Tuesday, January 24, 2012

NG: Great Migrations


The National Geographic: Great Migrations book is a companion piece to the seven part TV series by the same name. While I haven't been fortunate enough to see the video footage, I can attest that the book is lovely. Like every National Geographic book, it contains absolutely spectacular photography, is terribly informative, and is preposterously cheap. If you are looking for inspirational books, you need not look any further. 

Like its brethren, this book does not disappoint. Great Migrations focuses on mass animal exodus and the effects that it creates on the world and animals around them. Ranging from the classic plains of the Serengeti, to the depths of the ocean, to the tiny world of the Christmas Island Crabs.
   



The book has a section that follows the flight of the Monarch butterfly. This image successfully collages the time lapse of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly



Army Ants links bodies to create a nest for the night before moving on the next day



Migrating Salmon


For the first month or so, Flying Fox babies will cling to their mothers as their mothers fly about foraging for food.




Even the elusive Whale Shark is followed. 









Pros: Good quality prints and paper. Hardback, it can take a beating. It's informative enough to make you want to see and ask more, a good over view of some better known, and lesser known animals. 

Cons: My only complaint is that there are a few pages like this one below, that are a strange layering of images. I think they are to give the impression and feeling in collage format of the area or animal being discussed. However, it makes it hard to use the images as reference or photographic enjoyment. But there are only a very small number of these pages 

How to Buy: Amazon
order it from an individual seller, and you can usually get it for under $5. I would also recommend looking at second hand bookstores, or discount places. Nat Geo books are often sold for a very low price at places like Costco, just keep your eyes peeled.



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