Customer Reviews

National Geographic Collegiate Atlas of the World

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The main reason I bought this atlas is because although I own the larger-format National Geographic Atlas, it does not prop well onto a sofa arm for leisurely review while sitting up; it requires more contortion.

Yes, the binding is a problem; it makes finding what's down there exceedingly difficult. If I really needed to see what's at that edge, I'd have no choice but to get out my X-Acto and cut them out.

The thematics are interesting, but they have too many colors, and it is hard to tell just what color they're talking about. Nat. Geo.'s editors should spend some time reading Edward Tufte's "Display of Quantitative Information".

There is something I figure could be improved upon, too, with the general map format. The way it is in the Collegiate, as well as the Big One, you have to flip between physical and political to get the whole sense of the land. I'd prefer something like I read about in their line of globes, where you see just political by leaving the light off, but get an overlay from inside graphics when you turn it on. I'd go more for an atlas having topo contours as underlayment for the countries, rather than stylized colors.

I have to wonder about something I saw in there in terms of accuracy, too. We all know now that the Gulf between Galveston and New Orleans is a major center of petrochemical production. Why, then, don't they display the red graphics in the night-time views the way they do for the Persian Gulf (not the Arabian one, I note...), Russia, Azerbaijan and the North Sea.

I will continue to look for the ideal compact atlas, I suppose. I used to love my Hammond Citation, only it's a 1985 copy and hopelessly out of date. But hey, it's National Geographic, so you have to respect that.

This is an excellent atlas - except that the tight binding frustrates attempts to see the whole of the maps. Portions disappear into the middle of the book. It would have been much better if the pages were printed with margins for the area hidden by the binding.

In looking at a map that spans two pages. If you happen to be looking for a point on a map that is in the center, it would be located in the binding. This is very poor design and workmanship. DO NOT BUY!

I found this Atlas very useful. When I research world events and specific areas that things are occurring in this atlas comes in handy. It is easy to use and the maps, graphs and other pertinent statistics are very readable. For quick reference I recommend this atlas.

I am making this review for the sake of bringing down the rating. To reiterate what other reviewers have already made clear, this atlas has a serious binding problem. If a location is at the center of a two-page map, its difficult, if not impossible, to see the location. This is because the tight binding forces the two pages too close together.

On the spur of the moment, without access to amazon.com reviews, I bought this atlas at a bargain price at a new/used bookshop. It had a glossy attractive cover, and I had been wanting a more manageable atlas than my bulky "Times Atlas of the World." The "Times Desktop Atlas of the World" is much more mangeable than its big brother, but it has only 25,000 place names. The "National Geographic Collegiate Atlas of the World" has about 55,000 place names, but it has its binding problem.

I give this a one-star review, because I believe this atlas is something you should not buy. The binding problem IS serious.

I own quite a few atlases, but my favorite has always been the National Geographic Atlas. I find the cartography in it strikes the best balance between information and esthetics.

But if I'm reading a book and want to quickly look a place up, the NG atlas is too unwieldy. The NG Collegiate Atlas is a more convenient size for keeping by your reading chair and grabbing for a quick look-up, rather than finding a table to open up the big atlas.

The Collegiate Atlas has the same quality of maps, plus many pages of thematic maps not found in the big atlas. Besides being handy for quick reference, it is a pleasure to browse through.

The biggest drawback at first was, as other reviewers have mentioned, the apparent lack of sufficient gutter space; the binding swallows up much of the printing. But in fact the book has been well designed and the gutter space is there; you just have to spend some time breaking in the binding. I spent about a half-hour paging through the book, forcing open the binding on every double spread. (It often required opening the book so wide that the front and back covers touched. This idea may horrify you, but the binding can take it.) Once I've accomplished this all the maps were fully readable.

If you're willing to put in the effort, you'll be rewarded with an informative and beautiful atlas that is also easy to handle. If not, you'd be better off with Goode's Atlas.

Ordered this book for college geography class and i am in Michigan and it came from Cali in quick time. Book was in great shape and a awesome deal. I had bad luck with first text order on here but this one made up for it! Keep up the good work. I hate ordering online something used from a stranger and then they wait a week to ship it so thanks!

I wanted one Good Atlas for my Library and everyday use. I am very Happy with this Atlas.

I purchased the book from firsttrust2003 through Amazon.com. I got it at a third of the price that I was prepared to pay at Borders Books. The leather-bound edition exceeded my expectations! It was current (CY 2006) and provides online digital map access to the National Geographic's website. So now I have a handy reference that is supplemented by online updates. Excellent! National Geographic Collegiate Atlas of the World