General

When I first saw this book, I figured it was exactly what I was looking for - striking perspectives and colors of the earth like the Orbit book, but from a lower altitude. The amazing images on the front and back cover make you belive this. Although there are a good bunch of these types of pictures, most photos are neither close and abstract enough to feel artsy, nor wide and far enough back to encompase an entire scene. It felt as though it wanted to be one way or the other - as though many shots were cropped arbitrarily from some greater image. The wide format of the book has potential for dramatic compositions, but few of the images seem to take strong advantage of this.

However, the printing and binding of the book is so excellent, its worth the price of admission alone. The prints themselves could use a bit more saturation, but the 365 glossy photos, heavy duty spine, and massive color and subject variety make this a good find none the less.

I saw this amazing exhibit, "La Terre Vue Du Ciel", of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's in the Jardin du Luxembourg Senat when I was in Paris a few weeks ago. The exhibit included much larger-than poster-sized photos that are some of the same photos contained in the book. They were spectacular and breath-taking. Stunning really. But if you can't afford to go to Paris, or if you can't get a hold of a poster of his work, this book is a fantastic collection of awesome, thoughtful, inspiring, thought-provoking, and humanistic usually unseen images taken from above Earth, that have an incredible aesthetic beauty. I can't recommend this book more highly. I was going to purchase 3-4 of them myself for me and my family and friends. However, I waited to get back to the US before doing so since they are large and very heavy due to the high-quality paper the photos are printed on. I was sorry they would not fit in my luggage as I had wished to stare at the photos for many hours on the plane trip home. Many kudos to Yann Arthus-Bertrand for an outstanding artistic work! Bravo! I hope to see another exhibit by this talented photographer in Paris or the U.S. in the near future.

I seldom buy books on impulse. This volume? I saw it and bought it. Use all the superlatives here. Not that the photography is spectacular which it is, not that the subjects are perfectly framed which they are and not that the colors are strikingly vibrant which as you will see is true. But even if all these things were not true this book transports me to hundreds of places I want to go. They are pictures of places I dream of all over the world. And let me tell you a story. My dad is in the hospital with little chance of recovery [82 and has had a good life] I know he has always wanted to travel but because of life circumstances he has not. In this book there are 365 pictures of all the places he's always wanted to go. I held each one up to him as he lay in his hospital room and he wept with the dreams that never happened. I love this book and have bought two more since as gifts. Simply the best and I never buy picture books.