Hammond Atlas of the World. - book reviews

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 1994 by Gerald F. Kreyche

This atlas, billed as the "flagship of a new generation of maps," badly needed after all the boundary and name changes countries have undergone over the last decade, was five years in the making. At the cutting edge of technology, it is the first world atlas produced directly from a digital database. Its maps, the most accurate ever created, are all computer generated. Aside from such technical kudos, it is cartography at its best.

A short history of map-making eases readers into this work. The Greeks, who knew the Earth was round, having observed its shadow upon the moon during an eclipse, first estimated the circumference of the globe and initiated latitude and longitude. As early as the second century A.D., Ptolemy organized a bound edition of maps for instructional and practical use. Toward the end of the 13th century, employment of the compass made possible a highly accurate mapping of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Explorers Columbus, Cooke, Magellan, Cabot, Vespucci, and Drake all helped to produce better charts, leading to Gerardus Mercator's world map.

Through the ages, mapmakers progressively surveyed by land, balloons, airplanes, and finally, in a quantum leap, satellites. Essentially, their task was to project a curved Earth's surface, onto a flat plane.

This atlas is not only a cocktail table book to be displayed as a sign of one's erudition, but a delightful potpourri of facts that come together as a new and vital study of geography. The work is divided into five parts: interpreting Maps, Global Relationships, The Physical World, Maps of the World, and Statistical Table and Index.

One can find the topography of the ocean floor, location of dry lake beds, natural wildlife areas, and military government reservations, as well as swamps and glaciers. Population facts are detailed, as are longevity rates and living standards for different parts of the globe. Energy resources, political information, climates, and environmental concerns such as global warming, deforestation, and endangered species help make this volume a warehouse of information.

An overview of the globe and a plethora of 70 highly detailed maps of metropolitan and other specialized areas are included. Clearly, this atlas can help anyone become a globe-trotter, even if only vicariously.