Atlas of the World Twenty-Third Edition

One sees a lot of VERY diverse reviews here. Luckily, some were positive, and led me to order this book. It's truly great!Of course one wonders why a $150 atlas would be selling for a massive discount here on Amazon ($30 when I bought it). Plus, the shipping was free when I ordered (which is a good thing since it's really heavy!)Well, at this point, I don't care why it was such a bargain. I'm just happy, period -- especially because not every bookseller is discounting it, as I write this review anyway.I'm educated enough to expect high quality from a reference volume like this. After all, I don't plan to ever buy another one in the near future. Well, to my eye, the maps are *well* above average. All the labeling is clear, shapes and lines are well-defined, the colors well-chosen, the printing excellent. I couldn't ask for more... but I got more, anyway!For instance: the satellite and other aerial images are stunning. The availability of diverse levels of detail, such as the city maps, allow one to pursue multiple geographical questions that might come to mind while browsing, all without having to get up and look for some other source.That encyclopedic quality extends to the inclusion not only of a lunar map, but indeed a chart of the solar system, and maps of the stars in the night sky from both hemispheres. Everything you need to put this one little planet in perspective!As for "life on earth," the Oxford Deluxe Atlas covers that, too -- not just the land itself. In other words, you can find maps showing population trends, economic activity, and other ways that human beings relate to the planet. That includes climate change, of course, and much more.Are there faults? I suppose that every individual has some notion of what constitutes a "logical" organization of so much data, so that it can be found without resorting to an index of some kind. For instance, I wanted to show a child where the "Continental Divide" is in North America. I did not see any easy way to find this phrase in the index, and was frustrated at first.But lo and behold, I discovered that there is a map of North America in which all its major watersheds are marked and color-coded! So, although there was no line marking the somewhat colloquially-termed demarcation line that I was seeking, there was in fact a map that showed the *meaning* of that term -- far better than I might have expected! In a sense, the book made me smarter by showing me the question that I should have asked.Is the binding a problem? No, not at this price! But I think, IF I had spent the full price of $150, perhaps I would have wished for a sturdier binding. As noted, I figure to own this for a while. I'd hate to drop it, which would be easy considering its size and weight.In the same regard, I am somewhat nervous about turning school-age kids loose on it. Don't misunderstand me -- the book is not a little wisp made of tissue paper! But it isn't as sturdy as a typical school textbook, or even a child's hardbound reading book. So you might want to give a couple of speeches to the kids and set rules for the book's treatment, to ensure its survival.After that, then throw caution to the wind and stop worrying. I mean, as an adult I like it a lot! But this publication would be wasted if were only ever used by grownups. Somebody besides me should be buying it, and setting kids free with it. Let them sit on the floor with it, and roam the earth at will. I did this as a child, with atlases that were nowhere near as grand! Just make sure to keep food, drink, and pets away from the book while it's open!I can't quite relate to the review that criticized the slipcase, of all things! What I care about is mostly between the covers of the book. Is the slipcase adequate to protect the book and its contents? It sure seems so to me.Geography being what it is, who knows -- maybe an atlas as "old" as this (two years) is outmoded already by some people's standards. But as others have noted, it was very current at the time of its publication, so I'm content with the data it contains.Above all, it is a visual feast. I opened mine, and after sitting with it and paging through it in awe for twenty minutes, I put it aside and had the sense that I had *already* gotten my money's worth out of it! I recommend it highly.

This is certainly a beautiful volume, and I bought it solely for its price: I had paid $40+ for its junior brother a few years ago in the bookstore, so why not upgrade for free, as it were? The maps are lovely, and the front matter is largely helpful--I say largely. For one thing, the city "maps" are all but useless: one is hard-pressed to find a street identified by a name rather than by a generic route number (viz., within a national highway system); arbitrary pieces of cities are selected for presentation; and one finds suburb A peculiarly mislabeled as suburb B, or a leg of freeway C misidentified as freeway D. Then, there's the overall size of the work. Not that this is anywhere near as large or heavy as the London Times atlas--a work for which it is, quite literally, an ordeal to look up a city in the voluminous index and then hunt for it with a magnifying lens on the proper square of the proper page--but it's still awfully large. Given that large size, you'd think the publisher could do a better job of presenting the world's time zones. (Mind you, its "junior brother" didn't show time zones at all, but this atlas is scarcely better, offering a sketchy, fraction-of-a-page map that's all but useless given the numerous +00:15 and such quirks of the world's time zone allotments.)All those criticisms having been leveled, the maps are glorious. Truthfully, I haven't seen nicer ones anywhere--even in, yes, the London Times atlas, which has been the standard-bearer for eons (though I guess its staff would refer to them as aeons). The colors are a delight to the eye, providing the perfect balance of legibility and topographic cues: you can actually see, e.g., Tibet straining upward off the page, reaching for the sky. Also, this atlas contains some vital maps that its junior sibling lacks: important among these are close-ups of central Honshu, Korea, the U.K., and so forth. Surprising omissions include better detail of Israel and Turkey: come to think of it, anywhere the borders are of intricate fractal dimension--say, Greece, Maryland, Denmark--a better job could have been done. I'd also like to see flags, let alone clear and more consistent indication of sub-national borders, be they of oblasts, denes, pradeshes, estados, etc. But let's look at the overall equation: for under $50, you get gorgeous maps; a plethora of very useful charts; mellifluous essays that don't hurt; lovely satellite photos that are, again, entirely harmless; and even a handy wall map to keep your kid brother occupied until his new Mega Space Zork Wars arrives in the mail.

Excelente, sensacional! As imagens e o conteúdo são bastante interessantes. Útil para crianças, jovens e adultos. Boa fonte de pesquisa.

地図だけでなくその国の情報も載っていて、見ていてとても楽しく勉強になります。

El atlas está bien en cuanto a cartografía de países anglosajones (aunque es mejorable). Sin embargo, para países como España no es muy detallado y tiene una cartografía mejorable. Los datos no están tan actualizados como cabría esperar para un atlas con ediciones anuales y la información incluída en él en osaciones resulta un tanto tendenciosa: Basta comparar la descripción de los problemas con el terrorismo de países como el Reino Unido o España y contrastarlo con cifras objetivas.En definitiva, no está mal, pero para ser un atlas del mundo, creo que debería tratar con bastante más equidad a los diferentes territorios.

Non trovo personalmente particolarmente appagante dal punto di vista visivo la qualità delle mappe. Certe scelte poi mi lasciano dubbioso: ad esempio, ci sono ben 9 piante per sviscerare gli USA, e solo 2 miserrime per la Russia, che essendo pure il paese più grande del mondo, meritava ben altro approfondimento. Belle le foto satellitari, le mappe di città ecc, ma questo è un'atlante. Non sacrifichiamo spazio per del (seppur interessante) contorno.

GREAT INFO MAPS