Bhutan
A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom
2003
First Published
4.67
Average Rating
118
Number of Pages
According to the Guinness World Records, at over five by seven feet (and 133 pounds), this staggeringly beautiful photographic book is the largest published book in the world—about one of the world's smallest countries. Bhutan is the last intact Himalayan kingdom. Roughly the size of Switzerland but with a population of about 700,000 people, Bhutan may be diminutive, yet it is home to one of the most astonishingly diverse natural and cultural ecologies on earth. It is often called "the last Shangri-la" and with good reason. The pristine environment and incomparably kindhearted people make this a truly extraordinary place. The book, Bhutan, is a visual odyssey across the kingdom. Teams from M.I.T. and Friendly Planet took over 40,000 photographs on four extensive expeditions across the country. They flew by helicopter, rode mountain ponies, trekked with packhorses and yaks, and journeyed by caravan on farflung roads and foot trails across the Bhutanese Himalaya. Local students, like Choki Lhamo (a 14-year-old girl from Trongsa who aspires to become a doctor) and Gyelsey Loday (the son of the head lama in the village of Phongmey), joined these ambitious trips and helped with the photography in order to share a corner of their world. The stunning imagery in the book loosely follows these journeys. Portraits of people are lifesized (or bigger). Panoramas convey some of the staggering sweep of the mountains and the awesome ancient architecture. Bhutan begins appropriately with something very special. Renowned artist and author, David Macaulay, created an atlas of the country expressly for this book. Masterfully drawn, the map is surrounded by sketches of some of Bhutan's most salient massive dzongs, Himalayan peaks, stupas and other impressions decorate the map, almost as if they were pages torn from the journal of a travelling artist. Bhutan is a technological tour de force, visually breathtaking, socially meaningful, and a powerful reminder that there are places and people whose beauty and grace is endlessly worth cherishing. This is the ultimate photographic book.
Avg Rating
4.67
Number of Ratings
6
5 STARS
67%
4 STARS
33%
3 STARS
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1 STARS
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goodreads
Authors
David Macaulay
Author · 33 books
David Macaulay, born in 1946, was eleven when his parents moved from England to Bloomfield, New Jersey. He found himself having to adjust from an idyllic English childhood to life in a fast paced American city. During this time he began to draw seriously, and after graduating from high school he enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). After spending his fifth year at RISD in Rome on the European Honors Program, he received a bachelor’s degree in architecture and vowed never to practice. After working as an interior designer, a junior high school teacher, and a teacher at RISD, Macaulay began to experiment with creating books. He published his first book, Cathedral, in 1973. Following in this tradition, Macaulay created other books—including City, Castle, Pyramid, Mill, Underground, Unbuilding, and Mosque—that have provided the explanations of the how and the why in a way that is both accessible and entertaining. From the pyramids of Egypt to the skyscrapers of New York City, the human race’s great architectural and engineering accomplishments have been demystified through Macaulay's elaborate show-and-tells. Five of these titles have been made into popular PBS television programs.
