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Hammond World Travel Atlas (Hammond World Travel Atlas)
Books: Travel: Bakersfield: Item 3
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Hammond World Travel Atlas (Hammond World Travel Atlas)by Hammond World Atlas Corporation
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From Booklist
Hammond, now a part of Langenscheidt Publishing, has produced an atlas with a new concept. It is billed as a source of geographic knowledge as well as a travel guide. The 300-plus pages of maps are of good quality but are littered with "pictograms," which are icons identifying features and attractions. There are more than 100 of these color-coded symbols. Natural attractions are blue or green; cultural sites are yellow. The subjects of the pictograms are diverse--glaciers, deserts, wildlife reserves, museums, battlefields, markets, festivals, impressive skylines, Aborigine reservations, hill resorts, places of interest for religious cultures, and more. An extreme example of the pictograms is a double-page spread of Hispaniola and Lesser Antilles filled with symbols as well as names of cities, national parks, and airports. The pictograms used on a particular page are listed at the bottom of the page, but on a map it is difficult to distinguish an active volcano from a rock landscape or a memorial from a palace.
The atlas is visually attractive, with many color photographs. Each double-page spread of maps has a border of small photographs with a description of sites or attractions and a grid locator. Descriptive information on countries is very limited. No mention is made of current wars or conflicts.
The index contains about 100,000 entries with pictograms and page and grid locators. It is unfortunate that the example used in the good explanation of how to use the index lists an incorrect page number. The use in the index of international license-plate codes for identifying countries is confusing. Who would guess that ROU is Uruguay or SP is Somalia?
The Hammond World Travel Atlas is a medium-sized atlas with competition from DK's World Atlas (2005), Oxford's Atlas of the World (2004), and the Reader's Digest Illustrated World Atlas (2004). It could be considered by any library that wants a current atlas with a new twist. Christine Bulson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Hammond World Travel Atlas
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