Interesting gift, needs more pictures

books:


	• America from the Air: A Guide to the Landscape Along Your Route Daniel Mathews, James S. Jackson Houghton Mifflin, 2007 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

window seat, please!

I'm so surprised by the poor reviews. First, this book is definitely not meant for the coffee table. It is a travel guide of the very finest sort. It is designed to be used in-the-field (or, rather, above it) to orient air travelers to the views outside their window and it does so with aplomb. But it does so much more than that. The authors skilfully synthesize a history of earth's natural features with human history and demographic data. In addition to locating rivers and valleys and mountains and seas, it points out the contrast in urbanization and crop colors on the US/Mexico border, identifies Fermilab, windfarms, and the Atlantic City boardwalk. It also interprets the impact of forest fires and forest pests, and describes things like center pivot irrigation. It is well researched, well referenced, and well written and does an excellent job illustrating the remarkable relationship between humans and geography. I can't wait for my next flight.

for more information click here

Great for Pilots and Dads alike!

Got this for my father-in-law and grandfather for Christmas - both of whom are former pilots. They especially enjoyed reading about things they had flown over but never known about. The entire family enjoyed the great photography, descriptions, and the CD-ROM in the back cover. We are all now taking turns looking at the CD-ROM - it's a great little perk!

for more information click here

Interesting gift, needs more pictures

I bought this book as a gift after a review in Wired. It has major routes, and large area pictures of main land features and discussion of the routes. I wish it had more pictures, more analysis, and and more blowups of the land features. Perhaps looking at the images by computer on the CD (which comes with the book, and which is a copy of the book) would allow zooming in on features in more detail (which I haven't tried). I was a little disappointed in the book expecting even more discussion and analysis of 'what one sees from air'. Most of what was pointed out I already knew. However, my spouse has taken the CD on several trips and hasn't complained.

The pictures are still great.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2

An illustrated guide, in both book and CD-ROM, of landscapes seen from commercial airplane windows across the United States.

This is a guide to what an airline passenger sees from his seat while flying over the United States. Through its ingenious construction and a map of preferred flight paths, it's easy to find those pages that correspond to whatever flight a passenger happens to be on, and then to identify features that can be seen from the air. The book marries geology, natural history, and human history for a glorious portrait of the continent, from the Atlantic City Boardwalk to Mount St. Helens.

Each two-page spread features an aerial photo with captions identifying features passengers will see and an essay interpreting the features. Each chapter is a Flight Corridor, with pages sequenced to follow a trip from takeoff to landing. Because many flight paths overlap, the fifteen corridors cover the forty most heavily traveled flight segments in the continental United States, plus many others. In many regions of the country, readers will have a new page to read about every twenty minutes. The entire book is also on the included CD-ROM, which can easily be used on a laptop in the air.

for more information click here