The Pocket World Atlas

Rating:
Summary: Great value
Review: For such a small package, this atlas really packs a lot! Indeed a great value for such a small price. I bought it along with Oxford's Concise World Atlas and couldn't be more pleased with both.

Rating:
Summary: Super!
Review: It's a hardcover pocket size atlas of the world! It's perfect for travelling, taking to school, and is very helpful!

It has political and mostly physical maps of all the seven continents of the world. It also shows the major oceans, lakes, seas, bays, etc.

Besides showing large mass' of land and water it also shows narrow rivers, and mountains. From the rocky mountains to the African Sahara, from snowy siberia to icy Antarctica, this atlas has maps of every single place in the world!

--------------AHMED MASHHOOD------AGE 12----------

Rating:
Summary: Super!
Review: It's a hardcover pocket size atlas of the world! It's perfect for travelling, taking to school, and is very helpful!

It has political and mostly physical maps of all the seven continents of the world. It also shows the major oceans, lakes, seas, bays, etc.

Besides showing large mass' of land and water it also shows narrow rivers, and mountains. From the rocky mountains to the African Sahara, from snowy siberia to icy Antarctica, this atlas has maps of every single place in the world!

--------------AHMED MASHHOOD------AGE 12----------

Rating:
Summary: The Pocket World Atlas
Review: This book makes a fantastic gift and you must order one for yourself. An attractive cover reveals accurate and visually pleasing maps of the world over. Maps are easy to find and read. A great choice!

Rating:
Summary: Adequate, but not as good as Harper Collins
Review: This is an adequate pocket atlas, but I feel there are better ones out there. I studied Geography in college, and am an avid traveller; I feel this book isn't as good as Harper Collin's Pocket Atlas. For example, the Oceanic section of the Oxford edition doesn't compare, and is indeed very lacking in clarity and coverage. One way I can always differentiate a good atlas from a bad one are the details, and unfortunately, most atlas publishers consider the islands of the Pacific optional. Another "test" is to check for towns or places you have visited, and if the atlas contains them. One place I use is Bayreuth, Germany, I partly grew up there, but the population is less than 10,000. It is a very important town in music history, but is otherwise nonremarkable; I don't purchase any atlas that doesn't list Bayreuth.

The more obscure places an atlas lists, the better it is. Of course, don't forget clarity, ease of use, size, and does it fit your needs? I am still shopping for the best pocket sized atlas, but until I find one, I would rather purchase Harper Collins over Oxford... who knows when you might be stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (and need an atlas)?

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, except for the USA
Review: This is an excellent and handsome pocket world atlas that I keep in my backpack whenever I'm travelling overseas. The maps themselves are fantastic, except for the USA. The problem is that the state boundaries are drawn with such a lightly-coloured red that you can't make them out. Adding to the difficulty is that the major highways are drawn with a dark red, further obscuring the states. The map of the north-east USA, for example, is practically illegible. This problem doesn't occur for other countries since the US is the only country with so many major internal states. The maps of other continents have a nice thick red line separating countries, which is important for Africa and Europe.

It contains a pretty thorough gazetteer, showing the flag and some details of the world's countries (although some info may be out of date by the time you buy this; Afghanistan, for example, is detailed as saying "war is raging between the Taliban and the remainder of the government nations"). The book also contains small street maps of 20 cities across the world, including NY, Paris, London, Tokyo, etc. but they didn't include Los Angeles, Budapest, Prague, Beijing, Shanghai, or Moscow for some reason (but they do have Amsterdam and Brussels??). The page edges are gilded with a gold-like appearance. Really nice. Since I keep my book in my backpack all the time, I put it in a ziploc bag to keep the gilding from wearing out.

Except for the problem with the states of the USA, this is an excellent book due to its appearance and small size. The poorly drawn maps of the USA aren't a big deal to me since I have larger reference atlases at home I use to look up funny little imaginary states like "Arkansas."