 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | The first book that fully describes every official UNESCO World Heritage site -- the world's most extraordinary places. In 1959 the government of Egypt decided to build the Aswan High Dam, which would flood a valley containing treasures of ancient civilizations. In response, UNESCO launched an international safeguarding campaign, which ultimately led to the list of World Heritage sites. In clear text that highlights all the fascinating facts, World Heritage Sites details all 878 properties, including the 20 American and 15 Canadian sites. Covering 141 countries, the World Heritage List has proved to be a valuable tool in the battle to preserve much of the world's cultural and natural heritage. Its strict criteria result in only the world's most spectacular and extraordinary sites making it onto the list, including: - The Acropolis in Athens
- The Statue of Liberty in New York
- The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario
- Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, the world's first international peace park, which straddles the US-Canada border
- The ancient Nabataean city of Petra in Jordan
- The remarkable Dazu Rock Carvings in China
- Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Missouri, the largest pre- Columbian settlement north of Mexico
- The unique ecosystem of the Serengeti in Tanzania
- And 870 more.
Featuring gorgeous photographs and a location map for every site, World Heritage Sites is uniquely comprehensive. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded in 1945 with the ambitious goal to build peace in the minds of men and women through education, social and natural science, culture and communication. |
Average Customer Rating:    a nice book I'm no expert on World Heritage sites but I think this book is pretty good. You get all the basic background to every site and it's a seriously weighty volume for it's compact size. It's not perfect as noted in the other reviews but I like it a lot. Good value for money too. Better to use the Web! This book was already out of date at publication as more sites were inscribed by UNESCO in July 2009 and the publishers failed to get them added. And it will of course become more so each year. So what does/can it offer to a prospective purchaser?
Well it is certainly a convenient "dumpy sized" single printed source about those sites. On the other hand, although it calls itself a "guide" no one is going to carry it around when most of us are unlikely to see more than a few of the sites on any one trip. Also it is almost totally lacking in "useful" guide-type information for help before seeing any sites - where exactly they are, how to get there, entrance fees, opening times/restrictions etc. Yet it isn't a "coffee table" book either - a surprising number of the sites don't have a photo provided and of those that do most are just stock photos from agencies and/or the most well known sites. The limited text is lifted almost verbatim from that which anyone can view on the UNESCO Web site - complete with any errors, plus a number of additional ones seeded in - I particularly liked the "invention" of a bird called the "Socotra Osprey" (it is actually an Egyptian Vulture) because that is what the Russian guy selling the photo on the Web (it is still available) called it!
And that is its main problem - it has been created on a "production line" without any visible input from first-hand knowledge of the sites or even of their backgrounds. It lacks any "added value". If you just want that convenient single printed source of information then buy it. But you could get the same and better off the Web - and updated regularly too. Too superficial -- disappointing There are, as of late 2008, nearly 900 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This book contains 832 rather small pages, including multiple indexes, maps, and introductions. Which should tell you the biggest issue with the book -- there isn't nearly enough room to do justice to the subject.
For each site we get a heading (name, location, reason for designation, and a small map), and a brief-to-very-brief summary of the history of the area and why it deserves UNESCO protection. Most of the sites also get a picture ... very rarely two.
Most sites get a single page, a few get two pages, and quite a number get only half a page. The half-page write-ups usually lack even a single picture.
Now... one could argue that the 2-page sites ARE most worthy of the most attention; they are, after all, by and large the most important.
But one could also argue that these are the sites with which readers are ALREADY most familiar. Raise your hand if you have never seen a picture of (or visited) Stonehenge. Great Wall of China. Taj Mahal. Petra. The Grand Canyon. Uluru/Ayers Rock. Pyramids of Giza. The Acropolis.
Now raise your hand if you have EVER seen a picture of (or have even heard of or can name the country...) Royal Palaces of Abomey. Skocjan Caves. Dja Faunal Reserve. Lord Howe Island. Zamosc. Joya de Coren. The Rock Carvings of Tanum. As you've probably guessed, none of these latter group get a picture, or more than the briefest of write-ups.
This topic really deserves a far larger and more detailed book -- at minimum a large format 'coffee table' hard-back, or at best, a multi-volume set. Failing that, the UNESCO website contains a list of all their sites, with more pictures and at least as much description and links to other websites. |  |
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