Visions of Earth: National Geographic Photographs of Beauty, Majesty, and Wonder

by National Geographic Society

Visions of Earth raises a curtain on the wonders of the world and thrills us with nature's opulence and humanity's splendor. Each image alone exposes a nugget of our planet's magnificence; the totality of the collection goes beyond our imagination. Turning the pages, viewers are struck by the richness of life on Earth. One photograph is more awe-inspiring than the next--chosen by veteran National Geographic Magazine photo editors to present what is visually incredible. The photographs are drawn from the popular "Visions of Earth" feature in the magazine, (rated #1 by readers), from our own storied Image Collection, and from renowned photographers throughout the world, many never-before published.Enthralling images fill the book in a gallery of stunning landscapes, fascinating people, amazing animals, and unexpected glimpses of the usual and unusual. Puffins' beaks signal breeding time in Norway and a speckled emperor moth in South Africa diverts predators with an illusion. An elephant takes a morning dip in India's Andaman Sea while Siamese crocodiles race in Thailand and surfers in Australia relish a perfect day. Monks in Bhutan run to dinner and a little girl in red stands out among white-robed women in an Indonesian mosque. Spanish youth decked in colorful, oversize papier-mâché heads celebrate a festival in Catalonia and a flower of flame blooms from a man's kerosene-filled mouth in a Sikh celebration in India.Around the globe, amazing moments are captured in time, from a spray of flash frozen petal fragments in California to a truck show of chrome-covered and gleaming neon rigs half the world away in Japan. Visions of Earth is a welcome escape from the news of natural disasters, conflict, political upheaval, and social unrest that fills our lives. The book delights our senses, ignites our emotions, and renews our optimism, showcasing the many ways that our world is a marvel to behold and a privilege to call home.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, Science, Nature, Art, Travel, Coffee Table Books

512 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society's logo is a yellow portrait frame—rectangular in shape—which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines and as its television channel logo. Through National Geographic Partners (a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company), the Society operates the magazine, TV channels, a website, worldwide events, and other media operations.

Reviews

[BookBec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of intriguing photos, although I was frustrated by the frequent mismatch between words and images. The title "Visions of Earth" and cover shot of a majestic old tree led me to expect an emphasis on nature (Earth) photos, but there were just as many images of people and man-made objects. Each section had an opening essay describing thematically appropriate photos, but the images mentioned in the essays rarely actually appeared in the pages that followed. And within each section, there were a couple of full-page quotations, which often were unrelated to the photo on the facing page. If you're going to tell me interesting things in a photo book, please tie the words to the images!

[Lokesh Khasa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice photos

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautiful picture book that I have owned for years, often dipped into, but never before read from cover to cover.

The pictures have been collected from an ongoing feature of the National Geographic magazine over numerous years. The author has sought to gather these pictures into themes and provide some thoughtful words to illustrate those themes.

However the curating is poor: there is very little to bind these pictures together and the thoughtful words have little to do with the pictures they introduce. Overall, the impression given is just one of vacuous pomposity. Which is a shame.

I’ll carry on dipping in on occasion to enjoy the pretty pictures, but after this effort I’ll ignore the largely meaningless words, so that doesn’t count as rereading. Three stars it is.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to give the book a 3 star rating, but with the title 'Visions of Earth', I was expecting great photography of the Beauty, Majesty, and Wonder of Earth. There were way too many photos of people, which is fine, so long as they are integrated into a spectacular nature shot to show scale.

My favorites:
page 144
Btrazil
ribbons of dunes

page 338
Greenland
clouds over Inglefield Bay

page 402
Namibia
sand dune

[Ehud · Rating 1 out of 5]

It has a misleading title, The photographs do not contained raw nature, similar to the front cover, but mostly human beings (which is a mere disappointment for me). terrible waste of money for those who look for raw nature photography book .

[Katilipops · Rating 2 out of 5]

While some pictures are amazing, some are really head scratching and the overall layout of this is a mess. Given that the pictures selected are from a wide date range, that should have been included, and the groupings should have made more sense. The wording for each picture is super odd too.

[Tash Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute pictures

[Cindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, captivating, interesting, unique, fun, surprising, and more! Grab this book. You won't regret it. ^_^

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very little text, large coffee table book with incredible photographs of diverse peoples and places. Info is a bit dated -published 2011.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entry in my slow binge of books of beautiful photography. It is so full of striking images it is hard to focus on any in particular; kind of a fault, but a good one to have. I love that the little explanatory blurbs are included on the page with each image, and in small white text in a corner for full page spreads. I wish sometimes that they provided more context or explanation of the image, but it is nice having them readily available. I did find it jarring from time to time when specific times are mentioned in the blurbs. Partly this is because the overall tone of the book is that it is presenting a kind of eternal vision of the world, but then reading of a specific year of a drought reveals that no, in fact things are constantly changing. And partly it is because most older photos tend to show their age in faded colors, but all of the images in this book are so bright and vivid they could be the same age.

[George Drai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful photography. National Geographic at it's best

[Kelli Slack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book, thought provoking images, and glorious interludes of thoughtful prose to introduce each section.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning photography showing off the vast beauty of our world.

[Jeff Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing images, would like to know the technical aspects of the shots but I am realize I am in the minority there!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of the interesting images from National Geographic VISIONS, with appropriate-length captions.

[Haylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful interesting photos. Perfectly-sized chunky book. Very little text, which is just the way I like a photo book.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oooooo, aaaaaa, pretty

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

More superb NatGeo photography. And... the photo on p. 26 is mine!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best pictures I have ever seen!