"A vivid or realistic description of a place is perhaps the highest achievement of humanistic geography."
[About the author] Yi-fu Tuan was born in Tianjin, China, in 1930. He attended primary and secondary schools in China, Australia and the Philippines, and received bachelor's and master's degrees in geography from Oxford University and the University of California, Berkeley, respectively. He coached at the University of Minnesota for many years. From 1984 until his official retirement in 1998, he served as the John K. Wright Professor of Geography and the Vilas Research Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Professor Duan is a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a founding board member of the American Center for Place and received the prestigious Watling Rudd International Geography Prize in 2012, which is the highest award in geography. [Introduction] Yifu Tuan believes: "A vivid or realistic description of a place may be the highest achievement of humanistic geography." Yifu Tuan's humanistic geography does not study objective topography, landforms and other natural phenomena, but focuses on human survival. The relationship between people and the geographical environment places the research focus on the social construction of the living world and the environment that people directly experience, emphasizing human nature, human feelings, meaning, value and purpose, paying attention to the ultimate destiny of people, and then discovering the positioning of human beings in the ecological whole and the essential relationship between humans and the environment. Humanist Geography is a testimony to everything he has known and experienced as a geographer, in which he reflects on and re-presents the content of all his previous works.
Reader comments
Humanistic geography is a disciplinary field that studies geographical phenomena, emphasizing the interaction and interrelationship between humans and the geographical environment. It focuses on the impact of geographical space on human society, culture and behavior, as well as human perception, understanding and shaping of the geographical environment. Humanistic geography emphasizes the importance of human subjectivity and meaning, and incorporates the subjective experience, cognition, emotion and cultural value of individuals and groups into the scope of geographical research. It focuses on human subjective experiences such as spatial perception, local identity, geographical imagination, and geographical memory, and explores the emotional connection and meaning construction between humans and the geographical environment.
This book is very interesting! Mr. Yi-Fu Tuan emphasized the importance of humanistic geography. It is not only about geographical knowledge, but also allows us to think about the relationship between humans and the environment. The views in the book are very unique, such as "Humanistic geography is not practical for professional life, but it is very useful for a certain day, a certain hour, or a half hour when we have free time." This sentence inspired me deeply and made me pay more attention to the details and meaning in life. Recommended to friends who are interested in the relationship between people and place!
Living in a cosmopolitan society, I can be free to be myself - in memory of Yi-Fu Tuan. When we saw this book for the first time and saw its title, we would naturally follow the title and guess that this is essentially a book about geography. I just have a slight doubt about his prefix: why it is called humanistic geography. And when you read this book in depth, you will understand the meaning of "a mountain looks like a mountain but is not a mountain, and a water looks like water but is not water". Naturally, you will know that the book has nothing to do with geography, and you will find that it is actually an autobiography of the author's own mental journey. The book written by the author is not just a description of natural phenomena such as topography and landforms, but a basis for human survival as the core of the book. On this basis, he explores and studies the specific natural relationship between humans and the geographical environment. It has nothing to do with geography. The book talks more about the topic of "human" life, from which it diffuses the human nature, human feelings, meaning, value and purpose related to humans, as well as the ultimate destiny of humans, and then discovers the essential relationship between humans and the environment.
Tuan Yifu said that first of all, it is impossible for people to experience a mutual love, and secondly, death is bound to come - love and fear are the two emotional pillars of his humanistic geography. Precisely because the end cannot be reached, we should cherish every "intermediate process": each stage of growth has its own perfection, and the richness of life does not come from progress, but from equality.
Wandering gave him a deep sense of rootlessness, but it also allowed him to truly understand the preciousness of "place". In order to escape loneliness, we often try to smooth out the differences between individuals and society, which only makes us more lonely. True connection comes through physical contact, collective work, and language—we all need validation from others.
Yi-Fu Tuan not only records the fragility of human nature, but also believes in human potential. Although it is impossible to help each other, the unbridgeable gap is not a failure, but a space for people to stay close despite being destined to be separated. To be human is to be able to carry love and fear at the same time, to find a place in rootlessness, to meet others in loneliness, and to take every step carefully on the road that is bound to end.
Humanistic geography is a disciplinary field that studies geographical phenomena, emphasizing the interaction and interrelationship between humans and the geographical environment. It focuses on the impact of geographical space on human society, culture and behavior, as well as human perception, understanding and shaping of the geographical environment. Humanistic geography emphasizes the importance of human subjectivity and meaning, and incorporates the subjective experience, cognition, emotion and cultural value of individuals and groups into the scope of geographical research. It focuses on human subjective experiences such as spatial perception, local identity, geographical imagination, and geographical memory, and explores the emotional connection and meaning construction between humans and the geographical environment.
This book is very interesting! Mr. Yi-Fu Tuan emphasized the importance of humanistic geography. It is not only about geographical knowledge, but also allows us to think about the relationship between humans and the environment. The views in the book are very unique, such as "Humanistic geography is not practical for professional life, but it is very useful for a certain day, a certain hour, or a half hour when we have free time." This sentence inspired me deeply and made me pay more attention to the details and meaning in life. Recommended to friends who are interested in the relationship between people and place!
Living in a cosmopolitan society, I can be free to be myself - in memory of Yi-Fu Tuan. When we saw this book for the first time and saw its title, we would naturally follow the title and guess that this is essentially a book about geography. I just have a slight doubt about his prefix: why it is called humanistic geography. And when you read this book in depth, you will understand the meaning of "a mountain looks like a mountain but is not a mountain, and a water looks like water but is not water". Naturally, you will know that the book has nothing to do with geography, and you will find that it is actually an autobiography of the author's own mental journey. The book written by the author is not just a description of natural phenomena such as topography and landforms, but a basis for human survival as the core of the book. On this basis, he explores and studies the specific natural relationship between humans and the geographical environment. It has nothing to do with geography. The book talks more about the topic of "human" life, from which it diffuses the human nature, human feelings, meaning, value and purpose related to humans, as well as the ultimate destiny of humans, and then discovers the essential relationship between humans and the environment.
Tuan Yifu said that first of all, it is impossible for people to experience a mutual love, and secondly, death is bound to come - love and fear are the two emotional pillars of his humanistic geography. Precisely because the end cannot be reached, we should cherish every "intermediate process": each stage of growth has its own perfection, and the richness of life does not come from progress, but from equality. Wandering gave him a deep sense of rootlessness, but it also allowed him to truly understand the preciousness of "place". In order to escape loneliness, we often try to smooth out the differences between individuals and society, which only makes us more lonely. True connection comes through physical contact, collective work, and language—we all need validation from others. Yi-Fu Tuan not only records the fragility of human nature, but also believes in human potential. Although it is impossible to help each other, the unbridgeable gap is not a failure, but a space for people to stay close despite being destined to be separated. To be human is to be able to carry love and fear at the same time, to find a place in rootlessness, to meet others in loneliness, and to take every step carefully on the road that is bound to end.