I just discovered this site: http://www.uff.br/mapprojections/ which allows you to play interactively with just about any map projection you have ever heard of. If you ever needed another way to look at the world, this is the place to go. It might take a minute or two to load, especially if your link isn't very fast, but I found it well worth it.
Well, Wikipedia has a page for most (dare I say all?) of the projections supported by the app, and you can find details there about them, and each of those pages seems to have the link to this app, so it is handy. I was inspired by this app to try a map for the Capitals competition using the Peirce quincuncial projection, but realised that having the proper proportions for various continents left Europe squeezed in order to give Africa its due.