The Encyclopedia of Earth: A Complete Visual Guide [Hardcover]

Michael Allaby (Author), Robert Coenraads (Author), Stephen Hutchinson (Author), Karen McGhee (Author), John O'Byrne (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520254716 | ISBN-13: 978-0520254718 | Publication Date: September 1, 2008 | Edition: 1

This sumptuously illustrated, beautifully written encyclopedia, the best book available on the topic, presents the most up-to-date information about planet Earth in a style and format that will appeal to an extremely wide range of readers. With thousands of photographs, illustrations, diagrams, and maps and a text written by a team of international experts, it presents an impressive overview of our globe--beginning with the history of the universe and ending with today's conservation issues. A truly spectacular reference, The Encyclopedia of Earth offers new visual interpretations of many ideas, concepts, and facts, painting a fascinating picture of Earth today and across the ages.
The encyclopedia is divided into six sections that are designed for either browsing or in-depth study. Birth gives an overview of Earth's 4.6-billion-year history, including the evolution of life. Fire explains the inner workings of our dynamic planet, its structure, and the tectonic forces that have molded its landscape. Land surveys rocks, minerals, and habitats. Air covers weather, including extreme weather events such as tornadoes and hurricanes. Water tours the oceans, rivers, and lakes of the world. The final section, Humans, provides a compelling portrait of our relationship with Earth, and of how the natural world has shaped social and political developments.
Copub: Weldon Owen Publishing
The Encyclopedia of Earth features:
* Some of the world's finest landscape photography and hundreds of detailed illustrations and diagrams, cross sections, cutaways, maps, and charts
* Coverage of topics including volcanology, paleontology, geology, natural history, cosmology, and more
* Simple, easy-to-understand explanations of complex phenomena
* The most recent scientific information and conservation data
* "Fact files" providing information at readers' fingertips
* "Heritage Watch" boxes focusing on key conservation issues and World Heritage sites

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—Encyclopedia is an overview of Earth from its birth to the effects of human habitation, related by explaining physical processes and providing short explanations of specific examples worldwide. Chapters are heavily illustrated spreads, which include—given the book's focus on physical mechanisms—many labeled diagrams. The text covers such a vast number of features that it only provides a little information about each one, but the book will work well as a visual guide, its intended use. Though there is plenty here for high school students, some of the terms reflect the volume's scholarly origins and they are not always included in the glossary. Timeless Earth covers three categories of remarkable locations-"The Natural World," "Human Culture," and "The Modern World." These sections are further subdivided into chapters such as "Ancient Civilizations" and "Eastern Empires" in "Human Culture." Each entry covers a spread and consists mostly of well-captioned visuals. These are complemented by a box detailing the feature's country and its significance and a short, clearly written discussion (somewhat overlapping Encyclopedia) of natural formation, construction, or artistic creation. These visual treats are solid guides to further research. Encyclopedia will find uses in history and social studies classes, while Timeless Earth will work best for earth science students.—Henrietta Thornton-Verma, School Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Visually stunning, The Encyclopedia of Earth: A Complete Visual Guide is a user-friendly guide to the science and history of the earth. With discussions of global warming and the environment increasing every day, this title could not have arrived at a better time. It presents a comprehensive overview of the earth, both past and present, that will engage a wide range of readers. Written by a team of international experts, entries are divided into six thematic sections, “Birth,” “Fire,” “Land,” “Air,” “Water,” and “Humans,” that present concepts and ideas about our relationship with, and our effect on, the earth. Each section begins with an introductory essay that breaks down often-complex concepts into easy-to-understand explanations. Two- to four-page entries on topics such as Climate zones, Food shortage, Hurricanes, and Undersea vents feature sidebars for quick reference and short paragraphs of general information. Scattered throughout are “insight” essays that provide supplemental, often historical information, with time lines. Although the text is useful and well written, what really shine are the illustrations, including breathtaking photographs of the earth and hundreds of detailed diagrams, maps, charts, and cutaways, all offering visual representations of complex ideas and facts. This affordable title is a fine contribution to the subject. Although an extensive glossary and index are available, there is no bibliography, so those seeking a more in-depth study of the subject will have to look elsewhere. Recommended for high-school, public, and undergraduate libraries. --Asia Gross

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520254716
• ISBN-13: 978-0520254718
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 9.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent illustrated guide to our planet, March 30, 2009

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Earth: A Complete Visual Guide (Hardcover)

Presented in a similar style to the same publisher's The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide that I reviewed some time ago, this book focuses on the planet itself rather than the life to be found on it, although it does not avoid life entirely. The book is divided into six sections, these being birth (the origin and a brief history and description of the universe and our solar system, together with a chapter on the emergence of life), fire (including the Earth`s core, volcanoes, thermal springs, earthquakes and tsunamis), land (see next paragraph), air (the atmosphere, wind, climate and weather), water (oceans, seas, rivers, waterfalls, wetlands, swamps, lakes and the marine environment but not glaciers, which are covered in a different section) and humans (looking at how people have used and sometimes abused the planet and what the future might bring).

The section on land is, understandably, the biggest. It covers rocks, minerals, soils, landforms and biomes. While the first three subsections describe the ingredients, the subsection on landforms describes the form they take and how they change. It is interesting to note that glaciers are included here rather than in the section on water. More predictably, the subsection on landforms explains weathering, erosion, rock falls, landslides, canyons, river deltas, mountains, valleys, plains, plateaux, coasts and caves. The subsection on biomes explains tundra, forests, deserts and other types of land environment.

The book is well illustrated with plenty of photographs and diagrams as well as many interesting facts and opinions. There was a time when a book of this type might have stuck to the facts alone (or at least to the best educated guess about the past based on known information), but the final section dealing with people inevitably strays beyond fact into opinion, especially when predicting the future. Regardless of whether you share these opinions or not, there is plenty of good factual information in this book to make it worth having on your bookshelf.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterwork!, March 28, 2009

By 

Stephen Thoemmes "All sins are just efforts t... (AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Earth: A Complete Visual Guide (Hardcover)

What a wonderful and comprehensive study of our world. This book is so dense, diverse, and beautiful. Every aspect of our world is explored in an easy to grasp format. The reading grips an adult, the illustrations make it child accessible, the depth of coverage makes it a book that invites constant return.

Being a college graduate of 35+ years ago I thought that I may be going a bit overboard in my praise. So I introduced this book to groups of astronomers, archaeologists, and doctors. They all were fascinated. Cool.

So parents, instead of shopping all around for a book that may interest one or another child's curiosity, perhaps you can save a bunch and buy this book. It will spark interest in people of many inclinations and maybe point out a possible life path.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Encyclopedia of Earth, January 22, 2011

By 

Spider Monkey (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Earth: A Complete Visual Guide (Hardcover)

`The Encyclopedia of Earth: A Complete Visual Guide' is an attractive and comprehensive look at many aspects of the natural events and geological formations on earth. It covers a wide range of topics and the main chapters are Birth, Fire, Land, Air, Water and Humans and each of these chapters are further subdivided. This looks at earths place in the universe and solar system, how it was formed and what it is made of, the atmosphere and climate, oceans, sea and lakes and how humans have impacted upon the environment and way more besides. All of this is presented in a clear and attractive format with beautiful images and photography throughout. Due to it's size and hardcover this would make a wonderful coffee table book, but to be honest you could quite easily sit and read it from cover to cover (as long as you've got strong arms to hold it up, or don't mind placing it on your lap!). This is also great to dip into at odd moments and I never fail to be delighted by each little snippet I read or piece of information I pick up. This isn't quite up to the standard of the DK range of books, but it is a very very close second and if reference books of this type interest you then this is well worth considering.

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