Review: Hammond World Almanac 2006 World Atlas

Publisher: Hammond World Atlas CorporationISBN: 0843709375

The Hammond World Atlas Corporation has teamed up with the bestselling World Almanac and Book of Facts in putting together a superb and educational publication, Hammond World Almanac 2006 World Atlas.

You can probably call this Almanac the bible for world class cartography and data with its 200 pages of facts and figures about people, ethnic groups, languages, religions, area, capital, GDP, head of state, and governments. And then there are the 100 pages of digital TerraScape Maps that feature three dimensional relief of land and ocean floor terrain.

When I looked at the "Contents" section of the Almanac, I was delighted to see that there is a section pertaining to the interpretation of maps. How often have you looked at a map and you haven't a clue as to what all the symbols mean or the map scales and projections?

In clear and precise language the authors of this publication explain what are map projections and explore some of the most widely used projections. They also introduce us to a new projection, the Hammond Optimal Conformal.

For those of us who are unfamiliar with the term map projection, we are informed that the challenge faced by mapmakers is to project the earth's curved surface onto a flat plane. Consequently, to accomplish this feat, cartographers have developed map projections or formulas that govern this conversion of geographic data. It is possible to identify every point on earth with the help of a geographic coordinate grid, and this grid is projected onto a flat surface.

From this starting point we are given explanations of general principles and terms, how to flatten a sphere, selected examples of projections, conic projection and the Hammond Optimal Conformal.

This initial section is followed with a comprehensive explanation as to how to use the map section. It is here where we find out how boundaries are determined, sources of names, map symbols, colors, labels and map scales.

Armed with all this introductory data we are now prepared to examine the world maps starting with the Europe and Northern Asia and then Asia, Australia and Pacific, Africa, Antarctica, South America, and North America. On the bottom of each map there are color codes differentiating the population of the various cities and towns. There is also a mileage scale denoted in either miles or kilometers. Detailed and comparative thematic maps, tables, graphs pertaining to each continent, topography, population, land use, mineral resources and consumption are also included.

The concluding section or the World Almanac Section presents key facts and figures concerning every nation such as their rankings by population and area, major oceans, ocean depths, and islands, rivers, waterfalls, continental altitudes, lakes, reservoirs, dams, highest mountains, temperatures, top languages, precipitation, population growth, energy and environment.

Examining facts and figures about a particular nation we notice that what is included is the following: topography, capital city, independence date, type of government, who is the head of state and head of government, GDP, industries, chief crops, minerals, life expectancy at birth, literacy rate and a link to the country's web site.

This almanac is a magnificent achievement to be savored and repeatedly enjoyed. It fills an educational niche and is a perfect addition for libraries, classrooms, and personal book collections, where vital geographical data is at your finger tips.

The above review was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN Editor of Bookpleasures. CLICK TO VIEW MORE OF Norm Goldman's Reviews

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History of Guinness World Records

One of the most popular books that come out every year is the Guinness book of records. This is now more commonly known as the Guinness world records. This popular book chronicles things such as the best and worst or the longest and shortest or many other recordable facts from throughout the world.

This book is accredited to the Irish twins Ross and Norris McWhirter who actually published the first Guinness book of records in Britain as far back as 1955. What a lot of people do not actually realize though is that the book is commissioned by a famous brewery in Ireland namely the Guinness brewery.

Guinness came up with the idea of making the book in order to further promote their product and bring more revenue into their company. The book initially was just a way of letting people know the answers too many of the bar bets that were being run at the time.

It is rumored that the original idea came in 1951 when a certain Sir Hugh Beaver, who was at the time a managing director of the Guinness Empire was participating in a shooting party. He somehow got into an exchange of words with another person about Europe's fastest bird. They argued about whether it was the Koshin Golden Plover or the Grouse.

Whilst he was trying to find the answer from his reference books in his Castlebridge House library, he suddenly realized that the books were a little vague with the answer.

Then a thought struck his mind that perhaps a book like this could in fact be quite interesting. This was the start of the Guinness book of records.

This annual book has sold millions of copies since it was first published in 1955. Funnily enough it now holds a record itself as the most popular and best selling of all the copyrighted serial books in the world.

One unenviable record that this book holds is that it is book most likely to be stolen from public libraries in the United States.

If you are fond of keeping memories, then buy a camera strap and a DVR camera.

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World Almanac Book of Facts - Ultimate Reference For the Serious Thought Leader

Checking facts is essential and knowing that most of these facts are all in one place, one place you can trust is priceless. Whether you are a writer, professor or simply doing research, as a student you'll need a handy reference books of facts. This is what I have to back up what I write, and I'd recommend the same for anyone who is truly serious about getting their facts right the first time.

This is why I would advise that you get yourself an extremely easy to navigate and comprehensive current Almanac. The one I am currently using and would certainly recommend to you is:

"The World Almanac Book of Facts 2008" published by World Almanac Books, 2008.

When this Almanac says World, they mean World-Wide information, historical events, dates, times, places, people and sports data too. This book will tell you which nations have raw materials, how much and where they are located. Interested in industry, mining, agriculture, transportation, populations, ethnic and religious break downs, it's all there and more, more data than one person would ever need or care to know. It's like a mini-wiki-pedia in book form and it is so easy to navigate and flip through.

Over the years, I have built up my reference library and I've owned various almanacs by different companies, and this is the one I prefer. If you go and take a look at one in the book store, I am sure you will see why. Additionally, the information is fully up to date at the time of the printing, such as world leaders, boundary changes and current events. I'd recommend this almanac; The World Almanac to anybody.

"Lance Winslow" - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

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