Author: Benjamin Grant
Started: July 2, 2018
Finished: July 3, 2018
Pages: 288
Genre: Photography
First Sentence: It is Christmas Eve, 1968.
Summary: [From BN] Inspired by the “Overview Effect”—a sensation that astronauts experience when given the opportunity to look down and view the Earth as a whole—the breathtaking, high definition satellite photographs in Overview offer a new way to look at the landscape that we have shaped. More than 200 images of industry, agriculture, architecture, and nature highlight incredible patterns while also revealing a deeper story about human impact. This extraordinary photographic journey around our planet captures the sense of wonder gained from a new, aerial vantage point and creates a perspective of Earth as it has never been seen before.
Thoughts: This book has been popping up in the home style blogs I follow for months. Everyone seems to love the pictures as wall art or to use the volume as coffee table decoration. I had to see what all the fuss is about.
Now that I've read the book, I can highly recommend it for the pictures - but I would more recommend it for the cautionary tale. So many of the pictures highlight the profound impact humans have on this planet. Most of that impact is for ill. In many ways, the pictures show how we deface and exploit the world around us. The final chapter of the book features overviews from "where we aren't." You will be moved to reduce your footprint and be gentler to Mother Earth.
Rating: 7/10 [Very Good]
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