Bosatlas van Nederland : het boek dat er moest komen : book review

Summary

Fifteen years after the discontinuation of the Scientific Atlas of the Netherlands, Wolters-Noordhoff has published the Bosatlas van Nederland, a new national atlas containing about 2,400 maps in nineteen thematic chapters. This review examines the atlas’s position relative to its scientific predecessor, its content and cartographic quality. It argues that although the atlas shares the national-atlas concept, it is editorially different: external specialists serve mainly as data suppliers rather than editors. The review notes both strengths and weaknesses: rich, surprising details, but also time-bound data and some chapters that fit awkwardly into a national atlas. Overall, the atlas is praised as a beautiful and usable reference for education, and its commercial success—becoming a bestseller—suggests it is a worthy successor for a broader public.