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 enlarge | Author: Yann Arthus-bertrand
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Category: Book
Buy New: $65.99
New (1) Used (9) from $29.18
Avg. Customer Rating:  69 reviews
Sales Rank: 723992
Media: Card Book
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 40
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 8.4 x 0.5
ISBN: 0810985322
EAN: 9780810985322
ASIN: 0810985322
Publication Date: August 1, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: STILL IN SHRINKWRAP. NEVER OPENED. Reliable/established seller will provide personal and prompt customer service.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Item never recieved! September 27, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I ordered my book about a month ago and it is still not here! I can not review the book, but I can review the service, and it has been awful.
 Cover September 20, 2007
I think the photo of the cover is the best. Nice photos, no one to recall as very nice.
 Beautiful photographs but some rather polemical commentaries May 10, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a book with some of the most beautiful and interesting photographs I have ever seen, all of which have been taken from the air above by the well known photographer Yann-Arthus Bertrand. It also comes with an alarming and urgent message that we (the citizens of the world) must all do our bit to bring to a halt the continuing and escalating damage to our environment before it is too late.
It's a big heavy book (38cm by 30 cm by 5cm), and one could say that its weight matches the importance of the topics being addressed. The book is divided into twelve sections:
* Building an Eco Economy
* World Population and the Environment
* Urban Landscapes, Landscapes of Urbanism
* Farmers of the World, the Price of our Future
* Water, Humanity's Heritage
* Biodiversity, a Question of Survival
* Seas and Oceans, Red Alert
* Climate Change, Doubts and Certainties
* Rethinking the World s Energy
* Sustainable Development
* Microcredit and the Future of Poverty
* Antartica, the Continent of hope
Each section is beautifully laid out, commencing with a 3 page commentary on the particular topic, which has been written by a well known scholar or expert, followed by a page of supporting facts and figures which provide the evidence to show the importance of the particular environmental issue under discussion. This is followed by a summary page of the 15 photographs in the section, and the double page photographs themselves. Because of its size, I found the best way to read this book was to put it down on my dining room table, and read a few pages at a time. And I did read it line by line and from cover to cover!
I would like to say that I am convinced by the scholarly nature of the commentaries, but I found myself "tuning out" some sections because of the unrelieved gloom and doom portrayed by the author of the article. The main problem I had with the style and tone of the commentaries was I was never quite sure as how much of what was being presented was fact as opposed to opinion masquerading as fact. There were some very interesting statistics, most of which seem to have been published in reports of the United Nations reports, but, again, I was never quite sure whether the author was just selecting those statistics which supported his case.
One of the underlying messages of the book seems to be that any progress we may make towards improving the way we live only ends up endangering Mother Earth and to make it worse for those who are struggling to survive in an ever more deteriorating environment, and that nearly all of the present solutions which have been offered to correct our environmental problems will also make matters worse. This means that the only hope we have to avoid disaster is for us (humanity) to change our ways. This requires, of course, that we should return to a simpler way of life, and that governments should be concerned with changing our attitudes accordingly.
My problem with this kind of reasoning is that human beings, by their very nature seem first and foremost to be self-oriented, It is true that at times we do display magnificent examples of altruism, but we are not colony insects like bees and ants. In my opinion, this means that solutions to our environmental problems HAVE to take into account how humans actually behave, individually and en masse, and not how they SHOULD behave! In my opinion, many of the solutions offered were rather high level and top down, and as is clear in most current political issues, the devil is usually in the details. I think that to be successful in persuading people to change their minds on important issues like this, you must appeal to their intelligence rather than employing the faith based reasoning of some of the commentaries For me, the most useful section was on Sustainable Development because I felt that the author of the commentary had done a very even handed job of presenting both sides of that particular issue.
Notwithstanding these comments, the commentaries are VERY interesting and did present many new facts which I was hitherto totally unaware of. I am very happy to have acquired the book, and I do recommend it to other readers. I am sure I will read it again , since it does successfully convey a vitally important message - and it is still open on my dining room table.
 So much beauty around us we don't notice March 20, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The author has been able to collate in this book amazing images that will take you many coffees to sit and go through.
This isn't a tiny book.
If you want to exercise then this is a hefty book that is worth its weight.
The images taken from all over the planet aren't just of pretty clean items but the author has been able to show beauty in even the ugliest of images. This will be a book your friends will want to borrow and possibly keep, if you lend it to them. tell them to get their own. You will see why when you review it.
Great Pictures March 11, 2007
I saw the exhibition a couple of years ago in Lyon, France. Big sized pictures hanging all over town with explaning text beside it. Too bad the books there were, what else?, in French. When I saw this book @ Amazon, I bought it straight away. When you look at the pictures you think: what a great job this guy has. Gets to visit the best spots on this planet and makes great pictures of them too. Just recently, end of 2006, I saw a new exhibition in Amsterdam with some familiar pics and some new ones. Too bad there wasn't a book with all new pics, It would have been another great asset.
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