Masterpieces of Creation

Fülszöveg

MASTER PIECES OF CREATION T, he wonders of our earth are mysterious and also breathtakingly beautiful. Glaciers and rivers, deserts and lakes, gorges and waterfalls, caves and volcanoes, rapids and rocks - all these are masterpieces which nature has created with millions of years of wind and water, ice and fire, and mighty earthquakes and eruptions. Nature, the great artificer, has created along practical lines but has also remained strikingly faithful to the principle of beauty and harmony. From tiny snowcrystals to rainbows, from the northern lights to a drop of dew, from a seed to a coral reef - the wealth of natural wonders great and small is absolutely overwhelming. The construction of the most advanced computer pales in comparison with a single living cell and the eons of evolution that have gone into it. No human artist, no matter how gifted, can paint an orchid blossom which truly matches the real thing for exotic and beguiling beauty. The greatest architect or engineer... Tovább

Fülszöveg

MASTER PIECES OF CREATION T, he wonders of our earth are mysterious and also breathtakingly beautiful. Glaciers and rivers, deserts and lakes, gorges and waterfalls, caves and volcanoes, rapids and rocks - all these are masterpieces which nature has created with millions of years of wind and water, ice and fire, and mighty earthquakes and eruptions. Nature, the great artificer, has created along practical lines but has also remained strikingly faithful to the principle of beauty and harmony. From tiny snowcrystals to rainbows, from the northern lights to a drop of dew, from a seed to a coral reef - the wealth of natural wonders great and small is absolutely overwhelming. The construction of the most advanced computer pales in comparison with a single living cell and the eons of evolution that have gone into it. No human artist, no matter how gifted, can paint an orchid blossom which truly matches the real thing for exotic and beguiling beauty. The greatest architect or engineer looks enviously upon a vast, undulating field of grain - and knows that he or she has been outdone. It is astonishing to observe how nature carries out population control, encourages different types of animals to live together, and generally provides for a unity amidst the most spectacular diversity.
Poets, painters, and musicians have always been intensely involved with the masterpieces of creation. In this book the photographer's eye has captured these natural wonders, many of them forthe first time. We should like to think of this book as a kind of ecological hymn, and as an attempt through visual praise to help in the fight for the protection of our planet. This book presents the fruits of many years of work by the most highly acclaimed nature photographers of our time. For them, there is no better way to sing nature's praises than to photograph its glories. The fascinating selection of photographs, full of technical perfection and artistic sensitivity, gives an impressive demonstration of what people can do with a camera. More than one hundred thousand pictures were reviewed before the final selection was made. We hope that the reader shares our own awe at the magic and mystery which the pictures contain, and the almost biblically symbolic power which they convey. It is a sorry commentary on human attitudes that so many of us seem to take the masterpieces of nature for granted. It sometimes seems that human beings - with the exception of poets, children, and fools - have lost the precious gift of astonishment. That would be a very lamentable loss indeed. For our ability to let ourselves be astonished might be the key to all future progress; and it might even be the only thing that can save us from extinction. Given the present state of the world, the gift of astonishment might turn out be our most noble and redeeming character trait. Vissza