Atlas in the Round

The roundness of our planet has always challenged map-makers and their need to portray its topography on plain sheets of paper has made flat-earthers of us all, whether it be roadmaps, charts or atlases that we consult. But once you realise that it is possible to portray the surface of a globe as a virtually infinitely large number of different hemispheres then it is possible to demonstrate its roundness more effectively than in conventional mapping. And this is what Lye and Campbell have done. The result is interesting, entertaining and friendly and makes the accepted premises of continental drift, population spread, and the way in which round the world yacht crews all head for the South Pole rather than the Panama Canal easier to understand than a flat map does. What would really have set this off nicely? An inflatable terrestrial globe tucked into a pocket at the back... But then, come to think of it, why not just get a globe?