Customer Reviews

World Atlas of the Oceans: More than 300 Maps and Charts of the Ocean Floor

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

 

 

I have been reading about underwater exploration. A "World Atlas of the Oceans" sounded like the perfect study companion.
I was hoping for a really good, well indexed, collection of maps that covered the entire ocean floor. I was not able to determine how much of the ocean is covered by the included maps.)
The lack of an index to the maps makes it difficult to look up and, go to a map of any particular place. The table of contents lists each map by the title of the short essay that accompanies each map. So, if you have not read and recalled the essay you can't know what map you will find. In fact the entire book is a long series of articles and essays about the oceans. Lots of pretty pictures, and titillating, short introductions to interesting subjects. It IS a beautiful book, and a great intro to our underwater world, that is why I gave this book more than one star.
A map of the 200 beautiful maps would have made this book actually useful.

First let me say that this book has a large number of very pretty 'maps.' If all you're looking for is pretty pictures, this book is for you.

That said, I was very dissapointed to find no ancillary information with these maps - projection info, scale, date, data source. All the elements that make a map truly meaninful. Without this information, all these beautiful maps are mearly pictures.

I also think it's telling that one of the captions refers to a picture of a squid as a 'giant octopus.' Anyone who has spent more than ten minutes studying the ocean knows the difference between these two animals. This could just be poor editing.

Overall, this book was a dissapointment.

First let me say that this book has a large number of very pretty 'maps.' If all you're looking for is pretty pictures, this book is for you.

That said, I was very disappointed to find no ancillary information with these maps - projection info, scale, date, data source, and vertical exaggeration. All the elements that make a map truly meaninful. Without this information, all these beautiful maps are mearly pictures.

I also think it's telling that one of the captions refers to a picture of a squid as a 'giant octopus.' Anyone who has spent more than ten minutes studying the ocean knows the difference between these two animals. This could just be poor editing.

Overall, this book was a disappointment.

Why is it that so many scientists aspire to cover 'EVERYTHING?' Why do so many books about the ocean, like this one, also include social messages about 'saving' the oceans and thereby saving the planet?

Why can't the authors have the discipline to write about only a few related topics, and cover them well? How about presenting just the facts? And comprehensive maps? And scales? And references that tell me from where and when they got the info?

OK so maybe asking for equal coverage, geological information, actual data instead of hand waving might be too much. But how about just balanced information?

This book is eye candy. It doesn't cover any of its many topics well. Furthermore, it's got a European bias. You can barely make out the features of the ocean floor surrounding Indonesia, an area with important oceanographic features, we have learned at great cost last Christmas.

I was very pleased to get my hands on this book.

It is huge and heavy.

I think I'd call it, "An Annotated World Atlas of the Oceans With Many Encyclopedic-Like Pages and Coverage of All Things Oceanic."

Thus, it is not a baby book, but is certainly generalist in approach.
- it is primarily maps and charts: bathymetric, relief maps, satellite images
- there are spreads with coverage of topics such as trade routes, the history of oceanic discovery, currents, global tectonics, "How the Oceans Were Formed," oil rigs, "Predatory Fish in the Deep Seas," "Food from the Seas," and container ports.

One of the ideal consumers of this book would be an 11 to 19 year old with a love of oceans, of diving, of discovery and voyage, of maps, or of commerce.

(Or someone like me, who has no great expertise in this area, but finds the book difficult to put down.)