| To the Student | |
| Ch. 1 | A Visitor from Space | 1 |
| 1 | Classifying Climates | 12 |
| Ch. 2 | Drawing Maps of Your Own | 17 |
| 2 | Drawing Maps from Personal Experience | 17 |
| 3 | Simplifying Maps for Basic Information | 18 |
| 4 | Freehand Drawing Central America | 19 |
| 5 | Drawing Maps from Your Imagination | 20 |
| 6 | Drawing the Globe on a Balloon | 21 |
| Ch. 3 | The Ethnic Earth | 27 |
| 7 | Organizing Humanity | 27 |
| Thinking About Ethnicity | 29 |
| 8 | Tracing the Languages of North America | 30 |
| Ch. 4 | The Economic Earth | 33 |
| Thinking About Economics | 35 |
| What's a Dollar Worth? | 36 |
| Thinking About National Economic Systems | 38 |
| Classifying Nations According to How They Make Their Money | 39 |
| Classifying Nations According to How They Distribute Their Money | 41 |
| A Summary of Economic Language | 48 |
| 9 | Locating the World's Economies | 49 |
| Ch. 5 | The Political Earth | 53 |
| Thinking About Monarchy | 54 |
| Thinking About Theocracy | 56 |
| Thinking About Military Government | 58 |
| Oligarchy: Rule by an Inner Circle | 62 |
| 10 | Where in the World Is Freedom Under Fire? | 63 |
| Thinking About Democracy | 64 |
| 11 | Is Your Family Registered to Vote? | 68 |
| A Summary of Governments - The Author's Opinion | 69 |
| Ch. 6 | How Economics and Politics Mix | 71 |
| 12 | Being the UN for a Day | 74 |
| 13 | The Starship Project | 75 |
| Appendix: Maps for Your Own Projects | 79 |
| Index | 87 |