Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before Author: Visit Amazon's Alastair Fothergill Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0520250540 | Format: PDF
Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before Description
From Publishers Weekly
In this gorgeous coffee-table book, an offshoot of the Discovery Channel/ BBC series of the same name, zoologist and BBC producer Fothergill takes readers on a kaleidoscopic tour of the flora, fauna and natural history of the Earth's poles, forests, plains, deserts, mountains and oceans. The series of jaw-dropping photographs starts with a view of Earth from the moon (and pointing out the obvious but shocking fact that no one has been able to see it live since the 1972
Apollo 17 mission). Other images reveal the astonishing variety of geology and life around the globe, including an emperor penguin eyeing an enormous jade-green iceberg; a grove of ancient monkey puzzle trees on the slopes of the Andes; a wild (and endangered) two-humped Bactrian camel strolling with her calf across the Gobi Desert; a long-furred, red-eyed gelada (a kind of primate) perched on a cliff in the Ethiopian highlands; a cave explorer parachuting into Mexico's 1,100-foot-deep Cave of Swallows; a blimplike nerpa (the only known fresh-water seal) swimming through Siberia's Lake Baikal; and the lacy undulations of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta captured by satellite. The book's only drawback is its large size and heavy weight, which makes for cumbersome reading.
(Mar.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
This is the companion volume to the BBC/Discovery Channel series I^ Planet Earth, narrated by renowned naturalist and pioneer of the nature documentary Sir David Attenborough and produced by Fothergill. The two paired up to create the series I^ The Blue Planet (1998), the first natural history documentary presented in high definition, and now Fothergill presents a collection of more than 400 photographs that focus on what is most wonderful about the living world. He takes readers on a whirlwind tour from the frozen poles to the great forests, across the Great Plains and great sands, up to the mountain heights, down into the underworld, into fresh water and rain forests, over to shallow seas and down to the ocean depths, capturing the wonders of plant and animal life. A superb wake-up call to protect the treasures of the planet that sustain, and enrich, us, I^ Planet Earth is a feast for the eyes and soul, presented with the best and latest technology.
Pamela CrosslandCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved See all Editorial Reviews
- Hardcover: 312 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (March 25, 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0520250540
- ISBN-13: 978-0520250543
- Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 10.2 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
The first thing that a reader notes, as he or she leafs through the pages of this volume, is the spectacular color photos. This work is a companion to a series on Discovery Channel and BBC. The goal of the series and the book is described by David Attenborough in the Foreword: "So this remarkable and beautiful book should stand not just as a revelation and celebration of the wonders that our planet still retains at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It must surely also be seen as an eloquent rallying call to all of us who care for the Earth's welfare to redouble our efforts to protect those wonders that still survive."
The "chapters" of this work include the following: The Whole Earth, Frozen Poles, The Great Forests, The Great Plains, The Great Sands, Mountain Heights, The Underworld, Fresh Water, Rainforests, Shallow Seas, and Open Ocean Depths.
Some wonderful photos. . . . In "Frozen Poles," we see some of those great photos of Emperor Penguins huddled together to protect themselves against the cold, we see the marches from the sea after having filled their bellies with food, and so on. The photos remind us of that great recent movie on the lives of Emperor penguins. On pages 44-45, there are three wonderful photos of a polar bear family.
Some stunning satellite photos are included. On pages 160-161, there is a satellite view of rain clouds being pushed across India by monsoon winds. On pages 222-223, there is another wonderful satellite photo of the world's largest river delta.
The chapter on rainforests (Chapter 9) is also beautiful. Whether satellite photos or more "up close" pictures, this chapter shows us the lustrous appearance of rainforests. We also see the animals living in the rainforests.
And so on.
Planet Earth would make a great present for a young person who is interested in the natural world. It opens up views from the microscopic level up to the perspectives from the moon that unveil the Earth and its animals and plants in new ways. It's almost as though you have just arrived on a spaceship to an unknown world. Most of the book will seem unfamiliar to you.
Where many books about the natural world are filled with seeming hyperbole ("you can see this feature from space"), Planet Earth does its best to display the basis for those references by making the statement and showing the photographic evidence. As a result, this book makes a serious impression on the range of challenging environments on Earth, the reasons for each challenge, and examples of how animals and plants have successfully adapted to those challenges. Darwin would be envious that you can see more in one book than he could in a lifetime of study.
If you didn't see the television series or the DVD, here's the structure:
Whole Earth (overview of how the various regions differ and why)
Frozen Poles (the Arctic and the Antarctic and why they differ)
Great Forests (huge bands of trees in temperate climes)
Great Plains (the semi-arid regions)
Grand Sands (extended deserts both hot and cold)
Mountain Heights (the highest peaks and their environments)
Underworld (caves)
Fresh Water (lakes and rivers)
Rainforests (tropical jungles)
Shallow Seas (Coral-inhabited areas)
Open Ocean Depths (the bulk of the seas)
Each section contains information about the geology, physics, and chemistry of the region's character and origins. A number of stories about the plants and animals that inhabit the areas are included.
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