THE ATLAS OF LEGENDARY PLACES <i> by James Harpur and Jennifer Westwood (Weidenfeld & Nicolson: $34.95; 266 pp.) </i>

This atlas may strike the browser at first glance as a gimmicky coffee-table book, but the marvelous images and encyclopedia-style entries (in the best sense) serve as a truly inspiring introduction to places that have a special significance in human history. The book covers such wonders as Machu Picchu, Mount Ararat, the Nile River, Stonehenge, Tutankhamun’s tomb, the cave at Altamira, China’s Forbidden City, The Alhambra, St. Francis’ town of Assisi, the Taj Mahal, Mt. Fuji, the Ganges, Haghia Sophia and Thera (believed to be the lost land of Atlantis), giving the history and legends associated with each. It would be wasted as an idle flip-through ornament for a coffee table; give it instead as a gift to spur the imagination of any young adult.