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!