Reader's Digest Atlas of the World

by Reader's Digest Association and Bartholomew

Book Overview

Reader's Digest's Illustrated Great World Atlas is a topographer's dream. In 81 full-page maps designed by Rand McNally, the colors of the world are the colors of height and depth, ranging from white... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0895772647
• ISBN13: 9780895772640
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Reader's Digest Association
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 4.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Hong Kong part of China ? One star .

This atlas is nonsense . Hong Kong is part of China ? Fishy 🎣. CCP are making / writing atlases now ?

THE BEST ON THE MARKET

I have spent the last week searching for an atlas! I looked online and in my local Borders and Barnes and Noble. I was looking for a large format reference and opted for the Illustrated World Atlas mainly for its 91 pages of comparative world statistics, presented in an easy to read, highly graphical format. The diagrams were simply captivating. Unlike other atlases in this price range, and unlike the more expensive atlases, the publishers keep the data engaging. It is no longer a chore to browse; it is an indulgence. There is a level of detail present in this atlas that just does not appear in its competitors. In addition to the first 91 pages of statistical data, each continent is prefaced by another six pages of data in the form of graphs, charts and diagrams. Approximately 200 pages are dedicated solely to maps and I find this amount to be more than adequate. The atlas also has at least six four-page fold-outs, addressing geophysical information about the earth, the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, the Rift Valley in Africa, the Caribbean and the Yangtze River. These foldouts are gorgeous as well as fascinating. The 96-page, 80,000+ name gazetteer is the shortest I have found, (short in that it does not consist of half of the book as in some atlases) which means it is at a smaller font and there are more pages dedicated to maps and the wonderful "illustrations." Again, when looking at other atlases like National Geographic, Oxford, New Concise, Rand McNally Goode's and Hammond, I was not impressed! Although I intended on spending much more on my first world atlas, I am confident that I have the best atlas on the market. I use it mainly for personal reference when studying world/human history and politics. Although I am an architecture student, I have also studied geology, geography, cartography, GIS and digital imaging. I find the maps to be beautifully illustrated, easy to read, and highly detailed.

EXCELLENT ATLAS

As avid map users, we have several atlases. This is a family favorite!

The World At Your Finger Tips + Wonderful Special Features

This wonderful world atlas is like a diamond in the ruff. It is a stunning atlas of the world with large-size maps of the entire world. Yet, there is more. The first 60 pages of the book are information-packed special features. Some of these special features are the formation of the universe, the formation of suns, the formation of our solar system and the formation of our planet, the Earth.

Good for educational purposes.

Reader's Digest has released a world atlas in which especially the thematic section stands out. Some eighty pages, including a detailed listing of the nations of the world, provide a colorful overview of a variety of topics of our earth. Many of these are about climate and vegetation, but there are pages on population issues and energy use as well. The maps have been commissioned from Rand McNally and resemble those in the Rand McNally Millennium world atlas and Portrait World Atlas. The 153 maps are fairly accurate and detailed, but color usage is rather saturated and not easy on the eye. For the higher latitudes, a strange purple color was chosen, and white for the even higher altitudes. This does not give the maps a natural look; the gray relief shading does nothing to improve that; it even makes the maps less legible at some spots (for example Romania). The world is covered fairly well-balanced, but with a little too much emphasis on Europe, and Asia is underrated. The index-gazetteer contains some 45,000 names, which is well below the average of atlases of this size (at least 60,000). The 32-page Nations of the World section comes with official flags, demographic statistics and a brief description of each country, which is very informative. All in all this atlas does contain a wide variety of information, but if you want an atlas with a large index and a large chance of finding the place you are looking for, there are better atlases in this class. For educational purposes, though, this atlas would be a fine choice.

A great atlas, except...

I agree with the Reference Editor's assessment: the topographical maps are informative, large and easy to read. And each map page includes a very convenient inset showing that page's relative position to other maps.My one complaint is that the index locates place names by their grid coordinates, rather than by latitude and longitude. I find this an unfortunate omission not only by this atlas, but by most others. Of the affordable world atlases I've seen, only Goode's and the Oxford Concise use this very handy way of indexing place names.