Over seventy years after the great ocean liner sank, marine geologist Robert Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic 12,500 feet beneath the surface of the icy North Atlantic. Now Ballard presents the world with an opportunity to live the story of the famous ship through his amazing last great images, before Titanic?s remains are gone forever. This is a story told in rusted, twisted metal and debris, but it is also a human story told in a porcelain doll?s face, an empty shoe, and an abandoned derby hat.
Titanic: The Last Great Images maps the wreck of the ship from a variety of perspectives to give a completely new picture of the triumph and tragedy that was Titanic. This illustrated volume?and a National Geographic special?weave the strands of the ocean liner?s story together in renderings done by the ship?s original designers, charts of the debris field, and period illustrations. Robert Ballard provides the clearest, most accurate view of the ship we have ever seen. In crisply detailed underwater photography, disintegrating ruins and shattered pieces reveal pride of workmanship, a rigidly defined class system, and indelible images of terror and courage. This book shows what makes the Titanic worthy of the world?s undying fascination.
Customer Reviews:
BEST TITANIC BOOK EVER!!! October 3, 2008 3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is the ultimate Titanic book!!! The pictures are so clear and vibrant it is hard to believe that they are the same wreck site pictures that we all know and love from 1985!! Dr. Ballard is truly a genius! I personnally hope that this really isn't his last Titanic book! But if it is, at least he went out with the greatest book that we could ask for!
Titanic images October 1, 2008 3 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you are a Titanic junkie like myself, you'll find this latest book from Robert Ballard, finder of Titanic, to be essential. New and haunting images from the debris feild and decaying wreck never fail to stir the emotions. A definite must have.
Haunting Photos of the Ship of Ghosts August 27, 2008 7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Robert Ballard, the author of "Titanic: The Last Great Images", will ever be associated with the great, lost ship. It was Ballard who was the driving force behind the 1985 expedition that found the sunken vessel, and since then his voice has been steady in its opposition to the destructive exploitation of the wreck.
"Titanic: The Last Great Images" serves in part as an account of his 2004 return to the site to make further explorations with Remotely Operated Vehicles equipped with high resolution television cameras. Many of the photographs in the book -- "the last great images" -- stem from that mission. They are intensely powerful images, documenting in extraordinary detail the present condition of the wreck. Ballard is sharply, although not stridently, critical of damage done over the previous two decades by other expeditions, perhaps more the result of accidents rather than deliberate intent, but destructive nonetheless. The damage is worst in those areas most frequently visited by such expeditions, but Ballard is quick to point out that even natural processes, left to themselves, will eventually reduce the wreck to a pile of unrecognizable debris (hence, I suppose, the notion of these images being "the last"), perhaps in a century's time. But Ballard does not merely report woe; he notes that the extent of damage is not as great as some have claimed and that the reduced pace of visiting expeditions has meant less damage being inflicted. Ballard's great hope, firmly expressed in this book, is that legal action will be undertaken to protect the wreck from human activity, and that steps might eventually be made towards preserving it from extensive natural decay, so that someday it might serve as an underwater marine museum, visited only through the medium of robot vehicles. It is a great dream.
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