Clyde H. Smith

This book consists of attractive color photographs of that barren, snow-filled mountainous US state known as Alaska. Most of the photographs are of natural vistas, mountains, flora, and wildlife; a few show people, buildings, and watercraft. The photos are presented one per page, and commonly take up 1/3 to 1/2 a page; a few (including a loping grizzly bear in Denali National Park, and a stunning view of Wonder Lake and the mountains behind it) are take up a double page spread. The photographs are quite attractive on the whole.

The photographer, Clyde Smith, has published multiple books of photographs from regions throughout the USA. He reportedly moved to Alaska for the sake of this book, and traveled thousands of miles (by plane, boat, canoe, van and kayak) to gain photos.

An informative 4-page introduction about Alaska prefaces the book. Among a few interesting facts that I gleaned from it are the following: (1) it takes a jet airliner nearly 2 hrs to travel from Juneau (the state capital) to Anchorage (the largest city); (2) Alaska 47,000 miles of sea coast, more seashore than the rest of theUS and all its territories combined; (3) at low tide, Alaska is 3x the size of Texas (partly reflecting the fact that the variance of low and high tide is nearly 40 feet in some areas); (4) Alaska has more than 3 million lakes one acre or larger; and of course (5) Mt. McKinley (at >23 thousand feet) is the highest mountain in North America.… (mehr)