Changes

|date=September 2017

|isbn=9780712356930

|aznuk=0712356932

|aznus=0712356932

And, of course, by the time the page is littered/brightened with so many boxes of trivia, the map itself has shrunk. I think there is a case of a book (admittedly for a slightly older audience than the one this is pitched at) that just gives us map after map after map, with nare but a line or two of subscript to inform us – a fantasy, time-bending atlas. Here the maps are great, but given to us so reduced that (a) I needed a magnifying glass for the conquests I was supposed to make, and (b) they're clearly not the raison d'etre of this book. It is using the maps not to convey maps and mapping, or even the mappers, but what was on the charts in the first place – the superlatives, the rare surprises and unique features, the basic quirks and facts of this little planet of ours we call home. These are welcome, and informative – I certainly was ignorant of the time Austria and Turkey fought for Belgrade, and what it would have looked like on a map of the time – but this is a provider of the historical soundbite as opposed to the full-on map experience.

[[What's Where on Earth? Atlas: The World as You've Never Seen It Before by DK]] is for a similar age range, but is more of a straight gazetteer of the world. For the adult market there are whole books looking at just one chart, and [[Sea Monsters: The Lore and Legacy of Olaus Magnus's Marine Map by Joseph Nigg]] is a wonderful book proving just how much unexpected fun that can be.