Customer Reviews

Wide Angle: National Geographic Greatest Places

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

National Geographic Magazine has long been recognized for the quality of its color photographs by its brilliant staff of photographers who manage to go to places both known and unknown and open vistas of other cultures, other peoples, other landscapes. In this very large and exceptionally affordable volume are some of NG's finest images plus many dazzling photographs not previously published in the magazine. The result is a panorama of the world as few other books can supply.

Covering nearly all the countries of the world, WIDE ANGLE uses its descriptor to unfold some remarkable images of fields and terrain and the peoples who inhabit them, all composed beautifully with NGs typical 'hidden camera' technique. This is a travel volume for those who plan to visit the out of the ordinary places as well as a scrapbook for those who have been to the more accessible places, but is it more: this is a closer look at the planet we inhabit that is so magnificent it urges us by images alone to protect the beauty we threaten to destroy. Recommended. Grady Harp, January 06

National Geographic Magazine is famous for their excellent photography; it is the very reason I picked up this volume. However, Wide Angle: National Geographic Greatest Places failed to live up to my expectations. I was underwhelmed not only by a large portion of the images, but mostly by the poorly executed concept. In a title that clearly implies these are the greatest places featured, I felt the chosen photographs illustrated some lackluster locales. Furthermore, the organization was too loose. The book could have benefited from better formating not only of its categories, but of the photos themselves, which are often stretched in an unflattering matter.

I have read basically all of the special editions from National Geographic, and this is without a doubt one of the best. The quality, variety and scope of the photographs, as well as the written articles accompanying them were just a piece of art. Enjoyable from the beginning to the end.

After reading reviews I had imagiend this book to be a master piece. After received I was simply not impressed. Many of the photo's focal point was illy placed in the binding. A lot of photos were blown up to the point of distortion. None were that breath-taking. You'd be better off buying a book with photos by Oliver Tollmi.

...essentially you get what you pay for. This book is certanly NOT representative of what I have come to expect from National Geographic.

I had eagerly anticipated the arrival of my book, but was dissappointed to find within the first few pages that it is uninspiring at best. Most of the pictures are poorly executed and at times seem amateurish. In the past I've found photographs by professionals like Steve McCurry ('Portraits')visually arresting. Not so here.

At least it only cost me $20 oredering from Amazon. If I had been able to preview it beforehand, I would not have thought it worth even the discounted price.

I bought this for my parents for a house warming gift. It is the typical high quality photography associated with National Geographic. Only weakness is that being so large it seems to not be bound extremely well. Has to be handled carefully. Very good.

There are many beautiful pictures in this book.
Some images are really impressive, have soul and cause emotions.
But the way the book was made somehow ruins those emotions.
Some of the best images are "interrupted" by the centerfold. Very poor positioning!
Because the book is so thick, you are unable to appreciate those pictures.
This kind of breaks the magic...
Don't they have a specialist to do this at NG?
The book should be larger, wider. Some pictures are unecessarily small, sharing half of a page with some uninteresting phrase/text.
I am still happy I bought it, it's a nice book and I really like many images, but it was poorely executed. Coul be soooo much better!
For this price, I still recommend it.

What could be better than a huge book filled with photos and essays from around the world? Once again, National Geographic delivers the photos and stories you would expect from them. I love the book.

The pictures in this book are great. What I dislike, is that since they are at a wide angle, the pictures generally take up a page and a half. I feel like you are missing something when the middle of the picture is in the spine of the book.

I went from being wowed to feeling blah about this book...it was like a rollercoaster...up and down. Some of the pictures...gorgeous...took my breath away and others left me quickly flipping through to the next page hoping to see something that captured my attention.

It wasn't what I was expecting in the fact that I was hoping that every single page would leave me meditating upon the picture before me, but still in my opinion it is a keeper as a large portion of the pictures are really stunning.

My other disappointment was the fact that when I think of "greatest places", well I don't really feel that that was captured in this collection of photography. Some of the pictures were random and just seemd poorly executed and the entire book didn't seem to mesh well.

The polar region photographs, which end the book, were perhaps the most disappointing which left me closing the book feeling let down.