<p>There is a world full of nations--warm and chilly, large and little, ancient and even brand-new. In all, there are 168 independent countries you should know about. The World Book of Nations presents them all. This convenient little handbook enables you to locate all sorts of infor- mation about the world s nations by quickly flipping through the pages. First come the entries for individual countries. These are numbered and arranged alphabetically by name. The entries give a country s geographic location, plus statistics such as area, population size, largest cities, cli- mates, and official name (if different from the name by which the country is listed). The climates for each nation are named. Last comes a profile of the country, explaining what kind of people live there, where they came from, and how they make their living. The section titled &quot;Statistics and maps,&quot; which follows the 168 nation entries, shows the nations by continent. The maps will help you pinpoint any nation on the globe. The numbers on the maps correspond to the numbers assigned to the individual nation entries that comprise the first part of the volume.</p>