POP-UP EARTH

Notes on our planet’s history and current state, with pop-up highlights.

The exploration begins with a layered 3-D globe that splits open to reveal a brilliant, foil-lined interior. It goes on to present a lush tableau of pond flora and fauna, a schematic of an erupting volcano with a saw-toothed sound effect, an explosion of playing cards (reflecting one of the narrative’s more fanciful images), and an Edenic tropical waterfall scene. Alas, Charbonnel’s five intricate pop-ups are the stars of a show that doesn’t have much else to recommend it. Buxton fills the pages with arbitrary-feeling arrays of creatures and things that are sometimes labeled and sometimes not, sometimes to scale and sometimes not, and sometimes only marginally relevant to the topic. This is most notable on a spread on climate peril that’s dominated by an oil tanker on fire surrounded by icebergs, fish skeletons, and fire boats. Jankeliowitch does no better, comparing the biosphere to a house of cards (see above) right after noting that it actually has a long history of recovering from extinction events and misinforming readers that the modern Earth is 6,000 years old, that volcanoes help to control our planet’s internal heat, and that in 5 or so billion years the Sun will “go out.” A group scene intended to depict human diversity includes only four that are not clad in casual Western attire; of those four, two are significantly exoticized.

Magnificent paper engineering, but the text and pictures don’t measure up.