Book who owns the world

He then shows how rich people who, ironically, made their riches from ideas and businesses own a lot of land. The problem is that not every piece of land is created equal. Giving someone a remote bit of wasteland wouldn't be helpful. Not to mention that I've known a millionaire who owned an old house on a small bit of urban property as in, he didn't own a lot of land , poor people including farmers who owned land, and poor people who inherited land and sold it for quick money which they promptly wasted or had to sell it due to debts.

Land ownership doesn't automatically lead to riches. Another problem I had with Part One was that he tended to compare apples to oranges to pears. I realize the difficulty he had in getting precise numbers, and I appreciate that he did usually state what, precisely, he was including in his numbers.

However, he had a whole section comparing monarchs to each other with some numbers being what the monarch owned privately plus what the government owned "in their name," others with only government-owned lands credited to them, and others credited with all of the land they ruled over whether they technically own it or not.

The various religions were also compared as to total wealth based on the value of the land containing churches, religious hospitals, etc. A religion can't own land, only people, so I didn't get what the comparison was supposed to prove. I found Part Two very interesting though I was still occasionally exasperated by comments the author made. For example, he says land in America is too expensive, then lists the sale prices of the most expensive mansions in the USA to 'prove' his point.

Um, land is pretty cheap. Even land with a house can be reasonable. We don't all have to own lavish mansions, you know. Part Two covered the statistics on United States in detail, state by state, and then gave the statistics for each country in the world.

The statistics for the states included: population, population of the capital, size in acres, acres per person, number of houses, houses owned, houses rented, and acres of developed land. The statistics for countries included: population, size in acres, population, acres per person, GNI, World Bank ranking, and percentage urban population.

It would have been helpful to have some graphs for each state or country to put everything in perspective, but the information was still interesting. The book was easy to read.

If you like statistical comparison books and are interested in this topic, then you'll probably enjoy this book. This book was a free review copy sent to me by the publisher. Mar 12, Ed rated it really liked it. Not so much liked it but fascinated by the idea that the Queen of England still legally owns one sixth of the world's land surface and that so much other feudal holdover owns the rest.

So you can look up every country in the world and each US state and get the basic land ownership pattern. The basis for much long term deep seated unearned wealth inequality.

Worth a scan even if you don't read it. Jun 13, Heather Pearson rated it really liked it. I have found this a hard book to review. Its not your typical book with pages of prose that you can read along. That part of the book comprises about 60 pages. The balance is charts and table of statistics which are not meant to be read in one sitting, rather to be re-visited frequently or when you hear about a country in a book, on a show or in the news.

You can pick up this book and quickly learn more about it. I have been telling my family and friends about this book over the past months and t I have found this a hard book to review. I have been telling my family and friends about this book over the past months and they have found the basics are rather eye opening.

Who holds this land is what keeps it from being owned in a more balanced fashion. Queen Elizabeth is the world's largest land owner.

She owns all the lands of the Commonwealth, 9, million acres, of which approximately 6, million acres have her name as sole owner This essentially means that if the Queen wants the land on which my house sits, she can take it. The Pope rules over all the land owned by the Catholic church, some million acres world wide.

With that much wealth, why are churches in Ontario allowed a tax free status? The balance of the book is filled with tables and sections for each country. Population is 44 people, size is 8, acres which calculates to Approximately half the residents own land.

Big in the news right now is South Africa. Population 46,, people, area ,, acres which calculates to 6. The country owns all the land and individuals hold land by deed registry the government does not guarantee title. The book is filled with fascinating reading. It is one I will be keeping on hand for frequent referrals. Where many readers pick up dictionaries to look up new words, I keep my atlas at hand, I'll now be keeping Who Owns the World nearby.

Jul 20, Jodi rated it liked it. Cahill and McMahon toss a lot of statistics and information at the reader which isn't a bad thing--just don't expect to memorize any of it. Unfortunately, there was a huge discrepancy early on and that made me more leery of all the rest of the data.

On page the authors mention that South Caroline is the birthplace of Andrew Jackson which it is then on page —two pages later— it mentions that Jackson was born in Tennessee. Such carelessness in publication mystifies me. Regardless, the book was eye opening in the amounts of land few people or businesses own never heard of Plum Creek before in the USA and the world. I remember years ago researching what companies own what media and it narrows down to about five—but land, that was startling.

Most amazing of all is the amount of money it costs to register land in nations of the world. Man, and I was belly aching about our closing costs when we bought the house. Jan 23, Mark Sullivan rated it liked it Shelves: non-fiction. This is an interesting fact book with a compelling point to make.

It is a great place for a beginner like me to start out in looking for information on land ownership around the world. The idea that unequal ownership of land is a major contributor to global poverty is interesting. It is wild to think that the Queen of England technically owns about one sixth of the world's land, including all of Canada.

Overall, an interesting reference book, and one that will be useful to go back to due to th This is an interesting fact book with a compelling point to make.

Overall, an interesting reference book, and one that will be useful to go back to due to the sheer number of facts that it presents. A very interesting suite of data about who literally owns the world's land. The biggest land-owner is, of course, Queen Lizzie. Very fascinating. It's not really a flowing narrative, but more a compilation of facts presented in a nicely organized form. A good reference book. Aug 04, Barbara Smith rated it really liked it. This is a very interesting book but not the type you'd sit and and read from cover to cover.

It's more for looking up interesting facts and statistics. It holds many surprises and has something of interest for everyone. Mar 26, Caterina Fava rated it liked it. This is a book for reference, and not to be read like a novel or an essay. Book Description Condition: Very Good. Seller Inventory U Book Description Hard Cover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in As new condition throughout.

Book Description Condition: good. The book shows some signs of wear from use but is a good readable copy. Cover in excellent condition. Binding tight. Pages in great shape, no tears. Not contain access codes, cd, DVD. Seller Inventory PSG Condition: Like New. Like New. Ships from multiple locations. Kevin Cahill. Publisher: Mainstream Publishing , This specific ISBN edition is currently not available. View all copies of this ISBN edition:.

Synopsis About this title "Who Owns the World" is the first ever compilation of landowners and landownership structures in every single one of the world's states and 66 territories.

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