La Terre vue du ciel

by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Pourquoi une réédition de La Terre vue du ciel pourrait-on se demander, tout particulièrement après le succès qu'on lui connaît ? Quelles différences entre 1999 et 2002 ? Le 11 septembre 2001 bien sûr, l'explosion AZF aussi, ou encore, souvenez-vous, mars 2001, les inondations à Taponas, dans le Rhône. Yann Arthus-Bertrand a choisi seize événements marquants pour saisir l'évolution de notre planète. Seize photos prises avec tout le talent qui le caractérise, n'hésitant pas à provoquer l'œil par la dureté ou la douceur de certains clichés.

Cette réédition a été aussi l'occasion pour toute l'équipe dirigée par le démographe Hervé Le Bras de revoir tous les textes des différents chapitres. Les thèmes abordés restent inchangés ( bâtir une éco-économie, population mondiale et environnement, paysages urbains, paysages de l'urbanité…). Douze points déterminants quant à l'avenir de notre planète qui posent définitivement La Terre vue du ciel comme un ouvrage géopolitique de référence. Une photo, une réflexion, une autre idée de la planète ? --Nathalie Robert-Poitout

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Art, Travel, Nature, Reference, Environment

455 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Yann Arthus-Bertrand was born in a renowned jewellers' family founded by Claude Arthus-Bertrand and Michel-Ange Marion. His sister Catherine is one of his closest collaborators. He's been interested in nature and wildlife from an early age.
From the age of 17 he became involved in the movie industry. He gave up the movie industry in 1967 to run the Château de Saint Augustin wildlife park in Château sur Allier (centre of France). He then left the country with his wife Anne when he was 30 (1976) to live in Kenya in the Massai Mara national park. He lived amongst the Massai tribe for 3 years to study the behaviour of a lions’ family and took daily pictures of them during those years. He thus discovered a new passion for photography and the beauty of landscapes when observed from above in hot air balloons. He understood the power of a picture and how to communicate using this means.
He came back to France in 1981, published a photography book Lions in 1983, and became an international journalist, reporter and photographer specialising in documentaries on sports, wildlife and aerial photography for French magazines such as Paris Match and Geo. He photographed ten Paris-Dakar rallies. Every year he published a book on Rolland Garros, the tennis French open. He also took pictures every year at the Paris International Agricultural Show, and of Dian Fossey and gorillas in Rwanda.
In 1994 Arthus-Bertrand started a thorough study on the state of the Earth sponsored by UNESCO. Therefore he made a picture inventory of the world’s most beautiful landscapes taken from helicopters and balloons. The book from this project, Earth from Above (‘la Terre vue du ciel’) sold over 3 million copies and was translated into 24 languages.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the antidote to the news. And today I really need an antidote to the news.

Well okay, a lot of it is. You do get pictures of Chernobyl and rusting tanks in deserts, but even the grim images are drenched in glory. And it's as huge as it's wonderful - you almost need a removal van to get it home. Marshall McLuhan used to say that when people moan about the news always being full of depressing stuff, they're overlooking the adverts - they're the good news, he said - housewives, smile! this will rid your floors of waxy yellow buildup - gentlemen, this men's fragrance plus this rebranded lager means you'll believe you're attractive! If only for a moment! And so on.

But The Earth From The Air is the real good news - this planet is stunningly beautiful, and it's not dead yet. And camels cast extraordinary shadows in the desert. And people always smile at a photographer in a balloon. Some of this stuff proves that J G Ballard was right when he said that Earth is the only alien planet. I would like to wax lyrical about more of the images in this book of books (the fruit markets of Mombasa! the cloth dyers of Fez!) but this is a book which makes words a bit superfluous.



(Village in Er Rachidia region, Atlas Mountains, Morocco)

There are pages of text here and there amongst the giant photos, I haven't read them, but they seem to be full of the standard jeremiads about the ecology, global warming, deforestation, overpopulation, and all of that. Then I turn the page and the multifarious gorgeousness of the Gobi desert or the forests of Sumatra kind of sweeps all those concerns away. That's the experience we have all the time, I guess -

Doom!

Beauty!

Doom!

Beauty!




There is a creeped out grue of Western aesthetic self-accusation to be had quite frequently as you leaf through. Did we, the West, cause the ugliness whilst everyone else caused the beauty? And that alluring photogenic quality of poverty never disappoints either - do the denizens of the markets of Ouagadougou know how startlingly gorgeous they all look or are they just scruffing their way through another dreary day with not quite enough food? With these photos, they're big enough that you think you could just lean over and light their cigarette. With knowledge comes doubt. This is always true.

[Manny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best coffee table book I know, and the author has the best job I know. He travels around the world, taking photographs from helicopters, and has trained his eye so that he can find beauty anywhere. Literally anywhere. Lush Pacific atolls, desert dunes and so on are easy, of course - he doesn't neglect the low-hanging fruit. On the other hand, his results are no worse when he photographs junked aircraft and concrete overpasses. I guess he tells them to smile or something.

I was fortunate enough to see an open air exhibition of his work in one of the Geneva parks. He had all the pictures up on big posters along both sides of the long central path. A friend and I spent a wonderful hour strolling around and looking at them.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan) · Rating 5 out of 5]

[6 stars out of 5]
My first trip to Paris in 1997, the most memorable moment was not the Notre Dame or Sacre Coeur or the Louvre, but an unexpected open air photography exposition on the iron fence around Jardin de Luxembourg. Huge prints (2 by 1.5 m) of the most incredible sights from hundreds of places around the world. With all this amazing city to explore, I ended up returning to the place 5 times in 2 weeks, spending long minutes analizing each frame. I knew nothing about Yann Arthus Bertrand at the time, only what I read in the introduction: that he spent 10+ years in helicopters and small planes, hunting for the perfect light, the perfect composition, the best way to transmit this dual message:
1. we live on a beautiful, amazingly rich and diverse planet
2. we are doing our damnedest best job at destroying it.

I have been dabbling in photography myself since highschool, and it pains me to admit it, but I could never get as good as this guy, not with millions of greenbacks in goverment sponsored funds. He has the eye that extracts the essence from the chosen subject. He has other books, and I recommend checking them also, especially the early African wildlife album, the "metiers francais" series, the agricultural shows and the horse prtraits series. He is mostly identified though by his aerial views. Looking at these picture through slitted eyes or from a distance, they are abstract designs in saturated colours. Coming closer, the subject reveals itself in either its natural sculpted form or man made geometry. Focusing on details, you sometimes discover the human presence in the vast landscape: a small boat in the Grand Barrier coral reef, a lone silluette on a broken glacier, a tea picket in Sri Lanka, etc.

Each photo is accompanied by a short essay or explanation, ussualy local trivia, the history of the shot or the environmental impact of industrial activity at each specific location. These words are as important to me as the images, because I see our role here on the planet as gardeners nurturing it for future generations and not conquerors of a hostile environment to be subdued and plundered.

I don't have the quote handy right now, but I would like to end my review paraphrasing Malcolm Lowry: "You like this garden? It is yours! Guard it well and cherish it and leave it to your children to enjoy it too"

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aerial photos from all over the world. This isn't just junk you can see on Google Earth, but amazing, beautiful masterpieces. Many of them are so rich, I feel like each could inspire its own novel or movie or something. I saw some of Arthus-Bertrand's photos on exhibit in Montreal, and I could not stop thinking about his work for months--it literally transformed the way I see the world.

[Jenclone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a thing for aerial photography, and this was stunning. I can't stop looking at it. Lots of facts and figures, too, with essays on human development and the environment interspersed, so I learned a lot. One warning, though - it's really, really heavy (the 2010 edition). I mean, I can carry it and all, it's just a bit of a shock picking up a book that weighs more than your cat.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives you a different perspective, not only from above, but in the variety of beauty, chaos & environmental issues world wide.

It is a "MUST" for every coffee table or environmental library collection.

[Leopold Benedict · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive collection of pictures of the earth from above. Words and numbers can never fully capture the world. We need photography.

[Once · Rating 5 out of 5]

Earth from Above is the best photography book I've pick up in a long time. The images that were captured are just pure talent. You see beautiful, unique shots of landscapes or people. Some of the images you ask yourself, how is that possible what I see in the picture. SO much color and detail in each picture, you are left turning the pages faster and faster to devour all the images. Then you go through the book again. Look at the cover, see what I mean. How is it possible to have a shape of a heart made of trees. This is the perfect book to own to have on that coffee table at your home. Get ready to be transported to so many different places and cultures in 500 pages of photography.

review link: http://www.onceuponatwilight.com/2011...

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got the 2001 edition with 3 languages as caption/description - English, Spanish & French which was published by Altitude All I can say is it is a mesmerizing book full of Earth's wonders, beautifully preserved and locked in time through the photographs and lens of Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Timeless photos indeed and I'd say better than IPhone BEV wallpaper and lockscreen images. The book contains more than 150 plus pages of stunning and bewildering landscape photos back to back and several white pages having the description of each location in a thumbnail format along with its exact coordinates, followed by portait style captured photos for several more pages to top of a worthwhile and bemusing read.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have two of Arthus-Bertrands "Earth from Above" books. His photos are fascinating windows to far-off places, most of which I'll never see. I made a fabric art piece using one of the photos as an inspiration, for a textile art exhibit titled "Art from 'Earth from Above.'" I highly recommend taking a look at at least one of the Earth from Above books.

[Jeptha Davenport · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a beautiful book, and for only $2 per pound, it is by far the most economical way to get the perspective from places you've never seen than helicopter, plane or space travel -- there's no better way to see your own planet from your living room, topping video media, even.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread. Excellent, HUGE book of "artistic" air photos, by a cranky old-timer. Don't plan to read it in bed!

Be damned if I can find my original booklog comments. Later, if they turn up. Might be in the paper booklog days??

[Michael Heath-Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very large coffee table type book on aerial photography of interesting places around the world.

[Myriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magistral !

Je l’ai racheté aujourd’hui. Un must have selon moi.

[Anton Klink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although seemingly just a book of beautiful photos, this is actually a book with a mission. Whether or not you like the mission, is quite another matter.

The premise of the book is fantastic. A huge book (it is literally the largest book in my library, measuring 37 x 30 cm and weighing over 4,5 kg) with pictures shot from helicopters from around the world accompanied by informative captions. The photos have been taken during the course of more than a decade, in dozens of countries and from a perspective usually not seen before. What could be better? On closer inspection though, all is not so rosy.

First and foremost, the accompanying texts (both the captions and the essays) are somewhat informative, but hugely propagandistic. The first few sentences of each caption deal with the subject at hand but then almost without fail go on into subjects only marginally related to the picture. As I turned the pages and tried to enjoy the images, the enjoyment was regrettably often spoiled by environmentalist gloom and doom texts that accompanied the photos. I am far from being a climate change denier. Yes, I have seen Al Gore's film and I agree with the premise. For daily commutes I ride my bicycle and for longer trips I take the train (I only use the car if absolutely necessary, which amounts to about a few times a month). I unplug my appliances and plan to install solar panels. I buy second-hand, I donate instead of throwing away, I prefer biodegradable products and I recycle. Yes, I know, things are bad and getting worse unless we come together and do something about it. But does the point have to be driven home over and over again in almost every single photo caption over hundreds of images?

This would be all fair, if I could agree with what the authors are saying since that's the way the world is today and they are only the messengers. However, here is my biggest point of contention - I quite often found myself disagreeing! Many of the captions and interspersed essays did not strike my as fair and objective, but as slanted propaganda. For example, the authors lament the fact that productivity in agriculture has increased and prices of agricultural products have fallen so much, that many farmers are now out of work and have to move to cities. Essentially - they weep for centuries gone by and long for the days, when the majority of the population toiled away trying to make ends meet at their farms. For remedies, they suggest that all major countries of the world should implement increased customs duties, inflated tariffs and additional taxes on imports and ideally a globally fixed pricing scheme for all agricultural products, so that the farmers "could live in dignity".

What century are these people living in? The increase in productivity has liberated countless talents to pursue careers in arts and sciences or just being free to enjoy their lives in other ways, instead of wasting their lives crouched in their fields. The drop in food prices has saved millions of people from absolute poverty and starvation. In fact, the percentage of people living in poverty has gone down from 40% to 20% in the past 20 years and this has been partly due to globalization, falling food prices and more effective farming. Yes, the price of that is that many farmers have to find employment elsewhere and for those who'd prefer to stay in farming - well that's too bad. But the net gain for humanity is without a doubt positive and not negative like the authors are trying to make it out to be. I agree that current rates of consumption are not sustainable and we need to correct course but thinking that the solution lies in going back in time is delusional and severely misguided.

Compounding the problem is the font they've chosen to use for the text. I don't wear glasses, have 20/20 vision and have no problem reading books or from a computer screen, but the font used in the book made me squint. Sarif fonts, like the one used in the book, are known to be aesthetically pleasing but harder to read than sans serif fonts. The serif font chosen for the book seems to be especially hard to read. It would be fine for larger headings here and there, but for small captions and longer essays, it is a really unfortunate choice.

The main part of the book is if course the pictures and not the text, so let's take a look at that as well. The idea itself is unique and intriguing and many of the images are truly outstanding, but unfortunately disappointment soon settles in here as well. Since the images are huge (most of them spanning two pages of this colossal book) and the pictures are of landscapes with lots of details, I expected to find pictures with excellent details. Not so! The pictures look great from afar, but on closer inspection the level of detail is just not there. At best you get only average details, at worst its all quite fuzzy. Some photos have been taken using high ISO film and are thus extremely grainy. Some photos exhibit problems (corners softness, chromatic aberration and vignetting) indicating that the lenses used by the photographer have been of only average quality. The pictures look fine if not inspected too closely, but since the nature of them invites you to look closer, disappointment is bound to follow.

All in all, this is a fine photo book if you disregard the slanted captions and the fact that the pictures are not to be studied in close detail. Its dimensions are truly impressive and there are a lot of fine quality pictures in here, so if you want a photo book on your coffee table just to browse through from time to time, this is a fine choice. If however you want to immerse yourself in both the text and the pictures, be sure you know what you're getting.

(These comments are for the 2002 second edition of the book. It is possible, that some of the image quality and font choice issues have been corrected in later editions, though I have no means to verify that).

[Traven Teng Teck Poh Poh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunningly beautiful images.

[Benjamin M Fertig]

Photos are great. Text is boring.. . trite at best.

[Antonio Gallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo libro appartiene alla biblioteca di mio figlio. Ho deciso di inserirlo nella mia per varie ragioni. Le sue misure sono davvero eccezionali: 37X29 cm, pesa quasi 5 kg, edizione rilegata. Non so se vi rendete conto di questa realtà in termini di dimensione e di allestimento tipografico. Lo si può consultare soltanto se poggiato su di un robusto sostegno. Quando lo si apre occupa quasi un metro di spazio. All'interno ci sono tavole illustrate che se dischiuse per essere lette danno una visione panoramica del nostro pianeta. Immagini aeree davvero favolose, a colori, corredate da testi descrittivi di luoghi che meritano di essere visti, letti e ricordati. Un caso evidente di bibliomania editoriale alla quale un cultura di libri stampati non può sfuggire. Non so se esiste una versione digitale. Non credo sia possibile farne una. Il risultato di cinque anni di lavoro in cinque continenti e sessanta paesi. Dalla Nuova Caledonia a Rio de Janeiro, le immagini sono del famoso fotografo aereo Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool book of aerial photography from around the world. I especially like the shots of villages built in ways I haven't seen much, like on bamboo stilts or out of banco (which the book describes as a mixture of earth, straw, and rice chaff - I learned something!). I like the descriptions of the photos, too. There are some great facts about places and peoples with which/whom I was unfamiliar.

Interspersed are short essays about things like population growth, sustainability, and climate change. A few of these feel a little dated now, but they make some great points.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This massive coffee table book is a lovely edition to any home. My husband and I actually had the chance to see the original exhibit on our second wedding anniversary trip to Montreal many many years ago. I've never seen a photography exhibit like this before. Each of the gorgeous pictures included in this book were blown up and displayed along the streets all throughout the city. It was incredible. We eventually bought the book to remember the trip and because the pictures are simply stunning.

[Luiza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely GORGEOUS!! The pictures are incredible, lots of beautiful (and surprising) places and people. The subtitles bring a lot of useful information about the places on the pictures, so this is a very important part of the book too. They made me so curious I was frequently googling more information about the places on the pictures, or examining them with more details on Google Earth. LOVED THIS BOOK!!

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to look at these images full of color and life ...
Yann Arthus-Bertrand photograph Earth.
This superb book presents a new state of great ecological and social challenges facing the World today. ...

[Sue]

Stunning photography with very serious commentary about threats to the world's beauty, and how things that look beautiful are also a threat. This isn't a book you can just read. For one thing, it's huge and heavy. For another, it's a lot of information to take in.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book. Nice big A2 images. However, the quality of these images is not so good compared to the norm in this day and age. A few years ago these images would have been spectacular. Now they're just pictures of nice places. Still enjoyed looking through it though.

[Kenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

lots of purty pictures! i saw this exhibit in 2002 in Berlin. I really enjoyed the writing under the pictures as well as the unique perspective from which these pictures were taken.

[brian tanabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

From a purely decorative standpoint, one cannot go wrong with this title as a coffee table book.

[Lexi · Rating 5 out of 5]

You must see this. Beautiful aerial imagery.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

las fotos mas impresionantes de la tierra, imaginen el encanto de este hombre que la foto que toma en mexico es de un basurero y esta impresionante!!

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earth From Above is just so much fun to look at! Arthus-Bertrand is an amazing photographer and he couldn't have chose better pictures for a book about the world.

[JwW White · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a BEAUTIFUL book. The images are stunning and tell wonderful stories. A great gift/coffee table book. My dog liked the book so much that he ate part of it.