Jungles (Jumbo) (Hardcover)

by Frans Lanting (Author), Christine K. Eckstrom (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Jungles are mysterious and even threatening places, among the least explored landscapes on the earth--and just the sort of place, therefore, that you might expect to find the ever-intrepid wildlife photographer Frans Lanting. "The tropical forest may be a naturalist's paradise," he writes, "but for a photographer it can be a nightmare. Once you are inside it is all blood, sweat, and leeches. Whatever you take into the forest becomes part of the food chain, whether it is your equipment or yourself."

But difficult conditions come with the work. In this oversized portfolio of 120 full-color images made over two decades on four continents, Lanting chronicles the life of the world's jungles, organizing the work by themes (water and light, color and camouflage, anarchy and order, form and evolution). As befits the jungle's manic pace, few of the images are static, as Lanting captures macaws and butterflies and even frogs in flight, orangutans brachiating their way from vine to vine, turkeys and snakes scrambling and slithering. Some of the images are nothing short of astonishing, among them views of an otherworldly cloudforest lobelia thicket in Hawaii and of treetop expanses that exhibit the phenomenon called "canopy shyness," an arboreal version of animal territoriality. Admirers of Lanting's previous books, such as Okavango and Eye to Eye, will prize his new collection, while rainforest devotees will find much to inspire them in the images he brings before us. --Gregory McNamee

From Booklist
According to Lanting, the word jungle derives from a Sanskrit word that meant "impenetrable vegetation." Lanting prefers the term jungle over such specific terms as lowland rain forest to describe "impenetrable vegetation" because of its imprecise meaning and because it "leaves room for the imagination." And imagination is the watchword in delving into any Lanting photo book. With Jungles, Lanting draws on two decades of fieldwork in various continents to show connections in those places--Brazil, Congo, Madagascar, Costa Rica, Peru, Borneo, Australia, Maui, Surinam, Guatemala, Molokai, Hawaii, and on--with photographs of animals that are more engrossing than the ones in his Eye to Eye (1997). Interspersed between or within sections are essays that provide just enough information or the perfect anecdote to satisfy the reader's need for explanation and illumination. In these essays, Lanting explores, for example, the sound and smell of a rain forest at night, or he describes how he masterminded a particularly spectacular and difficult shot. At the conclusion, one understands many things: the tremendous effort required to capture these magnificent photographs; the jungle as a place where life is relentless; and, thanks to conservationist Lanting, that one needn't travel there for a palpable experience of the place. Bonnie Smothers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 259 pages
• Publisher: Taschen (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3570192679
• ISBN-13: 978-3822863091
• ASIN: 3822863092
• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 10.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,118,559 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Model of its Kind, November 15, 2000

By	Artiste "larslkh" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This is yet another stunning book from Benedikt Taschen, the German publisher who's given us so much great stuff over the past several years.

To my mind this book, Jungles, is a model of what a good picture book should be: Beautiful format and thoughtful design; concise, minimal text and wonderful editing and display of photos, including, at the back, minature versions of all the images with descriptions by the photographer. Lanting and Eckstrom are well served by a sympathetic designer and publisher; it's encouraging to see such hard-won work given the kind of vehicle it deserves.

As for the book and its subject, it's breathtaking in every respect. It's an adventure just turning the pages. The overall theme is green, with the fireworks being provided by the amazing birds, flowers, insects and reptiles that Lanting and Eckstrom have encountered in their arduous, rewarding travels.(The shot of a flock of macaws at a clay lick in Peru is just astonishing.)

Lanting's text is fascinating, and anyone who's been to the tropics will understand what he means when he says that eventually nature takes over everything, regardless of how careful you are.

All in all, this is an exemplary book. And, as with most Taschen efforts, the price is just right; you can find books at three times the price of this one that are ugly, glossy shells compared to Jungles.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jungles - Where most of us can't venture, October 4, 2000

By A Customer

As an owner of the spectacular Frans Lanting book "Eye to Eye," I was curious as to whether or not his next book "Jungles" would fall short. It does not. The photographs are a combination of the incredible jungles of the world, along with the creatures that inhabit them. The cover definitely has the "Wow" factor. I've had it on my desk at work for a couple of weeks and it literally has stopped business. People rushing by have caught sight of the cover and then stopped immediately to look page-by-page at the content. As with "Eye to Eye," Jungles has a recap in the back of the book where photographs are miniaturized with a short sentence or two of Lanting's explanation of how he shot the picture. His comments add to the pleasure of looking at the photographs, and I found myself going back again to take a second look at many of them. This would be a wonderful gift book as it would appeal to virtually everyone regardless of interests or age group. It also makes a spectacular coffee table book - a real conversation starter. I loved it!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pictoral Essay: Please Save Our Jungles!, March 8, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

"I . . . show jungles in their natural spendor, and their animal inhabitants with the dignity they deserve." "I want to show what is at stake . . . ." "It is about the feeling of the forest rather than the science of it." -- Frans Lanting

This book contains some of the most stunning jungle photography that it has been my pleasure to see. The images contain amazing contrasts between breathtaking vistas and intricate close-ups. The contrasts continue with great use of both stillness and motion. In some cases, very fast exposures capture images that you could never see in real time with the human eye. In all these scenes, you will see incredible detail that will impress you with nature's richness.

Mr. Lanting's view is that only by knowing the jungle, can people want to save it. The whole book is designed to serve a conservationist's purpose.

You and I could spend a lifetime in the jungle and probably not see a quarter of the stunning images that are here. These photographs are the result of 20 years worth of work in trying conditions all around the world.

The photographs are grouped into four sections to emphasize elements of the jungle. "Water and Light" looks at the interplay of these elements with plant and animal life. "Color and Camouflage" looks at the contrasting needs to hide and desire to be seen for procreative purposes. "Anarchy and Order" surveys impressions of growth and movement. "Form and Evolution" shows many wonders of natural selection.

My favorites include the following:

Victoria's Crowned Pigeon

Raindrops on Leaf, Peru

Rainforest Sunrise, Borneo

Fern, Borneo

Waterfalls, Brazil

Swimming Snake, Madagascar

Palm Savannah, Brazil

Great Argus Pheasant Plumage

Nightjar, Belize

Lichen Katydid, Borneo

Scarlet Ibis Bathing

Urania Moth, Peru

Proboscis Monkey, Borneo

Mount Kinabalu, Borneo

Pitcher Plant Growth, Borneo

Chameleon, Madagascar

Tree Ferns, Australia

Butterflies on Sneaker, Peru

After you finish enjoying these marvelous color reveries of the natural world, I suggest you think about how you can help save the jungles. They offer practical benefits (like providing biological diversity, places where life-saving drugs can be found, and offsetting the carbon dioxide build-up) as well as aesthetic ones that we all should take seriously. If you can afford a donation, do that. If you can donate your time, do that. If you can help inform someone else to help, that's a wonderful thing to do as well.

Walk and act in beauty!