Geographica: The Complete Illustrated Atlas of the World (Revised and updated)

This is a beautiful book. Produced by more than a score of staff members at Random House Australia, Geographica reflects most of the recent geopolitical changes, including the return of Hong Kong and Macao to China, new provincial boundaries in post-apartheid South Africa, the establishment of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and the reversion of Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, albeit with Zaire-era names for the provinces. Showing the demarcation line between the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serbian Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina would have been helpful, and the references to the political evolution in East Timor do not reflect its current status under U.N. administration. The book opens with a two-part introduction that includes essays and topical maps grouped as “Planet Earth” and “People and Society,” respectively. The core of book is an atlas containing maps arranged into eight world regions, each including entries for all independent countries and dependencies with text, flag, and “fact file.” The book concludes with a gazetteer/index and features many color illustrations throughout. Unfortunately, the historical time lines include errors: Soviet communism collapsed in 1991, not 1989; in 1991 the break-up of Yugoslavia is erroneously called a “civil war…between Croatia and Bosnia”; and the Russian Imperial family was killed in 1918, not 1917. In the atlas proper, the small scale of U.S. maps precludes inclusion of medium and smaller municipalities. And while an accompanying CD-ROM features most maps from the atlas as well as informative text and images, the display cannot be enlarged to full-screen (Windows 95/98), and there is no provision for printing maps for projects or reports. In sum, Geographica is a handsome atlas with numerous flaws. Despite the higher cost, the new seventh edition of National Geographic Atlas of the World (LJ 2/15/00) is a superior choice for most reference collections.AEdward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.