Review

Author(s): John Wright

Review by: John Wright
Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 146, No. 3 (Nov., 1980), pp. 448-449
Published by: geographicalj
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/634969
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448 REVIEWS

Snailham's recollection of this and its aftermath is vivid, compelling, and to this reviewer
unique.
The book is well written and, most importantly, has all the hallmarks of an authentic
account. Snailham displays a deft touch in switching from reflections to documentary
detail which is paralleled by changes in pace. It is never dull. The photographic
illustrations are of a lower standard than expected for a travel book though the reasons for
this became clear in the tale. The book format (binding, paper and typeface) reminded me
most of Enid Blyton's books but this is a minor point. In general this is a vivid account of
a tragic expedition which raises many questions in the reader's mind and answers some of
the questions raised in the public post-mortem on the expedition. It is well worth
reading, compulsorily for would-be volcano researchers. A. T. Huntingdon

GENERAL

THE USES OF AIR PHOTOGRAPHY. Edited by J. K. S. St. Joseph. 2nd edn.

Published under the auspices of the Cambridge University Committee for Aerial
Photography. London: John Baker, 1977. 196 p. Diagr., ill., bibliogr., ind. 25 cm. x
31 cm. ?9.50

Since its first appearance in 1966, this volume has been appreciated as the most catholic
and concise survey of its kind. The Committee for Aerial Photography at Cambridge is to
be applauded for making it freshly available in a second edition, partly because the book
reveals the scope and nature ofthe Committee's work, and partly because it is an excellent
demonstration of the varied applications of air photography. The changing emphasis of
such application, moreover, appears if the two editions are compared. For this reason,
eight ofthe thirteen chapters have been rewritten for the second edition; indeed, only the
chapter on zoology is unaltered in any respect. The other four are differently illustrated
as new or better photographs have become available.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Professor St. Joseph's delineation of 'Air
photography and archaeology', where we see evidence (already familiar to readers of
Antiquity) of the rich harvest of new sites, for instance that on the gravel terrace of the
Trent at Cromwell (p. 144). When we compare the maps of Roman Scotland from the
Forth to the Dee, as known in 1939 and again in 1975, we are in no doubt as to the
originality and value of the knowledge yielded by skilful air photography. It seems as
curious now as when the book first appeared, however, that the team of contributors does
not include a geographer in its ranks. F. V. Emery

REMOTE SENSING AND IMAGE INTERPRETATION. By Thomas M. Lillesand

and Ralph W. Kiefer. New York and Chichester: John Wiley, 1979. xii, 612 p. Maps,
tab., diar., ill., bibliogr., ind. 22.5 cm. ?12.50

One often hears it said by specialists that while most journalism seems to be accurate, it
never is about one's own speciality. In the same way, this reviewer found this
comprehensive text book on remote sensing clear, comprehensible, and illuminating on
all aspects of this wide subject except in the chapter on the speciality of photogrammetry
with which he is most familiar. This is a massive compilation aimed at those (which of
course includes geographers) who use data derived from 'a device that is not in contact
with the object, area, or phenomenon under investigation'. It, therefore, includes not only
data from recoverable film photography from an aircraft using both optical and other wave
lengths, but also results based on observations with scanning devices using aircraft or
satellites as vehicles and transmitting their data by television techniques.

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 REVIEWS 449

It is set out in a logical manner starting with two chapters on the basic principles of
energy sources and interactions and on the elements of aerial photography. These are
followed by two useful chapters on air photo interpretation giving examples from geology,
land use, forestry, planning, and terrain evaluation with practical descriptions of how to
get the best results. More emphasis might have been given to the advantages of using film
instead of paper prints for magnified viewing by transmitted light, since the greater
magnifications possible make smaller scale photography usable with very great resulting
economies.
There are several weaknesses of emphasis in chapter 5 on photogrammetry, although
it is factually correct. It describes elaborate coordinate procedures for working from single
vertical photographs, but fails to bring out the fundamental property that angles at their
centres are true, or to mention radial line techniques and simple rectification. It does not
make it clear that, in stereo viewing of photographs, the eyes are able to measure only local
height differences and the reason why a stereo plotting instrument is necessary for height
determination over a whole overlap; and it fails to bring out the interdependence of
ground and aerial surveys and the ways in which they can help each other, or to mention
the difficulties of accurate identification of ground positions on out of date photography
of undeveloped areas.
Chapter 6 describes how to measure and correct for varying densities in an
air photograph, while Chapters 7 and 8 describe the use of scanning techniques for
thermal and other forms of invisible radiation. Chapter 9 gives a clear account of
sideways-looking radar - an important technique without which, for instance, we should
still have no maps of cloud covered areas like the Amazon Basin - while Chapter 10 gives
a good account of the use of both recovered films and televised data from satellites,
including particularly the readily available imagery from ERTS/LANDSAT systems.
Clear descriptions are given of how the televised data can be corrected for distortion and
can be treated to enhance contrast, eliminate noise, and reduce or increase local
contrast.
To sum up it seems likely that the authors are stronger on physics than on geometry and
yet their explanations of all the processes involved are easily comprehensible to anyone
with the necessary basic scientific education, and they are refreshingly free of jargon.
Geographers should find this a useful, and for its size and content, relatively inexpensive
guide to a rapidly growing subject. John Wright

GEOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHERS: Anglo-American human geography since 1945.

By R. J. Johnston. London: Edward Arnold, 1979. [vi], 232 p. Diagr., bibliogr., ind.
21.5 cm. ?5.95 (paperback)

This is the age of the paradigm, using that term to mean 'what the members of a scientific
community share . . . conversely a scientific community consists of men who share a
paradigm'. This definition follows Kuhn, and appears to be an extension ofthe OED's 'a
pattern, exemplar, example'. The author shows that, after 1945, many geographers were
unwilling to accept the view that geographical phenomena were everywhere unique and
instead wished to seek general laws, for, as Schaefer argued in 1953, 'Geography has to be
conceived as the science concerned with the spatial distribution of certain features on the
surface of the earth' (p. 43). Whether this was the real beginning ofthe 'quantitative and
theoretical revolutions' is not clear, but since 1945 the number of academic geographers
has multiplied, so that compared with earlier times there are plenty of people available to
follow new ideas, to engage in controversy, to consider the relation of geographical work
to current world, national and local problems. Nobody will doubt Professor Johnston's
conclusion that 'there is an increasing proportion of geographers who wish to be involved
in the reshaping of local and world societies, either through ameliorative correcting of
current problems and trends or by designing desirable spatial organizations' (p. 173).
No paradigm has built-in permanence for always there will be innovators, some of
whom will be iconoclastic but able to attract attention more successfully than Schaefer. So

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