When it comes to investing in an atlas, the competition is stiff. Many books compete to offer up-to-date statistics and overwhelm readers with text, graphs, charts and maps.
But one atlas dares to be different by not taking itself so seriously. In fact, its presentation and information should not be taken seriously at all.
Meet "Our Dumb World: Atlas of Planet Earth." Written by the satirical news writers of "The Onion," "Our Dumb World" looks like a professional atlas but is filled with humorous and outrageous facts, statistics and commentary.
The book is divided into seven different regions, with details of each country.
Entries include a map with unusual locations many other atlases fail to provide. "Our Dumb World" highlights a flannel-recycling plant in Washington, a crack-baby nursery in Bolivia and the place in Poland where a man found his long-lost twin in front of a mirror.
Each country also has a brief historical timeline, granting readers with the kind of insight "The Onion" is known for. For example, the 1930s in the U.S. is defined as the decade when "the popularity of bread skyrockets."
The South Africa page does not have the national flag displayed like on other countries' pages because it was "stolen." Chile is described as "Preventing Argentina from Enjoying the Pacific Ocean Since 1818."
The photos also do not miss a beat. Some have comical captions, like a picture of a Canadian moose, which says it adapts to its environment by dying.
With every detail containing some sort of joke, pun or cultural reference, there is much to discover and laugh about in this atlas.
