Review by Kirkus Book Review
A wide-ranging pictorial panorama of phenomenal sights from our world and beyond. Often sacrificing size for sheer quantity, fresh sheaves of bright color photos--digital images aglow with saturated colors--compete for attention with each page turn; the potential to elicit widened pupils in viewers seems the only criterion for inclusion. Grouped into nine broadly topical sections, the subjects range from spectacular geological formations and dramatic weather phenomena to wildlife (including blue whales, sharks, and exotic seahorses), skyscrapers and other manufactured wonders of both the ancient and modern worlds, and rare sights, from an elephant with a prosthetic leg to a portrait of twin astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly. One chapter is devoted to mysteries, from unicorns and UFOs to Amelia Earhart's fate. Nor is the sky the limit, as in another section, exoplanets and colliding galaxies swim into view. Quick spurts of well-caffeinated commentary, superimposed on the pictures or wedged in between, crank up the wow factor while adding the odd fact or contextual note. Though sustained exposure carries a risk of reader fatigue, there is likely something here to pique almost any sort of interest, even on a quick flip through. Unusually broad and tailor-made for casual browsing. (index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
