The savannahs of the Rift Valley, the rainy mountains of Rwanda, the impenetrable jungles of the Congo, isolated villages, the infinite Sahara Desert, the many-hued waters of the great rivers…. Over 500 photographs, taken from an aircraft over the course of a far-ranging photo-reportage project, add brilliant illustration to a book never compiled before: one dedicated to the radiant light and clear skies of the African continent. The volume’s album-style format enhances the panoramic quality of the images; concise, informative texts accompany and explain them, enhancing Africa through the gift of a magical new dimension.

Instructive, elegant and lavishly illustrated, this book features the most spectacular pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other space missions, together with those from terrestrial observatories. The photographs and the text, which are accessible, scientifically accurate and updated with the latest researches, capture the beauties of the Cosmos, analyzes how the Sun and the planets were born, and tracers their evolution. It also explores the Big Bang, the galaxies and other mysteries of the Universe including the birth and death of stars, asteroids and comets, supernovas, black holes, quasars, pulsars, white dwarves and much, much more.

A memorable birds’ eye tour of the splendors of the United States of America.
As a former naval aviator and air show pilot, Jim Wark is extremely adept at dramatic aerial manoeuvres. His experience in the air has served him well in his career as an aerial photographer, enabling him to capture remarkable shots few people could attain, and providing him with a unique perspective that translates perfectly to his photographs. In this handsome oversized volume, Wark takes to the air to give readers an aerial tour of the 50 states.Organized by region, America-A view from above whisks us over familiar sights that become extraordinary when viewed through the lens of Jim Wark, and rarely seen wonders that are all the more incredible for the aerial vantage point from which we experience them. The oversized format of this stunning book is ideally suited to showcasing the grandeur and variety of the American landscape. We soar over the majestic Grand Canyon, the craggy peaks of the Rocky Mountains, and the magnificent Great Lakes, marvelling at colors, patterns, and textures evoked in Wark’s images. The lush Hawaiian Islands tempt us from above, while the glaciers of Alaska loom large, even when viewed from this lofty viewpoint. The patchwork of farmland in the Midwest, the necklace of lights created by New York City’s bridges at night, and the wonders of national parks like Yellowstone all come to life when admired from above, in this spectacular volume.

The lens of Jim Wark, an aerial photographer committed to the North American continent, has for years skillfully spied out the mysteries and secrets of this great land, immortalizing the changing nature of the country, the infinite patterns of cultivated land, the interlacing of small and large roads, the silence of nature and the convulsive life of the cities. Now all these images are brought together in a single, unique volume. This is the America the world dreams of, the America of unlimited space and breathtakingly beautiful countryside – a land of unceasing human activity that drives its continual renewal.

The passing of the greatest Mediterranean civilizations and the hallmarks left by great men – poets, painters and navigators – profoundly marked the southernmost region of Iberia where the tip of Europe and the tip of Africa, known as the Pillars of Hercules, almost touch. A generous land by nature, Andalusia reveals her unique treasures in a trip that follows the traces of the Moors who entered via Gibraltar and those of the Christians who reconquered al-Andaluz: the white beaches on the blue of the Atlantic, the anachronistic caves in Guadix, the cathedrals-cum-mosques, the red fortress in Granada, the wilderness of the Coto Doñana and the futuristic Seville Expo. The history of Andalusia is relived in the region’s thousands of age-old traditions and celebrations that embody the “Andalusianness” so much talked of but offering so much to be discovered.

From the Iguazù Falls to Tierra del Fuego, from the boundless pampas to the rivers of Mesopotamia, Argentina is full of surprises. A young land, it has lost none of its taste for adventure and discovery. Buenos Aires is the most European capital in South America, symbolizing great expectations and profound change. Its people, the product of mass, disorganized immigration, found fresh enthusiasm, becoming masters of their own fate and fortune. Argentina is amazing peaks, crystal-clear lakes, forests of larch and monkey-puzzle trees, eternal glaciers: nature, proud and solitary, is still only partially tamed by man. Oceans, beaches, rivers, prairies and plains in abundance, inhabited by cattle, horses and sheep, as well as such animals as the nandù, penguin, elephant seal, condor, guanaco and deer. What remains of the ancient pre-colonial civilizations merges with the distant echoes of Art Nouveau or Deco, and the ruins of the Jesuit missions stand alongside baroque Spanish churches. Descendants of the gauchos still ride across immense plains, home to prosperous estancias that bear the curse of solitude; the legendary herdsmen and the melancholic, unsettling national dance, the tango, are the soul of this strong and generous country that continues to ask itself questions and to dream of a future of boundless promise.

Nothing fascinates the modern traveler so much as the challenging immensity of a boundless landscape on the edge of the world. You look at the sky, where white and grey clouds scuffle on their destinationless journeys, then you turn to the horizon where sky and land meet, and begin to walk. You see horses, sheep, rheas and unknown birds, and occasionally, though rarely, the roof of a battered house. Your goal seems evermore distant and unreachable, south toward the icy Tierra del Fuego, the last refuge of a lost peace. Leaving the noise, color, dancing and haunted cheerfulness of Buenos Aires behind, you head where man is just a vague shadow. It is in our smallness that we slowly rediscover the beauty and the gift of being part of this immensity, this land so distant and proud, so wild and primitive, this marvelous land of Argentina.