RECORDMANIA

And now, an atlas of world records.

It seems we will never tire of the smallest, the biggest, the lightest, the heaviest, the slowest, the fastest, the shortest, the longest, the quietest, the loudest, the coldest, and the hottest. Figueras and the illustrators have situated a variety of these opposing extremes on two-page map spreads of the world, color-coded by broad category (dinosaurs, technology, sports, etc.). They have then used the subsequent few pages before the next map to detail the entries. Biggest and smallest sport the Airbus A380 and teacup Yorkshire terriers, an almost 4-inch-long tongue and a 3 ½-inch nose, and the pygmy marmoset and the nano-frog, while the slowest and the fastest give readers the SR-71 Blackbird, Usain Bolt, the three-toed sloth, and the burgundy snail. The book highlights the amazing diversity of the world, both artificial and natural, and the creators do a good job at providing vest-pocket highlights of such amazing wonders: The longest flight of a bird is 200 days (the alpine swift), and the loudest insect is as loud as a motorcycle (the water boatman). There is ample mixture of the absurd (loudest recorded belch) and the scientific (mammal with the lowest body temperature: the Arctic ground squirrel). One mind-bender that might need some further research is the fastest roller coaster, clocked at 149,129 mph, evidently with a broken clock.

Geography and world records combine for undeniable fun.