Beauty in Decay Ii: Urbex Hardcover – Illustrated, 1 Nov. 2012

This is even better than the first book. Not only are the photographs superb but there's more information in this book and it makes for a fascinating read. Usually coffee table books remain under the coffee table, this one - and its predecessor - are books I return to time and again.

Oh no...what's happened to the page layouts?Some great images in this book, but the layouts are nowhere near as beautiful as the first book.Strong pictures, shame about the overall aesthetic.

fascinating photos. i can only imagine that the locations were a challenge to light and shoot, It would be good to know more about that.

Excellent. Would recommend.

wonderful pictures, lacking in info on individual photos but a great book to have if you have an interest in these places

Even in the depth of ruins you can see the beauty and you can feel the past. One for the coffee table.

Not what was looking for, was looking for UK site but supplied limited info

I've reviewed a couple of RWG's books and have been awaiting this one with baited breath because it's all his own work not a collective as the previous BiD was.I ordered my copy direct for speed, and it's breathtaking. Even if you have followed his work on Flickr, FB etc nothing quite prepares you for the impact on paper. The blurb promises "the smallest flash of beauty in an otherwise banal setting" and this is what makes his work stand out because he does always seem to find just that.The overall impression is of great delicacy and lightness, rather than the bleak and somewhat depressing aura of many books in this genre. I'm no photographic expert so cannot presume to compare the technical aspects with similar works; all I can comment on is the impressions and feelings evoked. And this is where I think this book is unique because individual sections carry entirely separate feelings, from the dying magnificence of an old palace to a contemplative family farmhouse suspended as it was left sixty years ago to the crazed "Eraserhead" tangle of monolithic pipes in an abandoned industrial site.The book is held together thematically, giving a "snapshot" view of predominantly the last hundred years in history and it makes you realise just how much not only technology but attitudes have changed. Here at last all are equal, the rich landowners alongside the artisans, the workers and the pauper dispossessed.There are a million ongoing arguments throughout the urbex "community" and no book is going to please them all. But if you want pure, untouched images seen from a unique viewpoint this is the book for you. A truthful, poignant and stunning book that will stay with you long after you put it down.(One image that has DEFINITELY stayed with me is the overhead baskets in the German mines. Because, if I read it right, that means 3,000 naked German miners running about. Sometimes imagination is a terrible thing!)