Thursday, January 28, 2010

WHO OWNS THE WORLD: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY


GIVEAWAY ENDED
WHO OWNS THE WORLD

The Surprising Truth About
Every Piece of Land on the Planet
BY KEVIN CAHILL, ROB MCMAHON


ABOUT THE BOOK:

You don't have to be a student of geography or cartography to have an interest in the world around you, especially with globalization making our planet seem smaller than ever. Now you can IM someone in Alaska, purchase coffee beans from Timor-Leste, and visit Dubai. But what do we really know about these lands? WHO OWNS THE WORLD presents the results of the first-ever landownership survey of all 197 states and 66 territories of the world, and reveals facts both startling and eye-opening. You'll learn that: --Only 15% of the world's population lays claim to landownership, and that landownership in too few hands is probably the single greatest cause of poverty. --Queen Elizabeth II owns 1/6 of the entire land surface on earth (nearly 3 times the size of the U.S.). --The Lichtenstein royal family is wealthier than the Grimaldis of Monaco. --80% of the American population is crammed in urban areas. --The least crowded state is Alaska, with 670 acres per person. The most crowded is New Jersey, with .7 acres per person. --60% of America's population are property owners. That's behind the UK (69% homeownership). --And much, much more! With its relevance to contemporary issues and culture, WHO OWNS THE WORLD makes for fascinating reading. Both entertaining and educational, it provides cocktail party conversation for years to come and is guaranteed to change the way you view the U.S. and the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:


Kevin Cahill was born in the Irish Republic, and now lives in Devon, in the UK, with his wife. They have three daughters. A former army officer, Kevin has worked in the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Irish Parliament, and the European Parliament as an adviser and researcher. He is the author of a number of books on business, trade, and landownership and was a researcher on the original Sunday Times Rich List.

Rob McMahon
is a freelance writer and editor with more than fifteen years experience in book publishing.

REVIEW:

I would probably be the last person to curl up in bed with this book--or so I thought! This is so relevant and interesting that I shocked myself. Reading this book can give you things to talk about for ages! It truly is like a 369 page encyclopedia of who owns and controls every bit of land on this planet. Cahill and McMahon explain that their purpose in writing this book was to get across the point that with only 15% of the population on earth laying claim to land, there in lies probably the greatest cause of poverty in the world. I found that following the devastating earthquake in Haiti on the heels of reading this book, started to put things in perspective and bring it into the light for me.

The book is well researched and not only explains who owns the land but also compares the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), tells about the land space, and also the populations of every country. Also, they provide a small amount of information on the history of each country as well as the religion. It has information on every state in the USA including how they were named, their population, how the state was formed, land ratio per person, and how the state is owned!

The authors' purpose to explain world poverty goes back to the fact of how few people own all the land. They contend that if there were private ownership of a very small piece of land (perhaps one-tenth of an acre in the urban areas and maybe an acre in the rural areas) given to every person on earth, then there is a good probability that we could begin to end world poverty and all the problems that come with it and as a result of it. The book even goes so far as to say that this should be a human's basic right to own land. Whether you agree or not, it is a very thought provoking idea and one that should encourage great discussion especially with all the factual information in the book to rely on.

WHO OWNS THE WORLD gives the reader the world at his fingertips and so whether you are interested in the theory explained by the authors or just want some information on one or two places, you can find it here. If you want to have a better understanding of our world geographically and a better look into the global land history, this book will provide that. The nicest part for me is the the information is presented in a very easy to follow format and includes a key to abbreviations, easy to read charts, and very detailed descriptions so you get visuals as well. I hope you will take time to take the geography quiz that is provided by the authors below. It may help you decide whether you just may need to have this book on hand and read it as well!

A Quiz from
WHO OWNS THE WORLD


Click on the Book Cover below
to go to the brief quiz and see how
you do. The quiz is based on facts
from WHO OWNS THE WORLD

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO VALERIE AND THE
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE

5 COPIES OF THIS GREAT
BOOK
TO GIVEAWAY!


--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!
HOW TO ENTER

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS IDEA OF POVERTY BEING CAUSED BY LIMITED LAND OWNERSHIP ON EARTH

+1 MORE ENTRY: GO TO THE AUTHORS' WEBSITE FOR THE BOOK AND CHECK OUT SOME OF THE INFORMATION IN THE LEFT HAND COLUMN AND COME BACK AND TELL AN INTERESTING FACT YOU FOUND

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND THEN COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
6 PM, EST, FEBRUARY 19


GOOD LUCK!

44 comments:

traveler said...

I am fascinated with this unique book and would love to read it. What an interesting idea. I learned that Queen Elizabeth 11 is the largest landowner on Earth. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

Poverty can be related to land ownership since real estate and land is the prime interest in acquiring financing and continued success. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

Reading said...

I think there are many factors that contribute to the poverty in Haiti and around the globe. Its like the chicken and the egg. What came first, the poverty or low land ownership.

lizzi0915 at aol dot com

Reading said...

I am not suprised that Queen Elizabeth II is the largest land owner. England's royalty is so wealthy.

lizzi0915 at aol dot com

Libby's Library said...

No need to enter me...just wanted to let you know that I feel the same way about this book. It is a GEM, and could have been written buy my father, who would have named in The Square Inch (which is a story that he has told my kids time and time again...that there isn't a square inch of the earth, that isn't "owned" by someone!)

Love ya Bingo!

rubynreba said...

I do think that poverty and land ownership relate to each other.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

rubynreba said...

The first edition of Who Owns the World was published in Nov 2006 and sold out in Jan 2007. The 2nd impression was published in June 2007.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

g.g. said...

I think it is a very thought provoking idea about poverty being caused by land owndership. It would be such an idyllic world to think everyone had a piece of land to care for.

anjamie4 at gmail DOT com

g.g. said...

I was not surprised at the names of people who owned the most land but didn't realize that Queen Elizabeth had that much!..WOW!

anjamie4 at gmail DOT com

Linda Kish said...

The poor cannot afford to own land.. costs, interest rates, payments limit the chance of landownership. But even those who can, oftentimes are at the mercy of big businesses.


lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Martha Lawson said...

“Queen Elizabeth II the largest landowner on Earth - I had no idea that she owned so much land!!! I would love to read this book. It looks fascinating.

I follow

mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

Alyce said...

I've been seeing this book around and would love to have a chance to read it!

I think that there's something to be said about not just the ownership of land but the quality of the land that they own. For example, the native Americans were sometimes shifted to reservations with land that had such poor quality that nothing could be grown there.

akreese (at) hotmail (dot) com

Alyce said...

I learned that some of the largest land owners in the US are Native American corporations.

akreese (at) hotmail (dot) com

bison61 said...

very interesting-I guess poverty and land ownership are related

tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com

Unknown said...

I have mixed thoughts. I think it is more who owns the tillable land that is owned than limited land ownership.

ashleymaymott(at)aol(dot)com

Unknown said...

less than 8% of the U.K. is under concrete is my favorite fact!

Anonymous said...

Although poverty is a multi-faceted topic, I do believe that at it's core land is a major and basic factor. Economics, politics and even cultural systems in any one given region are causes of and/or effects of land ownership and related poverty levels. It's very basic... Think of history, of fuedal states, kingdoms, primacy systems where land was owned by the minority while individuals were worked like slaves on tracts of land. Same situation applies today in very poor countries... Also land is a source of long-term resources: you can grow food, acquire water, hunt, build and have shelters... In the long term, you acquire funds, allows oneself and future generations to get educations, etc. and then rise out of poverty. That is essentially the history of America. Immigration and land ownership has led to a rise in education, high standards of living and then more land ownership over generations and the long term.

Would love to read this book. Thank you!

Aliya D.
aliyadaya(at)shaw(dot)ca

Anonymous said...

At the author's website... I knew that Alaska was sold to the US by Russia at around $0.02/acre, but what I did not know is that US military owns the large tracts of land up there (around 1,000,000 acres). It makes sense, considering the Cold War and current security issues with the Russians... I also did not know that Russia was colonizing Alaska as early as 1690!!! That's neat... I'll have find more information about that. Thanks!

Aliya D.
aliyadaya(at)shaw(dot)ca

dsandyboy said...

Poverty is the result of limited ownership of the world's resources.

dsandyboy@gmail.com

FrankSandy said...

I agree with the idea that poverty is caused by limited land ownership.

walkerd@primus.ca

Alyce said...

Wear Red Day is February 5th! :)

akreese (at) hotmail (dot) com

Sunnymay said...

This book is very current what with the Haitian Earthquake and focus on global economy. Land and home ownership mean so much to people everywhere.

Benita said...

Of course there is a connection between lack of land ownership and poverty, but I don't believe that's the whole story.

bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com

Benita said...

I learned that Queen Elizabeth 11 is the largest land owner.

bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com

demmi said...

I think this has been a major contributing factor to poverty for ages.
con5459(at)gmail(dot)com

Wendi P said...

Very interesting concept that is making my head spin. I cannot wait to read this book.

Wendi P said...

I learned that Farms in Texas were entitled to about $1,800 million in direct federal farm subsidies in 2004. The real question here is WHY??????

Wendi P said...

Tweeted:

http://twitter.com/WendiP/status/8947773932

thanks so much for the chance to win!

parodi821@yahoo.com

Linda Henderson said...

I think the fact that a majority of the population cannot afford to buy their own place does contribute to poverty.

seriousreader at live dot com

Linda Henderson said...

I find it fascinating that Queen Elizabeth II is the largest landowner on earth. I would never have known this. I would love to read this book.

seriousreader at live dot com

Bani said...

I can see his point considering how some land is more useful than others. People could benefit from land that is squandered by unused.

wakeupangel at gmail dot com

Bani said...

I went to the author's site for the book, very interesting that there is a corrections section. Would be nice to see that for many other websites of nonfiction books. It shows a commitment to the subject.

Bani said...

Tweeted - http://twitter.com/baniclips/status/9046430148

Stiletto Storytime said...

As Margaret Mitchel wrote..."Land is the only thing that matters, the only thing that lasts."I would be very interested in reading this book.

stilettostorytime(at)gmail(dot)com

Sarah Osborne said...

I'd like to read more about it, but poverty being related to land ownership makes a lot of sense.

sarahosborne12(at)gmail(dot)com

Sarah Osborne said...

I learned that Queen Elizabeth II is the largest landowner on Earth.

sarahosborne12(at)gmail(dot)com

Sarah Osborne said...

I blogged!
http://myfavoritegiveaways.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-owns-world.html

sarahosborne12(at)gmail(dot)com

Deb K said...

Sounds like a great read as poverty and land ownership do relate to each other.

deb55106(at)gmail(dot)com

Winning Readings said...

I say poverty is caused by misuse of the resources we have. Take Zimbabwe - when land ownership was in the hands of the minority, the country was prosperous - the breadbasket of the region. While there were haves and have-nots, people actually had food to eat. When farms were seized and subdivided amongst "war veterans" - productivity came to a screeching halt. Equipment and land went to ruin. The country - EVERYONE - is now in dire straits from hunger. Take that how you will, but dividing up the land does NOT create economies of scale and actually produces mass starvation in this case!

Interesting book topic. We posted about this giveaway at Winning Readings: http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-owns-world_17.html

janemaritz at yahoo dot com

Anonymous said...

Very interesting: Only 15% of the world's population lays claim to landownership. This is new information to me. I want to read the book to find out more.
june_spirit2628 at hotmail dot com

MarionG said...

I too believe that poverty is due to limited land ownership. This book sounds like a fascinating read; I'd love to win it. polo-puppy-fluffyAThotmail dot com

MarionG said...

I can't believe that 50 o/o of the land in England and Wales is not registered. polo-puppy-fluffyAThotmail dot com

Anonymous said...

I would love to win this book and find out who owns the world. Thanks. Please send response to
lindaben@vcn.com

Jennifer @ Quiverfull Family said...

I'm not convinced that poverty is tied to land ownership - even here in Canada we truly don't 'own' our land but seem to do fairly well financially :).

My husband would love to read this title!

jennifer at quiverfullfamily dot com

CLICK HERE TO
SEE MY POLICY