National Geographic The National Parks: An Illustrated History

I really like this book. Here's a tip: at the beginning of the sections, or next to a picture, they will put a little blurb from a previous Nat Geo magazine that describes the picture. At the bottom of the text, there is usually a date of when that blurb was originally published in Nat Geo. Without looking at the date itself, put your finger over top of the date, and THEN read the blurb. It's kinda interesting to read the paragraph, take a guess at when you THINK that information was originally published, and THEN look at the date. Most of my guesses have been WAY off; and a lot of the stuff that was written 100 years ago still holds true, as if it was just written today. I have seen a bunch of comments on here that the content is disorganized. Yeah, it kinda is. But who cares? It's not a classroom textbook or a biography or something. It's a bunch of pictures and a round-about way of describing the history of the park service. Read wikipedia if you want something more structured. I like this book !

I had just returned from a 30 day trip to various National Parks and forests, so I was hungry for more parks! I do not spend a lot of money on the touristy things like t-shirts, but I wanted something to commemorate this trip, so I purchased this item. As my headline states: ~~~~~ I love this book ~~~~~~~~ I see why people mention some of the random feeling of the text and photo's- however this does not take away from the excellent information, history and photography. The quality of the book materials is excellent and there is a hidden surprise or two with in these pages that is beyond information. Buy yourself this book.

This is a beautiful book, and purchasing it through Amazon is literally half the price of purchasing it from National Geographic directly. I purchased it for my father-in-law for Christmas, and he loved it- as we all did. Everyone in the house took a turn looking at it on Christmas Morning. The photos are lovely and vibrant with some foldouts, and it gives a good deal of info on each park (helpful if you want to find a new one to go to or reminisce about a previous visit). The only negative was the box came completely mangled and had been taped up, and the cover overwrap was bent and folded a bit. I am sure this was more of a post office issue and not Amazon's fault, and it didn't affect the actual cover or any of the pages, so it wasn't a big deal. Highly recommend.

My wife and I have started planning trips to see the national parks. I wanted something to inspire and help learn about the parks. Unfortunately, this is not the book for that. The pictures are beautiful but the structure of the book is terrible and makes it difficult to use for anything other than just picture browsing. It's supposed to be an illustrated history of the national parks and it's chapters are laid out chronologically. But it jumps all over the place. For instance, if you look in the index for Sequoia National Park, it gives you a couple of page references in the index. p. 4-5, is a two-page reference is just one huge two page picture, page 214-215 is another two-page picture with a tiny bit of text. p23 is a picture of a window sticker along with other stickers. p27 is a timeline index of all the parks. There's a little one sentence blurb about it's origin date. p53 it's mentioned in passing. p63 there's a two paragraph blurb with a couple of pictures. That's it. Turn the page on any one of those listings (or even read a sentence later) and it's something that's completely unrelated. It would be more practical if one particular park had it's own section within it's chronological era. For example, give me everything about Sequoia National Park in the section for when it was established. If you want to just look at pretty pictures that are unrelated to each other, it's great. If you want to actually learn something about a particular park, it's useless.

Less than 9$ for a perfect book! It has a fold out page (3 pages) of a giant sequoia tree that shows the massive size of these gorgeous giants. I would purchase it again.

Beautiful book, lovely to read and nice on the coffee table for guests to look at

Great coffee table book and awesome way to find destinations for vacations!

Outstanding 100th NPS Anniversary book with outstanding pictures of our nation's National Parks'a real treasure for all Americans and anyone form around the world who visits our National Parks. God's grace in pictures too!

Very beautiful book. Nice full color.

This is a stunning book. Beautifully written tribute to our National Parks accompanied by stunning photographs that inspire and excite. This would also be an excellent gift for any National Park lover.

I really like this book. Here's a tip: at the beginning of the sections, or next to a picture, they will put a little blurb from a previous Nat Geo magazine that describes the picture. At the bottom of the text, there is usually a date of when that blurb was originally published in Nat Geo. Without looking at the date itself, put your finger over top of the date, and THEN read the blurb. It's kinda interesting to read the paragraph, take a guess at when you THINK that information was originally published, and THEN look at the date. Most of my guesses have been WAY off; and a lot of the stuff that was written 100 years ago still holds true, as if it was just written today. I have seen a bunch of comments on here that the content is disorganized. Yeah, it kinda is. But who cares? It's not a classroom textbook or a biography or something. It's a bunch of pictures and a round-about way of describing the history of the park service. Read wikipedia if you want something more structured. I like this book !

I had just returned from a 30 day trip to various National Parks and forests, so I was hungry for more parks! I do not spend a lot of money on the touristy things like t-shirts, but I wanted something to commemorate this trip, so I purchased this item. As my headline states: ~~~~~ I love this book ~~~~~~~~ I see why people mention some of the random feeling of the text and photo's- however this does not take away from the excellent information, history and photography. The quality of the book materials is excellent and there is a hidden surprise or two with in these pages that is beyond information. Buy yourself this book.

This is a beautiful book, and purchasing it through Amazon is literally half the price of purchasing it from National Geographic directly. I purchased it for my father-in-law for Christmas, and he loved it- as we all did. Everyone in the house took a turn looking at it on Christmas Morning. The photos are lovely and vibrant with some foldouts, and it gives a good deal of info on each park (helpful if you want to find a new one to go to or reminisce about a previous visit). The only negative was the box came completely mangled and had been taped up, and the cover overwrap was bent and folded a bit. I am sure this was more of a post office issue and not Amazon's fault, and it didn't affect the actual cover or any of the pages, so it wasn't a big deal. Highly recommend.

My wife and I have started planning trips to see the national parks. I wanted something to inspire and help learn about the parks. Unfortunately, this is not the book for that. The pictures are beautiful but the structure of the book is terrible and makes it difficult to use for anything other than just picture browsing. It's supposed to be an illustrated history of the national parks and it's chapters are laid out chronologically. But it jumps all over the place. For instance, if you look in the index for Sequoia National Park, it gives you a couple of page references in the index. p. 4-5, is a two-page reference is just one huge two page picture, page 214-215 is another two-page picture with a tiny bit of text. p23 is a picture of a window sticker along with other stickers. p27 is a timeline index of all the parks. There's a little one sentence blurb about it's origin date. p53 it's mentioned in passing. p63 there's a two paragraph blurb with a couple of pictures. That's it. Turn the page on any one of those listings (or even read a sentence later) and it's something that's completely unrelated. It would be more practical if one particular park had it's own section within it's chronological era. For example, give me everything about Sequoia National Park in the section for when it was established. If you want to just look at pretty pictures that are unrelated to each other, it's great. If you want to actually learn something about a particular park, it's useless.

Less than 9$ for a perfect book! It has a fold out page (3 pages) of a giant sequoia tree that shows the massive size of these gorgeous giants. I would purchase it again.

Beautiful book, lovely to read and nice on the coffee table for guests to look at

Great coffee table book and awesome way to find destinations for vacations!

Outstanding 100th NPS Anniversary book with outstanding pictures of our nation's National Parks'a real treasure for all Americans and anyone form around the world who visits our National Parks. God's grace in pictures too!

Very beautiful book. Nice full color.

This is a stunning book. Beautifully written tribute to our National Parks accompanied by stunning photographs that inspire and excite. This would also be an excellent gift for any National Park lover.

This is a great book. I bought one for myself back in the summer at REI for 53.00. Got a great deal on this order at Amazon at only 34.00. Bought it for a National Park enthusiast I know for Christmas gift.

Outstanding photography and a must for everyone's collection. Great places to visit during the pandemic.

Amazing images and kind note left by sender! Very cool addition to living room table for guests

Wow just opened this package and was less than pleased to find the book jacket is bad shape. It had rips, part of is was missing color like tape was ripped off and it was sticky. The book is beautiful but if it’s judged by its cover not pleased

I sent this to my dad as he loves to read and enjoy photography. He has not visited all of the National Parks but longs to. He has enjoyed this book very much.

Insightful information about the national parks, accompanied by beautiful pics.

Amazing visuals from our national parks. Great coffee table book.

This is the best giant book I've ever bought. Magnificent pictures. I am so glad amazon had it. I almost bought it at the science museum for more than double this price. LOVE IT!

Amazing book, my dad just loved it. It's a book you can always have on your table and enjoy looking at.

It was a gift and they loved it! Great photos and printing!

Beautiful eye candy! Nice breather when I need to "travel" for a couple minutes. Great when i have time to read for longer.

beautiful!

The book was a 2015 edition. It was ripped and the binder was all broken. Looks like it went through the ny city library for the last 5 years. Enough said.

The pictures are stunning and the pages are thick and durable. I was surprised and delighted to see multiple fold outs.

A beautiful pictorial of the National Parks-very well done, typically National Geo style.

A "must have" for those who love the outdoors! It was a Christmas gift for my husband and he loves it!

Beautiful book.

Got this for someone as a gift but I looked through it and the pictures are great!

As you would expect from National Geographic, there are some spectacular photos in the beautiful book.

great pictures.

Classic book

Perfect gift.

great

Purchased as a retirement gift for one of my employees. He loved it and quickly bought a copy for his son.

The cover was completely scratched. This is a coffee table item that looks beaten up when the book is supposed to be brand new.

book was in good shape and great price

I bought this for my bother - well for two of them actually. The book is quite large (heavy too) but is amazing. Beautiful photos of the parks and great history of them.

Amazing book, lots of useful information

Really nice book, but the back cover was ripped. It’s a shame because it is a gift for my grandfather.

Book that beautifully chronicles the rich history and demonstrates the importance of our most beautiful national treasures. Every household should have a copy.

Love this "coffee table" book. Great photos and descriptions along with a fantastic National Parks timeline. I learned a lot of US and NP history from this book, and enjoyed reading it.

Great combination of Photo's and descriptions along with historical story line. They should make a picture book, with only 8x10 photo's on each page. It's a fine book for my collection.

It was a gift. I was able to casually view it. The pictures were incredible. The receiver love it.

Given as gift

This was a gift for someone who has been to many national parks. The gift was a hit.

AWESOME book!!!

Amazing "coffee table" book.

my husband loved this!

Beautiful pictures of the National Parks. Not as good as being there, but beautiful none the less

Beautiful book with history and today's information

Photos and writing were superb

This is an amazing book! I would recommend it to anyone interested.

INFORMATIVE

Beautiful photos and lots of information! National Geographic dies it again!

beautiful and very informative

Great book with fantastic photo's - it's time to get out to some of these national treasures.

Nice thorough book on national parks.

My wife will love this for Christmas.

very fine book

Great book, perfect condition and a very good price, cheaper than other suppliers.

Great

Not only is this book full of beautiful pictures, it has wonderful information about our national parks. A wonderful book to share with family.

Beautiful pictures! Makes a nice coffee table book.

Great book

Beautiful gift my son in law loved it

good read

as expected

This is a really nice book with lots of information and some beautiful photos; I wish it would open flat to show the 2-page photos seamlessly. I love our national parks and hope to visit many of them!!!

Photos are from old back issues of Nat. Geo. and reproduced brochures. VERY DISAPPOINTING!!! Now I see why its on blowout sale everywhere! It was just published 2 months ago and is already in the 50% off bin. THE NPS and its 100th ANNIVERSARY DESERVE BETTER!!

Purchased used, but had no paper cover. I purchased it to lay on the coffee table, but it just doesn’t look good with a black, plain cover. Disappointed.

I pre-ordered this book as a gift for my high schooler's host family in France, and received it on the release day. The book was a huge hit. It represents our country beautifully. It is not just a gorgeous coffee table photo book, but also a history book of our national parks.

Very pleased with service and product.

Perfect for my interests

Book was given as gift so I was a little disappointed that there were some scratches on the dust jacket. Otherwise in good condition.

very nice book to have

Excellent pictures of one of most valuable resources.

Great photos

I bought it as a Christmas gift and she loved it

product as described, great price

Love this book!

My parents loved this book!

This was purchased as a gift for a friend who loves the National Parks and enjoys traveling. It will be given as a Christmas present.

This was a gift...the receiver loves it !

Have never been disappointed in anything I have gotten from National Geographic!

This book provides a chronological history of the origin and development of the national parks in general. It is very beautifully illustrated and nicely written. It is a bit disappointing in that there is no alphabetical listing of the parks, except in the index (which includes all other kinds of entries besides park names themselves).In addition. there is precious little information on some parks, and the location of some parks in the book is a little misleading. For example, two-page photo essay titled "Bold Growth," pages 124-125, contains a lovely two-page panoramic view of a location in Badlands National Park. However, there is virtually no information on the park itself. And there is no way (at least I could not find it) to tell from this book when the park was formed. Actually, it was out of order in the book (if that matters), for it was in the section on 1917-1933 but the park was not actually created until 1939. For those who love beautiful pictures and nice essays about the various issues and concerns involved in creating the parks, this is a great book. But if you are looking for some kind of tour guide, or any detaIled information on specific parks, this is not the book.

The book itself is beautiful but it arrived damaged. Pages are sticking together and the cover is torn and worn. Will be returning.

Great book.

Bought this as a gift for my mom and she loves it.

Just what I expected.

Too many photos with too little actual information on the history of the National Parks. On the other hand it did say "An Illustrated History" so one cannot fault it for putting out a false claim. It makes a nice coffee table book that few will read yet many will take a glance at. Overall though, it is not for me and so it was returned for a full refund.

If you know who owns National Geo now, you may not want to purchase from them any longer

SO GLAD I PURCHASED THIS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOK. ALWAYS THE BEST !!!

A beautiful, must have book for anyone who loves and admires our National Parks. They are true treasures.

exactly what i needed

Disappointed with the condition of this book. The cover is crumpled and looks rather dirty and tatty. In fact used would be how I would describe it. Bought as a present as new. Not happy.

Stunning

Excellent book

Beautiful book to have once you visited national Parks !