The Encyclopedia of World Geography: A Country by Country Guide

by Thunder Bay Press

The last decade has seen international borders redrawn, new nations emerge and old countries return from the pages of history. Until now, there has been no comprehensive, up-to-the-minute guide to this new world we live in. The Encyclopedia of World Geography spans every nation of the world, including all of the countries that came into being as a result of the breakup of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. Highly informative articles, combined with detailed mapping, facts and figures, and hundreds of photographs make this the best single-volume reference available today.

Genres: Reference, Geography, Nonfiction

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes a fairly thorough approach to World Geography, providing at least a page for each nation. The United States is, of course, disproportionately large and covers each state in a good amount of detail. For each state and nation there is table on demographics, Gross National Product, land area, etc. The book provides a good amount of cultural and historical information to give the reader some sense of the uniqueness of the nation and the people, without going into too much detail. There is a good effort to provide a sense of the structure of government as well, often using graphical representations for simplicity.

The book is oversize, which means it's useful as a library or classroom tool, but not for carting around. At 512 pages it provides a good amount of detail in accessible prose, and it's lavishly illustrated. Not very practical for a serious scholar, but interesting for an occasional casual read or to pull out for the kids if they are interested. Wikipedia is quickly making these reference tool obsolete for the (internet using) general public, but for those without or for classroom, etc. this will still make a useful tool.