The Atlas of the Real World: Mapping the Way We Live

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 on a vast range of comparative topics – land area, alcohol consumption, technology exports and imports, population, malaria, carbon emissions – in all, here are hundreds of key indicators to the way we live.

This is an atlas that is both informative and eye-opening – the rainforests of South America, with 30 percent of the world’s freshwater, make the continent balloon in an analysis of water resources, whereas Kuwait – dependent on desalinated seawater – completely disappears from the map. 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.

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