Essays on Geography and GIS is a compilation of best practices in a free electronic book (in PDF) from ESRI.  Articles include:

• What Is GIS?


• What Holds Us Together


• Exploration in the Age of Digital Earth


• Dynamics GIS: Recognizing the Dynamic Nature of Reality


• Living Inside Networks of Knowledge


• What Historians Want from GIS


• Bring Back Geography!


• The Fourth R? Rethinking GIS Education


• Nature, the Human Network, and the Role of GIS


• People–Nature: The Human Network


• People–Nature: The Natural Network

The volume makes an excellent course supplement for GIS, geography, and GIScience. Download the free PDF document here.