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Home > Categories > Books > Pictorial > Patterns of the Earth review
The surface of the earth is covered with amazing abstract patterns, many of which can only be seen from above: volcanos and islands for perfect circles, rivers and canyons appear as winding ribbons, fractured sea ice and the cracks on dried-out mud create geometric grids.
These patterns are etched on the earth's crust by water, wind and ice, or are the result of volcanic activity, tectonic forces or seasonal temperature changes.
In this book, Bernhard Edmaier's beautiful photographs of the unspoilt areas of the earth are organised by the shape and form of the patterns they depict. Very different forces can create surprisingly similar structures, making for unexpected links between the most disparate regions of the planet.
Craters, pools and streams; estuaries, icebergs and salt flats; seabeds, deserts and glaciers - all are represented in this panoply of patterns, encouraging us to look at our planet in a new way.
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Review by: vivid (Matt)
Dated: 22nd of April, 2007
A stunning book. Short on words, this really is a pictorial book at it's limit. The patterns in nature are stunning and bring awe to anyone who sees them, especially when Edmaier brings them into stark contrast with his camera. The man is stunning, the pictures he takes are so far beyond that, mere words wont cover it. This book has imspired me to start experimenting with Photoshop to find ways to copy these patterns and use them in my artwork.
I was really surprised how so many of the same patterns could crop up all over the place. Coral islands that form patterns similar to those found in flowing lava, volcanic gas bubbles in mud forming patterns similar to the mineral formations in shallow tropical oceans, layered erosion patterns in rock that look very similar to the grain pattern in wood, that sort of thing. Really mind-blowing.
This is probably the most thought-provoking book I have come across in the last year at least, and the best bit is that relies on the pictures to do the talking, so even those of us with'word-problems' can enjoy it as much as anyone else.
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