National Geographic Atlas of the Ocean: The Deep Frontier (ISBN 0792264266)

Barely an atlas:
After hearing a discussion of this book on NPR, I ordered this book expecting a thorough atlas of the ocean floor. I was sorely disappointed. Although there are some good maps in this book, the bulk of the book deals with other topics such as: ecology or the need for protecting our oceans, current temperatures, predicting El Nino, etc. Don't get me wrong, it is a good book but it is far from what I expected. Full of pretty photographs and illustrations as usual for a National Geographic effort. I believe that the hype made me believe the book would have details associated with a land atlas.

Where's the editor?:
The word Atlas is misleading as there is alot of text accompanying the various maps. Some pages are nothing but text. I expect an Atlas to use maps to explain more rather than words. The maps that are in the book are good, but numerous sections do not have one. The book is split into sections/topics written by individual persons. However, in many sections the text ends in mid-sentence, as if several pages were forgotten about in each section or as if there was some arbitrary cutoff on the # of words per section. of this approx 200 page book, sentence cutoffs appear on these pages. Each page also represents the end of a section. p.37,55,63,82,89,96,115,141,149,163, and 175 clearly, not just a simple oversight. Also, the table of contents is inadequate, as it primarily denotes the major sections - which is by ocean, but not the individual topics. I give this 2 stars (Rather than 1) as the idea is good, and the content that is in the book - looks good. Execution is another story. Frankly, I would be a embarassed by the editing and quality control oversights.

Outstanding photographs, interesting maps, dodgy text.:
If you are looking for a coffee book with excellent illustrations I would definately recommend this book. Should you wish to read it I would hesitate on recommending it. The text is disjointed and the main topic of a paragraph is often confused with numerous (tentatively linked) topics. Issues are readdressed time and time again, which leads me to think the book is more a series of strung together papers rather than a well thought out book. However, if you don't mind that, the book does introduce many interesting people involved in marine science and as I said, the illustrations are outstanding.

A Complete Study of the Oceans:
This book will be a useful reference for anyone seeking technical reference material about our oceans. Dr. Earle is a well known explorer of the ocean realm, and she has done a fantastic job of assembling much useful material for this volume. The scope of this book ranges from the equatoruial regions to the polar zones. The maps and accompanying explanations are quite thorough, and will provide a ready reference for all things related to the exploration of our seas.