Photographs of the Extraordinary (National Geographic Collectors Series)

My grandmother ordered this book for my uncle and his wife as a Christmas gift for their coffee table. She was not very impressed with the photographs and decided not to gift it at all. The title says 'RARELY SEEN' which we perceived as never before seen. Flipping through the book, there were definitely many pictures that we've seen elsewhere. There are some great shots in the book, however there are also quite a few lackluster ones as well.

Full-page, spectacular photos of (as titled) rarely seen people, places and things. Very much a coffee table book as the emphasis is on visual wonder. (Still, each picture is accompanied by a brief explanation.) At 400 pages, and printed on glossy paper, it’s a high-quality book at a bargain price.

I was excited to get this book then disappointed to find many of the photos were spanned over two pages, hiding some of the subject and ruining the photo. Better to show a smaller version on one page.

A present for my husband, he has slowly worked his way through the book and enjoyed it so much he says he will just start again. As a photographer, he admires the many many wonderful photos in the book.

Susan Tyler Hitchcock's RARELY SEEN, PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE EXTRAORDINARY is an enchanting, exquisite smorgasbord of incredible images of wonders large and small from around the world. A 2015 National Geographic release, it's a visual delight that can be savored for hours.

A door-stopper of a book at 400 pages, RARELY SEEN divides its images into sections on Phenomena, Life, Places, Objects and Moments. Among the photographic gems are snaps of Antarctic ice towers, a huge swirling mass of starlings, a Bowerbird nest, the Cave of Crystals, a 2,300-year old bog man, an ice-encrusted Michigan lighthouse, a baby crocodile hatching, a page from the 15th Century Voynich manuscript, Fingal's Cave basalt columns, ancient Niger rock carvings, an Imperial Faberge egg, a puddle-jumping kangaroo, Whitehaven Beach, the Grand Canyon Skywalk, nomadic buffalo herders, the Loy Krathong festival of lights, 138 skydivers in flight, Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic Spring, the Vatican's Sala Regia hall, a Navajo dancer, lightning over Mt. Rushmore and on and on. The images were snapped by Stephen Alvarez and other NG photographers along with pix from Corbis, Getty Images, Minden Pictures, Reuters and other agencies.

In short, RARELY SEEN is a gorgeous, gorgeous book that will enchant readers of all ages. Highly recommended.

RIP OFF... DON'T BUY....Only photos, doesn't tell where the places are or any information about them... when I returned it.. they charged 13.00 to restock this book... so out of 27.00 I received 8.00 back... rip off don't buy.. I'd give it a big fat 00000 if I could....

The photographs are beautiful. It's exactly what you expect from National Geographic. The forays into political topics detract from the enjoyment of the book.

Just show me the photo, tell me where and what. That would be quite enough. Don't try to tell me what to think about it.

Beautiful and interesting book. I know there are things in here I will never see in person but this book is like entertainment page-by-page, not to mention educational. This would be a great gift for someone who has every thing.

I actually bought this copy for my friends, however, I had the opportunity to see the photographs and am awestruck at the beauty of our world. If you want a coffee table book that displays gorgeous photographs from every biome in every end of the world, this is the book for you! Plus, it's reasonably priced at below 30 dollars! Buy it, love it, impress your friends with it.

This book contained truly amazing photos - beautifully printed - with way more photos than I expected. I bought the book as a gift, but now I am going to buy one for myself so I can leisurely look through all of the photos.

Beautiful hardcover book. It was gift for my 15-year old daughter and she loves it. Lots of beautiful images of unique people, places and things, many of which are definitely "rarely seen." Would buy again.