An Uncommon Atlas

I am in love with this book. What a wonderful, colourful and visual way to educate, well anyone, about human geography,
I'm in awe at the amount and the method of information presentation. I only hope the publishers consider making posters of some. Schools will clamber for them and i myself wouldn't say no to putting one up on a wall in my home.

This is a fascinating new way of looking at the world we all live in. I"ll be recommending this one to our patrons.

What a fantastic, fantastic book! If you're interested in data and like visual representation of information, you will love this book. There is a huge range of information in this book from asteroids, to water usage, to bug variety, to drifters, and so, so much more. Each piece of data overlaid beautifully onto a world map and explained with interesting tidbits. Here's a tiny selection of things I highlighted as I read my copy:

"In Hong Kong, about 80 per cent of residents flush their toilet with seawater"

"Hydropower makes up nearly 100 per cent of electricity production in Paraguay."

"There have been six different manned missions to the moon, but there have only been two crewed trips, down the almost 6 miles (11km) to the deepest part of the ocean."

"About 300 cable systems carry almost all the world's transoceanic data."

There are three sections: "land, air, and sea", "human and animal", and "globalisation." My favorite was the first one. But all three are phenomenal.

I have enjoyed every single minute I spent with this book, I can't recommend it enough.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

An Uncommon Atlas was so interesting to flip through and read about each map. All unique in the data that they were depicting in such a beautiful way. I will definitely be going back to this book over and over for reference.

I loved this book. It does exactly what it says in the title, provides maps that are not what you would find in your usual atlas. There is a real mix of geographical, sociological, anthropological and political maps in here; in short something to probably interest everyone. From maps of ants to amphibian diversity, air traffic control to lightening strikes, neglected tropical diseases to peacefulness even twitter relationships and sugar consumption- it is all here. Each map is shown on a double page and then the authors go on to explain how and who compiled each map, possible reasons for surprising data and also limitations to each study. There was the perfect balance here as well between providing in-depth detailed information and not completely saturating the reader so they couldn’t remember what they had just read. Well worth a read!

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An Uncommon Atlas by Alastair Bonnett

50 new views of our physical, cultural and political world

What a fascinating book this proved to be! I can see wanting it for myself, buying it for gifts and available in lending libraries across the. I was amazed by all of the information included in this book and came away thinking about the earth new and different ways.

The first section discussed land, sea and air and included information on fire activity, water stress, ocean rubbish, lightning and a whole lot more The next section was related to humans and animals and there ecological footprint, linguistic diversity, obesity, happiness and even more intriguing issues were shown. Finally globalisation was the topic and here I learned about twitter relationships, shipping routes, energy flux, petrol prices, sugar and even the nut trade around the world.

Want to know where obesity is greatest? You will find it in this book.
Want to know who has the greatest number of edible insects? Look no further
Want to know what a “black marble” is? Pick this book up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion Publishing for the ARC ~ This is my honest review.

5 Stars

An Uncommon Atlas: 50 New Views of our Physical, Cultural, and Political World by Newcastle University Professor of Social Geography Alastair Bonnett is a collection of fifty maps that categorizes the world under different headings including but not limited to linguistic diversity, peacefulness, obesity, bird diversity, ecological footprint per capita, petrol prices, edible insects, problem drugs, sugar consumption, number of Twitter users, and flow of people. The cartography here is unconventional, rich in data, and easy to read.

A book that has to count as a success, from the very serious data it presents about the world, with its shipping lanes, tw*tter connections and emigration flows, right up to the very unexpected trivia you can derive from its pages. There are over 300 species of edible insect in Mexico, don't'cha know. I also liked the page about ants, but before I start to sound like an insect freak I'll just declare this a really good volume.

A fascinating and engrossing book that provides a new and unique view of data throughout our world. The maps are visually stunning and easy to decipher. If books of this type interest you, then you will not be disappointed. If books of this type usually are not your thing, you will still probably find something of use in this particular book.

An impressive compilation of global topics explained and represented in an innovative cartographical way.


#AnUncommonAtlas #NetGalley

For lovers of maps, this book presents unique views of our globe with respect to different topics. It's organized into three main sections: Land, Air and Sea; Human and Animal; and Globalization. Topics are timely and diverse, from "Precipitation Change" to "Privately Owned Guns" to "People living in the US born outside the US."

A few curiosities: 1) I'm curious why nuclear and renewable energy were grouped together into one map. I would have liked to see one that didn't include nuclear energy. 2) I'm not sure why asteroid strikes was chosen--certainly there were other topics that were more interesting/timely. 3) Some of the unusual features illustrated are not adequately explained (e.g., Is Qatar's unusually high ration of arrivals to population due to its low population or some socioeconomic factor or both?) 4) Chord diagrams (e.g., in Flow of People) can be impressive, but difficult to interpret.

Together these maps, additional graphics, and the accompanying narratives give a unique and diverse view of our planet. It might be even more interesting/influential if maps that are related (e.g., Guns and Peacefulness maps; Sugar Consumption and Obesity maps) were positioned closer to one another for comparison. Definitely an eye-opener that everyone should peruse!

This book provided beautiful and informative representations of the world. I have always enjoyed browsing an atlas but this version provides such a breathtaking and informative approach. This is the sort of atlas you can just flip through or you can spend several hours devouring. I highly recommend it for fans of maps and world geography! Thanks to the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting book, that can serve as a coffee table book for debates in groups and parties. It is not a book you read to yourself.
I was unable to read it completely before the version I had expired. Since I was unable to read past the first few sets of maps in the given time, I cannot review it on GoodReads or Amazon but I liked what little I saw of it.

I'm a sucker for maps and an atlas is an excuse to rely less on words and more of pictures, colours and variations.
An uncommon atlas is a set of 50 maps and diagrams reflecting some interesting trends and detailing statistical information by continents, countries and regions of the world. It is a wonderful mesmerizing array of colour. Despite its title and scale these remain largely undiscernable other than pretty pictures. Some have lines of movement that have form and expression others look like a child's art project.
Each map has a detailed commentary explaining why the information was commissioned and what to shows and the trends going forward.
From 'Asteroid strikes' to 'Air pollution'. 'Water stress' to 'Petrol prices'.
The very diversity of the information depicted and the story behind the graphics makes each new page turned an exciting adventure. A stimulating quest for knowledge nothing like being back in the classroom.
Nearly all have interest beyond its title and each provides a smidgin of detail that sparks up the brain. I particularly enjoyed 'Drifters' (weather buoys), 'Bird diversity', 'Obesity', 'Flow of people' and 'Petrol prices'.
I found the physical data transposed onto a global map made these issues more problems for all inhabitants on this small planet. This made 'Ocean rubbish' both worrying and more desperate to fix than ever; don't get me started on greenhouse gases. ;Problem drugs; differs across our world and things are both evident as to why this was the original position and alarming as economic status change the dynamic. So too with 'Sugar consumption' and how things are changing on the global scale. Others, now seen in a mapped reality, made the world seem a smaller place, such as 'Remoteness from cities'.