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The Earth From The Air 365 Days
Yann-Arthus Bertrand's photographic daybook features over 200 completely new photographs. Each image is accompanied on its facing page by a thoughtful and thorough explanatory text. The images reach across the continents, from the icebergs of Antarctica to the cotton fields of India to the olive plantations of Spain. All 12 chapters of the book open with a thoughtful introduction by one of several noted authors who address a wide variety of subjects critical to the present and future health of our agriculture, biodiversity, sustainable development, energy, forests, fresh water, seas, global warming. The book thus offers us a new perspective on our spectacular but fragile environment.
792 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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68 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 14, 2022
So, this was one of those spontaneous purchases for me. The kind of purchase where I'd never normally consider buying such an abnormally heavy book costing me only £3 secondhand, which is full of 365 photograph's of the earth from above. Of course I say this, but the majority of my recent book purchases stems purely from my weakness of not being able to leave books alone. Ever.
This book was an unexpectedly wonderful find, and it has given me an insight into some beautiful places of the world, many of which, I hadn't heard about until now. The photography contained in here is breathtakingly beautiful, and I could gaze at quite a few of these photos rather happily for a substantial amount of my time.
The only aspect I think this book is lacking is there are no dates on any of the photos, which I probably would have been interested to know. It probably isn't too important to some, but for me, it would have been good to know.
This is definitely a book one can easily dip into when needed, or, you can just be like me, and devour it whole in about 24 hours.
This book was an unexpectedly wonderful find, and it has given me an insight into some beautiful places of the world, many of which, I hadn't heard about until now. The photography contained in here is breathtakingly beautiful, and I could gaze at quite a few of these photos rather happily for a substantial amount of my time.
The only aspect I think this book is lacking is there are no dates on any of the photos, which I probably would have been interested to know. It probably isn't too important to some, but for me, it would have been good to know.
This is definitely a book one can easily dip into when needed, or, you can just be like me, and devour it whole in about 24 hours.
May 29, 2017
Since I also have the original "The Earth From The Air", which has the same author and features many of the same photos, I will also be comparing these two books with each other.
The original "The Earth From The Air" was absolutely massive in size (one of the largest and heaviest books I've ever owned), but one which I was ultimately disappointed in. This smaller, more compact and updated version called "The Earth From The Air in 366 Days" is, strangely enough, a much more enjoyable book. This may sound surprising, since shrinking down any photo book usually diminishes the value, but quite the opposite is true here.
First of all, gone is the constant page-flipping and trying to match the text on one page with the photo on a completely different page and a world location on a third page altogether. That constant "connect the dots" of the original book was an absolute pain, but this book gets rid of it with a simple yet ingenious approach. What is it? Have text and world location on one page - and the photo right next to it on the facing page! Who would have thought? Sarcasm aside, this simple layout really does make perusing the book vastly more enjoyable and quickly overcomes any hesitations one may have about the smaller size of the pictures.
Secondly, the smaller size is actually a blessing and not a drawback. In the original book, although the photos were larger than life, the print and even original photo quality were mostly mediocre, but sometimes even unacceptably poor. In this newer and smaller book, the print quality has improved remarkably and since shrinking down any photo usually increases sharpness and decreases noise, the photos are actually better looking. Nevertheless, some photos taken in the 90s with inferior equipment still display severe optical problems. An example of this can be found on page "January 20" (there is no traditional numbering in this book). The left side of the picture is extremely soft and out of focus, especially compared to the right. This is not just corner softness, this almost half of the picture softness. In a large format book, the pictures invite you to study the details and such softness is extremely disappointing. Luckily in a smaller format the optical problems are less perceptible and since many of the newer photos have been shot with better equipment, the photos in this book look much better overall. There is still the issue of fairly small dynamic range on many of the photos (the shadows are sometimes pitch black) but overall this is a minor point.
Thirdly, although the book is still about sustainable development and environmental issues, the captions no longer go on a tangent of doom and gloom, which hardly has anything to do with the pictures. This time the captions actually provide some meaningful info about what is in the photo and just gently nudge us to think of various environmental impacts as well. A much better approach than the resentment-inducing "we will bash you on the head with a green club" of the original book.
For some reason I also enjoyed the calendar approach of the book. The recommended way to read is one page per day, in which case it will take exactly one year (plus one day) to finish the book. I don't have the patience for that though, so I strived to read at least one week at a time.
As for the photography itself, it goes without saying that it is absolutely superb but lots of other reviewers have already said that, so I won't dwell on it. My only wish is that the photos would also have been dated. I know that some of the photos are taken more than 15 years apart. The author may have thought that the actual years don't matter, but it would still have been nice to know.
In conclusion I will reiterate that with better captions, better print quality and a better layout, this is a much better book than the original "The Earth From The Air".
The original "The Earth From The Air" was absolutely massive in size (one of the largest and heaviest books I've ever owned), but one which I was ultimately disappointed in. This smaller, more compact and updated version called "The Earth From The Air in 366 Days" is, strangely enough, a much more enjoyable book. This may sound surprising, since shrinking down any photo book usually diminishes the value, but quite the opposite is true here.
First of all, gone is the constant page-flipping and trying to match the text on one page with the photo on a completely different page and a world location on a third page altogether. That constant "connect the dots" of the original book was an absolute pain, but this book gets rid of it with a simple yet ingenious approach. What is it? Have text and world location on one page - and the photo right next to it on the facing page! Who would have thought? Sarcasm aside, this simple layout really does make perusing the book vastly more enjoyable and quickly overcomes any hesitations one may have about the smaller size of the pictures.
Secondly, the smaller size is actually a blessing and not a drawback. In the original book, although the photos were larger than life, the print and even original photo quality were mostly mediocre, but sometimes even unacceptably poor. In this newer and smaller book, the print quality has improved remarkably and since shrinking down any photo usually increases sharpness and decreases noise, the photos are actually better looking. Nevertheless, some photos taken in the 90s with inferior equipment still display severe optical problems. An example of this can be found on page "January 20" (there is no traditional numbering in this book). The left side of the picture is extremely soft and out of focus, especially compared to the right. This is not just corner softness, this almost half of the picture softness. In a large format book, the pictures invite you to study the details and such softness is extremely disappointing. Luckily in a smaller format the optical problems are less perceptible and since many of the newer photos have been shot with better equipment, the photos in this book look much better overall. There is still the issue of fairly small dynamic range on many of the photos (the shadows are sometimes pitch black) but overall this is a minor point.
Thirdly, although the book is still about sustainable development and environmental issues, the captions no longer go on a tangent of doom and gloom, which hardly has anything to do with the pictures. This time the captions actually provide some meaningful info about what is in the photo and just gently nudge us to think of various environmental impacts as well. A much better approach than the resentment-inducing "we will bash you on the head with a green club" of the original book.
For some reason I also enjoyed the calendar approach of the book. The recommended way to read is one page per day, in which case it will take exactly one year (plus one day) to finish the book. I don't have the patience for that though, so I strived to read at least one week at a time.
As for the photography itself, it goes without saying that it is absolutely superb but lots of other reviewers have already said that, so I won't dwell on it. My only wish is that the photos would also have been dated. I know that some of the photos are taken more than 15 years apart. The author may have thought that the actual years don't matter, but it would still have been nice to know.
In conclusion I will reiterate that with better captions, better print quality and a better layout, this is a much better book than the original "The Earth From The Air".
October 27, 2023
"There is no such thing as a natural catastrophe."
I read this book in 2023, 16 years after its publication. While information in the book is definitely outdated, the delivered messages and the lessons learnt after reading it, are still compatible in today's world. 16 years later, most of us still do not pay enough attention to the environmental issues... And I strongly believe, in another 16 years, we will still choose to live under the delusion that the world is doing fine.
I read this book in 2023, 16 years after its publication. While information in the book is definitely outdated, the delivered messages and the lessons learnt after reading it, are still compatible in today's world. 16 years later, most of us still do not pay enough attention to the environmental issues... And I strongly believe, in another 16 years, we will still choose to live under the delusion that the world is doing fine.
May 2, 2017
This book is almost solely pictures but incredibly images from all over the world. They are some of the most beautiful I've ever encountered and I am proud to have this as a coffee table book.
September 9, 2012
Wonderful photography!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews