Geographica: The Complete illustrated Atlas of the World [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Philippa Sandall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

The ultimate world reference.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Produced by more than a score of staff members at Random House Australia, Geographica reflects most of the recent geopolitical changes, including the return of Hong Kong and Macao to China, new provincial boundaries in post-apartheid South Africa, the establishment of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and the reversion of Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, albeit with Zaire-era names for the provinces. Showing the demarcation line between the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serbian Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina would have been helpful, and the references to the political evolution in East Timor do not reflect its current status under U.N. administration. The book opens with a two-part introduction that includes essays and topical maps grouped as "Planet Earth" and "People and Society," respectively. The core of book is an atlas containing maps arranged into eight world regions, each including entries for all independent countries and dependencies with text, flag, and "fact file." The book concludes with a gazetteer/index and features many color illustrations throughout. Unfortunately, the historical time lines include errors: Soviet communism collapsed in 1991, not 1989; in 1991 the break-up of Yugoslavia is erroneously called a "civil war...between Croatia and Bosnia"; and the Russian Imperial family was killed in 1918, not 1917. In the atlas proper, the small scale of U.S. maps precludes inclusion of medium and smaller municipalities. And while an accompanying CD-ROM features most maps from the atlas as well as informative text and images, the display cannot be enlarged to full-screen (Windows 95/98), and there is no provision for printing maps for projects or reports. In sum, Geographica is a handsome atlas with numerous flaws. Despite the higher cost, the new seventh edition of National Geographic Atlas of the World (LJ 2/15/00) is a superior choice for most reference collections.AEdward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 630 pages
• Publisher: Welcome Rain Publishers; Hardcover Book edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566491622
• ISBN-13: 978-1566491624
• Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 10.1 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,051,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine Reference Book for Youngsters, September 9, 2002

By 

baboonsbookreview (Højbjerg, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Geographica: The Complete illustrated Atlas of the World (Hardcover)

This is a great geography book for older kids, aged 12 and up. I would primary recommend it as an ideal aid for young people, who start developing a serious interest in geography and mapping. Still, it can be great browsing for us older people as well, since it is packed with beautiful pictures, interesting political and economical maps and data!

One should note that the book is not an atlas in the original sense of the word: its specific map section is only about 1/4 of the pages.

This work is dealing with each country of the World one at a time, sorted by continents, which are also described in general on a double-page at the beginning of each section.
Each country is presented by a short description of its geographical location and features, history and latest political events. The key facts are given in the "Fact File", listing the Official name, Form of Government, Capital, Area, Time zone, Population, Projected population 2005, Population density, Life expectancy, Infant mortality, Official language, Other languages, Literacy rate, Religions, Ethnic groups, Currency, Economy, GNP per capita, Climate, Highest point and Map reference.
A little globe is showing with a red dot, where the country is in the World and a rough physical map of the country is given, showing only a few major cities. This later could have been done much better/detailed, despite the fact that the volume contains quite accurate maps of each region of the World.
Europe is covered by 24, Asia 31, Africa 13, Australia 4, and America 33 pages. There are additional app. 50 pages showing physical and political characters of the continents as well as smaller details of the previously listed maps, e.g. Oceania, Islands of the Pacific, Islands Around South America, etc.

The overall quality of the book is excellent! Nicely bound, the quality/details of the maps are good for this level of studies, e.g. USA is shown on several 1:5,000,000 maps, Europe on mostly on 1:3,500,000 and Africa 1:9,000,000. The colours of the maps are pleasing: Not to colourful or too dull.

All in all: a quite accurate and useful reference book on the World to have around. 618 pages.

Contents
Part 1: Planet Earth: Earth in Space, Earth as a Biophysical System, Earth as a Home for Humans
Part 2: People and Society, Timelines of World History
Part 3: Regions of the World: Oceania, Asia and The Middle East, Europe and the Russian Federation, Africa, North and Central America, South America, Polar Regions, Oceans.
Part 4: Gazetteer

(Little remark on "North America and Mexico" to my fellow reviewer: Please note that there is only a North America and a South America. The so-called "Central America" is merely the Southern part of the first - as explained by the author. Thanks.)

Review based on 1999 Könemann edition. (ISBN 3-8290-3000-2)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Geographica by Sandall, May 15, 2004

By 

Joseph S. Maresca "Dr. Joseph S. Maresca CPA,... (Bronxville, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Geographica: The Complete illustrated Atlas of the World (Hardcover)

This is a fine reference work for geography and government enthusiasts. It contains the origins of the Universe, the movement of rocks, human evolution, world theologies and detailed
maps of the heavens and oceans. There are memorable pictures of
Morocco, the West Sahara and the Gobi desert.Individual maps contain an easy-to-use tab/locator, cross-reference schemes,
scalar measurements, country capitals and key projections. The book would be perfect for a class project at any level of academic achievement.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best reference books, September 2, 2001

By 

Rami Neudorfer "book maven" (Tel Aviv Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Geographica: The Complete illustrated Atlas of the World (Hardcover)

Very interseting, colorful. full of interseting material and good maps of all countries of the world