Take a fantastic voyage across Earth, from the outside in, thanks to the latest technologies of satellite imagery and NASA photographs. Volcanoes, icebergs, deserts, and glaciers; mountains that push up through the land’s crust and quakes that shake the ground; shifting tides and coasts, and killer winds: the amazing forces that created and shaped them come into sharp visual focus. Watch ever-changing Earth in action, from the frozen poles to coral islands. From out in space, glimpse the marks of man on our planet’s surface; some, like the Great Wall of China (visible from an orbiting spacecraft) don’t hurt the environment. Others, including the ever-diminishing rainforests and holes in the ozone, have caused almost-irreparable harm. Also: topographic maps of the Americas and the Eastern Pacific; Europe and Africa; Asia, Australia, and the Western Pacific; and the North and South Pole present snapshots of our world.
Grade 5-8-This "new" publication is actually a repackaging of Stace's Atlas of Earth (Gareth Stevens, 1998), although nowhere is there mention of the earlier book. Section and topic headings are the same, as are all photos, illustrations, and diagrams. The glossary drops "effluent" and "scree" and adds "convection," "ice sheet," "UTC," and "plate tectonics." Textual changes are few and far between; there is an occasional rewording of a sentence. For example, "As passing glaciers melted, lakes formed in hollows made deeper by the weight of the ice" has become "Lakes form in the hollows gouged out by the weight of passing glaciers." The most significant factual/statistical change is about Meteor Crater in Arizona, from being formed 50,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago. Slighter discrepancies include the width of the jet stream, when Australia broke off from the Antarctic, and the height of Mt. Everest. The pages are visually busy, with as many as 12 graphics on a spread, interspersed with text in boxes, columns, and captions. Captions and commentary are not always well placed, making it difficult to focus. Coverage of each topic is brief, making this a browsing rather than a research title; young people with a penchant for geology or cartography may find it interesting. The National Geographic Satellite Atlas of the World (1998) remains a notably better choice.
Peg Glisson, Mendon Center Elementary School, Pittsford,
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