’m not really into the topic of space aside from things Star Wars related, but this book has completely changed that. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read with an abundance of sci-fi references and humour (I genuinely laughed out loud at points) whilst being extremely informative in an easily digestible way. I learnt so much about several topics, for example the technical history of the Cold War, the reliance of the future of medicine on space, the alliances between countries that basically control an extension of their own geopolitical hard/soft power, the list goes on. Whilst the bulk of focus was on the ‘big three’ space powers (the US, Russia, and China) the fact Marshall included the history and future prospects relating to technological space capabilities of many smaller nations was insightful. more
3. 5 Stars. “In 1962 the USA launched a military project code named Starfish Prime. They detonated a thermonuclear warhead 400 ks above the Pacific Ocean-just to see what would happen. The device was 100 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. more
Tim Marshall is an award-winning journalist known for "Prisoners of Geography", which I liked due to its interesting insights into how geography & human nature creates and influences the world & its boundaries into what it is today. In "The Future of Geography", he takes us further beyond the Earth and launches us into space for a revealing journey about the origin and the recent development of the space race. Through ten chapters, he explains how the space race started as a byproduct of the Cold War between the US & Russia and how these countries' actions in claiming the moon as theirs for the taking began a chain of reaction amongst the other countries. Soon, China, Europe, the UK, India, UAE, and other prominent nations began to develop their own plans for space exploration beyond the moon and Mars, with the 'Big Three' (US, China & Russia) taking the lead in terms of funding and technological advancement. Unsurprisingly, geopolitics and the fight for more resources and minerals which can be found on the moon & Mars are key factors in driving the space race into what it is today. more
Este libro te ayuda a comprender la carrera armamentistica que se está llevando a cabo en estos momentos, y que creo que mucha gente desconoce. Los primeros capítulos narran los avánzales de distintas civilizaciones a lo largo de la historia con respecto a el espacio exterior y la posición de la tierra en este. A continuación, Marshall expone con gran detalle la carrera espacial entre rusos y americanos durante la guerra fría. Dos de las tres superpotencias espaciales actuales. China es la tercera, aunque tiene, a día de hoy, mas capacidades y dominio espacial que Rusia. more
An absolutely riveting history of mankind’s race into space and then the Moon landings, the age of the space shuttle, the ISS and the growth of satellites. We then look to the future, how is geopolitics on Earth going to influence our future in space. With the decline of Russia, two main players in the space race left are: USA and China, both at odds with each other, how are those tensions going to play out in a scenario where disagreements, even combat in space, on the Moon or Mars. Looking to the near future, China has plans for a Moon orbiting station and a permanent Moon base with which to mine for precious materials, but who owns the Moon. How will China and The USA get on with competing bases on the Moon and no clear territorial laws or rules and who police’s it. more