National Geographic 1979 December

National Geographic – December 1979
Publisher: National Geographic | ISBN: none (magazines were carefree and barcode-free) | Condition: Good (antlers intact, spine sturdy)
Preserved in amber by Crappy Old Books

December 1979: the Cold War was frosty, disco balls still spun, and National Geographic was busy herding reindeer across your coffee table. This issue (Vol. 156, No. 6) arrives with a cover graced by a pair of antlered celebrities, silently promising a deep dive into “Our Wildest Wilderness: The Arctic Wildlife Range.” Inside, expect photo spreads so crisp you can practically hear the tundra crunch, paired with prose that insists the Arctic is both savage and oddly photogenic.

But wait — there’s more! The magazine also whisks you to Seoul, billed here as a “Korean showcase” (think geopolitics in technicolor), and then swings you over to Oregon’s lonely coast, which, in 1979, hadn’t yet been discovered by Instagrammers in camper vans. Feeling literary? They’ve slipped in a tribute to Hans Christian Andersen, as though the man himself might pop out of the margins with a melancholy fairy tale. And for those who prefer their thrills nautical: a feature on the graveyard of the quicksilver galleons, proving that even shipwrecks can be glossy when photographed in the right light.

This copy is graded Good. Which means: pages are present, colour plates still dazzle, and the binding hasn’t collapsed like a Viking longship on a sandbar. There may be faint evidence it once lived on a dentist’s waiting-room table, but no bite marks or suspicious stains.

Why you might want this magazine:

• Because nothing says “cultured” like vintage National Geographic stacked beside your lava lamp.

• Because it’s fun to remember a time when “Our Wildest Wilderness” meant the Arctic, not the inside of a microwave.

• Because reading it lets you time-travel to an era when global warming was a phrase whispered only by scientists in parkas.

• Because those caribou antlers on the cover make the perfect seasonal décor if you squint.

So here it is: National Geographic, December 1979 — still Good, still glossy, still mapping the world in yellow borders. Procured, dusted, and irreverently offered by Crappy Old Books, where even yesterday’s wildlife is a collectible curiosity.

Keep browsing: See more National Geographic books Other books by National Geographic