Author: National Geographic Society

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#TLCBookTours Review: The Splendor of Birds

November 14, 2018 Uncategorized 5 ★★★★★

#TLCBookTours Review: The Splendor of BirdsTitle: The Splendor of Birds: Art and Photographs from National Geographic
Author: National Geographic Society
|Goodreads
Rating:five-stars

Summary: This was awesome! Fantastic photography, fascinating history – I loved it.

This collection of bird photography, organized to cover bird conservation and National Geographic history, was fantastic. Unlike many coffee table books, the text was substantive. There wasn’t so much of it that this couldn’t be enjoyed just to look through, but what was there had depth. I loved learning about the way bird photography has changed. Seeing the older pictures and thinking about technical limitations of the time was fascinating. And even among these older pictures, with their technical limitations, there were picture I’d have been thrilled to take. In the newer pictures, there are some where it would be a peak life experience if I were able to take a picture like that. Which is to say that, like the text, the pictures did not disappoint! Read more »

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TLCBookTours Review: Visual Atlas of the World

November 8, 2018 Uncategorized 10 ★★★

TLCBookTours Review: Visual Atlas of the WorldTitle: National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World, 2nd Edition: Fully Revised and Updated
Author: National Geographic Society
Source: from publisher for review
|Goodreads
Rating:three-stars

I’m not quite sure what to make of this book. It wasn’t what I expected. Perhaps people who have used atlases more in their life will be less surprised than I by the amount of interesting natural history information it began with. This part of the book was a lot of fun. There were also some fascinating maps at the beginning of the section for each continent. These showed interesting things like human energy consumption; past tectonic events; and population density. In these ways, it was more and better than I expected. Read more »

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#TLCBookTours Review: Journeys of a Lifetime

November 5, 2018 Uncategorized 9 ★★★★

#TLCBookTours Review: Journeys of a LifetimeTitle: Journeys of a Lifetime, Second Edition: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips
Author: National Geographic Society, George Stone
Source: from publisher for review
|Goodreads
Rating:four-stars

I have a number of these National Geographic book tour reviews scheduled this month, so I hope you all enjoy them as much as I’m enjoying the books. As I mentioned in my last review, these books are of uniformly high quality. I just can’t pass up the chance to review them! Like the others, this is a beautiful, well constructed coffee table book. It’s clearly intended to serve as inspiration for future trips, rather than a detailed logistical guide. I think I’d still prefer having a guide book form factor instead of a coffee table book (it’s so big!). I was surprised to find I didn’t miss the detailed information of a guidebook though. This included less information, but it was exactly the information I needed to decide if I was potentially interested in each trip. Read more »

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Coffee Table Book Review: Spectacle

November 1, 2018 Uncategorized 12 ★★★★

Coffee Table Book Review: SpectacleTitle: National Geographic Spectacle: Rare and Astonishing Photographs
Author: National Geographic Society, Mark Thiessen, Susan Tyler Hitchock
Source: from publisher for review
|Goodreads
Rating:four-stars

I’m incredibly excited that the only book tour group I work with has started featuring books from National Geographic. Every one I’ve received, including this beautiful coffee table book, has been well constructed. This particular book has vivid prints on paper that feels of high quality. I’m impressed by the way the shape of the book has been made to accommodate pictures with many different aspect ratios. I felt a few of the widest pictures were done a disservice by the split caused by the spine of the book, but the vast majority of the pictures were showcased very well. The amount of text was perfect – one sentence describing each picture, plus the location. Each caption was easily associated with a picture without being intrusive. Read more »

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