available For The First Time In The Us, The Hammond Compact Peters World Atlas Is A Distinct Alternative And Enhancement To All Other Atlases. It Is The First Atlas Ever To Depict Countries, Continents, Regions And Their Relationships To Each Other According To True Land Mass. Information Reflects Current United Nations Statistics. Excellent For Geography And Global Studies Classes. Features: 43 True Scale Topographic Country Maps That Accurately Depict Relative Area. 246 Fascinating World Thematic Maps Containing 40,000 Individual Pieces Of Factual Information On Nature, Man And Society That Give A Comprehensive Overview Of The World's Physical Features, Resources And Challenges, As Well As The Cultures And Economies Of Its Residents. Comprehensive Index With Unique, Easy-to-use Single Reference Grid System.

the Philosophy Behind This Unique Atlas Is Clearly Stated In The Introduction: We Have Come To Accept As `natural' A Representation Of The World That Devotes Disproportionate Space To Large-scale Maps Of Areas Perceived As Important, While Consigning Other Areas To Small-scale General Maps. There Is Nothing `natural' About Such A View Of The World.... Yet, Until Now, No Atlas Has Existed That Provided A Picture Of The World Undistorted By Varying Scales. As A Remedy, This Publication Offers 43 Full-color Topographical Maps Using A Scale Based On Arno Peters's Projection. Each Double-page Map Depicts 1/60 Of The Earth's Surface. Detail Maps Of More Densely Populated Regions Have Been Deliberately Omitted As Contrary To The Intent Of The Atlas. Another Innovation Is To Use Shades Of Green And Brown To Represent Vegetation Or Its Lack Rather Than Elevation. The Maps Are Fully Indexed Using A Page Number And Letter Code For Location Rather Than The Usual Grid References. The Second Half Of The Atlas Explores Nature, Man And Society Through 45 Subjects Displayed In 246 Thematic World Maps That Vary In Size By Topic From Double-page Spreads To Eight Per Page. The Text On These Smaller Maps Is Minute, So A Magnifying Glass May Come In Handy. Topics Range From Population To Religion, Agriculture, Human Rights, And The Natural Environment, Using Statistics Obtained From The Un And Other International Organizations. In The Spirit Of Rethinking Traditional Geography, Peters's Proposed New Decimal Grid Is Shown On The Endpaper, Dividing The Earth Into 100 Decimal Degrees East-west And North-south, A System That Would Replace The Greenwich System Of 360 Adopted In 1884 At The Zenith Of Britain's Power. Recommended For All Reference Collections As An Informative And Thought-provoking Alternative To Other Compact Atlases.-edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, Fl Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.