Masterpieces of the Earth

From searingly hot deserts to lands of fire and ice, this book is a vivid journey through the natural wonders of the seven continents. With page after page of spectacular photographs, this book pays homage to the powerful forces that shape our planet--fire, ice, water, and wind--revealing a world with extraordinary landscapes and breathtaking geological features. These images, of geysers spewing scalding water, glaciers chiseling out the mountainsides, and red-hot molten lava exploding on contact with the ocean, demonstrate how Earth's current appearance resulted from the incessant, powerful, and widespread activity of nature and climate change over the various geological eras. The portrait that emerges from this exceptional journey through vast patchwork quilts of salt deposits, colorful canyons, ripple-like sand patterns, and vibrant meltwater pools and channels, captures a living, endlessly changing, planet.

Michael Bright is the author of more than 125 books on nature, wildlife, and travel, including Wild Caribbean, The Shark That Walks on Land, When We Became Humans, and the international bestseller Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown. As a producer with the BBC's world-renowned Natural History Unit, he produced award-winning documentary films and radio programs, and was a recipient of the prestigious Prix Italia. Nature Picture Library is one of the world's finest sources of still and moving nature images, representing more than 500 leading photographers with worldwide coverage. All of the images in this book are from the Nature Picture Library collection. For further information visit naturepl.com.