Alfred Caldwell, Illinois architect, educator, landscape architect, poet, and historian (1903-1998), fought to make people aware of the need for contact with nature, even in the middle of cities. He inspired architectural students and prodded city officials for almost seventy years, interpretating and applying the revolutionary concepts of his mentors: Jens Jensen, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van der Rohe.

This tells how Alton Towers launched Oblivion, the world's first vertical drop roller-coaster. Alton Towers has been successful in pulling in families, but is losing its thrill-seeking customers. Marketing staff hope Oblivion will change all that. Much of their 5m marketing budget goes on a TV advert campaign for the new ride. The advert has to be exciting enough to appeal to teenagers, but not so scary that it will put off families. They use public...

"Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It s a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers....

"A thoroughly revised and expanded successor to Runte's Trains of Discovery: Western Railroads and the National Parks, the new edition now includes eastern historic sites and parks made possible or influenced by railroads. This book is a sight to behold as well as a wonderful, nostalgic armchair read"--Provided by publisher.

The National Parks: America's Best Idea is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. As such, it follows in the tradition of Burns's exploration of other American inventions, such as baseball and jazz. The narrative traces the birth of the national park idea in the mid-1800s and follows...

In the early 20th century, America has a dozen national parks, but they are a haphazard patchwork of special places under the supervision of different federal agencies. The conservation movement, after failing to stop the Hetch Hetchy dam, pushes the government to establish one unified agency to oversee all the parks, leading to the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. Its first director, Stephen Mather, a wealthy businessman and passionate...

Following World War II, the parks are overwhelmed as visitation reaches 62 million people a year. A new billion-dollar campaign – Mission 66 – is created to build facilities and infrastructure that can accommodate the flood of visitors. A biologist named Adolph Murie introduces the revolutionary notion that predatory animals, which are still hunted, deserve the same protection as other wildlife. In Florida, Lancelot Jones, the grandson of a slave,...

Fraser Island was listed as a World Heritage Area in 1992 for its outstanding natural heritage values. This program takes viewers on a trip to the World's largest sand island, with half the World's perched dune lakes and the planet's only rainforest growing on sand. The landscapes and ecosystems are shown, including the purest breed of dingoes seen in Australia. Reasons for the World Heritage listing and ways of protecting the natural wonders are...

"Learn about the seven wonders of the United States: The Everglades, Glacier point: Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon, Mississippi River, Mount McKinley: Denali National Park, Niagara Falls and Redwood Forest"--