An encyclopedia from well‐known publishers Facts on File begins with a chronology of world geography concluding in a speculation on year 2050. Article contributors are geographers and educators from all over the world.
Country descriptions start with the geographic location marked on a globe and basic country information. Articles cover places, cities, lakes, mountains, people, and events. In describing islands and mountains they locate nearby towns and rivers that is a good aid. They compare the Amazon River to other rivers by length and depth, but mention only the largest world rivers. This is a practice also used for mountains. The encyclopedia does very well in discussing human and environmental relations and their interaction with geography, politics, economics, and warfare. The article on the Mississippi River mentions Mark Twain, thus including literature within a geographic reference. In describing Lake Michigan it mentions earlier Native American names and current legislation in effect to clean up pollution. The Ottoman and Persian Empire, Phoenicia, and the Industrial Revolution are described for their impact on geography. Geographic terms such as peninsula, orographic precipitation, plateau, plate tectonics, political geography, and religious regions are discussed, but plat maps are excluded. Meteorological terms such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and tsunamis are listed, but hurricanes are not so there are gaps.
Appendix A lists multiple world rankings compiled from the US State Department and the CIA World Fact Book, a good source for statistical data. Appendix B is a world atlas. A glossary is at the end of volume three.
This encyclopedia is a good source for supplemental information rather than a complete source by itself, containing basic geographic information and definitions but with gaps. For example, there are no lists of latitudes and longitudes for places – odd for a world geography encyclopedia. Despite such omissions, recommended for public, school, and undergraduate libraries.
