Books published by publisher Scott Friedman

We live on a turbulent planet, whose surfaces move, erupt, quake, and burn. Gravity pulls at the land, causing dangerous masses of mud or rock to slide—destroying homes and taking lives. Huge slabs of snow careen down mountains, burying everything in their path. And, the atmosphere churns restlessly, causing wild winds to blow and heavy rains to fall. Go as close as you’d ever want to Earth’s greatest disasters, vividly pictured. Look into the eye of the hurricane from high above, and at those funnels of fury known a tornadoes. Safely see lighting flash across dark skies—its electric streaks so beautiful and so lethal. From forest infernos to drought-ravaged lands, from fallen space debris to troubled waters rising into tsunamis, you’ll find how these tragedies happen, how we can prevent them, and how we pick up the pieces after they occur.

Our entire perception of the cosmos has shifted, thanks to NASA's startling, crisp images of objects never before seen up close. Using these incredible photos and diagrams as a spaceship, young armchair astronauts can blast off and explore the Sun, Moon, and stars first-hand; check out our Mars missions; look into deep space, and see how the Universe began. They'll master some rocket science, meet the pioneers of space travel, and visit every planet in the galaxy.Plus: charts for both hemispheres.

Take a fantastic voyage across Earth, from the outside in, thanks to the latest technologies of satellite imagery and NASA photographs. Volcanoes, icebergs, deserts, and glaciers; mountains that push up through the land’s crust and quakes that shake the ground; shifting tides and coasts, and killer winds: the amazing forces that created and shaped them come into sharp visual focus. Watch ever-changing Earth in action, from the frozen poles to coral islands. From out in space, glimpse the marks of man on our planet’s surface; some, like the Great Wall of China (visible from an orbiting spacecraft) don’t hurt the environment. Others, including the ever-diminishing rainforests and holes in the ozone, have caused almost-irreparable harm. Also: topographic maps of the Americas and the Eastern Pacific; Europe and Africa; Asia, Australia, and the Western Pacific; and the North and South Pole present snapshots of our world.