Reader's Digest Scenic Wonders Of America: American West; Reader's Digest Scenic Wonders Of America: Atlantic Vistas; Reader's Digest Scenic Wonders Of America: Pacific Frontiers

Reader's Digest takes another large step in its commitment to quality video productions with this beautifully packaged and heavily promoted three-tape series on our national treasures. Covering some 28 sites from sea to shining sea, each program features gorgeous cinematography, excellent narration which mixes historical anecdotes with current activities available, and inspiring background music. National parks, monuments, and even rivers are represented in the programs, including the Grand Canyon, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, Niagara Falls, Mammoth Cave, Death Valley, Mount Rainier, and Haleakala. We learn that the record time for scaling Devil's Tower (the site for Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind) is 18 minutes; that the Everglades is a unique river that is 100 miles long, 50 miles wide, and 6 inches deep; and that the General Sherman tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest known living thing on earth. Sure to be popular, this lavishly produced series offers the equivalent of a hundred picture books--with the additional benefit of moving pictures--at a fraction of the cost. Too, if purchased as a series, the three-tape package is only $59.95. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (Available from most distributors.)