No. 591, June 16, 2008

The review

A Great Book

read by Jonas Himmelstrand

Planet Earth

---

Only a few centuries ago the form and boundaries of our planet were unknown. Today we know much more, we have even seen our planet from outer space.

In the book Planet Earth – As You’ve Never Seen It Before both the latest knowledge and pictures of life on earth – our home in the universe – are presented. It is a grand piece of work with beautiful photography, some from satellite, and a highly interesting text.

The book gives an overview of life on earth. Plants and animal life at the poles, in the great forests, on the savanna, in the deserts, on the high mountains, in the caves, in shallow waters and in the deep sea. Everything is well-illustrated and the conditions for life in different climate zones is explained in detail.

It is indeed very fascinating how some species have adapted themselves to live at the extremes at the poles, in the caves and thousands of metres down in the sea. There seems to be a hidden message to us human beings here. We need to adapt to the conditions of nature if our species is to survive. We are very many people and we only have one planet.

Planet Earth awakens feelings of strong respect and love to our planet and to life itself which works so hard to keep alive, no matter the life form. In this way the book brings out existential questions about what we human beings are doing here on planet earth.

After finishing reading the book the images that remain are the beauty and miracle of life. This book is a journey. It makes an excellent summer reading, the only problem being its weight of nearly two kilos. Warmly recommended!

---

Planet Earth, by Alastair Fothergill.
BBC Books 2006. ISBN 0563522127. 312 pages.

---

© 2008 Strategies to Learn & Grow Newsletter • Printable version