Waterfalls: 75 Most Majestic Waterfalls

Reviewed by Bryan Swan

This may be the most difficult book review on the subject of waterfalls I have yet written. This book is quite simply a perfect contradiction. Sort of. What we have here is a coffee-table sized and styled book cataloging 75 waterfalls deemed by the author to be among the most unique, special, spectacular, interesting and revered throughout the world. The selection presented is, surprisingly, rather diverse and consist of many waterfalls which are not frequently discussed in such works. There are pictures galore and a decent informational overview for each waterfall presented. These two latter points are essentially the make and break points for this tome.

First, the pictures are fantastic. There are at least three photographs of each waterfall in the book and the vast majority of them are of very good to almost exceptional quality. This is due to the fact that the author didn't actually take any of the pictures, rather they were provided via stock photo agencies and independent third party sources. In thumbing through the book, I came across a picture which looked extremely familiar, and after referencing an email conversation from four years prior, I realized that two of my own pictures were used in this book (not having believed the credit in the back and not remembering the conversation in the first place). But tooting my own horn isn't reason enough to give lavish praise. The fact is aside from a couple pictures which were enlarged beyond their ideal capabilities, the visuals this book provides are top notch.

Which brings us to the more contentious point; the information accompanying the pictures. I really don't know where to adequately begin with this. The author clearly didn't visit the locations he discusses (save maybe the handful which occur in England where he appears to hail from), so the immediate reliability of the information presented has to stem from online and print sources. But beyond the typical issues present when researching a book on geologic features without actually being there, there are so many blatant factual errors (not to mention several rather embarrassing typos) that were this written by a student, it would be given a failing grade outright.

It can't possibly be that bad you say? This is a professionally edited product that should avoid such errors? Well yes it can, and it most certainly should. The editor of this product should be ashamed of himself. Such miscues as calling the city of Portland, Oregon the capital of that state (even for folks living in Europe, this is not hard to get right) would make a geography instructor cringe. Or citing Austria's Krimmlerfall as dropping 1,250 feet as the 8th tallest waterfall in the world but just TWO pages further into the book citing France's Gavarnie Falls as dropping 1,384 feet as the 16th tallest waterfall in the world - a level of consistency that simply boggles the mind. Or suggesting that Detian Falls on the border of China and Vietnam are the second largest waterfall to straddle an international border after Niagara Falls - seemingly forgetting that both Iguacu Falls and Victoria Falls, the two largest waterfalls on the planet, straddle international borders and both of which are mentioned in this book. There are inaccuracies related to the heights and widths of the waterfalls presented, there are pictures which are wrongly captioned, there are horribly misrepresented pieces of myth and lore related to several of the entries, and the author has demonstrated a severe lack of knowledge of the geologic processes related to the formation of many of the waterfalls he felt he was qualified to discuss. I could go on, but there isn't much point. It really is that bad.

In addition to the horrible fact checking, there are tons of clerical errors - units of measurement which are supposed to be cited in feet or miles end up being captioned as meters or feet (respectively) instead. An English teacher would have a field day with the improperly capitalized proper names throughout the book, and the grammar isn't exactly of a collegiate level either. The author may have not done his homework at all, but the book's editor deserves much of the blame as well for not catching the little things.

The production quality, however is quite nice. The paper is heavy and not overly shiny, the print quality is top notch and the binding seems to hold well despite what seems to be a limited amount of glue used. So what's the bottom line on this one? Well, its complicated. If you're looking for a book about waterfalls with lots and lots of really good pictures, this is definitely one that you should pick up. If you're looking for a book with accurate, reliable, well-written information, then you'll want to stay away from this thing like the plague.