The farthest corners of the earth flourish with exotic flora and fauna, but man's increasing encroachment threatens these distant paradises. Beautiful photographs and lively prose highlight tours of four islands and one desert oasis. This book is organized by geographic area, and indexed accordingly. The content focuses on the delicately entwined relationships in the environment- relationships that can be devastated by commercial exploitation of natural resources, but also repaired and rebalanced when humans stop or altar our activity. ( )

I really enjoyed this national geographic survey of five places that remain wild and somewhat pristine in today's modernized world. The book was written by a freelance writer who was qualified as a national geographic staff writer for 16 years and the photographer is of award winning acclaim. Together they paint a beautiful mental picture of some of these most exotic places. The tone of writing is informative yet poetically visual in its description of the environments and behavior of those living in them. The writing goes into considerable detail about the history, state, and ecology of these areas. Very informative and interesting, the language level is probably at least for high schoolers. The book is sectioned into the five places that are studied. Each part although including photos and other visual aids such as maps in between the text is followed by multiple pages of wildlife photography pertaining to the information and is described by captions. Overall an excellent book that I would enthusiastically use to inform students of the biodiversity of certain extraordinary places and to inspire interest in the worlds wild places. ( )

A great pick for any geography teacher. The book is filled with lots of great pictures taken for the archives of the National Geographic Society. The book is useful for a middle school class that has not learned much detail about the outside world. Each picture makes you want to ask a question. What kind of place is this? How far away is it from where I live? The text supports each picture, allowing the reader to be able gain details for each location. A good choice for visual learners. ( )

Het Wereldnatuurfonds geeft regelmatig mooie fotoboeken uit om de aandacht te vestigen op haar werk en op de schoonheid van de natuur.
In dit boek staan foto's van 3 van s'werelds meest beroemde natuurfotografen, waaronder Frans Lanting. De kwaliteit van de foto's ligt hoog en maakt nieuwsgierig naar ander werk van de fotografen. De begeleidende tekstjes stellen niet veel voor en kunnen met een gerust hart worden overgeslagen. Het is een mooi boek, maar haalt het toch niet bij "Oog in oog *****" van Frans Lanting.
Uitgelezen en bekeken: vrijdag 17 november 2000 ( )

Natural history/Natural history > Pictorial works