As many publishers scramble to bring books into the 21st century with digital editions, others are taking a retro approach to some titles on their fall lists, publishing books that come with 3-D glasses. 3-D may be a throwback, but its allure endures.
| What is it | Highlights | Lowlights | |
| 3-D Atlas & World Tour by Marie Javins (Chronicle, Sept.) | A collection of more than 40 maps, 30 articles and more than 50 3-D photos of the world's most interesting sights. | View looking straight down from the Eiffel Tower; a piranha in the Brazilian Amazon. | The physical maps rendered in 3-D. Mountain ranges leap off the page! Not exciting! |
| Guinness World Records 2009 (Guinness World Records, Sept.) | The record of the world's largest, most expensive, longest and fastest oddities now comes with 20 pages of 3-D images and two 3-D gatefolds. | Largest prehistoric insect: a dragonfly that lived 280 million years ago had a two-foot wingspan. | Finished books weren't available at press time, but we hope there's no 3-D image of the longest beard on a woman. |
| Sports Illustrated for Kids In Your Face 3-D by David E. Klutho (Time Inc. Home Entertainment, Oct.) | 3-D images of swimmers, football players, roller skaters, basketball players and other athletes, as well as sports fans. | Swimmers: the splash from their strokes is impressive; NASCAR racing: that car's coming right at you. | Five shirtless Yankees fans with Y-A-N-K-S painted on their chests. Do we really need to see this in 3-D? |
