Winner of The Geographical Association's 2009 Gold Award for a significant contribution to geographical education, The Atlas of the Real World combines sophisticated software with comprehensive analysis of every aspect of life to represent the world as it really is. 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 which is both informative and eye-opening - the rainforests of South America, with 30 per cent of the world's fresh water, make the continent balloon in an analysis of water resources, whereas Kuwait - dependent on desalinated sea water - completely disappears from the map. The topics cover a vast range of subjects including population, transport, natural resources, energy, globalisation, 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 team behind the renowned website Worldmapper.org this book is an astonishing resource for home reference, schools, universities, journalists, business people cartographers and other professionals.