Patagonia: Images of a Wild Land

Rating:
Summary: Astonishing photographs
Review: Patagonia is justifiably admirable for its vast beautiful emptinesses. These photographs capture the sense of wonderful wilderness that still pervades so much of this unique, spectacular part of the world. Not to be tamed or truly settled by humanity, Patagonia is awe-inspiring. Seeing it through the eyes of this book is the next best thing to being there. After the experience, a reader will want to be there. Being there is not just the stuff of romance and legend; it is the stuff of confrontation with onesself and one's place on this planet. In some ways it is like visiting a place somewhat like our own American West if it were mirrored on another, parallel, accessible planet. This might have been the American West if fate had taken a different course. The book suggests the intensity of seeing these possibilities first-hand. It's a trip.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic! Terrific photos of the edge of the world.
Review: These are the best pictures I have seen of the subject, and I perused all the other books on the topic. The hardbound Mountaineering in Patagonia is the nicest GUIDEbook for climbers, but Neilon's pictures are timeless, artistic, and inspiring. His admixture of gritty black-and-white pieces with soaring, beautiful color plates (shot with a large-format camera in many cases, hence incredibly sharp and grainless reproductions) are enough to have me saving for a trip to Patagonia already.