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| Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before | 
| Author: Alastair Fothergill
Creator: David Attenborough
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy Used: $14.80
You Save: $25.15 (63%)
New (26) from $25.11
Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 8034
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 312
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 11.2 x 10.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0520250540
Dewey Decimal Number: 508
EAN: 9780520250543
ASIN: 0520250540
Publication Date: March 25, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Clean, unread hardcover with broken binding - may be missing dust jacket - still fully usable
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| Customer Reviews:
 Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It January 1, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Copy is interesting; photography is terrible. A disappointment as a companion piece to the excellent DVD series.
Planet Earth is astonishing! December 31, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Amazing accomplishment; it outdoes anything of its ilk I have seen before. Breathtaking photography and a narrative that addresses complex issues in a common sense format. The rigors they had to go through to make this stunning photography happen were arduous. Living for months in Antartica and swimming repeatedly with sharks with no protection from them are but two examples. The result is a series rich in its detail and far surpassing similar efforts.
Incredible! December 28, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Incredible photos and information. This was my son's favorite gift for holidays, and Amazon's pricing was the best, and of course the amazing quick delivery in perfect condition. Couldn't have been better!
Enthralling TV Series Translated to a Handsome Coffee-Table Book December 15, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
First things first, there is no way the spectacular Discovery Channel/BBC series Planet Earth could be captured in its sensory overload glory in printed form. However, series producer Alastair Fothergill has done a fine job capturing the highlights while summarizing the key facts shared in the series in an eminently readable fashion. In an inevitable coffee-table book format, the impressive result is still so far above any other book in its category that a purchase is most worthwhile.
The book divides neatly into eleven chapters which approximate the eleven parts of the series beginning with a more holistic view of the planet and then tackling the major ecological biomes - mountains, deserts, plains, oceans, shallow seas, fresh water, rainforests, jungles, the polar caps, and most intriguingly, the underworld of mostly unexplored caves. Made up of what looks to be screen captures of the vivid images that startled onscreen, the chapters bring each biome to life mainly through the flora and fauna that inhabit them uniquely (with the exception being the crossover intrusion of man). The book's subtitle - "as you've never seen it before" - is no misnomer, as you will likely be as floored as I was in seeing images both intimate and majestic in scope. Although secondary to the photos, the text is genuinely educational without the intellectual tone that alienates the layman with an excess of scientific names and facts.
Even if you have seen Luc Jacquet's documentary, March of the Penguins, the chapter on the polar caps will strike you with another fresh perspective on Antarctica, for example, the rare sight of a mother polar bear and her cub emerging from their den. Fans of Jacques Cousteau's early 1970's TV documentaries will be regaled by the three chapters devoted to varying marine life. The most fascinating chapter is focused on the so-called underworld where we learn over 90% of the world's limestone caves have yet to be explored. Here you will see amazing images of the variety of depths and textures these caves have, as well as the nocturnal wildlife. Mexico's Cave of Swallows can hold the Empire State Building, and the Lechuguilla Caves in New Mexico have recently been discovered as a marvel of intricate gypsum crystal formations. You need not have been enthralled by the TV series to buy the book. It stands on its own.
Spectacular photos December 14, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
The first thing that a reader notes, as he or she leafs through the pages of this volume, is the spectacular color photos. This work is a companion to a series on Discovery Channel and BBC. The goal of the series and the book is described by David Attenborough in the Foreword: "So this remarkable and beautiful book should stand not just as a revelation and celebration of the wonders that our planet still retains at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It must surely also be seen as an eloquent rallying call to all of us who care for the Earth's welfare to redouble our efforts to protect those wonders that still survive."
The "chapters" of this work include the following: The Whole Earth, Frozen Poles, The Great Forests, The Great Plains, The Great Sands, Mountain Heights, The Underworld, Fresh Water, Rainforests, Shallow Seas, and Open Ocean Depths.
Some wonderful photos. . . . In "Frozen Poles," we see some of those great photos of Emperor Penguins huddled together to protect themselves against the cold, we see the marches from the sea after having filled their bellies with food, and so on. The photos remind us of that great recent movie on the lives of Emperor penguins. On pages 44-45, there are three wonderful photos of a polar bear family.
Some stunning satellite photos are included. On pages 160-161, there is a satellite view of rain clouds being pushed across India by monsoon winds. On pages 222-223, there is another wonderful satellite photo of the world's largest river delta.
The chapter on rainforests (Chapter 9) is also beautiful. Whether satellite photos or more "up close" pictures, this chapter shows us the lustrous appearance of rainforests. We also see the animals living in the rainforests.
And so on.
And though the photos are breathtaking, the text itself speaks to the issues raised in each of the chapters. Pages 188-193 combine text of a recent cave discovery (in New Mexico) with some neat pictures of those same caves. The combination of text and photos is compelling.
I must confess that this review does not contain much analysis or critique, but this is one of those books where I choose simply to appreciate the artistry of the photos and go from there.
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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