Tyler Cowen, the Virginia economist, has picked a last minute entry as his best non-fiction book of the year. A monograph on the history and culture of the Negev desert- which sits smack in one of the most contested lands on earth- it is an odd and remarkable place:
'It is a hard book to summarize, in part because it is so visual and so integrative, but here is one excerpt:
"The Negev Desert is the largest and busiest training area for the Israeli Air Force and has one of the most cluttered airspaces in the world. The airspace is partitioned into a complex stratigraphy of layers, airboxes, and corridors dedicated to different military platforms: from bomber jets through helicopters to drones. This complex volume is an integral part of the architecture of the Negev.
"And then it will move to a discussion of seed technology, or how Bedouin economic strategies have changed over the course of the twentieth century, and how these various topics fit together. Think of it also as a contribution to location theory and economic geography, but adding vertical space, manipulated topography, rainfall, and temperature to the relevant dimensions of the problem."'
Links and reviews at: http://marginalrevolution.com/#sthash.3ApuqU0O.dpuf
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