Customer Reviews

Planet Earth Macmillan World Atlas (Macmillan Atlases)

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

 

 

This is the most beautiful atlas I have seen in a long time. I make maps for a living, and I find this atlas' use of color to correspond to the actual vegetation on the earth a very inspiring and informative bonus. Why should maps be colored by country when they can be colored by what's really on the earth? All of the maps except for the last section of special closeups of the United States are all the same scale, 1:5,000,000, so you can look at the Nile and flip to where you live and see how long it really is. The constant scale means with this atlas, maps of parts of the world that previously were shown as tiny places in other atlases are shown at last in beautiful color and plenty of detail. A hearty recommendation, an outstanding bargain.

I needed a really good, accurate, no fluff atlas, and I looked very hard, at many books, and even compared to MUCH more expensive ones, this was obviously the best atlas on the market. I ESPECIALLY LIKED THAT THERE WAS A CONSISTANT SCALE USED FOR ALL THE MAPS, SO THAT CERTAIN PARTS OF THE GLOBE WERE NOT NEGLECTED THE WAY EVERY OTHER ATLAS LIKED TO LEAVE THEM. It is so very clear and simple, really easy to use. This atlas made better use of page space, was a more convienient size, and was not as distracting as other cluttered atlases that made maps secondary to photos of natives.

This handsome volume is obviously the most detailed small atlas you will be able to find. It is a smaller (but exact) replication of the larger MacMillan series. It can also be used as a fairly accurate road atlas for most of the World. Important geographical and touristic features are also displayed readily. There is a cartographic quality which is missing considerably from other similar atlases.
As stated, all maps presented within are basically to the same scale worldwide. The result is that certain areas usually neglected in atlases such as Siberia, the Amazon basin and the Sahara are shown in explicit detail, whereas compact but geopolitically significant areas such as Western Europe are terribly compromised. Also, a few place name misspellings can be found. A person unfamiliar with national boundaries may find the lack of distinction between countries confusing on occasion. Another drawback is that the pages tend to fall out with frequent use.
Even so, with some adjustments by the editors and cartographers, this could easily be the most adequate atlas on the market. A comparison of other typically shoddy atlases at the same price level should make this clear.

Several years ago, I got two copies for $15.00 each, at Ollies Discount outlet. I still consider that one of the greatest map bargains I ever got. I keep one at work and one at home, and refer to them frequently. While this one may not be as good as the absolute best world atlas on the market, it is without a doubt the best value you will find in a world atlas. It has the same maps as the huge $400.00 Macmillan "Book of the World" atlas (minus the city plans), except that the scale is reduced by half, to 1:5 Million. For the US and Southern Canada, it even has the original 1:2.5 Million maps as well.

Almost uniquely among atlases, the Macmillan series portrays the world at a uniform scale. This can be a plus or a minus, depending on the part of the world you are looking at. As another reviewer noted, for a congested place like Western Europe and a lot of small islands, this atlas is not the best resource. On the other hand, for less developed areas that most atlases give short shrift, this has some of the best mapping out there. Moreover, no other atlas in such a compact format has this level of detail. Indeed, many much larger atlases don't have this kind of detail. Overall, it's a teriffic atlas at a fantastic price. Now if only they would update and reissue the atlas series.

This atlas has one quality that I have yet to see in any other atlas, and that is that the scaling is the same on every page. You really get the sense of how big (or small) a country really is with this kind of scaling. It is true that the pages fall out with a lot of use, but really I have used this atlas obsessively. I'm already on my second one!

The other reviewer was correct -- it IS a jumble of roads. Atlases should inspire and fascinate. Not this one. It's busy, chaotic, and confusing. Even worse, it offers very poor coverage of remote areas. (In the South Pacific for example, Tahiti is a pin dot and Bora Bora doesn't even exist.) Spend your money elsewhere.

I found this book is value for money. The map is colorful and accurate. The details of reservoirs, roads, national parks in my country are more accurate than any other atlas that I have seen.