By intelligence officials for intelligent people

You don't have to be a student of geography or cartography to have an interest in the world around you, especially with globalization making our planet seem smaller than ever. Now you can IM someone in Alaska, purchase coffee beans from Timor-Leste, and visit Dubai. But what do we really know about these lands? WHO OWNS THE WORLD presents the results of the first-ever landownership survey of all 197 states and 66 territories of the world, and reveals facts both startling and eye-opening. You'll learn that: --Only 15% of the world's population lays claim to landownership, and that landownership in too few hands is probably the single greatest cause of poverty. --Queen Elizabeth II owns 1/6 of the entire land surface on earth (nearly 3 times the size of the U.S.). --The Lichtenstein royal family is wealthier than the Grimaldis of Monaco. --80% of the American population is crammed in urban areas. --The least crowded state is Alaska, with 670 acres per person. The most crowded is New Jersey, with .7 acres per person. --60% of America's population are property owners. That's behind the UK (69% homeownership). --And much, much more! With its relevance to contemporary issues and culture, WHO OWNS THE WORLD makes for fascinating reading. Both entertaining and educational, it provides cocktail party conversation for years to come and is guaranteed to change the way you view the U.S. and the world.

Exploration tells the intriguing story of the navigators who crossed oceans to chart the coastlines of distant continents, the adventurers who traversed deserts and polar wastes, and the traders who sought new markets and commodities in faraway lands. The secrets of the planet and its living inhabitants have been unraveled thanks to the efforts made by these navigators and adventurers. This new, full-color book begins with a narration of the earliest seagoing ships and the vehicles that transported diplomats, warriors, and merchants around the Mediterranean region and later around the world. It explores the Vikings who terrorized Western Europe and colonized Greenland as well as the swift outrigger vessels that sailed from Asia to the islands of the Pacific. This accessible resource describes the development of navigational instruments to help on long journeys out of sight of landOCoincluding the sextant and compassOCoand explains how to calculate latitude and longitude."