Customer Reviews

America from Space

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The colored pictues are amazingly beautiful, and there are lots of them showing fine details of the US. The only thing you have to think about before buying this book is that they are not true-color photographs. The satellite digitally recorded infrared reflection from the earth surface. (Various objects reflect diferent infrared wavelengths). Since the infrared has no color, the colors had to be assigned to them. Even though you end up with very detailed pictures of spectacular colors, they are not their true colors. If you want a true-color (and even more beutiful) book of photograps from space, you should buy the book "Orbit" by National Geographic Society. It has true-color photographs taken by hand-held cameras of astronauts. I own both books and love them both, but if you have to choose one, "Orbit" is a clear winner..

This book contains over a hundred color photographs of the United States, some of which are digitally enhanced, taken by remote sensing satellites and space shuttle astronauts. A small amount of text and a location of a map accompanies each photograph.

The book presents most of the major geological features of the United States and has at least one photograph from each state. As someone who has traveled and lived in many places in the USA, some of them quite remote, I was amazed to see what geological features I had overlooked. There are also a good number of photographs showing some of the major cities in America.

If you like good photography or geology, this book is definitely for you.

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I've always been fascinated by satellite photos of earth, and I own
several books of them. This has better-quality reproduction than any
of mine, and is focussed on the USA, which is nice if you live here.
I might quibble with the large number of false-color photos -- but
then there are some nice side-by-side comparison shots too. The text
is so-so & bears signs of hasty and careless composition: New Orleans
is described as "five miles below sea level"; there's a "Vertical"
Assembly Building at NASA's Canaveral spaceport -- but the photos
are bright and clear. I'm particularly taken by one meandering-river
shot (p. 96), where you can almost see the meander-bends moving,
whipping back & forth across the flood plain. Or check out the
wonderful Ouachita ridge-&-valley shot at p.92-93. At least have a
look at a library copy -- I'll probably buy one if I see it at a good price.

review copyright 1999 by Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Tucson & Santa Fe (USA)

I liked the book alright I would of liked to work on it als