Photographer Peter Lik might reign from Australia, but he has made it his life’s mission to capture the beauty of the world. “Mother Nature sets the scene, I simply capture it,” says Lik in a trademark-quality line. With a number of books to his credit showcasing the beauty of Australia, America, and Las Vegas, as Lik writes in his Introduction, “I was haunted by the desire to return to the 50th state, Hawai‘i. From the moment we swooped over the cloudy peak of the awesome Haleakala volcano, I was hooked.”
   
In Maui – Hawaiian Paradise, Lik aims his viewfinder at the lush tropical beauty of the island of Maui and its neighbor Moloka`i. Each spread is a new adventure as Lik takes the reader/viewer on a wondrous journey around the islands to places that you might never see on your own—partially because Lik ventures on slippery (and in some cases non-existent) paths, but also because Lik has an eye for finding and capturing natural beauty that the rest of us have not yet developed. Many of the photos are printed across two pages, so the viewer truly feels transported to the location.
   
From golden waves that crest over the viewer, to magical sunsets, to images from a bamboo forest along the Hana Highway, this book is a cornucopia of tropical imagery. Incredible waterfalls grace many pages, and Lik captures them with many various looks. At Waimoku Falls, along the Pipiwai Trail, near Hana, Lik uses a longer exposure and creates a soft, misty feel. Another image at a different spot along the Pipiwai Stream is more crisp and filled with moss-covered rocks.
   
The text is short and simple for this volume and Lik does what he does best, which is let the images speak for themselves. Even the photos captions give only the briefest description of the scene.
   
Maui—Hawaiian Paradise, is a captivating volume to have on your coffee table, providing a virtual “journey-in-a-book” for anyone who loves Hawaii.