The Atlas of the Real World: Mapping the Way We Live - Hardcover

Dorling, Daniel; Newman, Mark; Barford, Anna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500514259 ISBN 13: 9780500514252

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2008

Synopsis

366 full-color cartographic maps cover a vast array of subjects, providing a definitive reference on how regions and countries compare in resources, production, consumption, and more.

Advances in technology have made widespread and detailed data gathering easier, resulting in a deluge of statistics on subjects as diverse as literacy rates, military spending, overweight children, television viewing figures, and endangered species. But how do we represent and compare data from one part of the world to another in a useful way? Here, sophisticated software combined with comprehensive analysis of every aspect of life represents the world as it really is. Digitally modified maps depict the areas and countries of the world not by their physical size but by their demographic importance on a vast range of topics.

The rainforests of South America, with thirty percent of the world's fresh water, make the continent balloon in an analysis of water resources, whereas Kuwait, dependent on desalinated seawater, disappears from the map. Fuel use, alcohol consumption, population, malaria: here are hundreds of key indicators to the way we live.

This innovative and exceptionally accessible reference work will be an indispensable tool for journalists, economists, marketers, politicians, financiers, environmentalists, and scholars. Its cartograms are augmented by graphs, tables, and full commentaries. 366 full-color maps

About this title

About the Authors

Daniel Dorling is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield, England.

Mark Newman is Paul Dirac Collegiate Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan.

Anna Barford is a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield.

Reviews

This atlas will change the way we look at geography. By using a combination of computer-generated maps and various types of demographic information, the maps, called cartograms, alter the size of the countries of the world to represent more or less of whatever the map is showing. For example, on the “Exports of Machinery” map, western European countries and Japan are shown as very large areas because they are the main net exporters in terms of dollar value of exports per person per year. All the other countries of the world are slivers of color, or completely disappear. Some 366 different cartograms are grouped under 16 topics, among them “Natural Resources and Energy,” “Wealth and Poverty,” “Housing and Education,” and “War and Crime.” Users can easily see where in the world are the most forests loss, the most patents granted, the most books published, the highest number of road deaths, and the most birds at risk, just to name a few examples. To make the atlas easier to read, each region and country (dark blue for the U.S.) are always shown in the same color. Each map is accompanied by graphs, tables, brief explanatory text, and, in many cases, a quotation. The data for the maps is from reliable sources, mainly from 2005 and 2006. For libraries that cannot afford to purchase the atlas, the Worldmapper Web site (www.worldmapper.org) includes all 366 maps available as free downloadable PDF posters and close to 200 additional maps not included in the book. For those libraries that can afford it, the atlas is highly recommended. --Christy Donaldson

Edition details

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0500514259
• ISBN 13: 9780500514252
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416