The Atlas of the Real World

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Using sophisticated software and comprehensive analysis of every aspect of life The Atlas of the Real World represents the world as it really is. 382 digitally modified maps – known as cartograms – depict the areas and countries of the world not by their physical size, but by their demographic importance.

The topics cover a vast range of subjects including:
• Population • Transport • Natural Resources • Energy • Globalization • Food • Minerals and Petrochemicals • Manufactured Goods and Services• Wealth and Poverty • Employment • Productivity • Housing • Education • Communication • Health and Illness • Death and Disaster • War and Crime • Pollution • Extinction and Endangerment • Faiths and Beliefs

The sizing of the territories according to their significance gives instant graphical insight into the statistics: for example, in an analysis of water resources, the rainforests of South America, with 30 per cent of the world’s fresh water, make the continent balloon whereas Kuwait – dependent on desalination – completely disappears. The reader can also glean historical, current and future trends in areas such as population, biodiversity and trade.

Each map is accompanied by a graph or chart, a table of rankings and a full text commentary, to explain the data and provide an extra level of understanding.

Created by three of the team behind the renowned website Worldmapper.org this book is an astonishing resource for home reference, schools, universities, journalists, business people cartographers and other professionals.

Daniel Dorling is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield.
Mark Newman is The Paul Dirac Collegiate Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan. Anna Barford is a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield.