Yann Arthus-Bertrand

The photos in this are generally really nice - though there are some that are grainy or too low resolution for the high quality printing and large size. Generally, this is a cool coffee table book. I tried reading the essays etc, though, and they are fairly bland, generic, uninteresting, which has lowered my rating quite a lot from what it would be otherwise. The captions are downright boring. SO MUCH MORE could possibly be said, even given the small amount of space. Pretty much the only show more information given is the answer to "Where in the world *IS* that?" But nothing much beyond that. show less

Yann Arthus-Bertrand has made a specialism out of aerial photography, and this book was produced to accompany a travelling exhibition of his work that set out to show the relationship of humankind with the environment. The exhibition went into towns and cities worldwide, and was mounted on outdoor exhibition panels rather than being a curated exhibition in a dedicated display space, so as to maximise the number of people who saw it.

Much of Arthus-Bertrand's work in this book verges on the show more abstract; only on closer viewing can some small human figures, or some artefacts, be picked out to give scale and to emphasise the extent to which human influence has penetrated and impacted the natural environment. Sometimes the results are good; sometimes they are bad. He shows us places untouched by human hands as well as those shaped by economic activity, from the most basic to the most complex.

If you liked Godfrey Reggio's films 'Koyanisqqatsi' and 'Powaqqatsi', you'll like this book. show less

This is a big coffee table book with a nice picture of a little girl with a bulldog in her lap. The photographer is French as are the subjects and dogs in the pictures. They are all taken in his studio with a brown background and a large wooden box. Sometimes the dogs and people are on the box, next to the box, on the box, or in the box. The lighting and resolution are very nice. People's and dog's faces are always interesting to look at.

In addition to dogs you probably know, the book is show more filled with dogs that are rare and I don't remember hearing of. Many are regional dogs, which made me look up the relative size of France - Texas, the second-largest state in the U.S., has an area of around 695,000 square kilometers, while France spans about 551,000 square kilometers. It made me wonder about the size of regions that can develop their own dogs.

Along with the picture of the dog(s) and their owner or family, there is a small paragraph of text sometimes describing a bit of the history of the breed, and then a description. Rarely there was any more description specifically on the dog(s) in the picture other than the name of the owner and the dog(s).

The pictures are nice. If you are fond of pictures of dogs and need a book to put on your coffee table this book would fill the void to have sometime people can browse and enjoy the pictures.

My first reason for 3 stars is that the same brown setting got old for me, but I can understand how thinking of variations of the setting would have been a lot of work. My second reason is I would have hoped to have something more personal on the dogs to make it interesting to me. There was one bit early on that gave me that hope there would be more personal information, but at best there was only a handful more than history and description.

Here is the first bit I ran into that was a little interesting:

'Mr. Claude Adjadj’s two Laekenoises closely observe his slightest gesture or movement. The male, for example, noticed that his master turned a key in a lock to open doors, and tried to imitate him. He gripped the key in his teeth and shook his head to make it turn—but so vigorously that the key broke in the lock.

As for the female, Undine de |’Orchidée Noire, Mr. Adjadj regrets not having trusted her instinct when, upon leaving an exhibition in Belgium, he noticed that he had lost his wallet containing his identity papers. Feeling irritable, he stopped Undine from trying to crawl underneath a nearby vehicle, pushed her into his car and drove back to France. That night, the man who had been parked next to him rang him up to inform him that he had found his wallet under the car, and that his identity papers were safe in the Netherlands. If he had followed Undine’s indications, he would have saved himself the 540 mile trip he had to make to recover his papers.'

(did you also wonder why he didn't just have his wallet mailed to him instead of drive 540 miles back?)

There was another little bit on a Standard Bull Terrier:

'First Sitting Bull du Mackcastel’s behavior surprises Mr. Michel Gavvrit each evening he slips into the living room, collects the cushions from the armchairs and carefully takes them to the corner of the house where he sleeps, making o comfortable bed for himself. '

And then a little fact I didn't know on Fox Hounds:

'This English hunting dog descends from a number of different local breeds, who were themselves bred not for their build but for their ability to hunt foxes. The dogs do not officially qualify as belonging to the breed until it has been confirmed that they are descended from at leas! six generations of foxhounds who hove actively and exclusively hunted foxes. These are solid, durable dogs with strong constitutions. They have a powerful build, large skull, long neck, large back and a tail that must taper off. They hunt foxes in the open in an orderly, disciplined pack.'

I of course could be jaded as I have several other coffee table books, so others may appreciate this book more, but those are my thoughts. show less

This is a big coffee table book with a nice picture of a little girl with a bulldog in her lap. The photographer is French as are the subjects and dogs in the pictures. They are all taken in his studio with a brown background and a large wooden box. Sometimes the dogs and people are on the box, next to the box, on the box, or in the box. The lighting and resolution are very nice. People's and dog's faces are always interesting to look at.

In addition to dogs you probably know, the book is show more filled with dogs that are rare and I don't remember hearing of. Many are regional dogs, which made me look up the relative size of France - Texas, the second-largest state in the U.S., has an area of around 695,000 square kilometers, while France spans about 551,000 square kilometers. It made me wonder about the size of regions that can develop their own dogs.

Along with the picture of the dog(s) and their owner or family, there is a small paragraph of text sometimes describing a bit of the history of the breed, and then a description. Rarely there was any more description specifically on the dog(s) in the picture other than the name of the owner and the dog(s).

The pictures are nice. If you are fond of pictures of dogs and need a book to put on your coffee table this book would fill the void to have sometime people can browse and enjoy the pictures.

My first reason for 3 stars is that the same brown setting got old for me, but I can understand how thinking of variations of the setting would have been a lot of work. My second reason is I would have hoped to have something more personal on the dogs to make it interesting to me. There was one bit early on that gave me that hope there would be more personal information, but at best there was only a handful more than history and description.

Here is the first bit I ran into that was a little interesting:

'Mr. Claude Adjadj’s two Laekenoises closely observe his slightest gesture or movement. The male, for example, noticed that his master turned a key in a lock to open doors, and tried to imitate him. He gripped the key in his teeth and shook his head to make it turn—but so vigorously that the key broke in the lock.

As for the female, Undine de |’Orchidée Noire, Mr. Adjadj regrets not having trusted her instinct when, upon leaving an exhibition in Belgium, he noticed that he had lost his wallet containing his identity papers. Feeling irritable, he stopped Undine from trying to crawl underneath a nearby vehicle, pushed her into his car and drove back to France. That night, the man who had been parked next to him rang him up to inform him that he had found his wallet under the car, and that his identity papers were safe in the Netherlands. If he had followed Undine’s indications, he would have saved himself the 540 mile trip he had to make to recover his papers.'

(did you also wonder why he didn't just have his wallet mailed to him instead of drive 540 miles back?)

There was another little bit on a Standard Bull Terrier:

'First Sitting Bull du Mackcastel’s behavior surprises Mr. Michel Gavvrit each evening he slips into the living room, collects the cushions from the armchairs and carefully takes them to the corner of the house where he sleeps, making o comfortable bed for himself. '

And then a little fact I didn't know on Fox Hounds:

'This English hunting dog descends from a number of different local breeds, who were themselves bred not for their build but for their ability to hunt foxes. The dogs do not officially qualify as belonging to the breed until it has been confirmed that they are descended from at leas! six generations of foxhounds who hove actively and exclusively hunted foxes. These are solid, durable dogs with strong constitutions. They have a powerful build, large skull, long neck, large back and a tail that must taper off. They hunt foxes in the open in an orderly, disciplined pack.'

I of course could be jaded as I have several other coffee table books, so others may appreciate this book more, but those are my thoughts. show less