Satellite Atlas of the World

At the right distance the arresting presence of mountain ranges and the sheer artistry of graceful coastlines and meandering rivers emerge from the landscape. Terrains both strange and familiar become unfathomable abstractions from above. As the Earth's surface changes, and our ability to capture the impact of physical geography and human demography through satellite imaging improves, snapshots from outside the atmosphere are frequently turned to as valuable tools for understanding. More than a collection of aerial photographs or an example of a high-tech art form, the Satellite Atlas of the World is a detailed rendering of scientific data. Within this book, the latest satellite technology has been used to produce images of unparalleled clarity and color, providing beautiful photographs of countries, seas, mountains and lakes from an entirely new perspective.

Covering six continents, the atlas begins with long shots of each region, moving in to focus on specific countries as well as familiar landmarks such as the Pyramids at Giza along with magnificent views of world's cities. Continent by continent, the magnification is progressively refined in a series of stunning pictures as the camera moves closer to the Earth. A brief introduction discusses the imaging techniques and mapping scales used, and captions on each page supply the reader with nuggets of historical and statistical information about each of the areas captured digitally.

More than a reference book or an album of artwork, the Satellite Atlas of the World is a unique representation of Earth in transition. Enthusiasts of photography and geography alike will marvel at the highest, widest, most densely populated and unusual terrains in images that offer an unforgettable portrait of our planet in the 21st century.

Described as the World's Greatest Living Explorer by the Guinness Book of Records in 1984, Sir Ranulph Fiennes is also the author of numerous works of nonfiction. His expeditions around the world include Transglobe (1979-82), during which he and Charles Burton became the first people ever to reach both poles by surface travel, the North Polar Unsupported Expedition (1990-91), the Ubar Expedition which discovered Ptolemy's long-lost Atlantis of the Sands, the frankincense center of the world, and the Pentland South Pole Expedition (1992-93) which achieved the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic continent and the longest unsupported polar journey in history. In 1997 the Royal Institute of Navigation awarded Sir Ranulph Honorary Membership and in 2000 the British Chapter of the Explorer's Club honored him with the Polar Exploration Millennium Award.