New Concise World Atlas

The editors of this marvelous atlas have managed to bundle hundreds of extraordinary, full-color maps into one well-organized, manageable volume. Revised to provide updated boundaries and province names in places like Afghanistan, the Czech Republic, Iran, Lebanon, Paraguay and Venezuela, the book also includes a chapter on geographic areas that have struggled with conflict over the past year. Twenty-two essays on the Earth's physical and sociopolitical characteristics appear in a section titled""Earth in Space,"" while another section,""World Statistics,"" lists the area, population and annual income of all the countries and territories in the world. The book also contains information on the population of the world's principal cities and extensive data on the world's climate and physical dimensions (including seas, mountains, rivers and lakes). The maps are of excellent quality, and the volume's size--10"" by 13""--is perfect: the names of cities and rivers are big enough to be easily readable, but the volume is not unwieldy. For those in need of a reference book, this is an unquestionably sound buy.