Extreme Earth - Hardcover

VARIOUS

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007163924 ISBN 13: 9780007163922

Publisher: Collins, 2003

EXTREME EARTH celebrates the most dramatic and often the most dangerous places on the earth. Big in format and scope, it is a gorgeous and fascinating portrait of the natural wonders of our planet.

EXTREME EARTH is the book that will make earth sciences sexy, and is destined to be the must-buy gift book of the Christmas season. It is aimed at any reader who is interested but not necessarily schooled in science and our environment, making the subject beautiful, accessible and entertaining. Each section is written by a well-known scientist in his or her field, with additional text throughout the book from bestselling writers – including Sebastian Junger, Simon Winchester, Dervla Murphy, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Ellen MacArthur, Sara Wheeler and other well-known figures with personal experience of the places featured.

The book is divided into four chapters: Earth, Fire, Air and Water. Each section celebrates the natural world's most astonishing phenomena: the most active volcano, the highest waterfall, the bluest landscape, the driest desert, the deepest lake, the highest tsunami, to name but a few. Photographs include little-seen landscapes, satellite images and other contemporary views of the planet. They are supported by state-of-the-art, informative text written in spirited language and peppered with thought-provoking quotes. EXTREME EARTH combines topics that other books have tackled individually in one awe-inspiring package that celebrates the power and fragility of our planet.

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Review:

A great present for a family of enquiring minds.. The pictures are awe-inspiring. -- The Irish Times, Dublin

A pictorial account of just how insiginificant we become whenever (Extreme Earth) swings her mighty tail. -- The Metro, November 3, 2003

Contains one staggering image after another...The commentary is very good... -- Conde Nast Traveller

Through well-chosen images and evocative essays by top contributors the pages come alive. -- Traveller

From the Back Cover:

Where is the world’s highest mountain? The reddest river? The blackest desert?

When was the ‘storm of the century’? What was the deadliest volcanic eruption?

Extreme Earth is a stunning, sometimes chilling, portrait of the planet’s most beautiful and terrible places. Using landscape photography, satellite images and other natural phenomena, Extreme Earth takes you to the planet’s most active volcano, the bluest landscape, the driest desert, the tallest wave, the greatest coral reef, and hundredes more untamed and untameable places.

The amazing photographs are brought to life by little-known facts, history and specially created maps. Writers including Simon Winchester and Sebastian Junger discuss their own fascination with extreme places -- the terror they induce, the awe they inspire, the problematic human desire to conquer them. Explorers such as Dervla Murphy and Sir Ranulph Fiennes remind us that before man, there was nature, and that the magnificence and fragililty of the earth have never been more apparent.

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