Rating: 
Summary: Everything I needed to Know about the World
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Best World Atlas on the Planet
Review: Yes, this is one heavy book, but it is most beautiful World Atlas I have yet to see. It portrays the earth in sumptuous detail and with such accuracy it is astounding. If one could ever be speechless about a book, this might be the one. The word: WOW comes to mind the minute you open this book. It is highly detailed and has more than 750 photographs, 150 diagrams and more than 80,000 geographical place names. Forget going to the library...just buy this book! You will find it to be extremely useful for researching countries. There is a section that shows all the countries of the world with their current statistics. You can look up the Official name, Formation date, Capital, Population, Total square miles/km, Languages, Religions, Ethnic mix, Government, Currency, Literacy rate and Calorie consumption (3,732 kilocalories in the United States as compared to 3,497 in Austria). The glossary helps to explain terms like Sea-floor spreading or Tombolo. The inside back cover has all the world's flags. The inside front cover has a key to map pages picture which is such a great feature. Lavish? You bet! I feel completely spoiled owning this HUGE ATLAS. The INDEX is extensive and the largest one I have ever seen in my life. We are talking page 218-353. If you love studying the world or have a relative who loves to spend time just dreaming about traveling the world, this makes a wonderful gift. The only thing better than this Atlas would be watching a video or actually traveling. Great Study Aid.
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