The Future Of Geography: How The Competition In Space Will Change Our World, by Tim Marshall

If one is familiar with books about geography and its place in modern life, it is likely that one has at least heard of if not read books by the author (I have read a few books of his myself). Within the author’s body of work, this book is distinctive because it looks at the near solar system from the point of view of choke points and geographical principles that one gains from understanding the earth, particular from the point of view of trade routes and long-distance communications. As someone who has more than a passing interest in space as well as the issues and problems involved in the future colonization of space, I certainly am the sort of reader that the author is aiming at with this book. And although I am not necessarily very fond of the author’s work as a whole, there is a lot here to appreciate and this book is certainly better than his average, if not quite as good as the author thinks it is (which is, alas, a common problem). Still, if you want a thoughtful book that looks at strategic concerns in outer space and the possible economic and even military relevance of such matters, this book is certainly a thought-provoking read.

One of the notable aspects of outer space is that although it is largely an unfamiliar area for us, it has its own terrain concerns, its own choke points, and its own logic that invite humanity but also make it difficult for us to figure out how we should approach it. It is unclear which approaches will be adopted in space–as it appears that the desire of many for a sort of cosmic commons where all can travel freely but no one claims any sort of ownership or seeks any profit are unlikely to be adopted in deed, whatever lip service is paid to such ideals. At present there are only three space superpowers, and each of them has various strengths and weaknesses. One of the weaknesses of this book is the sort of weakness that one sees in books written earlier in the 20th century where popular regimes were viewed as having weaknesses because of the greater will and decisiveness of authoritarian regimes. The author, like many people, seems to have a poor view of the comparative benefits of more open regimes and thus a bias towards authoritarian regimes of the kind that proliferate in corrupt deep states and unaccountable elites who seek to command people to do what they wish and use the revenues of the state for what they will without seeking or obtaining widespread support for their aims.

In terms of its contents, this book is about 250 pages long and is divided into three parts and ten chapters. The book begins with an introduction. This is followed by the first part of the book, which looks at the path to the stars (I), with chapters on looking up into space (1) and the road to the heavens (2). This is followed by the author’s examination of contemporary astropolitics (II), with chapters on the era of astropolitics (3), outlaws (4), China’s efforts at making a long march into space (5), American efforts at returning in force to space despite the failures of the space shuttle (6), Russia’s decline as a space power (7), as well as fellow travelers among the lesser space powers like Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, the UK, France, and so on (8). The third part of the book looks at differing visions of the future of outer space, looking at either the possibility of space wars (9) or a vision of tomorrow’s world as being one of relative peace and harmony (10). The book then ends with an epilogue, acknowledgements, a selected bibliography, and an index.