Abdul Rashid's Blog

Reuters’ THE STATE OF THE WORLD is first published by Thames and Hudson Inc. (Website: http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/) in 2006. The book has 384 pages (including the index). It has 537 color illustrations in the form of photos from Reuters (Website: http://www.reuters.com/).

THE STATE OF THE WORLD is about “The story of our new century told through these extraordinary photographs from Reuters”. The story is about “the moments that changed the world, the trends that touch all our lives, and challenges will shape the future”. (The quotations are from the book’s jacket)

THE STATE OF THE WORLD features images by 277 Reuters photographers of almost seventy nationalities and written by nine Reuters journalists. It is dedicated to journalists killed in the course of reporting news in the first six years of the 21st century, and nine of them are from Reuters.

THE STATE OF THE WORLD is divided into 11 sections: (1) Introduction, (2) Big Issues, (3) Science and Technology, (4) Pattern of Belief, (5) Power Politics, (6) War and Conflict, (7) The Global Economy, (8) Culture in the Digital Age, (9) Ways of Living, (10) Looking Forward, Looking Back, and (11) World Timeline of the Twenty-First Century.

My comments
THE STATE OF THE WORLD is a good book to understand what the world have gone through since the turn of the 21st Century. In terms of photography, it gives ideas and understanding what photojournalism photographs are. Photojournalism photography is about telling the thruth about an event or issue (the journalism aspect) through captivating photos, if possible, to attract the viewer to stop and think (the photography aspect).

The topic of each section can give you some ideas what sort of photojournalism photos that you can take. However, you have to keep in mind that taking photojournalism is not merely about taking photo for the sake of photography. It is a responsibility that is being burden to each photojournalist. And, in carrying out such responsibility, many photojournalists killed, kidnapped, threatened, or sent to jail. (As such, you can opt to play safe. You have choice).


Availability
The listed or cover price is USD50.00. It is available at a discounted price, if any, at Amazon.Com (delivery charge is applied).

If you want to have one, you can buy from Amazon.Com by clicking the following link:



A book review by Abdul Rashid Haji Tahir. This review is done on 14 June 2008 by using the copy that I have. I buy it from the Amazon.Com in March 2007 for USD31.50 (for the book) and the shipping and handling costs me USD13.38. The total cost is USD44.88. The price may change from time to time. Visit Amazon.Com (by clicking the above link) for futher details.