World Atlas

by Andrew Heritage

Book Overview

Just the Facts, World Atlas is a fact-by-fact look at our world, from a physical, geological, astronomical, and political perspective. World Atlas features factfiles on every country in the world,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0789496720
• ISBN13: 9780789496720
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
• Length: 412 Pages
• Weight: 5.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 10.8" x 14.8"

Customer Reviews

I got more than I was expecting

I am very happy with the content and the up to date information provided in D & K's World Atlas. I suggest it without any reservation and I am sure everyone will use it for long years with great enjoyment.

Lots of information per page, great value

Dorling Kingersley has developed a distinctive style in its atlases. The publisher enthusiastically embraces a "more-is-more" approach to atlas layout. Each page is dominated by a beautifully detailed general map surrounded by numerous smaller thematic maps, blocks of text, charts and photographs. Eight foldout pages accommodate several wide features such as the Russian Federation. One little map for each continent shows the most northern, southern, eastern and western points of each continent, for both those who define a continent as a large land mass and those who use a cultural definition; for instance the Galapagos Islands are identified as the most westerly point of South America though the islands are not affixed to the mainland or even the same tectonic plate. I was always taught that a continent is a large land mass, so I don't know where that other point of view comes from, perhaps it is a more economic point of view. Hawaii does not appear as the most westerly point on North America. This is a midrange atlas, being half the price of Dorling Kinderley's 492-page Great World Atlas. Larger, more expensive atlases illustrate the world in greater detail and on more pages. This book is a pleasure to read and study.

The Best Atlas by a Pretty Margin!

Dorling Kindersley have redefined what an atlas is, by shifting the emphasis from rather technical cartography (as other atlases have) - to providing a lively range of written explanations, annotated 3-D diagrams, colour photographs, and graphical semi-3D maps, for each region. Their rethinking of the priorities does bring smaller, less detailed maps - but the detail is still more than ample, provided you don't need to know where every last little hamlet and stream is. After buying this atlas, you'll never go back to the old-style ones: it's like upgrading from DOS to Windows.My credentials: I set out on a quest to find a book like this, and I didn't know whether such a book existed. It was to have maps, photographs, and a detailed realistic write-up, for every country and region in the world. I spent several afternoons scouring the larger bookshops, picking up perhaps hundreds of atlases, maps and travel guides. Then I found this :) And I had lots of money left over.Content: The entire book, I must say, is very nicely presented, with flowing page layouts and colour everywhere. It is divided into 3 main parts: 1. World overviews. 2. The continents & regional maps. 3. The index.1. A series of world overviews, as found in most other atlases - the planets, politics, wars, etc. etc, but better. They are graphical and colourful, with many little diagrams & photos. Everything is explained neatly and in plain english.2. The maps themselves are organised first by the continents, then by regions (a region is typically one country, or a group of countries); some regions are given extra treatment for the more populous areas.The bias is noticeably western-centric, with more space devoted to Western Europe, the USA, Japan, etc: for example, Europe gets 46 pages, but Africa only gets 18! I would happily pay more money for a more complete & unbiased coverage, and this is my first main gripe (of 2) against this otherwise wonderful book.* Each continent has a 6+ page introduction with maps & photographs covering: physical geography, climate, history, population, transport, language, industry, natural resources, etc (similar to the world overviews).* Every regional page offers a mixture of maps, diagrams, photos and text, all in technicolour. Almost all regional pages contain: - a written introduction, with a small map showing where you are in the world. - the main map. These are colourful, dramatic, easier to understand than traditional flat-as-a-pancake maps, and come in irregular shapes according to the regional/country boundaries. Every map also has its own scale and key, so there is no need to rummage around for those. But the scales vary considerably and wierdly, like 1:7,750,000 on one page, and 1:7,000,000 on the next, and obviously the maps have been scaled to whatever fits nicely on the page, with no concern for standardising them. This makes it difficult to compare 2 different maps, or to develop a natural sensibility for reading them.

Excellent presentation.

In the spirit of Dorling Kindersley, this new edition of the World Atlas is a masterpiece of presentation. Colorful illustrations and miscellaneous information abound. It has none of the stuffy professional feel to it, but is bright with plenty of white space. The little info tidbits are also interesting for trivia buffs like myself.This is an excellent volume for a family library, as kids and adults alike will find much to like about it.

Everything I needed to Know about the World

This book makes you want to know more about the world, by showing detailed maps as well as pictures and short essays that descibe the regions. The stuff on Russia is really good beacuse I didn't know much about the geography of the country. It makes me want to go travelling round the world (although the atlas is probably a little too big to take with me). Great book.