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Vanishing Asia: Three Volume Set: West, Central, and East
This is a 3-volume set of oversize books that span the continent of Asia. Ancient and beautiful traditions in Asia that are rapidly disappearing are recorded here in 9,000 images on 1,000 pages. The author has visited 35 countries in Asia and has travelled to the end of the road in its most remote places to capture the costumes, architecture, festivals, and lifestyles that are vanishing. The diverse cultures range from Turkey in the west to Japan in the east, from Siberia in the north to Indonesia in the south, and everything in between. Volume 1 covers West Asia, Volume 2 Central Asia, and Volume 3 East Asia. Every one of its 1,000 pages is uniquely designed, and every one of its 9,000 images is captioned. This is an ambitious and extreme passion project that the author/photographer has worked on for 49 years. Many of the scenes depicted in the book are now gone from the world, and others are becoming rarer by the day. There is no other book like it.
- GenresTravelNonfiction
1080 pages, Hardcover
Published May 24, 2022
4 people are currently reading
222 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Kelly
120 books1,559 followersKevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He co-founded Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor from its inception until 1999. He is also editor and publisher of the Cool Tools website, which gets half a million unique visitors per month. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a journal of unorthodox technical news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers' Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. He authored the best-selling New Rules for the New Economy and the classic book on decentralized emergent systems, Out of Control."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 13, 2022
This is incredible. There is nothing else like it out there.
It feels like taking a trip through countries and time, east of Athens and West of Sapporo, anything is possible.
The picture quality varies from slides in the 70s to digital now, but the experience is incredible. It just lets your mind wander studying the local people, art, architecture - and the many “what ifs” that come to mind.
It feels like taking a trip through countries and time, east of Athens and West of Sapporo, anything is possible.
The picture quality varies from slides in the 70s to digital now, but the experience is incredible. It just lets your mind wander studying the local people, art, architecture - and the many “what ifs” that come to mind.
May 16, 2023
These three massive tomes, comprised ~entirely of photographs, deserve 5 stars for their breadth and numerous breathtakingly composed vistas.
However, they would’ve benefited immensely from:
Dates—the terse captions typically just list the location (and occasionally not even that, leaving the reader to infer from context).
(Volume 3 has pictures of the author’s visa stamps—I suppose one could reconstruct dates from those, ambiguously?)
A description of the organization scheme within each volume (if one exists)
I was inspired to purchase this by reading Lesley Blanch’s Sabres of Paradise.
(Which “Dune” liberally borrowed from, often literally)
Whilst satisfied with the pictures of Tbilisi and environs, I’d hoped for glimpses of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia…so far I haven’t stumbled upon them but I have many pages yet to skim.
However, they would’ve benefited immensely from:
Dates—the terse captions typically just list the location (and occasionally not even that, leaving the reader to infer from context).
(Volume 3 has pictures of the author’s visa stamps—I suppose one could reconstruct dates from those, ambiguously?)
A description of the organization scheme within each volume (if one exists)
I was inspired to purchase this by reading Lesley Blanch’s Sabres of Paradise.
(Which “Dune” liberally borrowed from, often literally)
Whilst satisfied with the pictures of Tbilisi and environs, I’d hoped for glimpses of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia…so far I haven’t stumbled upon them but I have many pages yet to skim.
May 14, 2022
Absolutely amazing photos! My new favorite coffee table set! Clearly the life work of Kevin Kelly and you can see the passion throughout.
The sheer number of photographs is unlike anything I’ve seen before and I am swept away as I go from page to page. This world is an amazing place and he captures it all - from the people, to the landscapes to the amazing architecture that we have built over the past couple thousand years.
Loved it every part of this set!
The sheer number of photographs is unlike anything I’ve seen before and I am swept away as I go from page to page. This world is an amazing place and he captures it all - from the people, to the landscapes to the amazing architecture that we have built over the past couple thousand years.
Loved it every part of this set!
September 7, 2023
Incredible and fascinating archival work.
Shelved as 'dnf'
April 4, 2025How I would love to see this book in person one day. I put it on DNF to move it off my TBR since I will probably never find a physical copy.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews