Magnificent desert landscapes from every part of the globe, together with photographs of their imaginative, adaptable, dignified inhabitants. Internationally renowned photographer Michael Martin has traveled through every desert on earth, crossing Asia, Australia, the Americas, and Africa, seeking out the most spectacular landscapes, from the Rub al-Khali to the Great Sandy Desert, the Great Basin, and the Kalahari. Many of these "wastelands" consist of more than just desert sand. Afghanistan's Bamian region is notable for its deep blue-green lakes set in a rocky landscape. The Danakil's unnamed volcanoes glow in the Ethiopian night, while Chile's Atacama region harbors geysers that can erupt at any moment. Martin was joined on his five-year motorcycle odyssey by camerawoman Elke Wallner, who has documented the major deserts of the world in a television series. Together they overcame numerous obstacles—political and physical—to accomplish a journey of some 60,000 miles and the first single-volume documentation of earth's breathtaking desert landscapes. 300 color photographs and 23 maps.